Guest Post by Morbo Scandal-plagued political figures often reach a point where they become liabilities. When this happens, a highly placed party official usually arranges for an underling to send the beleaguered person packing. Late in 1987, President Ronald Reagan found himself saddled with a Supreme Court nominee, Douglas Ginsburg, who, it turned out, had […]
Guest Post by Morbo As the Carpetbagger noted earlier this week, federal court nominee Janice Rogers Brown took a much-deserved hit when a rather alarming speech she gave to Catholic lawyers in Connecticut was the subject of a Los Angeles Times story. Brown griped about religion being excluded from public life and claimed that deeply […]
Guest Post by Morbo A few years ago, I stopped sending money to PBS. I’m not quite sure what pushed me over the edge. Probably, it was turning on the TV during pledge week and seeing the upteenth guru/con artist promise me ancient wisdom and quantum happiness if I would buy his book and tapes. […]
A couple of weeks ago, reports surfaced about widespread harassment of non-evangelical Christians at the United State Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, in many instances with the tacit support of school officials. As it turns out, the bullying and discrimination is even more pervasive than previously thought. Religious intolerance is systemic and pervasive at […]
I enjoy clever political shtick as much as the next guy, but like my friend Eugene Oregon, I found this pro-nuclear option tactic painfully dumb. The idea, apparently, is to rally support for ending judicial filibusters by — I’m not kidding — sending senators foam hands with finger tips dipped in blue ink. Naturally, it’s […]
If this is true, it’s going to be huge. The U.S. military staged the interrogations of terrorism suspects for members of Congress and other officials visiting the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make it appear the government was obtaining valuable intelligence, a former Army translator who worked there claims in a new book […]
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: * In a surprise move, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) announced yesterday he would run for state treasurer, not governor. Lockyer had already raised about $11 million for the race, but said […]
Looking beyond the beltway for a moment, it appears the beloved culture war is as heated as ever across the country. * Alabama: A Republican lawmaker recently tried to pass state legislation that would ban public school libraries from stocking plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters. “I don’t look at it […]
Earlier this week, Harry Reid offered Bill Frist a sweet deal: confirmation votes on some of Bush’s worst judicial nominees in exchange for taking the nuclear option off the table. The GOP would get what they want most (more judges on the bench); the Dems would get what they already have (the right to filibuster). […]
At last night’s press conference, Bush distanced himself from the demagogic attacks on Dems, who’ve been attacked as religious bigots by the president’s allies in the religious right and in the Senate. Good for him; it was the only answer of the night with which I could strongly agree. There was, however, one comment in […]