In the highly unlikely event that you’ve been shielded from all media over the last 16 hours, I thought I’d mention that Bob Novak had a stunning on-air meltdown on CNN yesterday. Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist whose unmasking of a C.I.A. operative touched off an investigation about a possible leak, stalked off a […]
It seems like ancient history, but the 2004 presidential election wasn’t that long ago. It was even recent enough for me to remember some of the things voters were told. For example, Bush-Cheney ’04 told us that we couldn’t vote for Kerry or we’d see an increase in government spending. As it turns out… Having […]
USA Today’s Susan Page had a fascinating, must-read item yesterday, primarily about an initiative called the “Ohio Restoration Project,” which is a network of extremely conservative, vaguely theocratic, right-wing “Patriot Pastors” who hope to take over the state politically. Pastor Russell Johnson paces across the broad stage as he decries the “secular jihadists” who have […]
I’ve mentioned, on several occasions, how much I like Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. On a variety of issues, he and I are not exactly on the same page, but when it comes to an aggressive, feisty attitude, Reid is my kind of guy. There’s a terrific profile on Reid in the current issue of […]
A couple of months ago, John Edwards had a stunning post at the TPM Café about the tragedy that leads poor people to pay more for nearly everything. In the same vein, I found this item from the current issue of The Atlantic disheartening. It’s a paradoxical fact that being poor frequently results in having […]
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: * Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) may be under ridicule for her media conspiracy ideas, but not all the news was bad for her yesterday. Florida House Speaker Allan Bense (R), who had been […]
Election-starved political observers are diligently analyzing Ohio’s Paul Hackett-Jean Schmidt special election, looking for signs, trends, or even hints about what’s to come. There is a risk, of course, of reading too much into this either way. Dems are noting that a terrific Dem candidate nearly beat a Republican in one of the reddest congressional […]
For over a year, there was an odd, simmering fight between Congress and the president over the transportation bill. Bush told lawmakers, in no uncertain terms, that the legislation could cost no more than $284 billion. Lawmakers were prepared to risk, and possibly overturn, a White House veto on the issue. (Never get between a […]
In 1992, Colorado voters narrowly approved a truly outrageous, anti-gay ballot measure called “Amendment 2.” The initiative was written to prevent any municipality in the state from providing discrimination protections for gays, and nullified laws that had already been adopted in Aspen, Boulder, and Denver. It was obvious bigotry, plain and simple. Amendment 2 sparked […]
We’ve seen, on too many occasions, that the Bush administration will gladly reject, edit, or delete scientific evidence if it conflicts with the president’s agenda. Alas, the same problem exists on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue too. We learned last month, for example, that Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Energy and […]