Senate Republicans are either bluffing or they’ve assembled the votes they need to pass the “nuclear option.” Republicans believe they have enough votes to end the filibustering of judicial nominees, a landmark change in Senate rules that would clear the way for President Bush to get conservative judges confirmed but could draw a forceful reaction […]
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: * Following former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume’s announcement that he’ll seek Maryland’s Senate seat next year, Rep. Albert Wynn (D) said he’ll skip the race. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D), meanwhile, […]
Consider this quote of the day: Privately, some Republican lawmakers were much less supportive of Mr. DeLay, with one saying that if the steady drone of accusations persists, Mr. DeLay will be in trouble and could be forced to surrender his post. “I don’t know if it is tomorrow or next year, but it is […]
Bush said we’d have 125,000 trained Iraqi security forces by the end of 2004, which wasn’t even close to true. Condi Rice insists there 120,000 are now trained, equipped, and ready to provide security, which is still wildly off-base. The Pentagon says there are 136,000 members of Iraqi security forces, but grudgingly notes that less […]
Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum makes no effort to hide the fact that he’s a devout Roman Catholic. What’s interesting, though, is that he’s taken to organizing classes on Catholic doctrine for members of Congress in his private office. Santorum has brought in the Rev. Michael Sliney, a local priest, to oversee the course, which […]
I know I’m a day late on this one, but Condoleezza Rice said something ridiculous on Meet the Press Sunday that’s still bugging me. Russert brought up the fact that Rice described herself in a recent interview as “mildly pro-choice” and asked Rice to explain. She gave a fairly predictable answer: she’s against some peripheral […]
House Dems, particularly those trying to serve on the House Ethics Committee, have come to realize something important: there’s no point in having the committee do any work at all if it’s going to operate under fraudulent rules. They’ve intentionally brought on gridlock, which given the circumstances, is exactly what’s warranted. Just as new controversy […]
For all the talk in some circles that “obstructionism” is politically dangerous for Democrats (Sebastian Mallaby, I’m looking in your direction), evidence keeps mounting that the current Republican agenda is fundamentally unpopular with the public. Yesterday, there was the new Washington Post/ABC News poll showing support for Bush’s handling of Social Security falling to just […]
The circumstances surrounding Clark Kent Ervin’s firing as the inspector general from the Department of Homeland Security have always been rather fishy. Ervin generated broad and bi-partisan praise for his efforts to improve the agency and point out its shortcomings, but was shown the door a year after starting. (Ervin got the job during a […]
If you haven’t already, you may soon be hearing about John Gasquet. He hasn’t done anything remarkable, but he may have received a phone call recently that would mark a whole new, Stalin-like chapter in the White House’s efforts to shield Bush from dissent (via Cursor). “The man who called was very polite and nice,” […]