Brian Faughnan is a conservative writer and blogger who was a prolific contributor to The Weekly Standard's online content from 2007 to 2009. He wrote extensively on domestic politics, congressional policy debates, fiscal issues, and the Iraq War, producing nearly a thousand pieces for the magazine's blog. His work frequently offered rapid analysis of breaking political developments and policy controversies.
In 2010, South Carolina will elect a new Governor to replace the term-limited Mark Sanford. Today there is a new entrant into the race: America's first Indian-American Republican legislator. Nikki Haley - first elected to the South Carolina statehouse in 2004 - is a 37-year old accountant, and a…
Congressman Joe Sestak appeared on Good Day Philadelphia today, and it sounds as if he's all but decided to challenge Arlen Specter in next year's Democratic Senate primary: Not only does Sestak sound as if he's ready to make the run, it seems he already has his campaign themes. He mocks the D.C.…
It seems that one of the most important parts of Arlen Specter's deal to change parties is the assurance that he won't face a Democratic primary next year. Specter's votes for Justices Alito and Kennedy, his opposition to Card Check, the support he has received from people like George Bush and Rick…
With the move to reimpose a moratorium on offshore oil drilling, to impose a cap-and-trade system or a straightforward carbon tax, and to block the establishment of a permanent storage site for nuclear waste, the Obama administration is setting the U.S. on a course to much higher energy costs. But…
Jon Stewart must be an incredibly sick individual to work so hard to get laughs out of something he considers to be torture. And his audience too, must be awfully sick to find so much humor in it: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c We Don't Torture thedailyshow.com Daily Show
Later this year, the United States will join other U.N. members in negotiations in Copenhagen to update the Kyoto accord on greenhouse gas emissions. While the Obama administration says it is devoted to the treaty, reaching an agreement will be difficult. One of the most contentious issues facing…
Congressional Quarterly reports that Representative Jane Harman was caught on tape promising to lobby for reduced charges against two accused spies, in exchange for help securing the chairmanship of the House Committee on Intelligence: Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime…
In his joint press conference with Mexican President Calderon yesterday, Barack Obama reaffirmed his support for an assault weapons ban. At the same time, he seems to regard it as an essentially unachievable goal: I have not backed off at all from my belief that the gun -- the assault weapons ban…
This has to be embarrassing: U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010. The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the…
It's starting to look as if yet another Republican candidate has won the vote counting on election night, only to fall behind as absentee and other ballots are counted: This morning, the state elections board, updated its numbers and now shows Murphy widening his lead to 167 votes (79,404 to…
One of the topics to be addressed today by President Obama and his Mexican counterpart is the unilateral violation of NAFTA signed into law by Obama: The trucking pilot program was created in 2007, and statistics show that the few Mexican trucks allowed to operate in the U.S. do better on safety…
Will Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran return the $50,000 donation he has received from a man who's had run-ins with the police, whom some believe has committed both spousal abuse and child abuse, and who has a history of anti-Semitic remarks? I'm speaking of course about…
If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP…
Yesterday, Congressman Paul Ryan, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, laid out the problems with the House Democrats' budget resolution: Simply put, President Obama has promised so much that it's impossible to deliver it all. What's worse, it's impossible to even come close to…
Mickey Kaus and Jennifer Rubin have opined recently on what the retailer-proposed compromise on Card Check means. While Rubin argues that card-check is 'going nowhere, and that the compromise is a sign of defeat for Big Labor, Kaus says: But the danger for union skeptics--including but not limited…
The Mexican government announced several days ago that it would impose higher tariffs on 90 different products imported from the United States. Today the list was released. The National Association of Manufacturers provides an unofficial translation here. Mexico imports a range of agricultural and…
The U.S. is only one of many of the world's advanced economies considering dramatic moves to promote economic growth. Among our leading trading partners, Australia and China are both considering how to accomplish this feat -- and both have considered retaliation against the U.S. for the 'Buy…
When Barack Obama nominated Timothy Geithner for the post of Secretary of the Treasury, he said Geithner had the right skill set for getting the economy back on track: Having served in senior roles at Treasury, the IMF and the New York Fed, Tim Geithner offers not just extensive experience shaping…
A survey of the morning headlines: Washington Times - Obama Bank Plan Skids on Wall Street Washington Post - Wall Street Slams Plan with Sell-Off Wall Street Journal - Market Pans Bank Rescue Plan New York Times - Bailout Plan: $2.5 Trillion and a Strong U.S. Hand You can always count on the Times…
Hilda Solis shouldn't get too flustered about this, there's always room for more under the Obama bus, and the House Ethics Committee might give her the same treatment they're giving Charlie Rangel: ...According to the report, American Rights at Work collected "at least $1 million in contributions…
Can any Representative or Senator (or President) defend this plan? Congress's own budget office -- whose current Director was selected by Democrats, and whose former Director now heads up OMB for President Obama -- says that each of the 'stimulus' plans being debated in Congress would reduce…
I wonder if Markos Moulitsas has started hanging around with Republicans. I've heard this joke a few dozen times over the last week or two, but it's now apparently OK for liberals to recite as well: The Moulitsas Deficit Reduction Act of 2009 by kos... Here's how it works: Since the only time rich…
Barack Obama wants to invest billions in green energy -- such as wind and solar -- because it is the wave of the future, and because it will give birth to millions of good-paying jobs here in the United States. There's just one problem: according to a study by a coalition of liberal and…
No, it's not Tom Daschle -- at least not yet. A few weeks ago Barack Obama proudly named Nancy Killefer as the first Chief Performance Officer of the federal government. Her chief responsibility would be to root out waste in the federal government. Although curiously enough, in her previous career…
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) appeared on Fox News this morning to discuss his concerns about the 'stimulus' bill that the Senate will take up next week, and his effort to suggest changes that could lead to a stronger bipartisan vote. From his tone, it sounds like there may be a number of Democratic…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently chose to reconstitute the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (the Ethics Committe) with new members. That means that the panel investigating Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel has to start from scratch. While one of the new members --…
In a spending plan that will ultimately cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion, it's not surprising that significant details are only emerging now, while many more are unlikely to come to public attention for weeks or months. One such detail, which has received almost no attention, is that the bill…
The House of Representatives will today pass President Obama's $900 billion stimulus bill, despite the beliefs of many economists that it will do nothing to help the economy, and despite concerns that it's nothing more than an aggregate of the spending wish lists of Washington Democrats, saved up…
While analysts continue to debate whether America is a center-right or center-left country, Rasmussen shows that the American people still pretty much agree with Ronald Reagan: Paul Krugman, last year's winner of the Nobel Prize for economics and a regular columnist for the New York Times, recently…
On January 21, President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring ethics commitments for officials of his administration. As has been covered here, that commitment has already been compromised. Interestingly however, the 'Ethics' section of the White House website went down that day, ostensibly to…
While Barack and countless other Washington Democrats have spoken repeatedly about the need to depoliticize the Department of Justice, it looks like the president is handing a top job there to a former senior aide for Senator Chuck Schumer. Matthew Miller, who spearheaded the communications…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the suspicious case of OneUnited Bank, which received a TARP bailout thanks to Barney Frank, despite running afoul of state and federal regulators due to shady investing and lending practices, as well as the perks it granted to senior executives. The case is an…
In his interview on Meet the Press over the weekend, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made an interesting point when he addressed the problem of the deficit: MR. EMANUEL: Yeah. Well, as you probably know, that there--over the last decade, the last eight years there's been actually a--there…
Faced with a slow economy and a large deficit, Democrats in Washington are going to try to solve the problem by adding more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Many governors face similar challenges, and some at least, are trying a different approach. One noteworthy example is Minnesota's Tim…
This might be the first presidential honeymoon that ends before inauguration day: Ten committee chairmen in the Senate and House said that Obama's advisers did not alert them ahead of time about the incoming president's Cabinet selections. Nine of them learned of the picks from the media, even…
Early in this Senate cycle attention has been focused on the news that four Republicans will not seek re-election in 2010. In a way of course, this is good news. Knowing about these retirements early gives NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) plenty of time to line up credible candidates. And it…
Yesterday the president-elect met with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon. While Obama's Nafta two-step has drawn the headlines, the Mexican press is reporting today that Obama committed to enacting immigration reform. My translation: The president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama,…
Cato's Michael F. Cannon writes: On This Week with George Stephanopolous, president-elect Barack Obama proposed eliminating the ENTIRE Medicare Advantage program... Medicare Advantage allows seniors to choose a private health plan rather than get their health coverage from the traditional Medicare…
Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have now both promised that the upcoming economic stimulus bill won't include any earmarks. Both have used Clintonian language to limit the scope of their promises, but that hasn't gotten all that much attention. Barack Obama has said that the stimulus bill will…
Public Policy Polling has completed a survey of New York voters, testing how Republican Peter King would fare in a Senate run against either Caroline Kennedy or Andrew Cuomo. The results lead you to question whether the dream is still alive: Public Policy Polling's newest New York survey finds that…
The New York Times reports on Arlen Specter's floor speech yesterday about the nomination of Eric Holder as Attorney General, but they gave short shrift to Specter's explanation of his objections and concerns: A leading Republican senator issued a broad attack on Tuesday on President-elect Barack…
Can Harry Reid really deny Roland Burris a Senate seat? As Pejman Yousefzadeh points out, the Supreme Court seems to have ruled definitively on whether or not the Senate can refuse to seat a designee simply because they oppose the governor who named him. Yousefzadeh reviews the Supreme Court's…
Bill Richardson has broken the first rule of political scandals: don't let yourself be filmed running from questions. Jim Geraghty has more. Richardson's staff offers the implausible claim that Richardson did not hear the KRQE reporter. But if that's all it was, why is his spokesman unwilling to…
Marc Ambinder reports that Arkansas's Blanche Lincoln -- who faces re-election in 2010 -- has declared her opposition to Card Check: That's.... 57 votes in favor of cloture now. In-cycle Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas formally opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. She says it's "not necessary"…
Forbes's Jerry Flint points out an important difference between Ford and the other two Detroit-based automakers: Ford doesn't need a federal bailout: Long run, Ford has the ability to grow. For the past two months the Dearborn, Mich., manufacturer has held its own in share against the prior year,…
Roll Call scoops everyone with an interesting piece that suggests how Governor Blagojevich may have sounded out Barack Obama about his vacant Senate seat, as well as giving a candidate for identifying 'Adviser B': Blagojevich has relied heavily on political advice from inside-the-Beltway…
The Trust for America's Health has issued its annual report card on how states are doing in preparing for disease, disaster, and bioterror. Five states earn a perfect 10 out of 10: Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. At the bottom of the scale -- earning just 5 out of…
In the run-up to election day we heard a great deal about Tony Rezko, and how his criminal associations reflected poorly on Obama. Little did we suspect then that the biggest crook Rezko knows is the governor of Illinois. With the arrest of Governor Blagojevich this morning, it becomes clear that…
I don't know anyone who's completely happy with the proliferation of television ads for all manner of new drugs. I suspect we'd all be happy never to see "Bob, the Enzyte guy" again. But the general distaste over drug ads notwithstanding, Henry Waxman's cure seems likely to be worse than the…
The Chicago Tribune leads with a stunner: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been taken into custody by the Federal government: Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges. Blagojevich and Harris were accused of a…
The logic is elegant: One Black lawmaker from the Motor City, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), weighed in following the presentations of options by the automakers that appeared to be filled with gloom and doom. Conyers wants the new administration to elevate United Auto Workers President Ron…
ABC News reports that congressional Democrats are giving President Bush an "ultimatum": extend billions in taxpayer-funded loans to Detroit, or else: "Your decision to utilize the TARP funds, or to work with the Federal Reserve to make available assistance through its existing lending programs, or…
On election day 2008, voters decided the vast majority of races for the House and Senate, but sent three separate races to runoffs. Barack Obama endorsed Jim Martin over Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia Senate runoff, in which Chambliss prevailed. Now Obama has weighed in to help Democratic…
The Star reports on the plans of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to present parliament with a new stimulus package to address the problems of Canada's Big 3: Flaherty stressed that the government has tried to stave off an economic slowdown by using lower taxes - he brought in a six-year, $60…
Harry Reid told the Detroit Free Press that he expects comprehensive immigration reform to be passed relatively early in the next Congress: Q. With more Democrats in the Senate and the House and a Democrat in the White House, how do you see congressional efforts playing out on such issues as health…
It sounds like that international crisis he promised may already be on its way: A Russian navy task force will sail into Venezuela tomorrow as President Medvedev undertakes a tour of Latin America to challenge the dominance of the United States. The nuclear-powered Peter the Great, one of Russia's…
Hillary Clinton's move to Foggy Bottom will set off an intriguing parlor game among Democrats in New York state. Whom will Governor Paterson appoint to succeed Clinton? And how will it affect the gubernatorial and senate races in New York in 2010? New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has long…
Presumably this is the first of many commemorative Metro cards to be issued by the DC transit system: obamametro.jpg I can't wait to buy my 'Jindal/Palin' metro card four years from now.
