The NYT’s Carl Hulse reports today that Republicans on the Hill have a serious morale problem. The White House communications team invited some congressional counterparts to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue the other day, and was apparently disappointed to see their widespread depression. Said one of the senior Republican congressional aides who attended the […]
There will be no JFK moment
National Journal conducts a weekly “Insider’s Poll,” which, as the name implies, questions DC players about political stories of the day. As the WSJ noted, the poll is “generally a good reflection of conventional wisdom among strategists, lobbyists, consultants, pollsters and party operatives inside the Beltway.” This week’s survey asked insiders: “Does Mitt Romney need […]
A misguided rationale for telecom immunity
The WaPo’s editorial board seems to believe congressional Dems on the right track with their “RESTORE Act,” unveiled this week, but sides with the Bush administration on a key sticking point. There is one major area of disagreement between the administration and House Democrats where we think the administration has the better of the argument: […]
Frank Rich: ‘Our humanity has been compromised’
Nearly two weeks ago, the NYT had a front-page blockbuster, highlighting secret legal opinions from the Bush administration, which endorsed “the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.” After insisting publicly that “torture is abhorrent,” administration officials “provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological […]
McCain’s glass house
On Friday, in an otherwise unremarkable speech, Mitt Romney said he is the candidate who best represents the “Republican wing of the Republican Party.” This prompted John McCain, who apparently considers Romney something of a fraud, to launch quite a tirade yesterday in New Hampshire. “When he ran against Ted Kennedy,” Mr. McCain said as […]
Again with the madrassa nonsense?
Way back in January, Insight magazine, a project of Sun Myung Moon’s far-right Washington Times, published an item asking, “Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?” Even by conservative standards, it was a ridiculous […]
Rice decries power-hungry chief executive with unchecked authority
I genuinely believe Condoleezza Rice has no idea why so many of us would find this ironic. The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow’s commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday. “In any country, if you don’t have countervailing institutions, the […]
S-CHIP debate sends Republicans over the edge
The irony of the last couple of weeks is that the debate over the State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) was supposed to be one of the easy ones. Way back in July, the WaPo’s Christopher Lee noted, “If anything looked like a sure thing in the new Congress, it was that lawmakers would renew, […]
The Anti-Bush
As conservative apoplexy over Al Gore’s earned honors continues, there are two terrific op-eds today that explain the former Vice President’s fortunes in a broader context. First up is Jonathan Chait, who explains that the right loathes Gore, in part because he’s the “anti-Bush.” You might wonder why they care so much — Gore, after […]
Qwest’s Nacchio: NSA pushed long before 9/11
Earlier this week, the Rocky Mountain News broke word that Joseph Nacchio, the former CEO of Qwest, accuses the National Security Agency of retaliating against his company because he refused to cooperate with a domestic-spying scheme. The WaPo moved the ball forward today, with a solid front-page piece. The key point to take away from […]