Tom Edsall, one of my favorite, old-school political reporters in the country, has a great item in The New Republic about what he describes as “Karl Rove’s juggernaut.” Thanks to a link on Ezra’s site, the TNR piece is actually available to non-subscribers. There’s a lot to consider in the piece, but like Ezra, I […]
Details are still non-existent, but it seems there’s been a break in the stalemate. President Bush and Republican negotiators led by Sen. John McCain have reached an agreement on legislation covering tribunals for enemy combatant suspects, NBC News reported Thursday. Details on the deal were not immediately available, but Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it […]
OK, one more post about the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. There’s plenty of data on Congress’ stunning unpopularity — the institution’s approval rating is down to just 25% — but I was even more impressed with some of the more obscure details. Two-thirds said Congress had accomplished less than it typically did in […]
I don’t like to pick on PowerLine, a leading far-right blog, but as Jason Zengerle noted, this line from a post today is too amusing to ignore. “We stand accused of being over-the-top partisans who worship President Bush as a visionary. Even if this were true…” Please. In July, PowerLine ran an item that called […]
There’s a great deal to chew on in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, and thanks to the fact that the NYT published some of its internals online (.pdf), it’s easy to start digging through the numbers and finding tidbits the Times’ article left out. In terms of the major, election-related questions, the results […]
[tag]Focus on the Family[/tag]’s James Dobson was in Pittsburgh yesterday for a “Stand for the Family Rally” to help rally support for Republicans, most notably, Sen. Rick Santorum (R). Dobson’s message to the religious-right activists in attendance, however, wasn’t exactly inspirational. (thanks to Rege for the tip) Standing before an enormous American flag in Mellon […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * In Pennsylvania, Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R) closed the gap recently against [tag]Bob Casey[/tag] (D), but he’s still not close to catching up to his challenger. A new Keystone Poll shows Casey leading, […]
About four months ago, we learned that [tag]Housing and Urban Development[/tag] Secretary [tag]Alphonso Jackson[/tag] spoke at a public forum in Dallas and explained that he denied funding to a qualified minority contractor because the contractor said he didn’t like the [tag]president[/tag]. In fact, Jackson went into considerable detail about the incident, explaining that the [tag]contractor[/tag] […]
Since I have been known, on occasion, to criticize MSNBC’s [tag]Chris Matthews[/tag], I thought it only fair to offer him some praise for his comments this morning on Imus. For a guy who has, just recently, blamed Clinton for 9/11, kissed up to Tom DeLay, and compared war critics to terrorists, Matthews seems to have […]
Let me admit from the outset that I don’t know much about Thailand’s political system. In fact, before this week, I knew practically nothing. That said, its recent military coup is a major international development — with implications for the Bush White House. [tag]Thailand[/tag]’s up-until-recently Prime Minister Thaksin [tag]Shinawatra[/tag] was, as the Washington Post described […]