After the 2004 elections, several far-right groups insisted they were responsible for turning out “values voters” who tipped the scales for the GOP. In 2005, they wanted a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage as a reward. They didn’t get it. It seems even less likely to make a comeback in 2006, […]
According to Bob Novak, whose Republican sources are pretty solid, there’s a good reason the House GOP won’t choose new leaders until Feb. 2 — they’re not at all anxious to get back to work. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert turned down a White House request to elect a permanent successor to Tom DeLay as […]
The close personal and professional relationship between Ralph Reed — former Christian Coalition director, Bush campaign advisor, and current lieutenant governor candidate in Georgia — and Jack Abramoff is well documented. What’s new, however, is the toll it’s taking on Reed’s career. If Reed assumed voters in Georgia wouldn’t get caught up in what some […]
The New York Times ran an item late last week about Tom DeLay’s upcoming re-election fight, which will not only be the toughest of his career, but also threaten to end his career. The article quoted some local GOP leaders who found the very idea of DeLay being vulnerable absurd. “The only people who consider […]
In case there was any doubt over the precarious state of Rep. Bob Ney’s (R-Ohio) future, House Speaker Dennis Hastert made things awfully clear on Friday afternoon. Roll Call ran a report indicating that Ney, who’s up to his ears in the Abramoff scandal, may be forced to give up his chairmanship of the powerful […]
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) may have been needlessly easy on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, but when it comes to Bush’s warrantless-search program, Pennsylvania’s senior senator has said all the right things. Now, the test will be to see if he means it. After several weeks in which Specter has been as […]
The “fight” over Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court nomination wasn’t supposed to go this way. This guy not only had a voluminous record after 15 years on the appellate bench, it was all almost embarrassingly conservative. Dems and progressive groups had several weeks to prepare, craft a compelling narrative, pressure moderate and vulnerable Republicans, and narrow […]
When Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) unveiled a redeployment plan for Iraq, most of us assumed it would only be a matter of time before the decorated Marine veteran received the Swiftboat treatment. I just didn’t expect it to be so literal. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of […]
On Thursday, Bush participated in a roundtable discussion with small business owners and community leaders in New Orleans, billed as a chance to discuss the progress seen over the last few months. But when the president said the city is “a heck of a place to bring your family,” it couldn’t have been too encouraging […]
Al Gore has scheduled a major address for Monday. If you get the chance, you might want to check it out — it sounds like it’ll be pretty powerful. In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former Vice President is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a “Constitutional […]