Durbin’s rule on amendments in an election year

Following up on a post from Friday, I enjoyed an LA Times editorial over the weekend, responding to the latest effort to revive a constitutional amendment on flag burning. The paper pointed to a smart lawmaker with a terrific idea. Sen. Dick Durbin has the right idea. By March, the Illinois Democrat and his colleagues […]

Support for torture was deliberate and widespread

U.S. abuse and torture of detainees is no longer dominating the news, but if this were a normal news day, a stunning report on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal would be getting more attention. The opinions of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales are already widely known. Shortly after 9/11, Gonzales recommended that […]

Maybe those ads are more persuasive than previously thought

A couple of weeks ago, Advertising Age magazine had an item that received a lot of attention online. The point of the article was simple: Bush’s and Kerry’s campaign ads aren’t having much of an effect in changing people’s minds. More than half the consumers queried in a new Advertising Age poll conducted by Lightspeed […]

Bush’s tobacco flip-flop is complete

We saw this coming, but I was a little surprised at how fast it happened. The Bush White House on a federal tobacco buyout, in early May: “They’ve got the quota system in place — the allotment system — and I don’t think that needs to be changed,” Bush said. The Bush White House on […]

Will Reagan help Bush?

I hope it doesn’t come across as callous to consider the political implications of a man’s death. It’s an election year, the GOP’s leading icon has passed away, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to wonder aloud how this event will shape the political landscape. I imagine the Republicans will do their level best to […]

Reagan

I had a lengthy post put together about Reagan, his presidency, and his place in history — and then I scrapped the whole thing. It was a long and hostile tirade about how the man we’ve been hearing about since Saturday morning bears no resemblance to the controversial 40th president, but I’ve decided it’s probably […]

Poll Day

As you’ve hopefully come to expect on Friday afternoons, it’s time for everyone’s favorite weekly feature — Poll Day. As always, these are the statewide presidential polls released over the last seven days. West Virginia (5 electoral votes) Mason-Dixon — Kerry 47, Bush 41 Comment: This is definitely the poll of the week. After months […]

GOP ‘culture war’ strategy focuses on changing the Constitution

I didn’t realize they were this desperate. The same federal lawmakers who can’t figure out how to pass a federal budget have decided to take up several constitutional amendments between now and the end of the session. It’s a sad but predictable desperation ploy — when in doubt, promise to tinker with the Constitution. It […]

No one likes Bush’s ads, not even conservatives

Just to follow-up on a post from earlier this week, Bob Novak had an interesting column a couple of days ago (brought to my attention by my friend Phil) about conservatives complaining about Bush’s campaign ads. After a Memorial Day spent campaigning in his district, a Republican House member turned on the television Monday night […]

Will Bush be on the ballot in Illinois?

The Bush campaign’s decision to play with the nominated calendar is not without consequences. In an attempt to shamelessly exploit the third anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the GOP has moved the Republican National Convention as far into September as any party ever has. It caused a few logistical headaches in several states that have […]