That Nancy Reagan is an enthusiastic advocate of federal support for stem-cell research is well known. What’s interesting however, is her willingness to literally get on the phone to lobby lawmakers directly on behalf of the policy. Former first lady Nancy Reagan called members of the California congressional delegation shortly before the House voted May […]
Guest Post by Ed Stephan. The White House seems to be happy with what’s going on in Iraq during recent weeks. Bush, augmenting his remarks with a Pat-Robertson semi-giggle, tells us he’s “pleased”. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said he was pleased with progress in Iraq more than two years after he […]
Guest Post by Ed Stephan. In testimony May 26 before the Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (chair John Cornyn, R-TX), Princeton University professor Douglas Massey, at the invitation of ranking Democrat Ted Kennedy, cited two decades of research which point to a fundamental contradiction in U.S.-Mexico relations: On the one hand, […]
Guest Post by Ed Stephan. Carpetbagger asked me to expand on my post about the Italian economist/sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923). There I talked about the cycle Pareto said most governments went through: obtaining power through actual or promised problem-solving, followed by increasing concern about merely staying in power. Since problems aren’t getting solved, governments turn […]
When the typical American thinks about corruption in Washington, they probably imagine movie-like scenarios in which an obese man with a cigar summons a congressman, hands him a briefcase full of cash in a darkened room, and the congressman in turn does the donor’s bidding. Real-life corruption doesn’t look like this at all. It looks […]
The Washington Post’s Mike Allen had a terrific item today about a phenomenon Republican strategists are calling “the DeLay effect” — the way in which questions surrounding Tom DeLay are starting to hurt his House GOP colleagues. This is exactly how the Dems hoped to capitalize on The Hammer’s scandals. It’s not just about one […]
Bill Frist hasn’t had a good year, but he continues to maintain the façade that he’s in control, finding success, and well positioned for a presidential campaign in 2008. One of the Senate Majority Leader’s more amusing arguments came over the weekend, when he tried to take credit for the Gang of 14’s compromise over […]
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: * Tomorrow is the big day in the New Jersey GOP gubernatorial primary and a new poll, out this morning, shows the race tightening. Businessman Doug Forrester still leads former Jersey City Mayor […]
For all the talk that Dems are too anxious to oppose every offensive Bush nominee that comes down the pike, let’s not forget that plenty of Republican senators are engaged in some “obstructionism” of their own. A couple of months ago, Sens. Richard C. Shelby and Jeff Sessions, both Republicans from Alabama, blocked the confirmation […]
I imagine it’s difficult to come up with compelling rhetoric for every presidential declaration, but Friday’s proclamation from the White House in honor of “National Child’s Day” included one of those sentiments thought should be banned from our discourse forever. “Children are the future of our country and America’s next generation of leaders.” Really, the […]