Today’s edition of quick hits. * Not a great month for investors: “Wall Street resumed its slide Wednesday as unease about the wilting mortgage market and the broader economy triggered selling ahead of the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average each fell […]
Just to put a period on a story we were following last week, Senate Dems really are going to have pro-forma sessions over the next couple of weeks in order to prevent the president from making any recess appointments. The pro forma sessions, which will continue through a week from Thanksgiving, will require several Senate […]
Way back in March, Circuit City fired 3,400 of the chain’s most successful and experienced — and thus highest paid — employees. The idea, apparently, was to save money by maintaining a cheaper labor force. The reality was more discouraging for the company — almost immediately, the chain lost money when it sacked its best […]
One of the big stories in the Republican presidential race last week was a series of controversial survey calls in Iowa and New Hampshire that asked respondents some pointed questions about Mitt Romney. Specifically, voters in the first two Republican contests received calls with negative messages about the former governor’s religion, his Vietnam-era military deferments, […]
News broke this week that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan is not only publishing a book on his experiences, but is also adding some insights to the Plame leak scandal. Indeed, his publisher released a six-sentence excerpt, that drew all kinds of attention. The most powerful leader in the world had called upon […]
Following up on an item from yesterday, news that injured U.S. troops were being asked to return bonus money from the military spread very quickly, putting the Pentagon in a very awkward position. The good news, the practice apparently won’t happen any more. To briefly recap for those just joining us, a CBS affiliate in […]
One of Rudy Giuliani’s favorite lines is that his top rivals — from McCain to Clinton to Obama — lack executive experience, and “never ran a business.” That stands in contrast to the former mayor, of course, who created a lucrative consulting business after grudgingly leaving office in 2001, called “Giuliani Partners,” which has helped […]
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 CNN poll of Dems in New Hampshire shows Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead, but by a shrinking margin. In a September poll from CNN, Clinton was cruising in New […]
Way back in January, the Washington Post ran a front-page piece documenting Barack Obama’s admitted experimentation with drugs as a teenager. The 1,300-word piece didn’t exactly break new ground, but the article concluded that Obama’s “bad choices, including drug use starting in high school and ending in college … are sure to receive new scrutiny.” […]
When the “Conservapedia” was launched, I was convinced it was some kind of joke. Billed as a conservative rival to Wikipedia, Conservapedia would be an ideologically pure, right-wing online collaborative encyclopedia. Of course, the site was so laughably right-wing, and so intentionally devoid of diversity of thought, it seemed obvious that this was some Onion-like […]