About once a month now, [tag]SurveyUSA[/tag] releases a 50-state [tag]poll[/tag] on the [tag]president[/tag]’s support in the states. Not surprisingly, this week’s results are the worst to date. [tag]Bush[/tag] is down to just three states in which his support is 50% or better ([tag]Idaho[/tag], [tag]Wyoming[/tag], and [tag]Utah[/tag]). He has fallen into the 30s in 37 [tag]states[/tag] […]
I’ll readily admit I’m confused by this. BellSouth Corp. yesterday denied it gave customer calling records to the National Security Agency en masse, contradicting a newspaper report that said it did so along with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. to help the government track suspected terrorists. “As a result of media reports that BellSouth […]
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: * Rep. [tag]William Jefferson[/tag] (D-La.) denied bribery charges yesterday, but acknowledged that he expects to be indicted. As for how this might affect his political career, Jefferson vowed to stay in office and […]
OK, everyone switch sides! For nearly two years, [tag]Senate[/tag] [tag]Republicans[/tag] have been itching to execute the “[tag]nuclear option[/tag],” which would, in effect, change the chamber’s filibuster rules by cheating. Senate [tag]Democrats[/tag], worried about losing their last tool to keep far-right ideologues off the federal bench, have said the right to filibuster is sacrosanct. Now, with […]
Right on cue. For weeks, Sen. [tag]Arlen Specter[/tag] (R-Pa.) has talked tough in response to revelations about Bush’s legally dubious [tag]surveillance[/tag] efforts. Over the weekend, Specter even complained publicly, “[T]here really has to be in our system of law and government, checks and balance, separation of powers, congressional oversight and bob, there has been no […]
Given his comments yesterday on the [tag]president[/tag]’s national support, I think [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] has climbed into [tag]Bush[/tag]’s bubble. Despite low approval ratings, “I’m sanguine,” [tag]Rove[/tag] said. “I know our own polls.” He said that Bush’s likeability, his [tag]personal[/tag] [tag]approval ratings[/tag], were in the 60s in some polls. “Job approval is lower. And what that says […]
Following up on their earlier report on the government [tag]monitor[/tag]ing their [tag]calls[/tag], [tag]ABC[/tag] News’ Brian Ross and Richard Esposito added last night that the FBI has acknowledged that it is “increasingly seeking reporters’ phone records in leak investigations.” “It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in […]
Last night, in his first [tag]Oval Office[/tag] address on domestic public policy, [tag]Bush[/tag] had a few goals in mind. It’s not at all clear he achieved any of them. President Bush, acknowledging that the nation “has not been in complete control of its [tag]borders[/tag],” said Monday that he would send as many as 6,000 [tag]National […]
As political desperation goes, tonight’s presidential prime-time address on immigration policy is rather dire. It was particularly telling over the weekend when one [tag]Republican[/tag] House member told the New York Times, “Karl Rove seems determined to secure the border.” Not [tag]Bush[/tag], not [tag]DHS[/tag], but [tag]Rove[/tag]. The new-found presidential interest in the issue, in other words, […]
Way back in January, NBC’s [tag]Andrea Mitchell[/tag] was interviewing New York Times reporter [tag]James Risen[/tag], discussing Bush’s warrantless-search program, which Risen helped expose. Mitchell, mid-way through the interview, asked, “You don’t have any information, for instance, that a very prominent journalist, [tag]Christiane Amanpour[/tag], might have been eavesdropped upon?” It seemed like an odd question, the […]