I think there’s something wrong with this new Gallup poll. A new [tag]Gallup[/tag] [tag]poll[/tag] asking Americans theirs views of 25 leading candidates for president in 2008 found that one of the Republican frontrunners, Sen. [tag]John McCain[/tag], is judged “[tag]unacceptable[/tag]” by 41% of those in his own party. A bare majority, 55%, find him “[tag]acceptable[/tag].” In […]
Milestones and turning points come and go in Iraq, but conditions keep deteriorating. An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported Tuesday, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad. The death toll, drawn […]
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: * In Georgia, the big news was [tag]Ralph Reed[/tag]’s defeat, but there were other key primary races decided yesterday. In the Dems’ gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. [tag]Mark Taylor[/tag] (D) defeated Georgia Secretary of […]
In 2001, when the [tag]White House[/tag] decided it would work with congressional Dems on No Child Left Behind legislation, Dems made one thing perfectly clear: no [tag]vouchers[/tag]. Plenty of ideas were on the table, but there was simply no way Dems would support a national plan that used public funds to subsidize tuition at religious […]
For a slow-moving bureaucracy, [tag]Republicans[/tag] in Washington sure can move quickly when they want to. The Republican leadership is aware of the conflict between the short and long-term interests of the party and is doing what it can to diminish the cost. On [tag]stem cells[/tag], for example, the tactic is to get the battle over […]
Yesterday, Attorney General [tag]Alberto Gonzales[/tag] acknowledged for the first time that the [tag]president[/tag] personally blocked [tag]Justice Department[/tag] lawyers from pursuing an internal probe of the White House’s [tag]warrantless[/tag]-[tag]search[/tag] program. As it turns out, this is a story that may have some legs. Bush’s decision represents an unusually direct and unprecedented White House intervention into an […]
The WaPo’s Dana Milbank had an entertaining item on yesterday’s House “debate” on a [tag]constitutional amendment[/tag] to ban [tag]gay marriage[/tag], and some of the least compelling arguments offered by the measure’s supporters. I’m having trouble picking the most ridiculous…. Choice A: “Marriage is not about love,” volunteered Rep. [tag]Todd Akin[/tag] (R-Mo.), who noted his 31 […]
[tag]Ralph Reed[/tag], a man who once bragged about leaving his political opponents in “body bags,” saw his political career come to a screeching halt last night. In fact, it wasn’t even close. Ralph Reed, the former director of the [tag]Christian Coalition[/tag] and a former Republican lobbyist involved in the Jack Abramoff scandal, suffered an embarrassing […]
Sixty three votes is great, but it won’t be enough to reverse Bush. The Senate voted Tuesday after two days of emotional debate to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and sent the measure to President Bush for a promised veto, the first of his presidency. The bill passed 63-37, four votes short […]
Today’s vote in the House on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage went about as expected; 236 lawmakers voted for it (including 34 Dems), 187 members voted against it (including 27 Republicans). The majority still fell 46 votes short of the two-thirds majority it needed. But the predictable outcome aside, one lawmaker raised a […]