I mentioned last Thursday that I expect a constitutional amendment to “protect” the flag to work its way onto the Republican front burner very soon, in part to help direct attention away from their faltering agenda and in part because it’s a vote-getting wedge issue. Or is it? I was very surprised by the results […]
The last we heard from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), he was rewriting amendments offered by Dems on his committee to make them appear to support sexual predators. Last week, Sensenbrenner drew the Dems’ ire again, this time for his behavior at a hearing on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. Sensenbrenner had initially […]
With Tom DeLay’s scandals generating so much attention, reporters seem intent on finding similar controversies surrounding other lawmakers — particularly Dems. It’s part of the pox-on-both-your-houses style embraced by journalists who are afraid of being accused of harboring a partisan bias. Almost two weeks ago, it was a front-page Washington Post piece on some Dem […]
DNC Chairman Howard Dean was on the Hill late last week for a series of meetings, and met with reporters for an informal press conference with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. One “reporter” went out of his way to disrupt the event. I’ll give you one guess which news outlet sent him. [Fox News correspondent […]
Vice President Dick Cheney, on Howard Dean’s provocative rhetoric: “That’s not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party…. I really think Howard Dean’s over the top.” Dick Cheney’s own penchant for colorful rhetoric: A brief argument between Vice President Cheney and a senior Democratic senator led Cheney to utter a […]
My three-day weekend is over and I’m back to the regular schedule today. Many thanks to Ed Stephan for his truly excellent work as a guest poster on Friday, and to Morbo for his always-great contributions on Saturday. And now, back to the news….
Carpetbagger left me with a suggested topic to post: Best Political Movie. I’m not sure how tightly to define that. The classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, was certainly political. So was The Last Hurrah. Sunrise at Campobello, too, though it had touches of biography. Citizen Kane was mostly biographical, but it did include his […]
Guest Post by Morbo Recently I read a review of Our Oldest Enemies: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France, a new book that claims the French have worked for centuries to undermine America’s interests. Browsing at my local book store last week, I saw a different book making a similar argument. Although I […]
Guest Post by Morbo Of all the dumb things Christian fundamentalists say about evolution — and they say many dumb things about it — perhaps the dumbest is a line like this: “We didn’t come from monkeys!” When anti-evolutionists say this, it proves they have no understanding of what the theory of evolution teaches. It […]
Guest Post by Morbo I wish Amnesty International had not called the Guantanamo Bay detention center a “gulag.” It’s not because I think conditions there are cushy. The existence of this camp, where detainees are housed without access to attorneys and with no charges being filed against them, is a stain on our Constitution. It’s […]