Quin Hillyer profiles congressional candidate Joseph Cao, who faces 'Dollar Bill' Jefferson in a Louisiana runoff on December 6. Cao sounds like a singular person -- a Vietnamese immigrant who fled to the United States before the fall of Saigon, eventually became a Jesuit novice, then elected to…
Roll Call reports that Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid is giving up on a potential bailout for the Big 3 automakers -- at least for now: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday that they would try to work out a Thursday vote on a…
National Journal reports that Barack Obama has selected CBO Director Peter Orszag to head up the Office of Management and Budget. Orszag is widely respected on both sides of the aisle for his professionalism and his command of budgetary detail. The Orszag appointment also suggests that one of…
Senate Democrats have chosen not to give Joe Lieberman a reason to leave the party: Senate Democrats backed away from a major rebuke of Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) on Tuesday morning, keeping their colleague as the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the next…
Roll Call covers the after-action report by Chris VanHollen (D-MD), Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). VanHollen gets credit for the 24-seat gain (so far) Democrats achieved in the 2008 election. He's quick to point out that despite the impressive Democratic gains,…
The Army Times reports on the views of American soldiers toward the incoming administration, including why some members of the military backed Obama rather than a decorated veteran. Notwithstanding Barack Obama's promises to help our men and women in the armed services by pulling them out of Iraq,…
National Journal links to a new advertisement by the AFL-CIO in support of the Employee Free Choice Act: It looks like Big Labor's strategy for selling the EFCA can be summed up in one word: obfuscation. There's no mention in this ad of any of the provisions of Card Check--wiping out the secret…
The Hill reports that Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has at last hired a forensic investigator to review his financial records and ethics filings: Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has hired the accounting firm of Watkins, Meegan, Drury and Company to investigate his financial records and prepare a…
TPM reports that American labor leaders are coming to Washington to meet and spell out their priorities for the incoming Obama administration: According to a senior AFL-CIO official, the labor leaders -- who could include AFL-CIO head John Sweeney, AFSCME chief Gerald McEntee, and others -- will be…
The bailout of the Big 3 automakers is going full speed ahead--if GM can survive until the check comes, that is. Business Week reports that GM barely has enough in cash reserves to keep the doors open until the end of 2008. And President Bush seems less than eager to dispense billions in taxpayer…
Thomas Frank got a lot of attention a few years ago for his book What's the Matter With Kansas, in which he wondered why lower-income voters would back candidates who offered them little in the way of expanded government services. Frank and a host of liberal analysts found it astounding that so…
Professor Bainbridge makes the case that the best help one could give to GM is to allow it to file for bankruptcy: Let's focus on GM. GM's problems are manifold, but at the top of the list are: 1. An incredibly inefficient bureaucracy... 2. An excessive number of brands, which results in…
The Associated Press previews a very disturbing possible outcome to the dispute over the Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken: The Minnesota election law envisions Senate involvement. Once a result is contested in district court - which must come within a week of the…
The New York Times today engages in a little revisionist history and plain old bias: A Dreadful Jobs Report Recalls the 1980s Today's jobs report was dreadful - much worse than economists had anticipated - and you will be hearing a lot of comparisons that try to put it in context. This one may be…
It was months ago--back when Hillary Clinton was still inevitable as the next president of the United States--that Rahm Emanuel first laid out his "New Deal for the New Economy." He talked about it again in his speech at the Democratic convention. I suspect it has been well poll-tested and is…
Vladimir Zhirinovsky takes the prize for the oddest assessment of Barack Obama yet: Barack Obama is the "American Gorbachev" who will ultimately destroy the United States, militant Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky said on Tuesday. Credited in the West for leading the former Soviet Union…
Several outlets (including Roll Call) report that Joe Lieberman will meet with Harry Reid on Thursday to discuss Lieberman's place in the next Congress. Speculation is rampant that Reid will strip Lieberman of his chairmanship: A growing number of Senate Democrats have been pressuring Reid to…
Marathon Pundit notes an extraordinary irony in today's ballot: Barack Obama and Bill Ayers had the opportunity to vote today on whether to extend the term of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Elrod -- a tragic victim of the Weather Underground: Elrod is a parapalegic. His neck was broken,…
The Black Panthers guarding the polls in Philadelphia have attracted a lot of attention. Why are they there? The Black Panther website explains: "We will not allow some racists and other angry whites, who are getting upset over an impending Barack Obama Presidential victory to intimidate Blacks at…
I note that the Prowler reports that Barack Obama's campaign team was aware that his aunt was living in Boston illegally, and elected to do nothing about it: Instead, according to the source, Axelrod reached out to his former client, [Massachusetts Governor Deval] Patrick, who had retained…
Regardless of who wins Tuesday's election, the next great argument in Washington is whether there will be a second 'stimulus bill' (ie, bailout). Constituencies are already lining up. House leaders have heard from mayors, governors and state transportation officials, looking to Washington to save…
NBC news reports that the Justice Department has begun an investigation into whether Countrywide Financial Corp used the 'Friends of Angelo (Mozilo)' program to buy influence with Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and others. According to a senior Countrywide official who handled its…
The Hill gives a preview of the congressional Democrat agenda once the election is behind them: hundreds of billions in new spending (with more and more governors calling for a state bailout), an end to secret ballots for union organizing, and tax increases: A certain starting point for Democrats…
They're not showing up in Nevada -- at least not yet: Analysts have predicted that new voters, young voters and Hispanic voters will turn out in record numbers in this election. But as Nevadans continue to flock to the polls, turnout among those three groups is lagging, at least in the early going.…
The Hill suggests that Harry Reid is preparing to do what he's been expected to do for months: Lieberman, a former Democrat who supports Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president, is likely to lose his gavel on the Homeland Security Committee he has chaired since January 2007, say the sources who…
The Heritage Foundation has written to the Obama campaign and asked them to withdraw an ad that erroneously claims the think tank's support for his tax plan: The print ad on your Website as well as your ad entitled "Try This" reference a quote from policy analyst Rea Hederman. In fact, Mr. Hederman…
Last week, the Columbus Dispatch reported that it appeared that employees of state and local government agencies improperly delved into Joe Wurzelbacher's personal records after his name was brought up during the last presidential debate: Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that…
According to Roll Call, Rangel hasn't yet hired the forensic auditor he promised 6 weeks ago, and there's no assurance from Democratic leaders that they'll renew the ethics investigation next year: An attorney for House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (N.Y.) acknowledged Monday that more…
The liberal lion Ted Kennedy still pushing for socialized medicine. From his sickbed, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has secretly been orchestrating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation that would greet the new president with a plan to provide affordable medical…
Years before Barack Obama enraptured the nation by pronouncing at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that "there is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there's the United States of America," he compared the oppression of minorities in Los Angeles to…
Those who dismiss concerns about Barack Obama and his decision to launch his political career from Bill Ayers' living room would have us believe that Ayers involvement with the Weather Underground was more a 'youthful indiscretion' than anything else. The truth is that Ayers was a traitor who…
As the presidential campaign winds down, an important question toward predicting the outcome is how undecided voters break. For years now, the conventional wisdom has held that these voters are unhappy with the incumbent (or his party) and most will vote for the challenger when they enter the…
When Sarah Palin spoke in Grand Junction, Colorado the other day, a group of protesters tried to block her motorcade. CNN caught the incident on camera: Embedded video from CNN Video Here's a pretty pathetic video put up by the protesters, hoping to catch an example of the police abusing them. That…
When John McCain suggested the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the reasons behind the recent credit crash, and to recommend a new regulatory regime, Barack Obama said he was passing the buck. Now Barney Frank -- Chairman of the House Banking Committee -- says he believes Congress…
Paul Rubin warns Americans to get ready for a new New Deal: But if the coming wave of new regulation from an Obama administration is harmful to the economy, Mr. Obama will take a page from FDR's playbook. He'll blame Republicans for having caused the market crash in the first place, and so escape…
The McCain campaign today introduces an ad I really like: one which captures simply and effectively how Barack Obama's redistributive message conflicts with the aspirations of working Americans: No word yet on where it will run, but given the focus on middle-income workers in Pennsylvania, it seems…
From Chicago Business News: The best-funded political campaign in American history says news organizations will have to pay-in some cases almost $2,000 each-if they want to cover Barack Obama's election-night celebration in Chicago. A memo sent to news organizations on Tuesday by the Obama campaign…
Barack Obama is a generous reviewer, if he offered such kind words about a book written by a guy he hardly knew. obama_ayers_review.jpg Obama spokesperson Bill Burton says that Barack Obama "did not write a blurb" about the book. When Obama strategist Robert Gibbs was asked if Obama blurbed Ayers's…
The New York Post takes a look at why ACORN hands in so many fraudulent registrations: Desperate canvassers sometimes resorted to trading cigarettes, cash and food in exchange for registrations, according to Elder and two other former ACORN workers, Jaymes Sanford, 18, and Selvin Cunningham, 23.…
Barack Obama's short time on the national stage means he offers little in the way of a track record as to how he would govern as president. One of his great successes as a candidate is to be all things to all audiences. As National Journal points out, that's particularly true on school choice. It's…
An ordinary citizen speaks up about how federal policies affect his family and his pocketbook, and bloggers dive into his personal life. His finances, his address, his background and family connections are all splashed all over the Internet as bloggers line up to debate whether the instant…
A few weeks ago Congressman Tim Mahoney led his Republican challenger by 7 points, according to the challenger's own polls. Now he trails by 26: A new Republican poll indicates Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) is the most endangered incumbent in the country days after a news report showed he paid a former…
In his comments at New York's Al Smith Dinner, McCain had the audience in stitches from start to finish. My personal favorite line: "It's gonna be a long, long night at MSNBC if I pull this off." HT: Ace
John Murtha has taken some pretty stiff criticism for slandering his constituents as racists -- and deservedly so. But it's worth looking at the rest of his recent interview to get a sense of how he views the credit crunch. Here's how Murtha describes how we got into this financial mess: Six months…
It seems Barack Obama inspires the desire to make bizarre paeans even among Marxists outside the U.S.: If John McCain wants to win the presidency, he ought to point out that an Obama win is only going to increase the flow of this dreck.
A primary defense of ACORN against allegations of election fraud is that ACORN's leaders are unable to stop its own workers from submitting fraudulent applications. But ACORN entered into a consent decree in Washington state in 2006 which requires the organization to adhere to a set of guidelines…
Keith Olbermann led off his 'special comment' yesterday with an attack on Sarah Palin for her failure to denounce an audience member who allegedly shouted out 'kill him' during the comments of the local Congressional candidate. What Olbermann failed to mention was that Palin had not yet arrived…
The New York Times reports on Democratic representative Tim Mahoney, who's Congressional career seems likely to come to an abrupt end after revelations of an affair. He sounds like a wonderful guy: The affair began in 2006, when Mr. Mahoney was running for Congress, Democratic staff members said.…
If Barack Obama can't count on the Grey Lady to cover up his campaign's ethical challenges, who is left to trust? An analysis of campaign finance records by The New York Times this week found nearly 3,000 donations to Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, from more than a dozen people with apparently…
The Cleveland Leader reports this morning that Barack Obama is lying about his involvement with the group ACORN, which recently added Missouri to the list of states in which its activities are under investigation. While Obama's site maintains that he never trained ACORN activists -- whose training…
Yonkers City Councilman and New York State Senate candidate John Murtagh was interviewed this morning regarding Bill Ayers and the ever-changing accounts from Barack Obama about how close the two men were. Murtagh noted that Michelle Obama and Bernadine Dorhn (Ayers' wife and a former Weather…
Jim Geraghty points to a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the voter-registration group ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It seems that in the process of soliciting, collecting, reviewing and turning in registration applications, it really can't do much about…
devobama2.gif The pride of Akron, Ohio, has weighed in on "the most important election in recent history." Devo is playing a benefit concert in support of Barack Obama: In the final month of this historic presidential race, the band DEVO is making an urgent trip to their native Akron, Ohio to rally…
Would Senate Democrats dump Harry Reid if Barack Obama is elected president? That's the question from veteran Senate watcher Kirk Victor, after talking to several Democratic staffers and strategists: Still, when a new administration takes office next year, along with a likely Democratic-controlled…
There's a clamoring in the blogosphere for the McCain campaign to go after Obama and the Democrats for their successful efforts to block reform of Fannie and Freddie. Mary Katharine wrote about it here, and others are hopeful that McCain will make it a central theme of his campaign. But regardless…
Make room under the bus William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, Fr. Pfleger, and Kwame Kilpatrick! Barack Obama has another friend of dubious moral character in the news. Meet Larry Walsh: Two FBI agents spent more than an hour in the Will County Office Building on Wednesday morning as part of…
There are a couple of stories in the news today that illustrate the main street impact of what many currently view as a Wall Street problem. Does a stunning tightening of credit affect the man in the street? You bet: AT&T this week announced they're feeling the strain of the credit crunch, with…
Roll Call reports that Congressman John Shadegg -- former chairman of the Republican Study Committee -- has signalled that he's likely to support the Senate market rescue bill when it comes to the House for a vote: Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) signaled Wednesday that changes being discussed for the…
DJ Drummond takes a close look at the fluctuation in presidential polling over the last few weeks, and digs down into the partisan identification of respondents. He discovers something curious: multiple polls show John McCain holding steady or gaining among every partisan subgroup, yet losing…
The other day I posted the latest ad on behalf of Al Franken's Minnesota Senate bid. The ad is here. First let me say that the loss of a child is a tragedy -- no less so if the child is a full-grown man who's decided to re-enlist in the military over a span of several decades. Upon further review…
Jack Cafferty adds his voice to the growing chorus that proclaims Obama will only lose because of racism. That's what a sitting Democratic governor has said. It's what Democratic activists say. And a state Democratic official in Ohio agrees: "Race - that's the only reason people in the Valley won't…
The Senate race in Minnesota has gotten close, and that has apparently led to frustration on the part of Al Franken's supporters. I can think of no other reason that they would resort to such a despicable advertisement as the one they're starting to run:
Soren Dayton is apparently signed up as an Obama volunteer in Virginia. He just received this E-mail from the campaign: ...you live right next door to a state that is once again shaping up to be a crucial general election battleground -- Pennsylvania. And Obama supporters from across the northeast…
It looks like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has succumbed to the pressure of expectations. After months and months of speculation over whether Democrats would gain 15 seats this year or 30, recent polls now suggest their gains may not even be that high. And according to veteran…
With the Left eager to assert that John McCain has just claimed to have invented the Blackberry, it's worthwhile to take a look at what was said: Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top…
It looks more than ever as if the panic on Wall Street is going to become a major issue on election day. If the next President is forced to decide which firms deserve taxpayer bailouts and which don't, who's more likely to be impartial? Take a look at the top recipients of campaign donations from…
From the Detroit Free Press: Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families. The majority of the problem applications are…
Yesterday Obama released his August fundraising numbers, but Obama's camp doesn't say why those numbers are being released a week early. It's clearly an effort to squelch more whispering about the campaign's disappointing trajectory. Attracting much less notice are the abysmal fundraising numbers…
The latest polls in Ohio show that John McCain is establishing a consistent lead in the state. Ohio is a bellwether; no Republican has won the White House without it. If McCain can take Ohio, as well as Florida (where he also leads), he probably comes very close to re-creating the winning Bush map…
The Obama campaign seems committed to criticizing Governor Palin for having requested earmarks for her state--something that all governors do. Given Obama's unwillingness to own up to his impressive record for pork-barreling, it's useful to take a look at how Senator Obama has voted on anti-pork…
Below is an excerpt from Governor Palin's speech in at the McCain rally in Fairfax, Virginia this morning. There were in excess of 20,000 excited supporters on hand. In this clip, Palin lays out her record of reform at both the city and state level. She also went after Barack Obama on earmarks, in…
A Hillary-backer makes the case that both Barack Obama and Joe Biden are elitists who deserted a public school system that needs parents like them. Ms. Tsing-Loh -- a self-described PTA secretary in Los Angeles -- laments that the Obamas and Bidens have chosen to send their kids to expensive…
Barack Obama backed out of his public-financing commitment, simply to ensure he had more money to spend, but now it looks like he's getting his just deserts: It turns out he won't have more money after all. As a result, he has to hold dozens more fundraisers between now and election day, which both…
Jerome Armstrong looks at recent polls, and points out the elephant in the room: Neither ABC or CNN, in their polls, offered up the results broken down by partisan identification. Under this sort of scenario, the only possible way Obama could be ahead, or tied, is if party ID dramatically favors…
Why doesn't Barack go and make these promises personally? Mindful of the audience in front of her, she then touched up gay and lesbian issues. "In a world as it should be," Obama said, "we repeal laws like DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) and ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'" She also said an Obama…
Variety reports that Barack Obama is headed to LA on September 16 for a fundraiser headed by Steve Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg: Barack Obama will be in Los Angeles on Sept. 16 for a fund-raiser at an as-yet-undisclosed location. Save the date notices went out late last week from Andy Spahn,…
There was an interesting, if little-noticed piece in the Delaware press over the weekend about Joe Biden's home. It helps explain how Biden can continue to make the argument that he's an ordinary guy, despite drawing a fat Senate salary for longer than most Americans has been alive. The secret: his…
If you regard the Intrade market as a pretty reliable gauge of American politics, it's worth noting that the presidential race has moved from a healthy Obama advantage to a virtual tie. And it's happened quite quickly. Here's a snapshot of the price of a share in Obama for president over the last 3…
Phillip Butler, an American POW during the Vietnam war, has received attention for a recent ad in opposition to John McCain. The short ad is an excerpt from this longer piece: Butler is a hero whose service and bravery merit our praise and thanks. But there's no indication in anything he says here…
Those trying to tarnish Sarah Palin's speech last night have decided to criticize Palin's alleged insult of community organizers: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." MoveOn.org wrote in an email that Palin's speech…
I just watched CNN's Soledad O'Brien sandbag former White House Communications Director Nicole Wallace by asking her how Sarah Palin can claim to be a defender of special needs children when she cut the budget for that Alaska office by 62 percent. Wallace wasn't familiar with the charge -- which…
How many remember the story of Graeme Frost -- the 12-year old boy selected by Democrats last year to deliver a radio address on children's health insurance? Unlike The Left went absolutely bonkers over the efforts of conservative bloggers to learn more about Frost and his family, to better…
Sarah Palin is proving so popular with the Republican base, it's hard to imagine that John McCain realized just how great an asset he was bringing on board. Right now at least -- before any gaffes or problems that may develop -- Palin seems to be the more popular with Republican true believers than…
You have to hand it to former DNC Chairman Don Fowler and House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt: they sure know how to find a silver lining in a sad situation. While some consider it tragic that New Orleans may be about to be hit by a serious hurricane, they think it's something to laugh…
A reader E-mails: How come Obama and co. keep touting the fact that he gave up a Wall Street or high-paying legal career to become a community organizer? A few things to consider: What do we have more of, black community organizers or high-powered blacks on Wall Street or the bar? Wouldn't a guy…
It seems that Hillary Clinton isn't the only prominent Democrat who can't bring herself to say that Barack Obama is qualified to be president. Jimmy Carter was interviewed on CNN's American Morning today: ROBERTS: Let me remind you of something you said. It was back in November of 2006 on the…
The Left can read the polls as well as we can: The big polling news today, of course, are the tracking polls that show a tie (Rasmussen) and a two-point lead for McCain (Gallup). That is the worst showing for Obama in three months, and also the first time in three months that McCain has a net lead…
The New York Daily News has heard from a close associate of Colin Powell, and it seems he wants to knock down the vice presidential rumors pretty decisively: Informed sources told the Daily News that when McCain called on the retired general and national icon a few weeks ago, the veepship was…
Available on Democraticstuff.com cuckooforcocoapuffs.jpg Can anarchists for Obama be far behind?
