Today’s edition of quick hits. * A majority of Americans — 52% — think House Speaker Dennis [tag]Hastert[/tag] (R-Ill.) should resign from Congress as a result of the Foley scandal. (Note: the question was not about resigning from the leadership, but literally resigning from the House.) * The “moms’ vote” is abandoning the GOP. * […]
Time magazine’s cover story included a gem of a lede: Every revolution begins with the power of an idea and ends when clinging to power is the only idea left. The epitaph for the movement that started when Newt Gingrich and his forces rose from the back bench of the House chamber in 1994 may […]
TNR’s Christopher Orr had an interesting observation today in response to Byron York’s WaPo piece yesterday about the right and the Mark Foley scandal. As York explained, there’s a conservative faction, which York described as the “smell a rat” camp, which actually and inexplicably believes that Dems were involved in the Foley revelations two weeks […]
I’m not even close to an expert on such matters, and I certainly won’t pretend to be, but Knobboy pointed out this analysis of the North Korean nuclear test from Defense Tech, which is always a reliable and credible source on these issues. In short, Defense Tech’s Jeffrey Lewis said North Korea’s bomb was “probably […]
The New York Times is running a terrific series, which started yesterday, on the sometimes-extraordinary benefits extended to religious organizations, which their counterparts, including non-profit organizations, cannot legally receive. A religious day care center, for example, is entitled to tax-breaks and regulatory exemptions that a secular day care center isn’t eligible for. The NYT series […]
Bob [tag]Woodward[/tag]’s “[tag]State of Denial[/tag]” notes that Gov. George W. [tag]Bush[/tag] was ready to run for president in 1998, but had a small problem: he didn’t know anything about foreign policy. Indeed, by his own admission, he’d lived five decades without having given it much thought. Bush’s worried father, who does know a bit about […]
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: * NRCC Chairman [tag]Tom Reynolds[/tag] (R-N.Y.), up to his ears in the Foley scandal, is suddenly finding himself in trouble in his home district. A Buffalo News/Zogby poll released over the weekend shows […]
Oddly enough, it appears the president was actually looking forward to October. [tag]Bush[/tag] has never been particularly fond of hard work and pesky presidential responsibilities such as governing, but heading out to campaign events where he can condemn his Democratic rivals in front of pre-screened adoring crowds is the president’s idea of a good time. […]
It’s a challenge, given the political climate right now, but the Jack [tag]Abramoff[/tag] developments are worth keeping on the front burner. The WaPo had a terrific editorial on the issue yesterday, in which the paper not only accuses the Bush White House of ethically dubious conduct, but also of stonewalling. Remember when President [tag]Bush[/tag] promised […]
Here’s a wild story from over the weekend, brought to my attention by reader J.W. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in [Pittsburgh] for a fund-raiser for Sen. Rick Santorum, had a close encounter with a large group of anti-Republican protesters as he was making his way to the Duquesne Club, Downtown. It was about 4:15 yesterday […]