Sen. Joe Lieberman applies some standards before accepting campaign contributions. For example, when Richard Mellon Scaife, who helped orchestrate the anti-Clinton Arkansas Project, wanted to support Lieberman’s re-election bid, the senator’s campaign returned the money. A Lieberman spokesperson said a Scaife donation “would be inconsistent for our campaign.” And speaking of inconsistencies…. It has become […]
I don’t doubt that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is a nice guy. By all indications, he has a specific worldview that shapes his beliefs, he’s earnest and sincere, and he’s clearly passionate about liberal causes. But the notion that he’s going to be elected president is terribly far-fetched. It’s almost ceratinly not going to happen. […]
The WaPo reported yesterday that “health care is set to return to the national political stage in 2007, setting up partisan clashes in Congress that could end with rare vetoes from President Bush and help to define the 2008 presidential campaigns.” It’s about time. Democrats have been trigger-shy about making serious changes to the system […]
Late last week, U.S. News’ Paul Bedard noted that key congressional committees, in both chambers, have begun “hiring lawyer-investigators whose job will be to probe the administration.” Issues reportedly on top of the oversight agenda include the war in Iraq and energy policy. This isn’t about witch-hunts, of course, it’s about checks and balances — […]
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: * Barack Obama’s first foray into New Hampshire seems to have paid dividends. Two weeks after his initial trip, Obama finds himself nearly even with Hillary Clinton in a statewide poll of 2008 […]
The NYT has a fascinating piece today on Democratic strategist Mara Vanderslice, and her 2-year-old consulting firm, Common Good Strategies, which aims to help the Democratic Party and its candidates appeal to theologically conservative voters. I found most of what Vanderslice had to say compelling, but not of all it. Vanderslice reportedly helped Dems make […]
The AP ran a story over the weekend about the ways in which presidential hopefuls are turning to the Internet to boost their chances. It’s a fairly routine piece, but it leads with a joke that has long since outlived its usefulness. Al Gore claimed he invented it. John McCain predicted it would revolutionize political […]
For some reason, legal experts seem to believe it’s problematic for a sitting judge to write a book bashing everyone with whom he disagrees. Chapter 1 of Circuit Judge Robert H. Dierker Jr.’s book, “The Tyranny of Tolerance: A Sitting Judge Breaks the Code of Silence to Expose the Liberal Judicial Assault,” has circulated via […]
Yes, it’s come to this. Expectations for the president have fallen so low, the New York Times devoted an entire piece to Bush’s recent claim that he read a newspaper article. Is there hope for newspapers after all? Readers may be abandoning the printed versions, but over the last couple of years, at least one […]
Christmas is a day about giving, so I thought it’d be fun to consider some gift ideas for those we think about every day. Karl Rove gets a calculator this year, because his own personal math turned out to be a little unreliable. German Chancellor Angela Merkel deserves a comfy massage chair, so foreign heads […]