Across the country, United States Attorneys are sometimes described as local attorneys general — each U.S. Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer within his or her local jurisdiction. There’s a pretty typical pattern for their tenures — a president nominates these federal prosecutors at the beginning of his term, and they serve until […]
Several months ago, John Solomon wrote a series of odd and misleading articles attacking Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), accusing him of ethical lapses. The closer one looked at the criticisms, the weaker the charges looked. Months later, Reid was cleared of any wrongdoing, while Solomon was inexplicably rewarded — in December he took over the […]
I realize that Stephen Colbert’s performance at last year’s White House Correspondents Association dinner was considered “edgy” by the old-school establishment. Colbert appeared in character, and delivered a hilarious monologue, which just so happened to skewer both the president and the reporters who cover him. It was a classic moment, which we weren’t likely to […]
I haven’t seen independent confirmation of this, so consider it an unofficial transcript, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked yesterday about the constitutional right of habeas corpus during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. If accurate, his reported response was one for the ages. (Note: this transcript has been updated to be more accurate) SPECTER: […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I can appreciate the fact that the story appeared in the Fashion section, but there continues to be far too much interest among reporters in Nancy Pelosi’s clothing. She’s been Speaker for two weeks; Dennis Hastert was Speaker for seven years. Guess whose fashion choices generated more “news” items? […]
The “100 Hours” agenda is wrapping up today, and as Tom Edsall explained, “Something odd happened on Capitol Hill this week. Something that seemed to start out as a publicity stunt — the House Democratic leadership’s 100-hour agenda — actually turned into a…qualified success.” (Try not to sound too surprised, Tom.) Pelosi & Co. came […]
President Bush, yesterday: “First, I’m pleased that we’re funding cancer research. We’re up about 25 percent or 26 percent since 2001; it’s a commitment that I made when I first came to Washington, it’s a commitment we’re keeping. And the reason why it makes sense to spend taxpayers’ money on cancer research is that we […]
I know the Small Business Administration isn’t exactly the sexiest agency in the government, but this is the quintessential example of how the Bush administration tries, and fails, to operate as a functional branch of government. The federal government’s biggest program to help people rebuild after natural disasters is on the verge of running out […]
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is spending the day being grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a whole host of fascinating subjects, but this exchange deserves special attention. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), to his enormous credit, reminded Gonzales of the political debate over warrantless searches over the last year. Feingold: Do you know of any […]
It was bad enough when the Pentagon decided to hide statistics on per-months attacks in Iraq. The government had been publishing the data in publicly-available reports, right up until the numbers became a political embarrassment. Then, all of a sudden, the data was “classified.” This is just as troubling. The Defense Department has resisted auditors’ […]