National Journal has the latest from Mr. Clean: A total of 552 individuals have bundled $50,000 or more for Obama, and 36 individuals and couples bundled $500,000 or more so far, according to the watchdog group Public Citizen. All the attention lavished on the high rollers raises questions among…
In the Democratic presidential debate of July 23, 2007, Joe Biden took some heat from Second Amendment advocates for his condescending attitude toward a gun owner. Less widely noticed was Biden's eagerness to claim credit for writing the assault weapons ban: But as I pointed out elsewhere at the…
Is the plane already on its way? Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation and the Washington Note reports that a key Biden staffer has cut short his family vacation in Hawaii to return to D.C.: Biden has a few people he's had around forever and some new additions to his insider crowd. Three of…
The Wall Street Journal's latest poll contains some food for thought for Hillary backers. The poll finds that Hillary would be beating John McCain by 6 points right now, as opposed to the 3 point margin that Obama currently has. That's probably not a big enough difference to make 130 delegates…
Barack Obama has complained that John McCain and the Republicans are invoking religious imagery in their campaign ads about him. Obama argues that it's unfair to suggest that his backers demonstrate an almost religious fervor for him. In unrelated news, Obama's team of B-list entertainers prays for…
Jonathan Rauch reminds Barack Obama and the Democrats that even if the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan have temporarily quieted, the war on terror is not over. At least, Al Qaeda hasn't stopped fighting it: Still, before Obama and the Democrats move on too quickly, a gentle reminder: This is…
So if you buy the hints that Barack Obama is sending, his running mate will be Joe Biden, Tim Kaine, or Evan Bayh. If you read between the lines, Jack Reed seems entirely plausible. If however, you're a partisan looking over this list, it seems that you're awfully uninspired. And given the…
Here is an audio recording of Barack Obama on the floor of the Illinois State Senate in 2002. I suspect that doctors feel that they would be under that obligation, that they would already be making these determinations, and that essentially adding an additional doctor, who then has to be called in…
If ever there was a candidate who needed change, it's Barack Obama. In addition to the Los Angeles Times and Zogby polls showing an Obama slide nationally, the highly respected, bipartisan Battleground poll shows he has lost significant ground. Here's the 'glass-half-full' interpretation of the…
If Barack Obama was hoping to project the image of a unified party in the days before his coronation, this is a story he doesn't need: A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of…
A bipartisan coalition of House Members is pressing Speaker Pelosi to invite Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to address a joint session of Congress: House and Senate leaders should invite Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to address a joint session of Congress, according to bipartisan…
Yesterday, while speaking to an audience in New Mexico, Barack Obama admitted that he thought it would be great if American adopted a plan for universal health care: Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader…
The presidential campaigns of Bob Dole and John Kerry had several things in common: they were veterans whose service apparently counted for little, they were personally unexciting, and they ran weak campaigns. There was one other common factor: both were fatally afflicted with the tendency to lapse…
On Saturday, Barack Obama did an interview with CBN in which he accused McCain and the GOP of invoking Messianic imagery when referring to him: Brody: Let me ask you a little about some of these ads that John McCain has been running not just on television, but on the web. Let's face it, let's call…
Russia has expressed its anger at the U.S.-Poland missile defense deal which was announced yesterday: Russia reacted angrily, saying that the move would worsen relations with the United States that have already been strained severely in the week since Russian troops entered separatist enclaves in…
David Sirota makes an interesting observation about the change that has come over MoveOn.org: In effectively OK-ing the VP nomination of a politician who has consistently voted against Moveon's organizational mission, the Moveon leadership lets us in on the secret that I reported in my book: namely…
Rasmussen conducts a regular survey on whether voters intend to support the Republican candidate for Congress, or the Democrat. Their most recent survey shows that the Democratic advantage has closed to 8 points -- the closest it has been in several months: The Republicans have tightened the gap…
It's pretty simple. If you have an adjusted gross income of between $85,000 and $100,000 or so, Obama won't raise your marginal tax rates. If you're anywhere else in the income scale, you're not so lucky. FS_Obama_Tax.jpg Although Obama is offering a new series of tax breaks, they undermine rather…
Barack Obama's supporters seem to find racism wherever they look, and have argued quietly that racism is keeping down Obama's overall numbers. But Obama is polling about the same as previous Democratic nominees among white voters. In the latest CBS poll, McCain leads Obama by four points among…
When Barack Obama was preparing to go back on his pledge to accept public financing, he said that a major reason was the fear that McCain would refuse to rein in well-funded outside groups that supported his candidacy: John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by…
Roll Call suggests that Tim Kaine may be out of the running for Barack Obama's VP pick unless he can tame his unruly eyebrows: Kaine's brows - arched, wiggly and what most people remember from the Democrat's rebuttal to the State of the Union speech in 2006 - have become one of the chief objections…
In Senator Obama's defense, he would have to give up much more than just bodyboarding in order to be in Fort Hood tonight. He also has a big fundraiser scheduled tomorrow night in Hawaii. It would be awfully hard for him to attend tonight's townhall and make it to the fundraiser without suffering…
As discussed earlier, Barack Obama has a new radio ad slamming John McCain and Rick Davis for their alleged role in the potential loss of 8,000 jobs in southwest Ohio. The ad excerpts a portion of McCain's town hall exchange with the wife of one of the affected employees, Mary Houghtaling of…
Picking up on an ad put together by Ohio Democrats, Barack Obama is airing a radio commercial blaming John McCain (and campaign manager Rick Davis) for the potential loss of about 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, Ohio. Basically, Davis lobbied in support of DHL's bid to acquire Airborne Express of…
Matt Welch notices that an enterprising Californian has state approval to start collecting signatures for an initiative to buy America's oil companies, car companies, and large investment houses. How will a state heavily in the red pay for those investments? Simple: through a huge new tax on…
Rasmussen reports that the recent shift toward McCain in the national polls is accompanied by (or perhaps caused by) increased trust in his ability to handle a range of issues: The Republican also has pulled ahead on the issue of balancing the federal budget. Two weeks ago, the candidates were tied…
Exxon-Mobil is receiving plenty of attention for posting a record $11.68 billion profit in the second quarter, but I see no mention of the fact that the company paid almost three times that much in taxes in the same quarter. Go to page 8 of Exxon's second quarter financial report and you'll see…
If the objective test of the value of Barack Obama's recent European jaunt is whether or not it helped or hurt his chances of becoming president, it would seem the verdict is in. Intrade shows a steady slide since Barack left the U.S., for a total loss of about 8 percent in the value of a share of…
McCain adviser John Goodman explains the inequity of the current health care system, and how John McCain promises to bring fairness: Under the McCain plan, no longer would employers be able to buy insurance with pretax dollars. These payments would be taxable to the employee, just like wages.…
Rumor is that Barack Obama will soon announce Tim Kaine as his vice presidential nominee; I tend to agree with Jim Geraghty that Republicans ought to welcome such a selection. If Obama chooses to double-down on lack of experience and foreign policy credentials, it can only improve the contrast with…
If there's one person who's likely to lose his job as a result of the indictment of Ted Stevens, it's Congressman Don Young (R-AK). Young is under investigation by the FBI over his ties to Veco, as Stevens is. It would be no surprise at all if Young is indicted, too. And while Stevens is blessed to…
Mexico is our third-leading supplier of foreign oil, but Mexico's national oil company -- Pemex -- faces serious challenges. Pemex will be unable to produce from new deep-water fields without an infusion of private capital, and the Mexican constitution forbids private investment in the petroleum…
We all wish Robert Novak a full and speedy recovery. His excellent reporting, such as this story on Romney's VP prospects, will be missed while he's in the hospital. Novak writes that the reason Mitt Romney is at (or near) the top of McCain's vice-presidential list is his ability to deliver…
A new Wall Street Journal poll finds that John McCain trails Barack Obama by six percentage points in a head-to-head match up. But when Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are thrown into the mix, Obama opens up a 13-point lead: In a head-to-head match up between Barack Obama and John McCain in the latest…
One of the Democrats' signature promises when they campaigned for control of Congress in 2006 was to end the 'K Street Project.' That was the term for the pressure put on lobbyists after the 1994 elections to hire more Republicans. As Kimberly Strassel points out, the K Street Project is back, and…
Democrats continue to try to avoid a vote on offshore drilling that they are destined to lose, instead preferring to schedule votes on meaningless measures that are defeated anyway. Now even the Washington Post is calling on Senators Reid and Pelosi to allow votes on new drilling. And how does…
From New Hampshire's Concord Monitor: After a year of lagging behind his opponent in polls, Sen. John Sununu has closed the gap, transforming New Hampshire's U.S. Senate race into a dead heat, according to a new poll from the University of New Hampshire. Most surveys for the past year have shown…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn is telling friends he may be busy in August, so they should make vacation plans without him: For the past eight summers, Sam Nunn has spent a week with friends at a manor house in Scotland. The powerful men play golf at…
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is causing controversy on Capitol Hill for his decision to have his chief of staff serve as staff director of the committee, as well. The staffer has no security clearance--which would severely undermine his ability to deal with the sensitive…
Roll Call reports that despite the expectation that 2008 will be a banner year for Senate Democrats, many of their challengers are trailing badly in fundraising: A couple of candidates are in good shape, at least on the fundraising front. Through May 21, Maine Rep. Tom Allen (D) raised $3.9…
Barack Obama's fundraising may have hit a major speed bump. His poll numbers have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. He forgets to call on his donors to donate to Hillary to help her retire her debt, and even when he does they're not listening to him. And now there's attention to his terrible…
The Senate voted to confirm General David Petraeus as Commander of CentCom by a vote of 95-2. The near-unanimous vote of confidence is rather surprising, given the doubts expressed about Petraeus by Senate Democrats just a few months ago: SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): Q: "…General Petraeus is going to…
I've commented before that Republicans in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ought to travel to the part of the Coastal Plain where drilling might someday be allowed. Once you get there, you can see that it's not exactly something to write home about: If voters see the…
Stunning: You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish... It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German, and then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is 'merci beaucoup.' If Obama truly believes that immigrants are learning…
As recently as a few weeks ago, pollsters were not generally asking Americans to rate the importance of gas prices as an election issue. Since May, several national polls have included gas/energy prices as a potential poll answer, and voters have consistently ranked it quite high. It's among the…
If Bill Clinton earned a strong re-election win in 1996 by standing against the perceived excesses of a Republican Congress (who favored radical ideas like budget balancing, welfare reform, and term limits) then John McCain ought to take a lesson. Whoever is elected president is likely to be…
It's been clear for a while that Democrats were making an empty promise when they talked of treating our allies better and 'restoring' America's reputation abroad. Respected Yale University professor and Democratic foreign policy expert Stuart Gottlieb, makes the case quite effectively: The message…
Yesterday, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff David Addington refused to discuss particular interrogation techniques during a meeting on Capitol Hill because al Qaeda could benefit from such communications being broadcast on television. Democratic Congressman Delahunt replied: "I'm sure they…
While Congressmen and presidential candidates argue over whether or not the United States should tap into its own domestic supply to meet our future energy needs, at least one foreign producer is stepping up to the plate. If the United States doesn't expand domestic production, we can count on…
Classy: The Washington state Democratic Party says it will change a video ad that pictures Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi accompanied by the theme song from "The Sopranos," after a Seattle group said the ad was offensive to Italian-Americans. The Italian Club of Seattle sent a letter…
The Beltway conventional wisdom holds that to the extent that for Republicans to do well this year, they need to present themselves in the way John McCain always has: as a 'different kind of Republican.' To a large degree, that means associating yourself with McCain and boosting his campaign. But…
The effort by Democrats to crack down on oil "speculators" took a hit from an unlikely source today: Paul Krugman. The only way speculation can have a persistent effect on oil prices, then, is if it leads to physical hoarding - an increase in private inventories of black gunk. This actually…
The Washington Post looks at the fiscal challenges facing the next President, and suggests that John McCain's fiscal bona fides are more credible than those of Barack Obama: Obama has not made balanced budgets a priority. Instead, he promises numerous tax cuts likely to make the situation worse,…
The Hill reports on allegations of infiltrations of Congressional computers by hackers operating from China: More Members of Congress have had their computers infiltrated by hackers within China than initially suspected, a lawmaker has revealed. Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and…
anwr.jpg The Congressional leadership is working hard to convince Americans that drilling in the pristine national treasure known as the Coastal Plain of AWNR (pictured above) is a waste of time because the impact on gas prices won't be seen for decades. At the same time, they insist that we must…
John Feehery, a GOP consultant and former communications director for Speaker Dennis Hastert, says that the sleeper issue of 2008 may be violent crime. More precisely, it may be a sleeper issue in GOP-leaning districts. Feehery points out that while crime is down nationwide, it's up in smaller…
New York's accidental governor David Paterson is likely to face stiff competition for re-election in 2010. Andrew Cuomo and other Democrats are regarded as potential primary challengers and there's speculation that Rudy Giuliani will run on the Republican line. But perhaps his biggest re-election…
It's generally agreed that the political climate for Republicans will be toxic this year, so it's not surprising that there are painfully few Democrats who seem to face uphill climbs for re-election. It looks there may be one, however, Pennsylvania's Paul Kanjorski, who's being challenged again by…
Barack Obama has been insistent that a central part of his economic plan is a middle class tax cut. According to Obama's website, his plan for tax relief includes a tax cut for working families, the 'American opportunity' tax credit, an expansion of the dependent care tax credit, and the…
The National Resources Defense Council calls itself "the nation's most effective environmental action organization." Presumably the nation they refer to is the United States, but that has not stopped them from lending support to efforts to deter oil discovery in Canada: It is not news that these…
Throughout the Democratic primary campaign, Hillary Clinton bested Senator Obama among women, latinos, and middle and lower income white voters. With Clinton out of the way, you would think that the push was on to shore up support among those groups. At least when it comes to women and latinos, it…
How long can Obama lead in the polls when the voters show such little faith in his leadership ability: Forty-five percent (45%) trust McCain most when it comes to economic issues and managing the economy while 42% prefer Obama. Those figures have changed little over the past week. On national…
Barack Obama's real estate partner Tony Rezko was recently convicted in his trial. As a result, another beneficiary of Rezko's largesse may now face impeachment: House Speaker Michael Madigan is circulating a memo to legislative candidates spelling out how they can call for impeachment hearings for…
Chuck Todd reports that Jim Johnson and Eric Holder are asking Hill Democrats their views about General Jim Jones as a possible vice presidential nominee. Todd probably reads too much into the significance of this, given that Johnson and Holder are only tangentially related to the Obama campaign --…
We've chronicled here how the Congress has refused to fund the war on terror. Congress is approaching a critical deadline, as Secretary Gates recently testified before the Senate that the Pentagon will not have the funds necessary to pay troops as of June 15, unless the Congress approves a…
Roll Call ($) reports that the Republican National Committee -- which has far outstripped Howard Dean's DNC in fundraising -- will lend support to the cash-poor National Republican Congressional Committee: Republican Congressional Committee are set to form a joint fundraising committee with the…
Fox News Sunday yesterday hosted two governors named Tim: Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) and Tim Kaine (D-VA). Both are mentioned as possible running mates for their party's presidential nominees. You can get a flavor of the discussion here. The highlight comes around the 8:55 mark, where Pawlenty begins to…
Yesterday Lieutenant Andrew Grayson became the sixth U.S. soldier exonerated of any wrongdoing in an incident at Haditha in 2005. Grayson is the first Marine tried for his alleged transgressions; two others will face trial later this year: Eight military personnel were originally charged over the…
It's frequently observed that America's labor bosses no longer seem to have U.S. interests at heart. Is it any surprise, given that they are committed to tapping into the international leftist/socialist network to try to get their way? ...the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), joined by…
The Washington Post reports this morning that Korea has decided to withdraw from its commitment to allow the import of U.S. beef: In April this year, Lee moved to lift the ban, without consulting many of his own advisers, his party or the public. He did so shortly before a meeting on trade with…
The Wall Street Journal carries a profile of the House 'Blue Dogs.' And while they're typically characterized as being 'conservative' Democrats, their real claim to fame--such as it is--is an insistence that new spending be accompanied by tax increases: The Blue Dogs recently revolted against House…
Carter Wood points to some interesting findings in RBC Capital Market's annual energy survey: Americans' NIMBY "Not In My Backyard" syndrome also appears to be waning. Only 16 per cent of Americans said that they would oppose the construction of any type of energy plant or facility in their…
Maxine Waters is talking about nationalizing America's oil sector. She might want to consider an object lesson on how that's working for one of the world's major oil producers: Venezuela's state petroleum company, Petroleos de Venezuela, increased petroleum imports by nearly 150% between the first…
Jon Henke makes an interesting point about those who believe the economy is terrible: Yet those who have become extremely concerned about the economy since last fall show no significant difference from everyone else in backing a presidential candidate. Both groups divide about evenly between…
Warner Huston points out that when Barack Obama was first elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996, he sought (and received) the endorsement of Illinois' Marxist New Party: The New Party was a Marxist political coalition whose objective was to endorse and elect leftist public officials -- most…
fallingoil.jpgAccording to the Energy Information Administration, global oil exports are on the way down -- and appear set to continue to decline: The world's top oil producers are proving unable to put more barrels on thirsty world markets despite sky-high prices, a shift that defies traditional…
A sign of reconciliation in Iraq: Some 800 Sunni Muslims are among 2,000 newly trained recruits in the Iraqi National Police, a force that a Pentagon report a year ago called a brutal organization infiltrated by Shiite militias and even death squads. Another 2,000 Sunnis are expected to be trained…
If you're not big enough to have a Washington lobbyist, it's hard to take you seriously. According to lobbyists.info, there are currently more than 22,000 registered federal lobbyists, representing everyone from the Thai Frozen Foods Association to the Religious Broadcast Music License Committee.…
Lest you think there's no hope at all for Republicans in Congressional races this year, I'll point you to some good news in an unexpected area--New York: Four of NY's six GOP seats could swing to Dems this fall. But one of those four, retiring Tom Reynolds' (R) NY-26, looks less and less everyday…
Given the attention to Scott McClellan's book, it was only a matter of time before Democrats' dreams again turned to impeaching the president. How much time did it take? Less than a day: Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to appear…
Susan Sarandon is doing the rounds promoting her latest movie, Speed Racer. She found time to talk to the Telegraph about the movie, her career, and U.S. politics: Her financial and vocal support for Barack Obama has not endeared her to some fellow Democrats. "I've got a lot of flak from feminists…
Gallup has released the results of a lengthy survey on gas prices, which asked both about causes and responses. Only 20 percent of Americans believe oil companies are responsible for the high prices, and 57 percent believe the correct response is to allow drilling in areas currently off limits:…
