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Judge rejects ‘absolute immunity’ claim, says White House aides can be subpoenaed

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White House attorneys are quite capable of coming up with creative legal arguments. The problem, though, is that judges aren’t willing to reward their creativity. President Bush’s top advisers are not immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in an unprecedented dispute between the two political branches. House Democrats called the ruling a […]

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Thursday’s campaign round-up

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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: * New Quinnipiac polls from the three biggest battleground states show Barack Obama leading John McCain in all three. Obama leads McCain in Florida by two (46% to 44%), in Ohio by two […]

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A new ‘Teflon-coated candidate’?

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Barack Obama has been the target of countless attacks, from countless directions, but seems to be hanging on fairly well. Slate’s Jack Shafer argues that Obama has achieved a level of “superslipperiness,” as something of a “Teflon-coated candidate.” As long ago as March, the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz demolished charges that the press was soft […]

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Does a ‘new’ kind of politics preclude attack-style politics?

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Late yesterday, after a series of false attack ads from the McCain campaign, the Obama campaign unveiled a pretty good response ad. In 30 seconds, the spot hits most of the high notes: McCain’s attacks are objectively false, but just as importantly, McCain is “practicing the politics of the past.” He offers the “same old […]

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Promoting ‘as many of our Bush loyalists as possible’

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Thanks to a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general, we got a better sense this week about the extraordinary — and illegal — efforts to politicize Bush’s Justice Department. But let’s not forget, the problem of basing employment decisions on politics went well beyond the Justice Department. Charlie Savage picks up on an email […]

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Senator Small

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The McCain campaign’s three most recent television ads come together to paint an interesting picture. Over the last week or so, ads, approved by John McCain, have blamed Barack Obama for high gas prices, falsely accused Obama of snubbing wounded U.S. troops, and compared Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. It is, of course, […]

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Wednesday’s Mini-Report

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Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN: “Scandal-hit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Wednesday he will not be his party’s leader going into the next election. Citing ‘a wave of investigations and criticism’ at the hands of his political opponents, he said he will resign once his Kadima party elects a new chairman.” * […]

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McCain <i>still</i> doesn’t speak for the McCain campaign

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Following up on an item from yesterday, John McCain has said, repeatedly and on the record, that he would never consider raising payroll taxes as part of a Social Security reform effort. Asked if there are “any circumstances” in which he would consider this, even as part of negotiations with congressional Democrats, McCain said, “No. […]

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