In a year in which almost nothing of any substance is passing Congress, renewing the Voting Rights Act was supposed to be an easy one for the GOP. Especially in light of the controversies surrounding voting problems, which in some instances may have racially motivated, protecting the rights of minorities to vote was a no-brainer. […]
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 Minnesota, Veterinarian and philanthropist [tag]Ford Bell[/tag] (D) ended his Senate campaign yesterday, clearing the way for Hennepin County Attorney [tag]Amy Klobuchar[/tag] to win the Dem (technically, the DFL) nomination in September. […]
Yesterday’s announcement from the administration on extending protections from the Geneva Conventions to U.S. detainees was not quite as elucidating as it could have been. As Spencer Ackerman noted, the policy still doesn’t protect prisoners in CIA custody, and as Slate’s Eric Umansky explained, “Terror suspects in U.S. custody won’t get full POW status under […]
It’s taken several years, but the very lucrative [tag]no-bid[/tag] [tag]contracts[/tag] for [tag]Halliburton[/tag] appear to have come to an end. The WaPo’s front-page story that broke the news, however, included one key tidbit that shouldn’t be overlooked. The [tag]Army[/tag] is discontinuing a controversial [tag]multibillion-dollar[/tag] deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to […]
House Intelligence Committee Chairman [tag]Peter Hoekstra[/tag] (R-Mich.) sure has been busy lately. The conservative lawmaker generated headlines two weeks ago with some bizarre ideas about WMD in Iraq, and raised more than a few eyebrows over the weekend by hinting at still undisclosed NSA surveillance programs that, he believes, the Bush administration may have illegally […]
The [tag]Department of Homeland Security[/tag] looked rather silly last month when it announced new anti-terrorism grants for states and localities, which slashed money for Washington, D.C., and New York City. Making matters worse, a risk scorecard for NYC concluded that the home of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Brooklyn Bridge has “zero” […]
Word spread fast last night that [tag]Robert Novak[/tag] was finally going to start dishing the [tag]Plame[/tag]-related dirt, now that the [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag] criminal investigation has wrapped up and no one else, it appears, will be indicted. But those of us hoping for substantive revelations were left wanting. Syndicated columnist Robert D. [tag]Novak[/tag] acknowledged for the first […]
Just to let readers know, we felt compelled today to change how the “read more” option works in the longer posts. I know the old way was well-liked and user-friendly, and I really didn’t want to change it, but odd as it may seem, I had a financial motivation to bring the feature more in […]
MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson wrote an interesting item (.pdf) last week for the Cato Institute, a libertarian/conservative think tank, highlighting a fairly-familiar refrain: Bush hasn’t failed because he’s conservative; he failed because he’s not conservative. Bush’s claims of small government conservatism were a crock. This administration has not stood up for the principles of liberty. With […]
Slowly but surely, the burgeoning “[tag]religious left[/tag]” seems not only to be generating some media attention, but also some compelling soundbites. Dr. [tag]Bob Edgar[/tag], General Secretary of the National Council of Churches: “Jesus never said one word about homosexuality, never said one word about civil marriage or abortion.” The Rev. [tag]Tony Campolo[/tag]: “We are furious […]