Guest Post by Morbo Recently, I was struck by a photograph that ran on the front page of The New York Times. The archival photo from 1957 depicts Elizabeth Eckford, a young African-American woman, walking toward Central High School in Little Rock. She is surrounded by a crowd of people. (See it here.) Eckford carries […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * In the face of a presidential veto threat over defense appropriations, House Dems are taking Bush on over raises for the troops:”Mr. President, you have consistently called on Congress and the American people to support our troops. Considering the sacrifices that our military families make, the Democratic proposal to […]
By late last night, it appeared that a compromise between congressional Dems and the White House on war funding was very close. Predictably, it looked like Dems were going to give up far too much in exchange for very little, and then hope to find more success the next time around. But as it turns […]
Yesterday, a reporter confronted the president with a straightforward request for information: “Sir, did you send your then Chief of Staff and White House Counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program? And do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is […]
This morning’s White House press gaggle, hosted by Bush spokesperson Tony Fratto, was genuinely amusing. I realize bringing in a third-string press secretary is no way to get the White House’s A game, but this was just silly. Q: Senators Schumer and Feinstein are going to introduce a no confidence resolution for Attorney General Gonzales […]
Way back in early March, Paul Krugman noted an important angle to the prosecutor purge scandal: if the fired U.S. Attorneys were ousted for failing to “play ball” with the White House’s political agenda, some of the U.S. Attorneys who weren’t fired kept their jobs because they did “play ball.” In particular, Krugman highlighted New […]
Since Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) was given a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee — sparking a mini-rebellion among conservative activists — there’s been considerable scrutiny of some of the controversial lawmaker’s more notable scandals. With this in mind, Roll Call reports today that an eyebrow-raising earmark Calvert championed was cleared by the House […]
Andrew Sullivan noted today, “If it weren’t for the Republican debate, the death of Christianist Falwell, and the continuing U.S. Attorneys scandal, the Comey testimony would, I think, have been a huge story.” I assume Andrew means it would have been treated as a huge story — on the merits, Comey’s testimony is a jaw-dropper, […]
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as usual, is disgusted. This time, he’s blasting the field of 2008 presidential candidates who, Gingrich believes, are “demeaning the presidency” by jumping through pointless hoops. “We have shrunk our political process to this pathetic dance in which people spend an entire year raising money in order to offer non-answers, […]
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: * There are 10 sitting members of Congress running for president right now, but only John McCain believes he doesn’t have to show up for work anymore: “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is the […]