We knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any better. The House Friday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government’s terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country. The bill, which was passed on a 293-129 […]
California petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions more forcefully than the federal government. EPA policy experts agreed that the state qualified for the waivers, but in the 11th hour, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, one of the Bush administration’s more humiliating hacks, intervened and denied the California’s request. Dems on […]
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: * Earlier this week, two Muslim women were asked “not to sit where they could be photographed” behind Barack Obama because “they were wearing traditional religious head coverings.” Yesterday, Obama called both Shimaa […]
For quite a while, it looked as if the Republican Party had just about given up on taking Osama bin Laden seriously. During his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney took a surprisingly passive attitude towards the terrorist responsible for 9/11, saying, “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch […]
Hillary Clinton’s gracious, classy concession speech in DC a couple of weeks ago went a long way towards promoting some intra-party unity, but to her enormous credit, the senator is just getting started. Clinton vowed to work her heart out to help Obama, and it’s clear she meant it. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s campaign […]
This week, high-profile Republicans, many of whom had opposed coastal drilling, enthusiastically reversed course and began demanding that coastal drilling begin immediately. This was especially jarring in Florida, where Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez — both Republicans who had opposed offshore drilling as recently as last week — came out in support of […]
The Associated Press’ Liz Sidoti last generated attention in March, when, at a conference for the nation’s newspaper editors, she greeted McCain with a box of Dunkin’ Donuts. Sidoti made sure she got McCain his favorite kind — “Oh, yes, with sprinkles!” he said — and then passed McCain a cup. “A little coffee with […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * These guys are going to need good lawyers: “Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges they intentionally misled investors in two funds that collapsed last summer under the weight of wrong-way bets on mortgage-backed […]
There’s something eminently entertaining about Fox News polls, in large part because the network includes questions in its polls that no other news outlet would even consider. In this case, that’s not a compliment. In the poll (.pdf) released this afternoon, the big question, of course, was about the horserace in the general election. Fox […]
Barack Obama launched his first general-election ad today, and it’s aimed specifically at “red” states with a carefully tailored message: For those who can’t watch clips online, the ad’s script is pretty straightforward: “I’m Barack Obama. America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life’s been blessed by both. “I was raised […]