A tipster tells Wizbang's Kevin Aylward that Arthur Culvahouse -- who is heading up McCain's vice presidential search team -- is in Alaska: ...There's only one reason he would be there - to meet with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin about the Vice President position. This comes on the heels of McCain's…
After ending 2007 with abysmal approval ratings, Congressional leaders seemed to recognize that protracted fights over Iraq funding bills were damaging their credibility. They acknowledged that it made little sense to split their conference, only to capitulate to the president at the last minute.…
Al Franken's bid to unseat incumbent Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) has hit a rough patch, as he tries to explain why he failed to pay worker's compensation insurance on his employees in New York. The state says that he failed to pay for insurance on as many as 17 workers at a time, and that they…
Joe Trippi served as a senior adviser to John Edwards before he gave up his presidential bid earlier this year. In the journal Politics, Trippi laments that he didn't press Edwards to stay in the race: I didn't tell him what I should have told him: That I had this feeling that if he stayed in the…
Articles such as this one are the best refutation of the frequent conservative claim that the media tilts left: Four years after a failed presidential bid and amid a race for a fifth Senate term this fall, Kerry's moves have prompted some questions: _Is the Massachusetts Democrat positioning…
America's labor unions have argued that globalization is a bad thing -- that workers and consumers are the victims when companies go multinational. When unions do it however, it's apparently a good thing: The long-discussed merger between Pittsburgh's United Steelworkers and Britain's Unite,…
Why should Mother Nature have to bear the burden of man's cruelty toward his fellow man? After all, if we can send a man to the moon, why can't wet we find a way to kill people and break things, but still leave the battlefield in a pristine, park-like setting? Well, the Germans are working on it:…
Jim Geraghty notes that the Obamas have frequently referred to their experience with student loan debt as one tangible demonstration of how they understand and relate to the experience of middle class voters. But Geraghty points out that one reason the Obamas were dealing with student loans and…
Obama continues to demonstrate strong support among those deeply opposed to American foreign policy goals: He also is full of opinions, and on Monday he gave Senator Barack Obama an endorsement of sorts, calling him "the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency" while also berating him for…
Chris Bowers is one of the brighter minds on the left side of the blogosphere -- particularly when it comes to political strategy and analysis. Bowers writes that despite the pro-Democrat mood of the country, Obama cannot be regarded as a favorite in a race against McCain: The answer is simple, and…
Earlier this week when fundraising numbers were released for the major campaign committees, there was a little bit of good news for the GOP. While the Republican House and Senate committees still trail their Democratic counterparts badly, the RNC is far outraising the DNC. Further, the RNC has…
Maxine Waters let the cat out of the bag yesterday. Congressional Democrats talk a moderate game, but when they speak candidly it's clear they have an extreme agenda in mind. It may be unfair to pick on Representative Waters; she is probably the most confused Representative in Congress. Want proof?…
John Mercurio writes on the speculation over who will be appointed to the Senate to succeed either John McCain or Barack Obama. For the moment, I'm concerned only with McCain's seat, since in the case of Barack Obama, a Democrat Governor will undoubtedly appoint a Democrat to succeed a Democrat. In…
General Petraeus, in testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggested that he will be able to recommend further troop reductions in the September time frame: "My sense is that I will be able to make a recommendation at that time for further reductions," Gen. David H. Petraeus…
It seems to be pretty universally recognized that something needs to change for Republicans to avoid another significant loss in November. Opinions vary on precisely what must be done, but many conservatives have argued that the party needs to return to its fiscal conservative roots, while at the…
Bob Wright, in his latest bloggingheads segment with Mickey Kaus, endorses the idea of General Petraeus serving as Secretary of State in an Obama administration (around 2:37), but can't finish the thought as he begins laughing. He also compliments Petraeus for his strategy of 'killing the…
This video is rather lengthy, but you don't need to watch the whole thing. The interesting portion is about 45 seconds in: "Believe it or not, a majority of union members like John McCain right now." The AFL-CIO however, wants to 'educate' its membership on how McCain opposes their agenda. Most…
The other day I pointed out that one of the great solutions advanced by Democrats in Congress to help bring down gas prices was to outlaw OPEC. (On tap: legislation to outlaw rainy days and the common cold.) I wasn't aware at the time however, exactly what the legislation sought to outlaw. The text…
The first rule about handicapping Congressional races is not to assume that just because Congress is unpopular, individual Members of Congress are endangered. If you mistakenly made that assumption, you might think that just because the Democratic Congress is held in historically low esteem by the…
If you've paid any attention at all to politics over the last year, you would think that the American people had clearly shifted to the left and rejected the basic underpinnings of conservative philosophy. That would be a mistake: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that…
Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) embarrasses himself: Yesterday, while voting on the war supplemental spending bill in the House of Representatives, I couldn't help but notice a contingent of approximately 20 flag rank Army officers sitting in the House Gallery watching the debate and vote for a…
Secretary of Defense Gates testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee today. He touched on the failure of Congress to provide funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: "After June 15, we will run out of funds in this account to pay soldiers, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan,"…
This Congress will adjourn in a few months, with little to show for their two years in power. One issue they have steered far away from is the growth of entitlement spending. The Congressional Budget Office has recently responded to a request from Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for specifics on how…
Global warming -- what CAN'T it do? Hurricanes and tropical storms will become less frequent by the end of the century as a result of climate change, US researchers have suggested. But the scientists added their data also showed that there would be a "modest increase" in the intensity of these…
The Democrats always tell us that addressing our energy needs requires a long-term plan that includes some tough choices. Apparently the first such choice is outlawing OPEC: With oil prices hitting new highs almost daily, the House was scheduled to take up legislation Monday intended to make…
Barack Obama complains about Japan's closed market: Speaking to a crowd of farmers in a barn, Barack Obama cited the Japanese not selling American beef as an example of how current trade policies have hurt rural communities. "You can't get American beef into Japan…even though we have the highest…
The world is atwitter over the Beatle-esque crowd that greeted Barack Obama in Oregon yesterday. But if the most recent polls are to be believed, he's going to need all of them to show up at the polls to salvage a respectable win: In Oregon, Obama (45 percent) led Clinton (41 percent) by 4 points,…
Dean has an excellent analysis of Obama's simplistic foreign policy views, but I thought I'd append some numbers that help give perspective: Iran today 1,648,000 square km 66 million people Germany in 1939 (after annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland) 586,000 sq. km 80 million people Japan in…
Recent actions by Senate Democrats put the lie to the claim that they want to wean the U.S. off our dependence on foreign oil. Yesterday, in a strict party-line vote, Senate Democrats defeated an amendment to lift a moratorium on oil shale development in Colorado: The moratorium prevents the…
This would be an awfully narrow win: Clinton 45% Obama 50% Undecided 5% According to the Real Clear Politics summary, Obama has led by 20, 14, and 12 in the most recent polls. And the American Research Group poll released today is not a victim of small sample size, at least: It's a poll of 600…
Jennifer Rubin has a good suggestion for McCain: But chances are that there will be an even larger Democratic Congressional majority come next year. One consequence of this very safe projection might be that McCain will start running on that old crowd-pleaser, divided government. The prospect of a…
A key House Committee has approved legislation that addresses the controversial tanker contract awarded by the Air Force to an EADS consortium, instead of a rival Boeing bid. But the legislation leaves the status quo in place -- at least for now: House defense authorizers are directing the Air…
This is a surprise: "Based on our careful and comprehensive forensic examination of each of the eight seized FARC computer exhibits and on consideration of all the evidence reviewed by our experts, Interpol concludes that there was no tampering with any data on the computer exhibits following their…
Hopefully the Senate will remember that our troops deserve to be armed, fed, and paid: The House voted 141-149, with 132 Republicans voting present, to reject the war funding portion of the supplemental spending bill. The vote means the Senate will have to add the money to the bill. The Senate…
This is reminiscent of Obama's '100 year war' lie: Now, when John McCain came to Michigan in January and said that we couldn't bring back all the jobs that had been lost back to America, he was right. We can't bring back every single job. But where he's wrong was in suggesting that there's nothing…
The approval rate for Congress has now fallen to just 18 percent. Considering how unpopular the Democratic Congress has become, it's amazing Republicans continue to lose seats. (To paraphrase Jon Lovitz as Mike Dukakis, 'I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!') Freedom's Watch points out how you…
A central complaint of Congressional Democrats in explaining their opposition to a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement was to cite the alleged failure of that country to do enough to oppose paramilitary groups. President Alvaro Uribe is therefore seeking to take away that objection: House…
That's what this amounts to, isn't it? A group of Democratic Senators Tuesday threatened to block a multi-million dollar US arms deal with Saudi Arabia, unless the kingdom ups oil production and helps cut soaring gasoline prices. The senators introduced a resolution of disapproval on the arms sale,…
It's a novel approach: Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday called for the elimination of the House rule that prohibits holding votes open for the purpose of changing the outcome. "Rule 2(a) is not enforceable," Hoyer told the Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of…
Harry Reid and the Democrats promised in 2006 The Frist & Hastert Reform: Prohibit "Dead of Night" Special Interest Provisions. Require that all conference committee meetings be open to the public and that members of the conference committee have a public opportunity to vote on all amendments.…
Chuck Hagel refuses to rule out the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket: "I don't expect to be on anyone's ticket this year. I don't expect to be in anyone's government next year," Hagel, who is retiring from the Senate this year, told John Roberts on CNN's American Morning. But would…
Abe Greenwald: There is one possibility that explains the reappearance of the flag pin as something other than pandering. Perhaps, like his wife Michelle, Obama is for the first time in his adult life, proud of his country. In making him the Democratic nominee, the U.S. has earned his patriotism at…
It's received relatively little attention, but even more information is emerging from FARC leader Paul Reyes's computers, which were recovered by the Colombian government after his death. And the evidence suggests that Chavez was working hard to upgrade FARC's weaponry and reach: The…
Each day seems to bring another step backwards in the effort of Congressional Republicans to make up ground against the Democratic majority. Today the question is whether GOP Congressman Vito Fossella of Staten Island will be forced to step down in the wake of his DWI arrest, and the revelation of…
Once you put it together with Jennifer Chou's details about the religious crackdown in China in advance of the Olympics, does this mean Beijing is pursuing a 'good cop/bad cop' strategy? A senior Chinese official has asked whether Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama would agree to attend the…
The House Democratic Blue Dogs have enshrined one policy goal above all others: balancing the federal budget. So far this Congress they've rolled over and allowed Democratic leaders to push through legislation to increase spending and maintain existing tax rates, even where such moves have expanded…
Craig Crawford points out that West Virginia -- which seems about to reject Barack Obama by an overwhelming margin -- has picked the winner of the White House in every presidential election since 1916: West Virginia might not matter to Barack Obama's tightening grip on the Democratic nomination,…
Here's a patriotic lapel pin that Barack Obama can wear with pride. After all, I think it's safe to say that no one else is wearing this pin -- due to false patriotism or any other reason.
What's the right message for Democrats trying to beat John McCain? It's not the one that the Democratic base wants to hear -- that McCain is just like George Bush -- for reasons that ought to be obvious. The Democrats have chosen to run the same campaign against McCain as they would have run…
Roll Call has the story: The Clinton campaign, arguing that the New York Senator is the more electable candidate nationally against the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), pointed out to reporters Friday morning that she has beaten Obama in 16 of 20 House districts that went for…
Polls consistently show that the American people have a greater appetite for expanded, activist government than they have in recent memory. A key for the election will be for McCain to demonstrate that apart from being too naive to protect the nation from terrorist threats, Obama will also…
The American Petroleum Institute explains effectively that a huge swath of the American public owns shares in the energy companies that Democrats are blaming for high oil prices: 29.5 percent of U.S. oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and other firms 27 percent are owned…
How many times have we seen this happen? The Senate Appropriations Committee postponed its scheduled Thursday markup of this year's war supplemental spending bill, after the House delayed floor consideration of the legislation until next week... Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Join Chiefs of…
Obama and Clinton are back in Washington after the primaries this week, and they're taking their superdelegate fight to the halls of Congress. Senator Clinton is meeting with Members of Congress, all of whom are also superdelegates, to plead her case. However, things don't seem to be going all that…
I wrote last week about the worries among some policymakers that the U.S. will depend on Russia to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station from 2010-2015. Today it's reported that Lockheed and Boeing are pressing Congress to appropriate $2 billion to speed the development…
Senate Democrats have debuted their plan for addressing the high price of gasoline. Hold on to your hats: Democrats unveiled a plan that sets up an Energy Independence and Security Trust Fund to be financed by a repeal of $17 billion in oil and gas industry tax incentives and a 25 percent windfall…
The president made clear today in his comments before the Organization of American States that he will continue to press ahead for Congressional consideration and passage of outstanding trade deals: Yesterday I met with the President of Panama. I assured him our efforts to get the Panamanian trade…
This is very interesting: A self-described Republican asked McCain about his well-documented temper, prompting the AZ senator to quip: "How dare you ask that question? Get that microphone away from him." But McCain said more seriously that he's often angry about governmental failures. "I will…
Home to the likes of Bob Torricelli, Jim McGreevey, the Sopranos, and a cast of thousands of other lawbreakers, New Jersey will never be seen as a 'Garden State.' But even for New Jersey, this must constitute scraping the bottom of the barrel -- at least among Democrats. Incumbent Senator Frank…
I've written before about Congressional Democrats who stubbornly stick to their plans to raise taxes on gasoline, regardless of the realities facing American consumers. But what to do with a senior House Republican -- like former Chairman Don Young (R-AK) who still wants to raise gas taxes by a…
From Congress Daily: The president is described as passionate, convinced the FTA is necessary to buck up a beleaguered democratic ally and provide a bulwark against encroaching totalitarianism in South America. "I can't underscore how very much he believes in this," said one senior administration…
John McCain has recently launched the Spanish-language version of the campaign site (here). There's not a ton of Spanish-language content -- apart from his biography and testimonials from four Spanish-speaking Florida Republicans. I thought I'd provide a quick look at what those commentators have…
The U.S. service sector expanded in April, in an unexpected reversal of a three-month trend: Encouraging news for the slumping U.S. economy came Monday as a key survey of non-manufacturing business executives showed unexpected growth in the service sector in April. The Institute for Supply…
The push to expand use of nuclear power in the U.S. has gotten a favorable reception from those concerned about global warming, but other environmental groups have been cool to the idea. Recognizing that they're more likely to face oppositions from Democrats than Republicans, proponents of nuclear…
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be raising money hand over fist, but Howard Dean seems to be unable to get people to donate to the Democratic National Committee: According to the latest Federal Election Commission reports filed through the end of March, the RNC had $31 million in cash on hand,…
Does Michelle Obama understand that part of Barack's (limited) appeal is that he does not seem to be an angry person? Does she recognize that part of her husband's strategy to win is to goad his opponent into showing that he is angry? It isn't clear: Michelle Obama lifted the lid on the irritation…
There may be a legitimate question as to whether drivers will pay less at the pump if federal gas taxes are suspended. But what if gas taxes are raised, as some in Congress still favor? Two Pittsburgh-area congressmen hosted the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee…
Mason-Dixon's latest poll shows Obama leading Clinton by 7 points in North Carolina. The poll was conducted this past Monday and Tuesday; Jeremiah Wright's speech at the National Press Club was Monday, so this poll will have captured at least some of the reaction: A WRAL news poll released…
Gee, I thought only Republicans did this: A D.C. advocacy group called Women's Voices, Women Vote is being accused of waging a high-tech voter suppression campaign, after voters in predominantly black districts in North Carolina began receiving automated phone calls implying that they hadn't…
Ted Stevens (R-AK) needs all the friends he can get. He's the subject of a Justice Department investigation and he faces a real Democratic challenger for the first time in years. It's made him one of the top Democratic targets this year. But in a strong demonstration that Congressional…
It seems that Congressional Democrats may finally take up legislation next week to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of 2008, and into 2009. Because so many liberal are unwilling to vote for a funding bill however, and because Congressional leaders won't pass a bill that…
I wrote yesterday about Travis Childers, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Mississippi's first Congressional District. Childer's Republican opponent has been airing an ad that points out that Childers has received support from Barack Obama. In what seems a desperate attempt to preserve his…
As things currently stand, the Space Shuttle program will be suspended in 2010, as the existing orbiters reach the end of their useful lives. The U.S. will then have a window of approximately 5 years in which it will have no independent capacity for manned space flight until the Orion system comes…
Remember all that talk about how Barack Obama was a trans-partisan uniter who could help Democrats be competitive in solidly red states? He was going to help boost African-American turnout and bring out waves of new voters to back Democrats at all levels? Well, it's appropriate that as Obama…
It seems that average Americans focus on race when events in the news conspire to force the topic onto the front page. And so in recent years, Americans have considered how race influences our country in the context of crimes, riots, and controversy. Our breast beating is associated with names like…
President Bush has signaled that he is open to a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax, increasing the possibility that one will be adopted this summer. If enacted, will it help? The Washington Post collects opinions on both sides, and points out that Illinois's recent experiment with the…
Barack Obama has promised to roughly double capital gains tax rates -- a move that he acknowledges might reduce tax revenues, but which is needed because it's 'fair.' Friends of ATR points to this piece from USA Today, which explains how much the Obama capital gains tax increase will cost you: If…
A number of contributors to this blog have written on the controversial tanker deal awarded by the Air Force to EADS, and currently being investigated by GAO (examples here, here, here, here, and here). Now it looks like the House at least, is getting ready to pass legislation to undo the deal:…
I hate to pick on Jay Leno, but he really makes it too easy. While Leno is a famous gearhead, he seems to share the same basic misunderstanding as many environmentalists who paint the internal combustion engine as the scourge of the planet. Specifically, he seems to think that if a car is powered…
Stuart Rothenberg is an analyst and columnist for the beltway publication Roll Call. He's also the father of the Rothenberg Political Report, and a contributor to CNN. He suggests that John McCain's 'perfect' choice for VP would be his colleague Joe Lieberman: Lieberman's selection to McCain's…
Last year Congress cracked down on banks making too big a profit off of student loans. Democrats were delighted to stop rapacious lenders like SLMA from taking a pound of flesh from America's students. Speaker Pelosi was so proud of the bill that she even convened a photo-op intended to make it…
Marc Ambinder found it, and it's pretty consistent with the rest of the stuff they've tried lately.
