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: * Newt Gingrich, like most Republicans, apparently isn’t impressed with the current field of GOP presidential candidates. He described the field as “pathetic,” and said those in the race are “pygmies.” He also […]
There’s been a quiet, behind-the-scenes debate over the point for most of the year, but I’m very much inclined to agree with Mark Schmitt’s analysis: presidential candidates probably shouldn’t bother offering detailed plans and white papers for major policy issues during a campaign. The explanation for these plans is that voters deserve to know what […]
The past couple of weeks, we’ve leaned about White House efforts to shamelessly politicize the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the General Services Administration, and the Office of the Surgeon General, agencies that no one ever really thought of as arms of a campaign machine. Today, the Washington Post moves the ball forward even […]
The latest WaPo/ABC poll includes plenty of the usual questions, but the numbers on Iraq were particularly noteworthy. Most Americans see President Bush as intransigent on Iraq and prefer that the Democratic-controlled Congress make decisions about a possible withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. As the president and Congress […]
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a debate featuring questions exclusively from regular folks appearing via YouTube clips. I assumed CNN wouldn’t pick ridiculous questions from the 3,000 submissions, but it remained to be seen whether this novel approach would produce a more engaging event. On the whole, I thought it was a […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * TPMM: “Despite the administration’s statements that a U.S. attorney would not be permitted to enforce a contempt citation from Congress, the House Judiciary Committee will vote Wednesday on whether to cite Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten with statutory contempt, according to a senior committee aide.” * How might things […]
The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol caused a bit of a stir over the weekend when he appeared on Fox News (where else?) and attacked Democratic presidential candidates for agreeing to appear at the YearlyKos convention. “Every Democratic presidential nominee is going to the DailyKos convention,” Kristol said. “That’s the left-wing blogger who was not respectable […]
In 2001, after the explosive growth of the Internet and online businesses in the 1990s, the United States had taken the lead online. In terms of percentage of the population with high-speed access, countries like Japan and Germany had half the penetration we did. France had less than a quarter. Now, all three of those […]
I remember hearing this argument a bit in 2005, but it may be poised for a comeback. “Barack Obama said we’re going to have to have the government take over health care. He at least had the integrity to say he wants to raise your taxes,” Romney said. “The right answer is not a government […]
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee again tomorrow, where he’ll no doubt face questions about the U.S. Attorney scandal. To help lay the groundwork for his defense, Gonzales submitted 26 pages of prepared testimony. Apparently, he’s going to do what he’s been doing. [Gonzales] says he’s staying at […]