During a meeting with constituents this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) took some time to comment on the war in Iraq. He wasn’t reading from a prepared text, but in retrospect, he probably should have been. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are […]
The House passed an energy bill yesterday, which is a solid piece of legislation. It wasn’t perfect — it should have gone further — but it included the first increase in federal fuel efficiency standards in three decades, encourages the use of renewable energy sources, and rolls back $13.5 billion in tax breaks for the […]
Consider a thought experiment. Let’s say Republicans were anxious to confront Iran militarily, and Democrats preferred a diplomatic approach. Both sides awaited the collective judgment of U.S. intelligence agencies in the form of a National Intelligence Estimate. The NIE’s conclusions are published, and they tell Republicans everything they want to hear — Iran is a […]
Last week, there was a stretch of several days in which new, damaging revelations about Rudy Giuliani’s Shag Fund scandal kept emerging. Seven years ago, the then-mayor charged NYC taxpayers for romantic rendezvous weekends with his mistress, his mistress’ security detail, and his mistress’ chores (NYPD walked her dog), and then hid the costs in […]
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: * A new national AP/Ipsos poll reinforces other recent data showing Mike Huckabee on the upswing, and Fred Thompson moving in the other direction. The new poll shows Rudy Giuliani continuing to lead […]
After several weeks of nonsensical wrangling, the Senate passed a temporary fix that will prevent the alternative minimum tax (AMT) from hitting millions of middle-class Americans. That may sound like a good day’s work, but this entire process, and yesterday’s conclusion, has been unusually absurd, even by Republican standards. The WaPo’s story on this had […]
When Mitt Romney delivered his address yesterday on his perspective on religion in America, he had a fairly specific audience in mind. There’s a significant percentage of the Republican Party that opposes church-state separation, and is inherently skeptical towards Mormons, and Romney had the daunting task of trying to convince them that a) he’s with […]
Last week, at the debate for Republican presidential candidates, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) made the ridiculous claim that U.S. troops and their families are, by their very nature, conservative. “[M]ost Americans, most kids who leave that — that breakfast table and go and serve in the military and make that corporate decision with their family […]
For years, we’ve heard talk that George W. Bush believes God chose him to be president. The evidence to support this — the assertion, not the deity’s political preference — has always been a little thin, and I haven’t seen any actual Bush quotes to suggest he believes his presidency is the result of divine […]
Given the last seven years, expectations are already low for the administration that’s never seen justice it didn’t want to obstruct. But intentionally destroying evidence of a possible crime, in the midst of ongoing legal inquiries, suggests the Bush gang’s contempt for the rule of law can’t get much worse. The Central Intelligence Agency in […]