Wait a minute. I don't think I can keep up with the science of climate change. I was pretty sure that the ozone hole was bad. Now I discover that it was helping to keep global warming from raging out of control... The scientists found that as ozone levels recover, the lower stratosphere over the…
Speaker Pelosi recently appeared with Larry King to discuss the rise in gas prices, but she doesn't seem to pump her gas very often. She's off on the price by about $1.00 per gallon. Remind me again, who's out of touch with ordinary Americans? It might be helpful to review the climbing price of gas…
Organic foods are suddenly not so popular: The percentage of consumers who believe organic products are good for them is down to 45%, while those who believe they're good for the environment has fallen to 48%, according to the latest survey from consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail. Both measures…
A candidate prone to mistakes on the campaign trail just made another, according to Lynn Sweet: McCain denounced the North Carolina GOP party ad. "It's not the message of my campaign," he said. He wrote a letter to the state party chairman imploring them to pull the spot. The ad "degrades our…
The number one Senate Republican takeover target this cycle is the Louisiana the seat held by Mary Landrieu. Chances of success improved after the GOP enticed state treasurer John Kennedy to switch parties to challenge her, and after Bobby Jindal won such a resounding victory in the state's…
As a Sopranos fan, I was disappointed to be cheated out of a great death scene to end a superb series. Insult was added to injury however, when one of the more show's more interesting characters -- Johnny Sac -- was revealed to be a Clinton fan. Now at least, Johnny Sac is pushing a cause I can get…
Is it Barack Obama, or the one who's pushing his party to shelve the attack ads? Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has written a letter to the North Carolina Republican Party asking officials to stop running an ad targeting Democratic gubernatorial candidates that features…
At this point, it's rather unclear how Hispanics will vote this year. Barack Obama has had a hard time with this constituency, and John McCain's record of support for legislation to grant visas to illegal immigrants may give him an edge. On the other hand, McCain has been firmer on border security…
Happy Earth Day -- (one day late)! AEI's Steven Hayward offers a useful reminder of how much cleaner the environment has become in the last 40 years: Air pollution is on its way to being eliminated entirely in the U.S. in about another 20 years. Levels of air pollution have fallen between 25 and 99…
It seems that some on the Left (and we're looking at you, ThinkProgress) have forgotten how federal budgeting works. They're trying to turn Senator McCain's promise to veto all bills with earmarks into a statement that he won't provide any financial aid to Israel: It is astounding then that McCain…
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A number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus appear to be judging one of their colleagues on the color of his skin, rather than the content of his character (or the quality of his representation): At least two members of the Congressional Black Caucus are supporting an African-American…
I've pointed out recently how House Democrats have threatened to block Canadian oil imports. The proverbial thumb-in-the-eye of Colombia has also been well-chronicled. Now comes news that House Democrats may soon get the chance to kill the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. That's because Korea has…
With all the attention to Barack Obama's association with Bill Ayers, I thought it readers might be interested to see what Ayers has had to say recently about the actions of the Weather Underground. The most often-cited recent piece to examine Ayers' views on his days as a fugitive is this one from…
Amidst the pummeling he took last night, did Barack Obama lie about his position on guns? There's been a lot of attention to the questionnaire he filled out for a local organization when he first ran for the Illinois State Senate in 1996. This is from the debate last night: Mr. GIBSON: But do you…
Is this the corollary to the rule that as Iraq becomes more peaceful, it is reported on less and less? The story I'm referring to is the poll finding that the people of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom no longer see the United States as the greatest threat to world peace.…
Democrats frequently complain about gasoline prices, right before they take action to limit our available supply of oil -- thereby increasing prices further. The energy bill that they passed last year is an excellent example. In that legislation, Congress reclassified oil derived from Canada's tar…
Jennifer Rubin comments on Hillary's latest Pennsylvania ad: Hillary Clinton is now letting Barack Obama have it. Karl Rove, some think, could not have done a harsher ad on Snob-gate. She says in her latest ad that his "I don't take money from oil companies" line is a lie, or at least an…
Rob Portman is frequently mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee for John McCain. If you believe Bob Novak, he's the favorite. The biggest reason is that he is seen as giving McCain a big boost in the critical state of Ohio. Rasmussen's latest Ohio poll however, suggests that the former…
I missed this yesterday, but it seems that most blogs did as well. Is it just me, or is this an awfully tortured construction for someone as eloquent as Barack Obama: ABC News' Eloise Harper and Sunlen Miller report: Barack Obama made a new argument in trying to quell the fire that his remarks over…
New York's new Governor David Paterson is in the news today. Like other prominent Democrats, his donations to charity are stunning: Gov. Paterson and his wife last year gave a shockingly low $150 to charity, despite a combined income of nearly $270,000, the couple's income-tax filings show. The…
Roll Call reports: The House agenda appears thin even for an election year, and majority Democrats are in no hurry to send bills to die in the Senate or to provide targets for Republican sniping. Democrats are counting on picking up seats this year, and observers say they plan to run on the…
Cynthia Moy points out that one of Obama's big 'bundlers' is Jodie Evans, a radical left co-founder of Code Pink, as well as the Rainforest Action Network, one of whose members is the number-one domestic terrorist organization (as ranked by the FBI), the Earth Liberation Front. She's also a…
When you take on Barack Obama's recent comments, there's a lot to debunk. There are the gun and God insults, the hypocrisy on trade, the accusations of racism, and more. One item that has gotten little attention is Obama's thesis -- that voters are embittered because Washington has done nothing to…
My unofficial sampling of the weekend news suggested that Barack Obama benefited from a somewhat favorable spin on his San Francisco remarks: many major news outlets reported that he called rural voters bitter, without mentioning the controversial portion of his statement. As many have pointed out,…
When I visit the 'Barack TV' portion of the Obama campaign website, the Obama ad which automatically loads centers on a school in the Bronx, New York. But according to the New York City Education Department, the video -- which was also featured in an Obama fundraising appeal -- was shot in…
Mickey Kaus summarizes the four major problems with Barack Obama's ruminations: It lumps together things Obama wants us to think he thinks are good (religion) with things he undoubtedly thinks are bad (racism, anti-immigrant sentiment)... Even if Obama wasn't equating anything on his list with…
The Scotsman has a story that might not have been laugh-out-loud funny three or four days ago: DEMOCRAT grandees Jimmy Carter and Al Gore are being lined-up to deliver the coup de grâce to Hillary Clinton and end her campaign to become president. Falling poll numbers and a string of high-profile…
It's stunning to view the different reactions on the right and left to Obama's comments about rural voters. While it's natural for religious voters, gun-rights voters, and opponents of illegal immigration to be offended at Obama's statement, it's amazing how many on the left fail to see what's…
You have to give Obama credit: he acted quickly to try to defuse the anger over his condescending remarks towards rural voters in Pennsylvania. But he's not going to be able to get past this as long as he refuses to apologize. Let's look at what Obama said that got him into such hot water. Boil it…
Megan McArdle had a lengthy post a little while back on the question of whether liberals actually believe they are undertaxed. She argued that few really believe they pay too little in taxes; what they really mean is that they would be willing to pay higher taxes as long as other Americans were…
CQ Politics reports that the sponsors of the chief Senate climate change legislation are pleased with the cost estimate of the bill released by the Congressional Budget Office. That's because their proposal won't cost the federal government a dime. In fact, it will raise taxes by about $1.2…
The Washington Post has an excellent piece today on Barack Obama's bundlers -- fundraisers who solicit multiple donations from a range of donors, and then combine those donations into much larger lump sums. The Post says there are 79 bundlers who raised more than $200,000 each -- for a minimum of…
The folks at Red State have noticed a troubling quote from Barack Obama, regarding his views on how to deal with China: "It's very hard to tell your banker that he's wrong," Obama said, after talking about the need to restore America's stance in the world, "And if we are running huge deficits and…
The Politico reports on the RNC's internal polls: Internal polling data, presented privately last week at the Republican National Committee's state chair meeting and provided to Politico, shows John McCain with a solid lead over both his potential general election rivals. Powered by the same appeal…
With the House of Representatives likely to vote today to kill the Colombia trade deal, it's worthwhile to look at what the deal would do for our trade with that nation. The U.S. Trade Representative sends the following data: ...Since 1991, Congress has given Colombian products almost complete…
Speaker Pelosi won't admit it, but if the House backs her recommendation to indefinitely postpone the consideration of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, then the accord is dead for the foreseeable future. That's because the decision removes the single most important driver for support of…
Goldfarb points out that Barack Obama is getting ready to backtrack on his promise to accept public financing. On the left, there will be claims that he didn't exactly promise to accept public financing; that he merely suggested he might. The last time there was a flareup over Obama's pledge, his…
The left is thrilled that Senator Biden yesterday got Ambassador Crocker to 'admit' that it's more important to defeat al Qaeda along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border than it is to defeat them in Iraq. Next up: getting FDR to admit that it's more important to defeat the Nazis in Berlin than in…
An interesting take from Paul Ibrahim: Obama does not talk about the war on terror as a war we are winning, or about the surge as a strategy that has given us back control of much of Iraq. Instead he talks of our remarkable success against terrorist plots at home and Iraqi terrorists abroad as…
There have long been rumblings that Senate Democrats no longer believe Robert Byrd (D-WV) capable of fulfilling his duties as Appropriations Committee chairman. There have been backroom whisperings that the time had come to push him aside and allow someone younger and more energetic to take the…
Roll Call reports that the Members of Congress who are deciding how to address the depressed housing market and economic slowdown are among those who've lost the most. And one of the contenders for the title of biggest loser is John Kerry: Congress' uber-rich had the most at stake. Sen. John Kerry…
Classless Ed Schultz spells out on CNN why he calls John McCain a warmonger. He mentions McCain's tough stands towards Russia and Iran, and then the kicker: "... and yesterday on your network he said he wants to increase the military. Now I ask Americans this morning, what kind of message does it…
How thin is Barack Obama's resume? Well, after tomorrow, no one will be able to say that he's never chaired a Senate hearing before. Because while the subcommittee he chairs has still never met (who cares about 'European Affairs' anyway), he's been given the honor of chairing the Senate hearing on…
Ace notes the U.N. finding that 2008 is likely to be a cool year -- a trend that has now lasted for a full decade. He sarcastically comments that 'this is all just further evidence that the earth is boiling over.' But Ace misses the essential basis of apocalyptic environmentalism. It's not that the…
The FEC currently has just two out of its six board members because of a Senate dispute over the nomination of Hans Von Spakovsky. For months, Barack Obama had a hold on Von Spakovsky's nomination because of Democratic anger over his activities at the Department of Justice (although he has recently…
Just like Edwards, Portman doesn't want to be vice president: "I'll be frank with you," Portman said. "I think there are a lot of great choices out there and I think he's got plenty of other people to call first. I just don't think about it much because I don't think it's going to happen." The…
For those looking for a candidate who can unite Americans in support of a new style of politics, there truly is a choice: Christopher Walken for president! He's a persevering Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war. He's got experience as a small businessman and a no-nonsense CEO. He's served as…
The Politico reports that Speaker Pelosi is setting out parameters for the content of General Petraeus' testimony when he appears before the House: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Thursday not to "put a shine on recent events" in…
I've written before on Congressman Heath Shuler's claim that John McCain has quietly intervened to discourage House Republicans from forcing a debate on immigration. I've argued that the claim is implausible, since 175 out of 198 Republicans have signed a discharge petition designed to force a…
How nice: The narratives on McCain are also revealing. McCain is disliked because he is a republican, because he is close with Bush, and because of his views on Iraq. While the main punchline on McCain these days is his age, only 7% of those opposed to McCain listed his age as the main reason. It…
The Democratic Leadership Council was the intellectual core of the only two-term Democratic administration since FDR. Ten years ago, if the DLC spoke, people listened. Nowadays the DLC is more or less ignored by the leading Democratic presidential contenders. It's ironic that the Clinton…
A top Democratic goal in recent years has been passage of the 'Employee Free Choice Act,' also known as Card Check. The measure would end the secret ballot system by which workers currently choose whether or not to unionize. Instead it would allow unionization based on the majority of a shop's…
It's hard to tell exactly what's happening in the run-up to the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania (on April 22). However, several polls show Hillary's advantage over Obama narrowing, and one shows Obama in the lead. Given her big lead in the state as recently as a few weeks ago, a loss in…
It seems that Democrats are in full bore chase-Hillary-out-of-the-race mode. Are they eager to see her quit the race because she may wind up the leader in votes cast in the Democratic primaries, or despite it? These two projections, if they come to pass, seem likely to cause maximum pain among the…
Roll Call reports on the epiphany that appears to have come over Republican campaign strategists over the last six weeks or so -- the realization that a McCain-Obama race is likely to produce a comfortable political climate for Republican candidates: "Hillary certainly looked like she would help us…
In 1998, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) -- a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee -- obtained and distributed to the media an illegally-obtained tape of a private conversation of Representative John Boehner (R-OH). After litigating the dispute for ten years, and losing each step of…
jesse.jpgMinnesota is set to host one of the nation's highest-profile Senate races this year -- between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and former funny man Al Franken. But one-time Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (immortalized in Predator) recently told the Associated Press that he's not…
Since 2005, Barack Obama has donated three times as much as Senator Clinton to Democratic superdelegates: The study found that the presidential candidate who gave more money to the superdelegates received their endorsements 82 percent of the time. That's based on a review of elected officials who…
Last week I wrote about the three dozen or so Democratic challengers running on a platform to withdraw all troops from Iraq. Implicitly or explicitly, these candidates are telling the voters that the Democratic leadership in Washington is ineffective (at best) or hypocritical (at worst). That…
Great catch from Tom Maguire, regarding Barack Obama's appearance on The View. Obama told the girls this: Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this…
Will disappointment and anger at the Bush administration do significant damage to John McCain's presidential campaign? Apparently not: "I am so angry at President Bush that I will not vote for Republican John McCain for president this November." In general, about 5 percent of Republicans and more…
Obama on Jeremiah Wright: Part of what I hope to do in this campaign and as president is to get us beyond these divisions that distract us from our common challenges and our common opportunities and move the country forward. On going to war in Iraq: What I am opposed to is the attempt by political…
The headline is for emphasis; what the Democrats are really promising is to end all our efforts in Iraq -- including anti-terror efforts, training of Iraqi security forces, and anything else you can think of: More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to…
The New York Times tackles the hottest trend since carbon offsets: Green jobs are especially good "because they cannot be easily outsourced, say, to Asia," said Van Jones, president of Green for All, an organization based in Oakland, Calif., whose goal is promoting renewable energy and lifting…
Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC) is claiming that John McCain has been pressing Republicans not to sign onto the discharge petition for his legislation to enhance immigration enforcement. In considering the likelihood that this is true, let's look at the reality of the situation: A discharge…
Oliver Stone has made some terrible movies, and it seems like he's making one more -- a biography of George Bush that may be released before the November election. While I only came across the story today, it appears that Stone announced the project in January. And don't worry -- Stone says it…
In 2007, Barack Obama committed to accepting public financing if he was the Democratic presidential nominee. While the Obama campaign has tried to cloud the issue, this was his response to a 2007 survey by the Midwest Democracy Network: If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major…
It's almost starting to seem that way. The group Judicial Watch has sought to force both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to release the records that speak to their activities while in the White House (in Clinton's case) and the Illinois legislature (in Obama's). The only problem? There is no…
Jason Gluck of the Institute for Peace writes today on an unnoticed milestone in Iraq's effort to establish a 'normal' democratic government: First, Iraqi lawmakers deployed a technique familiar to anyone who lives in a developed democracy: logrolling, the essence of political compromise. Iraqis…
This is unexpected: Despite Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) promises, many Democratic congressional candidates in conservative districts remain unconvinced that he can redraw the general election map by competing in red states. While Obama is popular among some challengers seeking an edge in contested…
National Journal takes a weekly poll of Democratic and Republican 'insiders,' to get their views on the question of the week. This week, they ask the Democrats when their nominating fight will be wrapped up. Fewer than 10 percent believe it will take until the convention, with more than 80 percent…
National Journal looks at the candidates' views on gun control: In New Hampshire last November, Obama told a gathering of rural voters that his wife worries about urban handgun violence but realized while driving in Iowa that she might want a gun for protection if she lived in a rural area. Insists…
The Wall Street Journal reports today on another surprising find on Raul Reyes' laptop: a suggestion that Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) may be more closely aligned with the terrorist FARC than with the government of our ally, Colombia: Mr. Jones added that "a fundamental problem is that the…
How can Democrats reduce the bloodshed that's accompanying their protracted nomination fight, and which seems likely to continue all the way to Denver? One idea that's emerged is to have the superdelegates caucus in advance of the convention -- perhaps in June -- to anoint a nominee and a runner…
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union West Coast local is set to strike: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced a one-day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling for a "No Peace No Work Holiday" to take place May 1. They are calling on the…
If Venezuela's PDVSA is the goose that lays the golden eggs which enable Hugo Chavez to hold on to power, that goose may be on life support: PDVSA is tight with financial information that other companies usually provide. But a study of official announcements, company figures and outside analyses…
