Several congressional Republicans began the roll-out yesterday for a new way to privatize Social Security. A lot of leading GOP figures sounded pretty excited about it. An aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called the bill “a great start,” and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) called it “an excellent first step.” Rep. Eric […]
Karl Rove seems to have fallen into a dangerous trap: he’s starting to believe his own propaganda. Speaking in a ballroom just a few miles north of ground zero, Karl Rove said the Democratic party did not understand the consequences of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and […]
Now that the House has approved a constitutional amendment on flag “desecration,” constitution huggers have to hope that the Senate can come through and block this nonsense once again. It looks like it’ll be extremely close, with literally one or two votes making the difference. When the Senate considered the issue in 1995 and 2000, […]
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan hasn’t had it easy lately. For example, hearing McClellan try to defend Dick Cheney’s comments about the Iraqi insurgency being in the “last throes” was genuinely painful. But yesterday was uniquely embarrassing. The New York Times reported that a new CIA document explains that Iraq may soon be an […]
I’m so naïve. I assumed Bill O’Reilly’s penchant for demagoguery couldn’t get any worse. I should have known better. Responding to controversial comments by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) regarding the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said that Americans “must know the difference between dissent from the Iraq […]
The New York Times had an interesting item today about western voters who would seemingly be part of the GOP base, but who are staunchly opposed to some of the energy policies they’re confronting in the region — sometimes literally in their backyard. As a sometime carpenter, Keith Goddard has all the work he can […]
Update: As of 2:41pm, the House approved the measure — 286 to 130, which easily meets the two-thirds threshold. A total of 12 Republicans voted against it, while 77 Dems voted for it. Today’s the day. With the public image of Congress in the tank, House Republicans have vowed to focus on legislation that affects […]
Much has been made of the fact that Bill Frist at first said he was done holding votes on John Bolton’s nomination, only to turn around a couple of hours later to announce the opposite. The first position was taken freely, the second after a meeting at the White House. And while that was the […]
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: * A new statewide poll in California this weeks shows that 58% of all Californians disapprove of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job performance, while only 31% approve. The Field poll data shows a drop […]
The other day I had a post about what Republicans in DC might try to straighten their ship and get some semblance of an agenda back on track. In the comments section, many of you suggested they’d go with more tax cuts, because, when in doubt, the GOP goes with what it knows. A report […]