Yesterday was an unusually busy news day, but the White House signing statement expanding the president’s authority to open Americans’ mail without a warrant sparked quite a bit of interest. For their part, the Bush gang insisted that the expansive new powers are no big deal and the president was not claiming any new executive […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Guardian’s blog ran a piece of mine today. Regular readers will find it kind of familiar, but go take a look anyway. * Harriet Miers, the White House counsel and Bush’s longtime advisor, announced her resignation today. Remember when the president thought she was the most qualified person […]
As you may have heard, Democrats officially took the reins of both houses of Congress today. It’s a proud moment that many of us have been waiting for, with varying degrees of patience, for quite some time. I’ve heard from many friends in Washington today who are filled with optimism and hope. It’s a new […]
Now that we’ve identified the “McCain doctrine,” might the idea’s namesake be moving the goal posts? I think so. Let’s review quickly. In late November, McCain insisted that “we will not win this war” without additional combat forces in Iraq. Maybe he meant it, maybe it was a calculated strategy whereby McCain could separate himself […]
Though it didn’t generate much attention, the Center for American Progress released a very interesting report last week recommending “an amendment on the supplemental funding bill that states that if the administration wants to increase the number of troops in Iraq above 150,000, it must provide a plan for their purpose and require an up […]
The conventional wisdom suggests the midterm elections were an example of voters telling Washington that they want to see Dems and Republicans working together. It sounds pleasant enough, but Matt Stoller pointed to a CNN poll (.pdf) that suggests what voters really want to see is Dems passing their own policy agenda. These are results […]
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: * The New York Times reported today on a recent meeting between Sen. Hillary Clinton and three allies from New Hampshire. According to participants, Clinton wanted to know if Gore was running again […]
I’m embarrassed to admit that I foolishly believed congressional Republicans were no longer capable of surprising me. Looking back over the last 12 or so years, I naively assumed there were some tactics even the congressional GOP wouldn’t try. I stand corrected. Thirty-one-year-old Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is not a large man, standing perhaps 5 […]
The political timing is certainly advantageous for congressional Democrats — just as the new 110th Congress is slated to pass a long-overdue increase in the federal minimum wage, George Will, one of the nation’s most prominent conservative political columnists, comes out against having a minimum wage altogether. A federal minimum wage is an idea whose […]
At yesterday’s White House press briefing, a reporter asked Tony Snow a question that I’ve been anxious to hear for quite a while: “[T]he President has been determined, he’s been resolved, and nobody questions that, but does he get it? I mean, is he fundamentally out of touch with what the reality is on the […]