Few of the political fights of the Bush presidency have been as annoying as the one over the White House drive to stack the courts with conservative judges. After years of seeing dozens of Clinton judicial nominees denied even a single hearing in Orrin Hatch’s Judiciary Committee, it’s hard to feel sorry for Republicans when […]
I noticed that Frederick Maryland was troubled by something he saw on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, so I decided to check it out for myself. Before I get into this, I’d like to note that, as a rule, I don’t approve of political name calling. I do my best not to engage in it (much), […]
Nearly a year ago, we learned that the GOP had scheduled the latest national party nominating convention in U.S. history. Looking at the calendar, the motivation wasn’t complicated. For the first time ever, the Republicans scheduled the RNC to conclude in September so that Bush could engage in the most crass political exploitation imaginable — […]
To update a story from last month, there’s been a positive development in the controversy surrounding an HHS health care report that hid embarrassing data about health, race, and poverty. In case you’re just joining us, here’s a review. The Department of Health and Human Services is required to produce annual reports on racial disparities […]
There were reports in December that the Justice Department was “considering” looking into the alleged bribe Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) was offered in exchange for his vote on Bush’s Medicare bill in November, but there weren’t any follow-up reports. We also learned recently that the House Ethics Committee was investigating the controversy, but there’s been […]
Yesterday I noted that Josh Chafetz at Oxblog has a running tally on Senate support for the Federal Marriage Amendment based on specific statements made by lawmakers. Remember, with a two-thirds threshold for constitutional amendments, FMA backers will need 67 votes to succeed in the Senate, and conversely, opponents will need 33 votes to block […]
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia needs to hire two people: a scheduler who reviews which cases are coming up and a travel agent who can plan his trips accordingly. Because at this point, his travel habits are making a biased jurist look even worse. Scalia’s record came into question last month when the LA Times […]
She may be a Democrat, but Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) was way out of line this week. Her comments were repulsive and indefensible. If she were a Republican, I’d be apoplectic, so fairness demands that I condemn her here as well. In case you’ve missed the reports, the AP explained: U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally […]
Bush may want a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but unless he’s figured out a way to get one ratified without the U.S. Senate, it doesn’t much matter. Several sites are posting updated head counts on senators’ positions on the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment. With a two-thirds threshold for passage, 34 senators can block […]
I like John Edwards a lot. I think he has tremendous natural political skills, he delivers a great speech, and his domestic policy ideas are spot on. He’s run an excellent, positive, issue-driven campaign and he has a very bright future ahead of him, whether he wins the nomination this year or not. But, like […]