Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Senate voted 64-35 to revive the immigration compromise bill that appeared dead last week. A similar test-vote earlier this month found just 45 supporters (7 Republicans), while today generated 64 voted (including 24 Republicans). In other words, after a massive push from the far-right GOP base, the Republican […]
There’s been considerably less attention given to the latest installment of the WaPo’s massive Dick Cheney profile, “The Angler,” in part because the first two were so dramatic, the third pales in comparison. Today’s edition describes the Vice President’s role in shaping the White House’s domestic agenda, including tax policy. As Jo Becker and Barton […]
When we last heard from Ann Coulter, she was telling a large right-wing gathering in DC that former Sen. John Edwards is a “faggot.” Yesterday, the hateful clown appeared on Good Morning America, and followed up on her remarks. “I’ve learned my lesson; if I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, […]
It’s late-September 2004, just six weeks before Election Day. John Kerry is awfully close to Bush in the polls, and Americans’ concerns about the war in Iraq are escalating. An op-ed appears in the Washington Post that helps change the conventional wisdom among the DC chattering class: I see tangible progress [in Iraq]. Iraqi security […]
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has sunk his teeth into the latest Cheney scandal and he isn’t letting go. Today’s edition is particularly devastating. In a letter to the White House counsel’s office, Waxman notes that White House spokesperson Dana Perino told reporters last week, “The president and the vice […]
I noted a couple of weeks ago that the California Republican Party has found itself in an embarrassing jam. The state GOP hired Christopher Matthews, a Canadian citizen, as its state deputy political director through a coveted H-1B visa, which seemed odd, given that the party was implicitly suggesting that there are no Americans in […]
The ACLU, MoveOn.org, and a variety of other civil liberties groups have made today a “Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice” on Capitol Hill. The goal is straightforward: convince Congress to “restore the right of habeas corpus.” Coinciding with this important effort is an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal from James Taranto […]
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: * Rudy Giuliani lost his South Carolina campaign chairman, Thomas Ravenel, last week to federal cocaine-distribution charges. Yesterday, Giuliani picked a replacement, Ravenel’s father, Arthur. The new chairman is perhaps best known for […]
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to Sally Quinn’s WaPo columns. Her reputation for being the social director of the Georgetown cocktail circuit is well deserved; Quinn’s columns tend to let readers know what Republican socialites in DC are chatting about. Hardly the stuff of Pulitzers. But today’s Quinn piece is a little startling […]
We learned last week that of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic. I suggested that perhaps the State Department could address the problem by reaching out to some of the dozens of well-trained Arabic linguists the Pentagon threw out of the military for […]