Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, congressional Dems will begin 2007 with a fairly aggressive policy agenda, and near the top of the list a key health care policy Dems have been itching to implement for a long time: using the government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. The Bush administration opposes the move. This is […]
With the elections over, and the Dems in control, the first big fight for the party isn’t with the administration or the outgoing GOP majority, it’s within — Dems need to fill leadership posts. The party avoided one contentious fight last week on the Majority Whip gig, but the Majority Leader contest is just heating […]
On Meet the Press yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) rejected a troop redeployment plan for Iraq out of hand, insisting that it would “lead to chaos.” Indeed, McCain ended up using the word “chaos” four times during the interview. I’m curious, if this isn’t chaos, what is? Baghdad’s morgues are full. With no space to […]
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: * Despite multiple scandals, including allegedly accosting a woman in a Las Vegas parking lot, Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons (R) managed to win Nevada’s gubernatorial race last week with 48% support. The Las Vegas […]
It’s a time-old political tradition: if you’re in charge when your team suffers a dramatic defeat, you fall on your sword. It’s not only the honorable thing to do, there’s also a degree of common sense — whatever you were doing wasn’t working, so it’s time for a new team. With this in mind, Bob […]
I don’t mean to belabor the point about Bush lying to reporters on keeping Rumsfeld around — the president got caught in a whopper, but it’s a personnel question, where whoppers are largely expected — but there’s one last point to consider here: ongoing credibility problems. Bush had told the AP that he wanted Rumsfeld […]
The midterm elections were, let’s see, six days ago, and the results rocked the political landscape. We’re still trying to digest what happened, why, and what it all means. Everyone, on both sides of the aisle, is slowly beginning to make plans for the lame-duck session, and then figure out what happens come January. There […]
I suppose the first clue that Sen. Joe [tag]Lieberman[/tag] (I-Conn.) was going to cause some heartburn on Meet the Press yesterday was when, fairly early on, the senator smiled and compared himself to former Sen. [tag]Harry Byrd[/tag] (I-Va.), who left the Dems in the 1970s, became an independent, but caucused with the party anyway. It […]
I believe it’s important that Americans appreciate the democratic process, but this seems to have “soft bigotry of low expectations” written all over it. From yesterday’s presidential radio address: One freedom that defines our way of life is the freedom to choose our leaders at the ballot box. We saw that freedom earlier this week, […]
Now that Dems have reclaimed the majority in Congress, one of the many questions to consider is how the party will run the show. The outgoing Republican majority didn’t exactly offer a model of efficacy. It is no big scoop that the majority party in Congress has always found ways of giving the shaft to […]