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: * Over the weekend, New Orleans voters narrowly re-elected Mayor [tag]Ray Nagin[/tag] (D) over Lt. Gov. [tag]Mitch Landrieu[/tag] (D), 52% to 48%. The victory gives Nagin another four years to oversee one of […]
Since USA Today broke word about a massive [tag]NSA[/tag] [tag]database[/tag] that catalogs most of the nation’s [tag]domestic[/tag] [tag]phone calls[/tag], one of the principal defenses for the program is that officials aren’t [tag]listen[/tag]ing to Americans’ conversations, just tracking who calls whom. The administration could [tag]eavesdrop[/tag], the [tag]Bush[/tag] gang argues, but it’s decided that it won’t. Today, […]
In light of Sen. [tag]Joe Lieberman[/tag]’s poor showing at the hands of his fellow Connecticut Dems Friday night, the NYT’s [tag]Paul Krugman[/tag] raised a point today that’s bothered me for a while: the discontent over [tag]Lieberman[/tag] extends well beyond the [tag]war[/tag] in [tag]Iraq[/tag]. What happened to Mr. Lieberman? Some news reports may lead you to […]
If the reports are accurate, I have no qualms about throwing Rep. [tag]William Jefferson[/tag] under the bus. Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public [tag]corruption[/tag] probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit released […]
I admit that I didn’t follow the “controversy” surrounding the [tag]Dixie Chicks[/tag] very closely in 2003, but I can’t help but enjoy seeing how the country group isn’t backing down now. Now that [[tag]Natalie Maines[/tag] is] truly notorious, having told a London audience in 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, “Just so you […]
Just to update an item from last Monday, [tag]TruthOut[/tag]’s [tag]Jason Leopold[/tag] reported nine days ago that [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] has, in fact, been [tag]indicted[/tag] as part of the [tag]Plame[/tag] investigation, and was given 24 hours to prepare. It’s been a week and nothing’s happened. Over the weekend, TruthOut published a “partial [tag]apology[/tag]” from its executive director, […]
Over the last week or so, three leading Democratic writers — Peter Beinart, Mark Schmitt, and Paul Waldman — have looked at the party’s relationship with someone they not-quite-fondly refer to as “Nascar Man.” As Beinart described it, Dems’ efforts to impress Nascar man are foolish, and worse, a distraction from substantive debates that the […]
At a minimum, I guess the liberal love affair with [tag]John McCain[/tag] is over. “I haven’t heard anyone aroused about me speaking at the New School,” John [tag]McCain[/tag] said in April, defending his decision to address Jerry [tag]Falwell[/tag]’s Liberty University. Nobody at all, except for virtually the entire crowd at the New School’s Madison Square […]
I wish the Bush gang could keep its story straight. [tag]President[/tag] George W. [tag]Bush[/tag] has long opposed making [tag]English[/tag] the country’s [tag]national language[/tag], Attorney General [tag]Alberto Gonzales[/tag] said on Friday, a day after the Senate voted to do so, but the White House said later Gonzales had got caught in a “[tag]linguistic snare[/tag].” […] Gonzales […]
The [tag]Connecticut[/tag] Democratic Party’s [tag]state convention[/tag] met last night, in part to help decide who’d qualify for the party’s primary ballot. All eyes were on [tag]Ned Lamont[/tag], who needed 15% of Connecticut delegates to be able to take on Sen. [tag]Joe Lieberman[/tag] in August. As it turned out, he did a little better than 15%. […]