Michael Barone parses a raft of state polls to tackle the question of whether Clinton or Obama is the more electable Democratic candidate. Barone's general conclusion: But in any case, the numbers weaken the Obama campaign's argument to superdelegates that he would be a stronger general election…
Political analyst and UVA professor Larry Sabato argues for real Congressional reform: more than doubling the size of the House of Representatives: The Founders intended the House of Representatives, with its small districts and frequent elections, to be the pulse of American democracy. But today's…
Each presidential election cycle the media comes around to the idea that this is the year that voters are going to punish 'anti-environmental' candidates. In the past (the argument goes), the American people wanted a clean environment, but didn't consider it a high enough priority to decide an…
As was noted here the other day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in India this week, meeting with the Dalai Lama to express support for human rights in Tibet. The Telegraph provides this video of Pelosi's appearance, in which she called for an independent investigation into allegations that the Dalai…
Roll Call reports that the House Appropriations Committee had its website crashed yesterday by a flood of requests for earmarks. As a result of the problem, they've been forced to extend the deadline to give Members more time to submit requests: In a sure sign that earmarks remain as popular as…
Yesterday I turned on my radio in time to listen to what sounded like a latter day John Kerry describing the war crimes he had taken part in in Vietnam. It took me a little while to track down what I was listening to (and I still don't know why NPR was broadcasting it), but it was an excerpt from…
Another day, another poll showing that Democrats are not in a mood to put aside their differences after the primaries are concluded and graciously support the eventual nominee: If Obama is nominated, just 42% of Clinton supporters say they are even somewhat likely to vote for him against McCain.…
GovExec has the story: House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., threatened during a hearing in early March to "stop the money" for the contract. Rep. Norman Dicks, a Democrat from Washington whose district would see an influx of jobs if Boeing won the contract, argued…
Rasmussen's daily tracking polls show that Barack Obama's favorable/unfavorable rating among likely voters now sits at 48 percent favorable and 49 percent unfavorable. That compares to 43/53 for HIllary, and a sunny 53/43 for John McCain. Obama's numbers have moved over a relatively broad range,…
Public Policy Polling has recently conducted surveys in both Florida and Ohio which find that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama is currently able to unite most Democrats in trial heats against John McCain: A similar PPP poll for Florida released yesterday showed Hillary Clinton having…
Hugo Chavez has been waging a war against the free market and rule of law. And as if guided by an invisible hand, the Venezuelan economy is responding rationally: Capital flight out of Venezuela established a record during 2007, the Central Bank of Venezuela has reported, despite strict currency…
The long fight over Tibetan independence has gotten hotter recently: Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces Sunday as Tibetans defied a Chinese government crackdown, while the Dalai Lama decried what he called the "cultural genocide" taking place in his homeland. Demonstrations…
It was probably inevitable that if the argument over Jeremiah Wright raged long enough, someone would bring Jesus Christ into the discussion. But if defenders of Wright (and by extension, Obama) are trying to convince moderates and/or Reagan Democrats that Wright actually sounds a lot like Jesus…
Senator McCain's latest campaign video is extremely well done and meant to familiarize many Americans with his heroic behavior as a prisoner of war. It's likely to enhance his positive image before the Democratic nominee has a real opportunity to tear him down. Of course, that opportunity may not…
The left is happy today. For months they've been pushing House Democrats to force a reauthorization of FISA that fails to protect American telecommunication companies for their good-faith cooperation with America's intelligence agencies--and which was doomed to be vetoed by the president. Instead,…
This is a clip from Speaker Pelosi's recent press availability. She was asked about the House Democrats' decision to hold open a recent floor vote to change its outcome: Pelosi seems to be arguing that, in her view, it's OK to hold a floor vote open to change the outcome, as long as you don't hold…
Fausta comments on the possibility that the Bush administration could designate Venezuela a state sponsor of terror: The US is Venezuela's largest oil customer, buying 65% of Venezuela's oil output, while only 15% of the US's oil comes from Venezuela. Hugo needs the oil revenues to stay in power.…
Just think--if Eliot Spitzer hadn't flushed his political career down the toilet, he probably never would have been honored with his own theme night at a minor league baseball game: The plans call for an invitation extended to Spitzer to attend the game and throw out the first pitch. Other elements…
Vice President Dick Cheney is willing to poke fun at his critics: This is a clip from Cheney's appearance yesterday at the Heritage Foundation to discuss the 25th anniversary of the Strategic Defense Initiative. The full text of his remarks is available here. A highlight: There is still a great…
The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll is fascinating, and provides clarity on the muddled electorate. First the WSJ summary: Rarely have the stars aligned so squarely against the party in power in elections for the White House as it has for Republicans, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News…
A curious statement from a State Department spokeswoman suggests that the United States is now in possession of the laptop and hard drives seized by the Colombian military when it killed FARC leader Raul Reyes: "We are currently evaluating the contents of the confiscated laptop and hard drive and…
Congressional Democrats are so committed to cleaning up Congress, they'll even break House rules to do it: But Republicans, and some Democrats, charged that Pelosi and the Democratic leadership "stole" the vote on the parliamentary procedure, technically known as "ordering the previous question."…
House Republicans have launched a discharge petition to force a vote on Congressman Heath Shuler's immigration enforcement bill, which was introduced in November and has not been acted on yet. Launched on Tuesday, the discharge petition has quickly gathered 163 of the 218 signatures (as of this…
The LA Times reports on the AFL-CIO's decision to spend millions to try to keep their members supporting the Democratic presidential candidate--whoever that candidate may be: The AFL-CIO became concerned after polls and focus groups found considerable willingness among union members to consider…
Over the last year or so, I've chronicled the attempt of Congressional Democrats to have it both ways on Iraq. They've consistently promised their base that they'll do everything in their power to end the war (except de-fund it), and they've told the general populace that they'll never cut off…
Today the Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib tackles the question of whom John McCain will select for his running mate. He sums up the conventional wisdom quite well, and comes up with a list of contenders that have made a number of short lists. Seib weighs the pros and cons of Mark Sanford, Tim…
We talked about post-Vietnam syndrome, and the threat it poses to the Democratic campaign, just about a year ago. Richard Cohen observes today that it might cost the Democrats the presidency: You can see it all happening again: a Republican charging that the Democrats are defeatist, soft on…
Remember how Larry Craig was going to resign the same day, and then he was going to resign quite soon, and then he announced a resignation that would take effect somewhat down the road, and when that time came...he didn't resign? I wonder if that could work for Eliot Spitzer. And more to the point:…
I'm skeptical of the notion that the effectiveness of the nation's intelligence agencies will be helped by opening up their operations so that Americans feel better about them: A top intelligence official says he wants to pull back the curtain of secrecy to let Americans see more clearly what it is…
Brian Baird (D-WA) may have a 100 percent rating from NARAL, the National Farmers Union, Citizens for Tax Justice, and the ACLU, as well as a 94 from the SEIU and an 'A' from the NEA, but it's not enough to let him escape an anti-war primary challenge. That's because Baird has been an enemy of the…
With the news that Eliot Spitzer is preparing to discuss his involvement in a prostitution ring, it's worth taking a look at how he's been doing in the eyes of New York voters. It's a good news/bad news situation for Eliot. The good news: His ratings are unlikely to suffer much. The bad: It's…
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Can this be possible? The United States' closest ally in South America is Colombia. The fact that Colombia receives billions in aid from the U.S. is highly controversial. Colombia has negotiated a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, whose consideration is long overdue. And now, Colombia…
The strength of Barack Obama, the candidate, is clearly Barack Obama, the person. He seems engaging and open-minded, genial and bipartisan, moderate, humble, and un-corrupt. But if the candidacy is essentially about the man, then it runs aground if the man can't match the hype. Among the three…
According to Capitol Hill Police, there's no link between the bombing of the recruiting center in Times Square, and the contemporaneous mailing to several Capitol Hill offices of pictures of the recruiting office with notes claiming 'we did it:' Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles,…
Things can sure change quickly in Washington! It seems just a few weeks ago that Democrats were again talking about attempting to force a withdrawal from Iraq. That was odd, since they had recently funded the war. It's even more surprising when you consider that the Democratic budget plan for 2009…
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) warns that if Florida's delegates aren't seated, we may be headed for a 'train wreck': "If they go to the Democratic Convention and stiff-arm the Florida delegations, how in the world do you think Floridians are going to support the Democratic nominee on Nov. 4?" Nelson…
The Politico reports on a dustup on the House floor between Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (D-FL): As told to us, Wasserman Schultz asked Shuler if he'd sign the [GOP dischage] petition. Shuler said, "You're damn right I would sign it, it's about time we did…
Carter Wood points us to a new interview with Carl Pope, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Pope calls for expanded production of natural gas to help reduce the American dependence on foreign oil: But among the fuels that you can use there are clear preferences and our preference is,…
The Washington Post gets some attention this morning for a poll that shows John McCain losing to Barack Obama by 12 points and Hillary Clinton by 6. The findings are a bit of a surprise, since recent polls have shown McCain trailing Obama by just 5 or so, and roughly even with Clinton. Why the…
We reported here last week that a Northrop-Grumman/EADS coalition was the surprise winner over Boeing in the competition for the Air Force's new tanker. It seems the push backfrom the Hill has already commenced: At a sometimes emotional hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense,…
The Wall Street Journal reports that there's at least one major difference between Iraq and Vietnam -- a comparison Democrats are eager to draw. In the case of Vietnam, the views of Americans never changed course: Pollsters first noticed an uptick in public perceptions of the war in the fall. But…
Run down his position on the issues, or look at his rating from National Journal, and there's not much doubt that Barack Obama is one of the most liberal candidates ever to contend for his party's presidential nomination. Listen to him speak, and he's a pragmatist uninterested in partisan dogma,…
This is worrisome news. The Chinese military, known as the People's Liberation Army, is acquiring technologies to improve its ability to operate in space and is "developing the ability to attack an adversary's space assets," the report said. "PLA writings emphasize the necessity of 'destroying,…
Stu Rothenberg poses that question today in Roll Call: It's remarkable that, with all of the bad news for Bush and the GOP, the huge crowds that Obama is generating at events, the undeniable Democratic surge in turnout in this year's primaries and the horrendous state of the Republican brand just…
The House and Senate have returned to work after the President's Day break. As they head into what is effectively the home stretch before the 2008 election, how is the Democratic leadership faring in comparison to the last, Republican-led Congress? Not too well. According to the Real Clear Politics…
I have always thought that Dick Morris was hit or miss -- that half his writing was quite insightful, but the other half was very weak. His latest column falls into that latter category -- and it makes me think he's looking for work with the Obama campaign: The best evidence of Obama's readiness to…
Yesterday the Senate unanimously approved legislation to extend favorable tariff treatment to 4 Andean nations: The Senate cleared legislation Thursday that would renew trade preferences for four South American countries, just a day before their scheduled expiration. The measure (HR 5264), which…
The House of Representatives is likely to vote next week on a FISA extension, but not the bipartisan bill which passed the Senate by a wide margin: "We don't have agreement but ... I am very hopeful that we will have legislation on the floor next week, " House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer ,…
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jim Ogonoswki, a Republican candidate who's seeking to face off against John Kerry in his Senate re-election bid this year. Last year Ogonowski waged a surprisingly strong special election campaign in Massachusetts' 5th Congressional district -- strong…
The Democratic contenders are stumbling all over themselves to show how disappointed they are with NAFTA, and how committed they are to changing it. Fact is, there's no reason to think that withdrawing from NAFTA -- if possible -- would help create jobs in the United States. That's because the…
Ron Paul's presidential campaign exceeded expectations--at least in the fundraising department. Now he's using his cash and donor lists to elect other Republicans who back a withdrawal from Iraq: Murray Sabrin, a New Jersey Senate candidate who has been endorsed by Paul, is expecting a "moneybomb"…
I've written before that House Democrats seem headed for a painful immigration debate that exposes the fault lines between the moderates elected in 2006 -- who want to protect their seats by passing legislation to get tough on illegal immigration -- and the lliberals and latinos who favor 'earned…
The Democrats aren't eager for the Denver convention to look like the Chicago convention of 1968: Organizers acknowledge that their "Re-create '68" moniker has been met with skepticism as they've toured the country to gin up support among fellow activists. "A lot of people of course associate it…
I covered yesterday the reluctance of Senate Democrats to begin debate on an Iraq withdrawal resolution. The irony of the situation is that the withdrawal bill is cosponsored by Majority Leader Harry Reid, who promised last year to bring it up. Democrats became even more angry when Senate…
A friend tells me that I'm way behind the times, and everyone has already heard about the site Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle. Ben Smith mentioned it at Politico on February 14, so in Internet years (which are like dog years, except much shorter), it's already ancient. Still, I thought I'd call…
It's clear that a McCain/Obama presidential race would call into question some of the principles that we normally take for granted. One is that groups like Public Citizen would line up in lock step behind the Democratic candidate. Not true this year: "Regardless of how many lobbyists are working on…
As regular readers know, the Senate has passed an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by a bipartisan vote of 68-29. The legislation is critical to ensuring that our intelligence agencies can listen to foreign terrorists abroad as they communicate with other foreign terrorists…
The Senate is preparing to begin a debate on several Democratic proposals to force a withdrawal from Iraq, but in contrast to last year -- when Democrats were eager to vote on Iraq over and over -- there is little enthusiasm for a fight: Democrats privately said Reid was not enthusiastic about…
Who would have thought this, based on the current political debate? Thirty-four percent (34%) of all voters say they will definitely vote for John McCain if he is on the ballot this November. Thirty-three percent (33%) will definitely vote against him while 29% say their support hinges on who his…
Lorne Gunter of Canada's National Post says we should 'forget about global warming.' He compiles some interesting data, and suggests that the world may be headed for a new ice age: Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966. The U.S.…
The conventional wisdom is that the Democratic race is largely over. And indeed, it may be. But it's stunning to see the attempts among the Hillary faithful to tear down the Democratic frontrunner before the critical votes in Texas and Ohio. Interestingly, it seems that the Clinton team essentially…
I wrote a few weeks ago that Mike Huckabee ought to strongly consider a Senate bid in Arkansas. The idea is gathering steam. David Freddoso wrote in support of the idea yesterday (noting -- correctly -- that 'there is no clearer path for him' to be elected president). Phil Kerpen plugs the idea…
Ray Robison has an excellent piece on the media's disinterest in a major case of conflict of interest centering on Nancy Pelosi. Specifically, she has interceded on behalf of pharmaceutical company Amgen in an attempt to encourage expanded government purchasing of an HIV drug. Without her…
Surely I'm not the only curmudgeon out there -- the only one who found Hillary's last answer at last night's debate... fulsome. I mean, just because conservative cynics like John Podhoretz and Jim Geraghty compliment Hillary for grace, gratitude, and perspective, doesn't mean that they're right and…
This is a surprise: The National Republican Congressional Committee narrowly outraised its House Democratic counterpart in January, ending a lengthy trend of losing the monthly money battles against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In FEC reports filed last night, the NRCC reported…
A few weeks ago, House Republicans announced the establishment of a new website: earmarkreform.house.gov, to promote their idea of a moratorium on new pork-barrel projects. Now that the effort has attracted some attention and put Democrats in a difficult position politically, they have told House…
Barbara Ehrenreich became a celebrity based on her book Nickel and Dimed, a personal memoir about how difficult and frustrating it can be to get by in America as a minimum wage worker. She later wrote about the 'futile pursuit' of the American Dream. Her writing led Adam Shepard to simulate…
Is it possible that Obama -- and to a lesser extent Clinton -- are sucking up the money available for other Democratic candidates? That's one explanation for this surprising deficit: The Republican National Committee (RNC) raised more than twice as much money as the Democratic National Committee…
The other day I expressed surprise that Hugo Chavez had not spoken with Castro since he decided to leave public life. A friend who monitors Latin American politics suggested that the reason Chavez and Castro had not spoken might be that the two leaders are not as close as they once appeared. Cue…
It's attracted a lot of attention that as of the end of January, John McCain's presidential campaign was essentially broke. That may be true, but the good news for McCain is that having secured his party's nomination, he doesn't need to spend at the same rate as his Democratic rivals. Obama spent…
Headline: US: Bombers didn't have Down syndrome Read further into the article and you learn: "Both had recently received psychiatric treatment for depression and/or schizophrenia. From what we know now there's no indication that they had Down syndrome," Smith said, citing records obtained by the…
What cult of personality? And about a half-hour into a speech here, the Illinois Democrat announced that he had to take a quick break. "Gotta blow my nose here for a second," Obama said. Out came a Kleenex (or perhaps it was a hankie), and he wiped his nose. The near-capacity audience at the…
There are increasing signs that the Democrats are getting ready to wage a good-old fashioned, big-government, tax-and-spend, centralized control, liberal campaign for president this year. The latest evidence comes in the form of a memo from Clinton friends James Carville and Stan Greenberg, arguing…
It sometimes seems that Harry Reid's mouth runs far ahead of his brain: "There are more jobs to be created in the green field than in the old standard fields," said Reid, adding that the coal industry passes out fliers wherever he goes pointing out the senator's opposition to coal and accusing him…
Hugo Chavez seems to be Fidel Castro's biggest fan, and proudest disciple. Press accounts suggest the two talk regularly. Therefore, I was surprised not to see a reaction from Chavez early yesterday to the news that Castro was retiring from public life. Yesterday evening, he made a statement: In…
As Continetti noted here earlier, the decision by Fidel Castro to step down has occasioned lots of commentary about how many U.S. presidents and other world leaders he outlasted. Credit where it's due: there's at least one American politician (and as far as I can tell, only one) who has lasted in…
One YouTube commenter captures my feelings pretty well: "The words 'nail in the coffin' spring to mind."
