I don’t know when (or if) it’ll be a available to non-subscribers, but Franklin Foer had a terrific item in the current issue of The New Republic about how lobbyist Jack Abramoff not only corrupted Tom DeLay, but ruined the entire conservative movement. There’s a lot of substance in the piece, but there’s one element […]
Tom DeLay’s ethical transgressions are serious enough to wonder whether he’ll be able to keep his job, but let’s not forget that he’s hardly the only one under a cloud of corruption charges. Consider, for example, House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio). The Washington Post reported a couple of weeks ago that Ney, who […]
A few months ago, Salon had a report that was almost too ridiculous to believe. Many wounded U.S. soldiers, getting treatment at military hospitals, were getting forced to pay for their meals. Most patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington have a lot on their minds: the war they just fought, the […]
There’s hardly any point anymore in noting the polls showing the lack of support for Bush’s Social Security scheme. After a while, it becomes repetitious — the public hates the plan and every poll proves it. The latest Harris poll offers similar data — 59% disapprove of Bush’s handling of Social Security, only 34% approve […]
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. Jim Davis’ gubernatorial campaign in Florida got a big boost yesterday when former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) threw his support behind Davis. Though Graham has stayed neutral in previous Dem primaries […]
This week, two House Democrats wrote to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, calling for an investigation into CPB Chairman Ken Tomlinson’s efforts to move PBS to the right. “Recent news reports suggesting that the CPB increasingly is making personnel and funding decisions on the basis of political ideology are extremely troubling,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) […]
About two weeks ago, congressional negotiators agreed to a proposal from Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) to prohibit the Bush administration from issuing “video news releases” (i.e., fake-news segments) that do not clearly identify the government as the source. There was, however, a catch: the ban expires at the end of September. To get a permanent […]
Matt Yglesias recently suggested that LA Times editor Michael Kinsley intentionally hires dim-witted conservatives to write painfully dumb op-ed columns to help make the right look ridiculous. I was skeptical, but thanks to David Gelernter’s latest piece, I’m largely convinced that Yglesias was on to something. Discussions of school choice and vouchers nearly always assume […]
Every news outlet has a story today about the American Conservative Union’s shindig for Tom DeLay and each point to the predictable palaver from the right-wingers on hand — Republicans are saints, Dems are sinners, yadda yadda yadda. The important thing to remember, however, is that while hundreds of right-wing activists may have cheered for […]
That didn’t take long. Capt. MeLinda Morton, who saw first hand the system of harassment and discrimination against religious minorities at the Air Force Academy, has been fired. An Air Force chaplain who complained that evangelical Christians were trying to “subvert the system” by winning converts among cadets at the Air Force Academy was removed […]