DC’s lobbying industry is practically another branch of the government. Lobbyists, who tend to reside on the city’s infamous K Street, shape legislation, dictate policies, influence the legislative calendar, and raise critical campaign contributions for their allies. When Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, Newt Gingrich helped implement the “K Street Project” — a […]
We’ve been hearing all week that June’s employment numbers were going to be impressive, bolstering the White House’s arguments about Bush’s stewardship of the economy and hurting John Kerry’s chances of using Bush’s job numbers against him in the campaign. Instead, today we have bad news for the economy, bad news for workers, bad news […]
If you blinked, you missed it. The “Sister Souljah moment” that campaign watchers demand happened this week, but no one seems to have noticed. In June 1992, Bill Clinton spoke to Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH gathering. One of the speakers at the event was a rap artist named Sister Souljah who had made national headlines for […]
Yesterday, the Washington Post had a great scoop about the latest Bush scheme to rope churches into his campaign. The Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has sent a detailed plan of action to religious volunteers across the country asking them to turn over church directories to the campaign, distribute issue guides in their churches and persuade their […]
Everyone loves a mystery. It’s been weeks, but no one is willing to admit to having reserved a Senate office building room for a bizarre coronation ceremony for Sun Myung Moon in March. As the LA Times put it last week: [T]here is someone left in Washington with a sense of embarrassment over Moon’s antics: […]
There wouldn’t appear to be many ways to spin this lede. Ninety-nine million Americans…are breathing unhealthful air that can cause respiratory problems and even premature death, according to assessments released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency. To put it mildly, it’s discouraging news. The EPA identified 243 counties with dangerously high soot pollution. One might […]
The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin had a great follow-up item in his White House Briefing (which links to me today — thanks, Dan) about an issue that deserves more attention. To review for a moment, Irish television correspondent Carole Coleman interviewed Bush late last week before the president’s trip to Ireland. It didn’t go well. […]
Senate Republicans are moving forward with their plan to hold a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment in just two weeks. Fortunately, a brief report in Time magazine included a candid quote about the real motivation behind the endeavor. G.O.P. conservatives argue that even a losing vote, besides putting Democrats in an uncomfortable spot, will […]
We learned earlier this month that the Bush-Cheney campaign has reached out to churches in Pennsylvania to incorporate tax-exempt houses of worship into a partisan political machine. Today we’re learning that was just the tip of the iceberg. The Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has sent a detailed plan of action to religious volunteers across the country […]
A couple of days ago I mentioned how the Republican National Convention will feature a slate of prime-time speakers, none of whom are actual party leaders, and several of whom have actually praised John Kerry. The point of the schedule, of course, is to con the public — hide the GOP’s right-wing leadership and maybe […]