I suppose they may be waiting for a more politically-opportune time. Once Senator McCain clarifies his stance -- specifically, would he oppose any 'comprehensive' bill that may pass the House as a result of this debate -- they will better understand the political calculus: Rumors to the contrary,…
Regular readers will recall the dustup caused by the O'Hanlon/Pollack op-ed in the New York Times last July. Eager to cast doubt on the optimistic findings and views expressed by O'Hanlon and Pollack, many liberals pointed to the less-positive view expressed by Anthony Cordesman of the Center for…
House Democrats had a busy day yesterday: they voted to hold in contempt two administration officials, and allowed the expiration of legislation authorizing terrorist surveillance. It was clear from the start of the day that there would be major fireworks, and bitter partisan warfare. So was it…
Count me among those who are very skeptical about Hillary's chances of winning the nomination through superdelegates. Handed the nomination on a silver platter, Ms. Clinton seems poised to blow it, and Barack Obama outperforms her in polls against Senator McCain. Add to that the fact that Barack…
The Hill reports that the leading recipients of pork-barrel projects under the new Democratic leadership in Congress are freshmen Democrats in swing districts: A new study of December's omnibus spending package shows that the party in power has resisted pressure to abandon earmarking, at least to…
According to multiple sources, House Democrats have decided to discontinue the authority of the administration to tap the communications of foreign terrorists operating overseas. They've decided to block a bill with majority support, effectively shutting down much of our intelligence collection on…
Kevin Stach argues that John McCain's record on fiscal issues shows that he is a mainline, low-tax conservative. He points out that McCain: Voted in 1983 to expand the Reagan tax cuts Voted in 1984 against $300 billion in tax increases Voted in 1989 to cut the capital gains tax and expand IRAs…
Democrats are having a harder and harder time arguing that the United States must withdraw from Iraq because of a failure to make progress toward benchmarks and reconciliation: Iraq's parliament on Wednesday passed three key pieces of legislation that set a date for provincial elections, allot $48…
As the Democratic presidential race careens towards what may be an ugly finish, liberals are increasingly outraged that superdelegates could frustrate the will of a majority of Democratic primary voters. To this I say: what's the big deal? Liberals in the House of Representatives are doing it right…
After victories in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., John McCain's frontrunner status is more clearly established than ever before. His unwavering support for the war in Iraq, and for the surge, is the primary reason his once-flatlining campaign revived and prevailed. But McCain's campaign…
I thought John McCain seemed like a different man when he spoke at CPAC. He came across as humbler and less 'in-your-face' than normal. It seems he made the same impression when he greeted his Republican Senate colleagues yesterday: ...Arizona Sen. John McCain faced a friendlier crowd than some may…
If Congress has been frustrated with communities that declare themselves 'sanctuary cities,' then how can they ignore the decision of the City of Berkeley's interference with Marine Corps recruiting? As discussed here yesterday, the City Council engaged in a bit of misdirection last night. They…
Congressional Democrats are getting off easy. With attention focused on the presidential campaign, there's been little coverage of their handling of FISA, which has been characterized by short-term extensions to the bill and behind the scenes efforts to gut the program. The central point of the…
Bloggers are all over the Berkeley City Council, which is now facing a serious backlash to its disgusting comments and policies toward the United States Marine Corps. Check out Michelle Malkin and Ace of Spades in particular. One Code Pink organizer who complains to the Los Angeles Times that "the…
Anyone who can inspire this sort of dreamy-eyed devotion in the eyes of America's liberal musicians and actors, is not likely to fare well on the national stage. Democrats regularly complain about their nominees getting lampooned by Republicans as leftists adored in Hollywood and Berkeley. If they…
Senator Joe Lieberman is keeping his feet planted firmly in both parties: campaigning for John McCain while donating to his Democratic Senate colleagues: In his incarnation as a lone wolf, Lieberman has crisscrossed the nation to support the Arizona Republican's resuscitated and now-thriving bid…
Every four years, between the time the major party candidates are known and the political conventions, a cottage industry develops in vice presidential speculation. Some politicians aspire to the job (since it can put you in line for the next nomination); more aspire to get mentioned (since the…
The Democratic party did lots of things differently in 2006 to help them win a majority in the House of Representatives. Among those changes was the decision to run Iraq war veterans in a number of competitive races. Most of them lost, and among the few who did win, it doesn't seem as if their…
From Roll Call: "There is the formation of a consensus," said Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who said he's seen a draft bill. "We're looking at some kind of a compromise. It's still comprehensive in nature but not to the extent we would like..." But Baca…
Mickey Kaus: "All of this discussion is irrelevant because John McCain is going to be elected president with 70 percent of the vote. So why do we even worry about what the Democrats are going to do for 2008. Half the Democrats are going to vote for McCain, and I'm going to be one of them." Kaus and…
This is how al Qaeda in Iraq views its situation: Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an "extraordinary crisis". Last year's mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military "created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight". The terrorist group's security structure suffered "total…
Thursday CPAC was all about the Romney signs. Friday, it was all about the McCain signs. Today, it's all about 'I Like Mike' signs (and the only slightly less popular 'Stop McCain's Shamnesty' signs). Huck went over well here, with a dedicated audience of fans. His speech even earned him a fresh…
MoveOn.org wants its supporters to know that when it comes to national security, John McCain backed the war in Iraq. Worse: he backed the surge! As the memo says: Senator John McCain presents himself as a maverick and a critic of the Iraq war. But a close read of his record indicates that his…
The highlight of this afternoon at CPAC was the presentation of the Blogger of the Year award to the highly deserving Ace of Spades. I suspect that most of our readers are familiar with Ace's blog, but if you have not yet bookmarked it, by all means do so. Ace has a gift for cutting through…
Sitting on bloggers row, you get lots of free stuff. There are hundreds of booths here at CPAC, and many of the folks staffing the booths stroll down our way to show off their wares. The highlight so far: this cool hat from Ushanka.Us. Fausta shows it off to maximum advantage.
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Yesterday House Republicans forced a vote on their proposed earmark moratorium, which Speaker Pelosi had declined to implement. The measure was defeated, but the depth of support for it was stunning. There have been many earmark votes in the House and Senate in recent years -- on proposed…
John McCain's speech seems to be going over pretty well with the portion of the audience that's open to being swayed. There's at least one McCain opponent here at Blogger's Corner who confessed that the speech didn't matter; he just hates McCain. Among the rest, the response seems pretty positive.…
Did Congressional Quarterly time this piece so that conservatives would be reading it the day that John McCain effectively became the nominee of the Republican party? They consider what President McCain's domestic agenda might look like next year, if there's a Democratic Congress: But when he is…
Senator McCain has arrived at CPAC, preceded by a wave of several hundred supporters. Like everything at CPAC, the McCain delegation seems to be more than half college students. Notwithstanding the well-coordinated flood of young people, there were a number of more recognizable faces mixed into the…
Downstairs, in the dungeon Exhibit Hall, there are three or four tables set with dozens and dozens of free conservative books. (I picked up this, this and this.) Curiously untouched: Ann Coulter books. There are plenty left if you need to complete your collection. Note to my family: you know what…
Romney had the undivided attention of the conference as he spoke. The room was packed, folks were lined up outside trying to get in, and security blocked the doors. Each of the TVs scattered around the hotel was surrounded by a few waves of conference participants, hanging on each word. All I can…
As I type this, I've just returned from the ballroom where Laura Ingraham is introducing Mitt Romney. The room is shut down -- filled to capacity -- literally. People seem stunned to hear that Romney has pulled out... or will pull out. McCain's people here are eagerly spreading the word that Kevin…
I'll be spending the next few days at Blogger's Corner at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The first thing that struck me upon entering today was the huge number of Mitt supporters. It seems you can't walk five feet without bumping into someone wearing a Mitt sticker. There's also a…
The Chicago Auto Show is huge. Organizers say that it required about 10,340,000 pounds of freight, and enough carpeting to fill 571 average American homes. There are hundreds of cars on display. Among them are stunning beauties like the... let me look it up...
I've written before about the effort by the Democratic Netroots to defeat elected Democrats who fail to toe the liberal line. Yesterday was an important day in that effort, as many liberal blogs and activists had targeted for defeat Democratic Congressman Dan Lipinski. The effort fell short…
PICT0022.JPG The highlight of the Chicago Auto Show? It's hard to top this one: the M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. I'm going to ask about a test drive. If you can't get your hands on that one, the Dodge ZEO looks sweet as well.
One of the main themes of the Chicago Auto Show -- and probably of a lot of auto shows nowadays -- is the effort by automakers to sell more fuel-efficient vehicles. More specifically, the challenge is not to produce them; it's to get consumers to buy them. The Big 3 already offer plenty. The big…
I'm in the Windy City today to blog the 100th Chicago Auto Show at McCormick place. The weather is frigid, and we're expecting about a foot of snow later today. The kickoff is a breakfast address by Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America. Clarke's address picks up on the 'Super…
When Republicans controlled Congress, the opposition Democrats regularly zinged them for failing to attend to their most basic duties: funding the federal government. When appropriations bills were late in enactment, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and others argued that it was because of some combination…
Senator Clinton doesn't seem overly concerned about the views of her supporters. The following clip is from This Week with George Stephanopolous: When Ann Coulter implied last year that John Edwards was gay, liberals excoriated Republicans who failed to disassociate themselves from her. Glenn…
Fred Barnes and Steven Hayes are among the luminaries scheduled to appear at CPAC later this week -- along with George Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and some other interesting and bright people. I'll be blogging the meeting, as will Matt Continetti of the Campaign Standard. The…
Denver is blessed with the Democratic convention this year, and the city's already trying to figure out how to handle the economic surge that accompanies the big shindig: The sex and adult entertainment industries are expecting a boom in business when an estimated 35,000 visitors descend on the…
There are signs that Congressional Republicans are likely to do better in 2008 than is typically expected. The most recent piece of news comes from the Hill, which points out that five of the most vulnerable House Democratic freshmen were outraised by their likely Republican opponents in the most…
The National Taxpayers' Union has researched the economic and budget proposals of eight candidates for president, both Republican and Democrat. They find that all of the five major candidates still standing would increase federal spending -- by a range of $7 billion to $287 billion annually.…
No surprise, really: Several news stories have pointed out that much of CREW's [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] funding comes from liberal groups and big donors to Democratic candidates and causes. And all but a handful of its complaints against Members of Congress have…
Because the coverup is worse than the actual crime. Is the NFL protecting its glamor team from the shame that goes with their cheating? That seems to be what Arlen Specter wants to know. He's asking why the NFL surreptitiously destroyed all the evidence associated with the Patriots' illicit taping…
If Democratic leaders like Robert Byrd and David Price speak for many of their colleagues, it may not matter much if a 'pro-amnesty' candidate wins the presidency this year: Nodding to public ferment over illegal immigration in a tough GOP election year, the administration announced Thursday -…
Indiana's 7th Congressional district will play host to a special election on March 11, as a result of the passing of Representative Julia Carson on December 15. Carson never ran up huge margins in her Congressional seat; she won her last three races with about 54% of the vote. The district's…
The Senate always moves more slowly than the House, and that is proving true on reforming earmarks as well. But for advocates of fiscal reform, there is some movement on this front. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has appointed a working group to study earmarks and recommend reforms:…
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Congressional Democrats remain unable to bring themselves to authorize intercepts of phone calls by terrorists into the United States. Instead, Congress has cleared legislation to extend such surveillance by just 15 days -- hoping that they can come to agreement on a long-term fix in that time. The…
Senator McCain is among those who advocate a tough regimen for restraining greenhouse gases to slow climate change. Skeptics have argued that his legislation with Senator Lieberman would do great harm to the economy, at a time when economic growth is quite fragile. Carter Wood writes about the…
There's been a lot of discussion about the effort of House Republicans to promote a one-year earmark moratorium, and of the president to force Congress to limit them. How seriously should we take this? Well, the lobbyists are scared: After a year of grappling with new transparency standards and…
The brand new Tesla Roadster will soon start shipping, and the designers of what seems to be a pretty cool new electric car are giving test drives to publications like Automobile magazine. Autoblog Green beats them to the punch, with the first published review of the test drive (as far as I can…
While the president last night touted the agreement among the White House and House leaders (both Republican and Democrat) on the framework of a stimulus package to be enacted quickly, it looks like the agreement may be delayed. That's because Senate Democrats are developing their own version:…
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The Washington Post reports: In November, the Democratic-led House spent about $89,000 on so-called carbon offsets. This purchase was supposed to cancel out greenhouse-gas emissions from House buildings -- including half of the U.S. Capitol -- by triggering an equal reduction in emissions…
Do lawyers understand why the profession is held in such low-esteem? How much nerve does it take to suggest that passengers in a plane crash bear responsibility for their own deaths, since they should have known better than to believe flying is safe. That's the contention of the attorney…
Jonathan Rauch has a provocative piece today at the Atlantic. The piece centers on the politics of the eventual Iraq withdrawal -- over whatever time span that occurs. He considers the outcome if Democrats control the White House and both Houses of Congress next year: In 2009, a Democratic…
I just received this notice from House Republican Leader John Boehner: Tonight House GOP leaders sent Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a letter calling on her to join House Republicans in an immediate moratorium on earmarks and to appoint a bipartisan, bicameral joint committee to reform the earmark…
As Democrats count the gains they expect in the Senate on election day, one of their top targets is Norm Coleman (R-MN). The likely candidate against Coleman -- pending a primary challenge -- is one-time funnyman Al Franken. Franken made an appearance at Carleton College the other day, and gained…
OK, he wouldn't say he was pessimistic. Nevertheless, there are ample reason for Republicans to look forward to the election this year. The first is the significant fundraising advantage of the RNC over the Democratic National Committee: On the fundraising front, [Mike] Duncan said that the RNC…
Apparently it's not enough that NASA and many other federal, state and local government agencies are operating portals in the multi-massive online role playing game (MMORPG) Second Life, now NASA is seeking to create its own such game: The day after Valentine's Day, the space agency hopes to…
Both the House and Senate Republican conferences are meeting in separate retreats this week to chart a course for the year ahead. That includes identifying both political and policy strategies, and ensuring that members are on board to the greatest degree possible. As details emerge, it's…
There's a wonderful piece in the Christian Science Monitor today about the decisionmaking process by which ordinary Iraqi communities decide to oppose al Qaeda. The article looks at one sheikh who led the effort to create a Concerned Local Citizens group to oppose the group: Shortly before the…
National Journal reports that Democrats in Congress have hit on a new formula for 2008: less legislation enacted, and more investigations conducted: Waxman, D-Calif., at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and other chairmen are promising to keep up the pace in 2008. They'll…
Fiscal conservatives are crying in their beer over the word that the president is unlikely to issue an Executive Order directing agencies to disregard non-binding earmarks. As if to soften the blow, Stephen Moore reports today in the Wall Street Journal's Political Diary (subscription only) that…
The RNC has concluded its winter meeting, and a fix for the nominating process was high on the agenda. As they have done before, committee members looked at several plans to establish a better process for selecting a presidential candidate. Congressional Quarterly has a good summary of the…
There's been lots of talk from leaders of both parties about the importance of working together to enact a 'stimulus package' quickly. The early impression is that there's enough common ground to move quickly on a package centered on a one-time tax rebate for individuals. Democrats are pushing for…
In the wake of Fred Thompson's disappointing finish in Saturday's South Carolina primary, speculation centers on whether he will remain in the presidential race or drop out. To this point at least, most observers seem to agree that Thompson's campaign has been a big help to the candidacy of John…
USA Today criticizes the three Democratic presidential contenders for pandering to Nevadans opposed to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility: In a singularly disingenuous bit of political jiu-jitsu, Edwards (who twice voted for Yucca Mountain) said he opposed using the site and then…
There may be a revolution brewing among House Republicans. For several years outside groups such as Porkbusters, the Club for Growth, the National Taxpayers' Union and others have lobbied for a real crackdown on pork-barrel earmarks. When Representative Roger Wicker was recently appointed to the…
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The Washington Post comments on Iraqi progress toward political reconciliation, and notes that the recently-passed de-baathification law may create some problems while solving others. Nevertheless, the editors argue that the U.S. should not withdraw precipitously: Limited and over-promoted as it…
Daniel Drezner points to this amusing mashup from Slate:
It seems as if Massachusetts Republicans have found a promising challenger to square off against America's favorite: And after losing a much-closer-than-expected special House election in the state's 5th district in October, Republican Jim Ogonowski is now strongly considering a bid against Kerry…
