Much to the [tag]White House[/tag]’s chagrin, the Wall Street Journal’s [tag]Peggy Noonan[/tag], the former Reagan speechwriter, hasn’t exactly been a [tag]Bush[/tag] cheerleader. She’s panned Bush’s State of the Union and even openly speculated about Bush getting rid of Dick Cheney. Noonan certainly hasn’t shifted to the left — she did, after all, say that liberals […]
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 a setback for DSCC recruiting, Las Vegas Mayor [tag]Oscar Goodman[/tag] (D) announced yesterday that he will not run against incumbent Sen. [tag]John Ensign[/tag] (R-Nev.) this year, despite pressure from leading Dems. […]
Anyone who gets a presidential [tag]pardon[/tag] from [tag]Bush[/tag] has to consider themselves awfully lucky. With only 80 pardons issued since 2001, Bush is on pace to be the stingiest two-term president in American history when it comes to granting clemency. But in the case of [tag]Anthony Franchi[/tag], it may have been more than luck. On […]
[tag]China[/tag]’s [tag]Hu Jintao[/tag] will receive a warm welcome at the Bush White House today, complete with a 21-gun salute the on the South lawn. [tag]Bush[/tag] and [tag]Hu[/tag] will then discuss international affairs, followed by the traditional news conference that always accompanies meetings between the U.S. presidents and foreign leaders. Actually, never mind that last part. […]
Jonathan Chait has a good review of Joe Klein’s new book, “Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You’re Stupid,” in the upcoming issue of The New Republic. Apparently, the gist of Klein’s premise is that domestic politics has become “mechanistic and bland” due to emotionless politicians who listen to overly-cautious […]
In early 2005, [tag]Kansas[/tag] Attorney General [tag]Phill Kline[/tag] (R) launched an unprecedented effort to subpoena medical records from state abortion clinics, insisting that harassing clinics and obtaining confidential records is necessary to combat statutory rape. In February, the Kansas Supreme Court today blocked Kline’s plan, ruling that the initiative would violate patients’ [tag]privacy[/tag]. But Kline […]
I was anxious to see how the major dailies — who have reporters with better [tag]White House[/tag] sources than I do — covered yesterday’s [tag]staff[/tag]ing changes in the West Wing, and see how insiders described the significance of the “shake-up” for Bush’s presidency. The consensus: not much. [tag]Karl Rove[/tag], for example, has lost some power […]
OK, so [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] is giving up the policy job he never should have had in the first place. Who’s getting the responsibilities that have been taken away from Rove? That would be [tag]Joel Kaplan[/tag]. Who’s he? I’m glad you asked. According to his official WH bio, Kaplan seems like a logical choice to coordinate […]
Newsweek’s [tag]Howard Fineman[/tag] takes a relatively helpful big-picture look at this morning’s events in the White House and suggests [tag]Josh Bolten[/tag] is the big winner — because he’ll go home tonight with more [tag]power[/tag], and [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] will go home with less. In the snakepit of the White House — any [tag]White House[/tag] — power […]
I noted earlier this week about a breathtakingly dishonest [tag]ad[/tag] the Republican National Committee is running out West accusing Dems voting to “treat millions of hardworking [tag]immigrants[/tag] as [tag]felons[/tag],” when in fact, [tag]Republicans[/tag] had done so. A number of you asked what the Dems, specifically the DNC, planned to do about this. The Note reported […]