The ongoing drive to prevent the Bush administration from creating publicly-funded fake news segments is continuing unabated, but the president’s critics are a little short on allies. The administration won’t budge, Republicans in Congress won’t hold hearings, and the Justice Department hasn’t exactly leaped into action to investigate. With this in mind, attention now shifts […]
Just to let readers know, I’m aware of the ongoing problems that have led to issues with the RSS feed and Carpetbagger emails. In fact, if you’ve tried to send anything to the usual email address, it’s either bounced back to you or disappeared into the ether. Sorry. Rest assured, I’m working with my “technical […]
Literally one year ago this week, Dems on the Hill were telling reporters that part of their election strategy for 2004 was to taint the entire Republican caucus by demonizing Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Aside from giving Chris Shays (R-Conn.) a tough race, the strategy didn’t really go anywhere. On the surface, it seems like […]
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft had any number of possible places to go in his post-administration life. Think tanks, law firms, lobbying firms — after successfully “securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror,” the right-wing world was his oyster. So, where does the most controversial attorney general in a generation end up? Where […]
Yesterday, Bush urged members of Congress to go back to their communities and “talk to their constituents not only about the problem, but about solutions. I urge members to start talking about how we’re going to permanently fix Social Security.” To be sure, it was an odd thing for this president to say. After all, […]
My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may nevertheless be of interest to political observers: * Wesley Clark is back with a new website for his political action committee and his stated plans to “stay at the forefront of the national debate.” As for speculation […]
With the “nuclear option” barreling down on the Senate, and the subsequent and inevitable fallout that will follow, I’ve been curious to see “compromise” proposals pop up that would seek to avoid legislative disaster. So far, it’s been pretty underwhelming. The latest tack comes by way of Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson (the chamber’s most conservative […]
David Sirota noticed a real problem Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum might have when running for a third term next year: he’s hardly a Pennsylvania resident anymore. When Santorum first ran for Congress in 1990, he made a huge issue out of his opponent’s home in suburban DC. As Roll Call reported at the time: […]
In recent months, Republicans in Congress have offered critics ample opportunities to use the “pro-torture” label. For example, when lawmakers endorsed Alberto Gonzales’ nomination to be attorney general, it was characterized as a practical referendum on Bush’s torture policies — to vote for Gonzales, despite his role in shaping administration policies that led to widespread […]
Democrats argue that Republicans want to eliminate Social Security and replace it with a private system. Republicans insist that they want to protect Social Security so it will be around for future generations. That is, that was the Republican argument. Republican lawmakers, trying to convince a skeptical public about the wisdom of their Social Security […]