While the House was cutting spending yesterday for programs that benefit the poor, elderly, and students, the Senate was completing its work on a package of tax cuts and extension of expiring tax cuts that could cost up to $60 billion over five years. Today, a Dem senator thought of a clever name for all […]
About a month ago, Bush shifted gears on congressional hearings over his warrantless-search program. After the White House had resisted the very idea of hearings for about a month, Bush said he welcomed congressional oversight and said hearings would be “good for democracy.” There was, of course, a catch. “Just so long as the hearings, […]
The last time the CEOs of the major oil companies were on the Hill for a Senate hearing, it didn’t go well. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing over escalating energy prices, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) asked the five CEOs if their company, or any of its representatives, participated in Vice President Cheney’s energy task […]
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was thoroughly impressed with the president’s State of the Union, insisting that Bush was “at the top of his game,” and delivered “a very powerful speech.” Apparently, he got the wrong talking points — the rest of the leading conservative voices in the media aren’t happy at all. Fox News’ Bob Novak: […]
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: * For some reason, Condoleezza Rice’s non-existent presidential ambitions continue to be a matter of great interest. In an interview yesterday, Bush was peppered with questions about Rice’s plans, prompting the president to […]
It was only a matter of time before Donald Rumsfeld figured out the real source behind all of his problems. Poor planning? Rampant incompetence? Corruption? Nice try. Apparently, it’s the media’s fault. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday the Pentagon had not done a good job in the information war against enemies like al […]
Congressional Republicans were oh-so-clever in how they approached the federal budget this year. As we’ve talked about before, the GOP split the budget bill in half — tax cuts in one part, spending cuts in the other, and call the whole thing a “deficit reduction” package that just so happens to increase the deficit. The […]
I usually reserve my media criticism for the “Single Storyline” project at the Daou Report, but this one was too egregious not to share. Sheehan’s T-shirt made reference to the number of soldiers killed in Iraq: “2245 Dead. How many more?” Capitol Police charged her with a misdemeanor for violating the District of Columbia’s code […]
In an otherwise-boilerplate State of the Union, Bush’s approach to oil imports was one of the more memorable elements of his address. “Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. By applying the […]
The most engaging angle to the State of the Union — Cindy Sheehan’s arrest — drew plenty of attention, but fortunately, the controversy ended yesterday in an apology. Sheehan, of course, was arrested Tuesday night when the Capitol Police spotted Sheehan wearing a T-shirt that read “2,245 Dead — How Many More?” Around the same […]