There’s an annoying tendency of high-ranking Bush administration officials to grow bothered by the politics, road blocks, and ineffectiveness surrounding their work, only to have them talk about after they’ve left and it’s too late. The latest in Tommy Thompson. Yesterday, during a rambling question-and-answer session at the Kaiser Family Foundation, Thompson complained bitterly and […]
The Government Accountability Office has already begun looking into the Bush administration’s decision to give Armstrong Williams $240,000, and fortunately, that probe is about to expand to include some more examples of Bush’s political payola. The Government Accountability Office will investigate whether the Bush administration broke the law when it paid a syndicated columnist to […]
There’s something uniquely horrific about school shootings. The overwhelming majority of the time, parents can feel safe knowing that their kids are safe in classrooms, which only makes incidents like the one at Red Lake High School this week all the more tragic. With this in mind, questions about why the White House hasn’t acknowledged […]
My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * I’m not the only one singing Harry Reid’s praises; DNC Chairman Howard Dean is reportedly impressed with the Senate Minority Leader’s “recent aggressive style,” leading to a budding friendship between […]
The bi-partisan push to undo some of the White House’s heartless stem cell policy is making significant headway and should make for an intense political showdown in the coming months. Just last month, Rep. Charles Bass, a New Hampshire Republican, helped push the issue back onto the House agenda with a proposal to scale back […]
It seems like just a year ago that Dick Cheney had become such an embarrassment to the White House that there was widespread talk that Bush would be better off dropping the VP from the ticket. Oh wait, that was just a year ago. And yet, here we are, three-and-a-half years before the next presidential […]
There’s something terribly callous about Republicans in Congress using the Terri Schiavo case for partisan political gain, but it’s downright disgusting to see someone try and raise money off her plight. Videotape of Terri Schiavo blinking at her parents has inspired donations from people around the country to the foundation set up to help pay […]
The AP had a good item the other day about Tom DeLay going on the “offensive” in response to the series of ethical and criminal charges surrounding his political empire. One part of the Majority Leader’s response stood out. [DeLay] also has devised a blame-the-Democrats strategy, portraying his accusers as politically motivated while saying, “I […]
At first, it was just one poll. Newsweek showed Bush’s job approval rating slipping to 45%, the lowest it’s been in nearly a year and the second lowest in a Newsweek poll since Bush’s presidency began in 2001. Then, a CBS poll reinforced the slide, showing Bush’s support dropping to 43%, a six-point drop in […]
To follow up on an item from last week, there’s something about the Republican agenda that has a certain “Groundhog Day” quality to it. Despite all the talk that the GOP is the party of new and innovative ideas, Republican lawmakers keep unveiling agenda items that tend to generate a haven’t-we-already-done-this response. Two weeks ago, […]