A year after lawmakers abandoned American principles on the rule of law and stripped detainees of their right to challenge their detentions in court, the Senate today turned back an effort to return some sanity to our rule of law. A bipartisan majority supported restoring habeas corpus, but Republican obstructionism wouldn’t allow a vote. The […]
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: * With the GOP’s top tier missing, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) easily won the religious right’s “Values Voters” straw-poll this week, winning 64% of the vote that followed the movement’s debate […]
Later this month, PBS will host a Republican presidential candidates’ debate at historically black college in Baltimore — and all of the top four GOP candidates have decided to skip it. Earlier this week, Univision was slated to host another Republican debate in Miami on Latino issues — but it was cancelled when all but […]
Federal agencies have Inspectors General as a kind of internal check on abuse. The point is to have an independent “watchdog” with oversight authority who can ensure agencies’ integrity, while preventing fraud and mismanagement. When it comes to the State Department’s IG office, things haven’t gone according to plan. Instead of a watchdog that prevents […]
With 27 electoral votes and an evenly divided electorate, Florida is generally considered one of those states that presidential candidates are desperate to impress. On the other hand, Fred Thompson, for reasons that remain unclear, seems anxious to make a bad impression. It started in a couple of months ago, when Thompson alluded to Cuban […]
The last couple of weeks have been disappointing for opponents of the president’s war policy, at least as far as congressional action is concerned. While progressive activists have been hoping to see Democratic leaders fight aggressively for withdrawal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid & Co. indicated that they’re willing to compromise with Senate Republicans on […]
I understand that Republicans would rather talk about a controversial newspaper ad than Iraq policy. I even understand why the right wants to demonize an effective and successful liberal activist organization. But the problem in the wake of last week’s “Betray Us” ad from MoveOn.org is that the GOP just doesn’t know when to quit. […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * A bill to give the U.S. taxpayers who live in the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House of Representatives had majority support in the Senate today, but it wasn’t enough to overcome GOP obstructionist tactics. The bill’s 57-vote majority was three short of the total needed […]
Last week, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) pretended to be a regular ol’ senator, issuing a statement in response to Gen. David Petraeus’ testimony. This week, the senator who’s allegedly just 12 days from resigning his seat, returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since his men’s room scandal broke. The Republican senator had a […]
A year ago this month, in response to a Supreme Court ruling on handling of detainees, Congress quickly and recklessly passed the Military Commissions Act. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) recently described just what a disaster the legislation was for the rule of law. Of the many assaults on our civil liberties and […]