Today’s the deadline for the Texas State House to pass legislation and the body still can’t round up a quorum. The fiasco, however, appears to be drawing to an end. Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick (R) told reporters yesterday that he’ll probably adjourn the House today, meaning that the Killer D’s — the 55 Democratic […]
The Washington Post’s media critic, Howard Kurtz, usually does a great job at his job as a media analyst. He consistently offers insightful and cutting commentary on what’s going on in the news industry and is respected throughout the industry for his work. After reading Kurtz’s work for many years, I’ve noticed a tendency for […]
The fiasco in the Texas State House has not gone away. I’m glad the mess is still around; it’s making for really entertaining reading. If you missed yesterday’s post about this, nearly all of the Democratic delegation to the Texas House left the state yesterday, depriving the legislature of the quorum needed to vote on […]
I know President Bush has strong approval ratings and I’m well aware of the fact that all the smart money is betting on his re-election next year. I’m beginning to think, however, that his safest issues, the ones where he has almost unquestioned authority, are quickly falling apart. As anyone can tell after spending more […]
Almost 10 years ago, President Clinton signed into a law a popular ban on the purchase and ownership of assault weapons such as Uzis, AK-47s and 18 other types of semiautomatic weapons. Predictably, conservative Republicans and the National Rifle Association fought the effort tooth and nail, but public support, White House lobbying, and votes from […]
As I noted the other day, Republicans in Washington and Illinois are still trying to identify the best candidate to run for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by incumbent Peter Fitzgerald (R). The early money was on former Gov. Jim Edgar (R), yet despite heavy lobbying from the White House, he declined. […]
I continue to review the Democratic presidential primary field, consider the polling data, and think about the potential candidacy of Retired Gen. Wesley Clark. I haven’t written in earnest about him in nearly three months, and after re-reading what I said at the time, I may have been overly harsh and too quick to dismiss […]
As the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne explained very well today, George W. Bush has developed a reputation for being an honest man, while Bill Clinton and Al Gore were branded as liars. It’s a reputation Bush clearly hasn’t earned. Dionne detailed a handful of Bush administration whoppers, including untruths surrounding the necessity of taking a […]
I know this could happen to anyone, and I’m the last person who should be criticizing others for typos, but I thought this was comical. Just as the Senate was preparing to debate and vote on its massive tax cut legislation, they discovered a minor error that will delay the whole process. Senate Republicans put […]
The political process gets really fun when politicians do things that are so extraordinary, that you can hardly believe it’s true. For this reason alone, I found the wild events in the Texas Legislature yesterday to not only be surreal, but also to be incredibly amusing. The Texas House, under GOP control this year for […]