Aren't we supposed to be increasing our focus on 'soft power?' The Bush administration is fighting congressional efforts to slash the amount of emergency food aid the United States provides around the world, saying the cuts could hurt as many as 8 million people in dire need. Members of Congress…
The International Monetary Fund reports that the improved security situation in Iraq is leading to significant improvements in oil production, and along with it, higher economic growth: Mohsin Khan, the IMF's director for the Middle East, said Iraqi oil production was forecast to climb by 200,000…
While we've covered it here, the attempt by Congress to defer implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has gotten surprisingly little attention. The WHTI requires all citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted ID that…
It seems that Congressional Democrats really have decided to completely change their approach to Iraq. For now at least, the operating principle seems to be to ignore it: As Congress opens the 2008 session, it's hard to find Iraq anywhere on the official agenda. The Senate Foreign Relations…
You expect to run into 9/11 Truthers at Michael Moore screenings and Daily Kos conventions, but I never expected to see one elected to the Japanese Diet, grilling the prime minister: Yukihisa Fujita of the Japan Democratic party, made a 20 minute long statement at the House of Councillors, the…
The August collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis (the result of design error according to an investigation) has drawn attention to the state of America's infrastructure. Reports about the need to address crumbling roads and bridges abound and will increase the attention given to the…
Roll Call carries an interesting article today about an earmark requested by Indiana's Grace College and the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE). The interesting thing about the earmark is that neither institution thought of the project; it was dreamed up by the lobbying firm that both…
The Wall Street Journal notes a stunning transformation--practically overnight--in the Democratic party. Where only weeks ago the deficit was a tremendous threat to the economy, it's now essential that we balloon the deficit to get the economy moving: Mr. Rubin's successor at Treasury, Larry…
Given the suddenly painful and prominent debate over race relations currently going on among Senators Clinton and Obama, and among Democratic leaders, it's worth noting that there's one Republican presidential candidate who has demonstrated an ability to win African-American votes: Mike Huckabee.…
Roll Call reports that the White House is considering a bold move to cancel billions in wasteful pork-barrel spending in order to boost the economy: The White House may link a possible executive order eliminating thousands of earmarks with a call for reprogramming the funding, perhaps through a…
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CQ Politics is assembling a list of possible questions for al Qaeda number two Ayman Al Zawahiri. The questions are in response to an offer made by Zawahiri about a month ago. Questions may be submitted to an al Qaeda-friendly website through January 16, and Zawahiri will answer some of them. (It's…
As Cliff May points out at the Corner, the New York Times reported yesterday on Iraq's adoption of a de-baathification law--a critical benchmark for progress on reconciliation: The Iraqi Parliament passed a bill on Saturday that would allow some former officials from Saddam Hussein's party to fill…
Jim Geraghty reports on the addition of Jim Pinkerton to Governor Huckabee's team. James Pinkerton, a columnist for Newsday, fellow at the New America Foundation, and veteran of the Reagan and George H.W. Bush campaigns, has signed on with the Huckabee campaign. Regular readers will recall that Jim…
The news item of the day: Lots of people on the right think that the liberal group MoveOn.org is a joke. Well, now they'll have a bit more ammo in their argument. The powerful liberal activist group has wooed Peter Koechley away from the satirical newspaper The Onion, where he was managing…
The inability and/or unwillingness of Congressional Democrats to end U.S. involvement in Iraq has been frustrating for the antiwar left, to say they least. They've threatened and pleaded, and sent out thousands of 'action alerts,' all designed to force Democrats in Washington to do something to end…
The Politico reports this morning that the 'Abramoff Effect' is still hammering the GOP. The occasion for the piece is the announcement by Representative John Doolittle that he will not seek re-election, largely due to the 'ethical cloud' brought on by the investigation, which has been going on for…
Senator Fred Thompson just concluded a conference call with a number of bloggers. Before the call began, we were alerted to expect a "major conservative endorsement" of the Senator tomorrow. Thompson opened with a brief statement, mentioning that he has been in South Carolina since Monday,…
The recent scandal over the offensive views expressed by Ron Paul (or by others in his name) has deservedly attracted a great deal of attention. But however much outrage the revelations may cause, they're unlikely to have any significant effect on Paul's presidential campaign. He wasn't going to be…
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Congress Daily reports on a recent conference call with Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and former Kerry campaign foreign policy adviser Rand Beers. The call focused on Nelson's effort to push for a change in mission for our troops in Iraq, and the failure of the surge to promote political…
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Trade Commission is starting to examine whether buyers of carbon offsets may be getting a bill of goods: The offsets are said to represent emissions avoided through projects such as installing wind turbines or planting trees, often in the developing…
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the expenditure of billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize production of ethanol in the U.S. Now there's one more. A swiss study, summarized and analyzed in the journal Science by the Smithsonian's William Laurance, finds that ethanol production…
In the last few years, Republicans in Washington have tried to act--or if you're a cynic, appear to act--to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States. Shortly before the 2006 midterm election, the Republican-led Congress approved 700 miles of double-layered border fence, only to…
With the New Hampshire victories of Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton, the leading contenders for both the Republican and Democratic nominations appear to be sitting Senators. Certainly that's true on the Democratic side: John Edwards seems nearly an afterthought this morning, as the…
Faced with the possibility of an economic slowdown or outright recession, Congressional leaders are considering legislation to spur economic growth. There's no specific plan yet, but Representative Barney Frank is leading the effort to come up with a proposal: "We're looking at a variety of things,…
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Olbermann Watch surveyed the reactions at DailyKos to Keith Olbermann's apparent belittling of Barack Obama's win last night. Some of the printable comments include: Half of Keith's audience watches him on Crooks and Liars. He's got to stay in good with the netroots types, even if it means rooting…
It's safe to say that there are many conservatives in the blogosphere who are less than thrilled with the results of the Iowa caucus vote. Conservative bloggers may prefer Huckabee to Ron Paul, but even that's not clear. Soren Dayon looks at the results on the Democratic side, however, and sees the…
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The editors of TechPresident.com has compiled a list of the best 'voter-generated' campaign videos of 2007. Some are superb, and I've only seen a few of them before. I'm not sure which is my favorite--'Barack OBollywood', or this one from Swiftkids for Truth:
With almost all political attention focused on Iowa and then New Hampshire, it attracted little notice when Ralph Nader sent out a new year's greeting endorsing (apparently) any candidate but Hillary: "Do you really believe if we replace a bunch of corporate Republicans with a bunch of corporate…
Larry Kudlow says the worst possible outcome of the Iowa caucuses would be wins by Mike Huckabee and John Edwards: The key point is that Edwards and Huckabee are the left-wing populists in the campaign on economic policy. Their victories would send up a red-flag warning signal to a stock market…
On Friday I covered the interim population estimates recently issued by the Census Bureau, and their implications for the elections of 2012 and beyond. Political consultant Soren Dayton wrote a response at his excellent blog eyeon08, where he threw a dash of cold water on my optimistic assessment.…
Andrew Roth points to Business Week's expert projection of key economic indicators for 2008. The consensus is for 2.1 percent growth on the year, with growth of 2 percent and 2.4 percent in the second and third quarters. To the extent that voters' perceptions of the economy affect their votes in…
This week the Census Bureau released new data on population shifts from the 2000 census through today. The New York Times reports that while the subprime mortgage crisis has slowed the population shift away from states such as California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, the trend for the…
Judicial Watch has named its ten most corrupt political figures of 2007, and the list may surprise. It includes a number of very well-known politicians who have received little attention for their questionable business deals. Among them are: Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA): ...Feinstein reviewed…
According to the US Census Bureau, approximately 35,000 New Yorkers (out of a total population of slightly more than 8 million) claimed Pakistani ancestry in the 2000 Census. That amounts to about 0.4 percent of the entire population of the city. So why is New York City Mayor Bloomberg so fast to…
Approaching the end of the year, there have been a number of stories about the edge Democrats have had in fundraising for 2007. There's no question that they have had the advantage of a base motivated to end the war, and of lobbyists eager to curry favor with new leaders they had ignored for years.…
Roll Call reports that the House Ethics Committee has quietly issued a new interpretation of the house gift "ban" which allows lobbyists to throw lavish parties for Members of Congress at national party conventions: The ethics committee's guidance last week said that while lobbyists or lobbying…
The Politico reports that rank and file Congressional Democrats recognize that a relentless focus on retreat in Iraq hasn't helped the party in 2007, and would hurt them more if it continues in 2008: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue…
Does President Bush intend to stick the knife in with a smile? He complimented Congress today on passage of an end-of-year spending bill with some funding for U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as an energy bill and legislation to address the subprime mortgage problem. Regarding the omnibus spending…
I missed this, but Democratic consultant and Fox News contributor Bob Beckel made an excellent point regarding Joe Lieberman's recent endorsement of John McCain: It's hard to imagine that Joe Lieberman would have endorsed a Republican for president if he remained a Democrat in good standing in the…
Unable to enact any meaningful legislative accomplishments, Congressional Democrats are eschewing substance in favor of a new slogan: ...the majority party signaled that they would shift their top focus from trying to cut off funding for the Iraq War to the economy and health care in the new year,…
The New York Times paints a disturbing picture of Senator Harry Reid's view of President Bush: In private conversations about Mr. Bush with friends and Senate colleagues, Mr. Reid has even used the word "hate," though he clarifies that it is political not personal hatred that he feels... "I fear…
Last night the Senate approved $70 billion in funding for the war in Iraq. As the Standard's Fred Barnes notes, the move represents an astonishing turnaround: An astonishing turnaround occurred in the Senate on Tuesday: 70 senators voted to fund the Iraq war with a fresh $70 billion and no strings…
USA Today reports on the latest Gallup poll: As President Bush and Congress battle on the budget, homeland security and the war in Iraq, Americans blame both Republicans and Democrats for the impasse. By more than 2-to-1 margins, they give the president, congressional Democrats and congressional…
Democratic leaders in the House have decided to take a vote today on a one-year fix for the alternative minimum tax. In a nod to reality, they have at last decided not to use this legislation as a pretext for raising taxes, instead electing to take up the legislation that passed the Senate by a…
The Hill reports: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hinted Tuesday that Congress may not be able to stop a big tax increase from hitting 23 million Americans. Hoyer, pressed on whether Congress would resolve disputes over the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), said, "Maybe." His remark came as…
Legend holds that Hernan Cortes burned his ships after landing near Veracruz in 1518, eliminating retreat as an option for his troops. While Ron Paul may want to do the federal bureaucracy what Cortes did to the Aztecs, he apparently wants to ensure that even if he doesn't win the GOP nomination,…
Bloomberg reports on another case of hypocrisy from the Clintons: Securities and Exchange Commission documents and financial disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton show that Bill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by Burkle's Yucaipa…
The blogosphere seems to be filled today with reports on the omnibus spending bill passed last night by the House of Representatives. The Politico writes on the liberal defeat, while the Hill celebrates 'an earmark Christmas.' Along those lines, the Heritage Foundation reports that the omnibus…
Count Code Pink among the former Democratic supporters who seem disillusioned enough with the new Congress to call for 'regime change.' According to a recent piece in the Washington Times: "We see that the people who advise the leadership of the Democratic Party have been saying to them, 'Let this…
Roll Call reports that one year after they took office promising to curb the corrupting influence of special interests in Washington, Congressional Democrats are seen by some lobbyists as more pliable than their Republican counterparts: But after 12 months of Democratic rule, lobbyists for business…
Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid took office with high hopes and plans, but their overreaching agenda has run aground. Today even the New York Times is airing its disappointment with Democratic leaders in Congress and their inability to deliver on even small promises. Resolving these issues…
Matt Stoller of OpenLeft is one of the bright online analysts and activists on the Democratic side of the aisle. He wrote recently about the move by Democrats to take Iraq 'off the table,' arguing that war opponents should not look past Iraq as a political issue. He says that while Iraq itself may…
David All of TechRepublican.com writes about Freedom's Watch--the organization that many are familiar with largely because of their ads in support of the war in Iraq. He notes that while it went largely unnoticed in Washington, Freedom's Watch aired an ad in the recently concluded special election…
The headlines today indicate that Congressional Democrats caved to the president's position on spending for 2008. The Washington Post says 'Democrats Bow to Bush's Demands.' The Hill reads 'Dems Cave on Spending.' And the headline from the Los Angeles Times declares 'Democrats Bow to Bush Spending…
Amidst the many reasons that Republicans lost control of the House and Senate last year was a concern about the House page program. Congressman Mark Foley behaved reprehensibly toward the pages, and House leaders were unable to convince voters that they had responded to Foley's transgressions…
For weeks we've been wondering whether the clear improvement in the public view of the war in Iraq might lead to improvement in the president's job approval rating. According to Gallup's latest poll, the view of the president improved consistently throughout November, and is now closing in on 40…
Less than two weeks before Christmas, Congressional Democrats have no idea how they're going to finish up this legislative session. The new fiscal year began on October 1, and the current temporary funding measure that keeps the government running expires on Friday. If additional funding is not…
Defenders of harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding have generally been nonplussed by the recent news that the CIA destroyed videotapes of several interrogations. For waterboarding's harsh critics however, the news has caused some heartburn. In particular, a columnist for the San…
Kudos to the Pentagon for producing professional-looking news summaries for their own and other websites. Below is a piece on the plans of the Pentagon to issue 100,000 furlough notices next week unless Congress can get its act together and fund the troops:
I've not blogged about the controversy before, but it's worth noting NBC's rejection of several non-controversial ads from the group Freedom's Watch, and their subsequent backpedaling and decision to air them. First, here's one of the ads that NBC apparently found so provocative:
Jonathan Meyer is a former counsel to Joe Biden and was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration. In today's Roll Call, he leaps out ahead of his fellow Democrats, and tries to map out a path to political success in a world where the surge has succeeded. In short, it…
MoveOn supports our troops, they just want to make sure they don't get any funding: "Americans elected a Democratic Congress in 2006 to end the war in Iraq. A blank check for billions in war funding moves us in the wrong direction," said Nita Chaudhary, Campaign Director on Iraq for MoveOn.…
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It seems to be pretty consistent across a range of polls at this point: Americans believe the troop surge is working: Four in 10 Americans now say the U.S. troop surge in Iraq that began earlier this year is making the situation there better. This is up from 34% four weeks ago and from 22% when…
Perhaps in an attempt to balance out their criticisms of the war in Iraq and seem 'strong on defense,' Congressional Democrats have spoken a lot about military readiness. Two subcommittee chairs on the House Armed Services Committee recently introduced a resolution to address the impending…
The House Appropriations Committee seems to be concerned that Democrats are losing the debate over whether to fund the war on terror. To bolster the Democrats' argument, they've decided to 'set the record straight' with this one-page document. It says (in part): Last week the House of…
It seems I've written on this plenty (here, here, and here, for example), but now it looks like Dingy Harry is starting to agree with me: it's silly for Democrats to not pass legislation to fund the Iraq war in 2008. Democrats have effectively conceded the fight already, and there are too many…
When Democrats seized the majority in Congress, the world turned upside down. One of the big changes instituted was a requirement that the House actually work five days each week. As the Washington Post reported: Hoyer and other Democratic leaders say they are trying to repair the image of…
Congressman Norm Dicks traveled with Representative John Murtha on his recent trip to Iraq. Upon his return, he adopted the same line that many Democrats are using nowadays: "There is a sense of normalcy you didn't see before. In that sense, the surge is being successful," Dicks, D-Bremerton, said.…
I can't say this is a surprise: Congressional Democrats are reporting a striking change in districts across the country: Voters are shifting their attention away from the Iraq war... First-term Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.) - echoing a view shared by many of her colleagues - said illegal immigration…
Another day, another poll showing Americans are changing their views on the war in Iraq: The latest Rasmussen Reports tracking poll finds that 47% of Americans now say the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror (see crosstabs). That's up from 43% a month ago and reflects is the highest…
When the Army-Navy game goes down on Saturday, Navy is a two touchdown favorite to win its sixth straight Commander in Chief Trophy. But according to this college football blog, Army has already pulled off a win of its own--kidnapping Navy's goats. A 'cadet-team-sized element' reportedly…
According to the Associated Press, when John Edwards started a poverty think tank at the University of North Carolina in 2005, he gave the university a 'ticket wish list.' One would presume that Edwards can afford to buy his own tickets, but then again, you'd think he could afford his own haircuts.…
Secretary Gates recently warned that because Congress has not passed legislation to fund the war on terror in fiscal year 2008 (which began October 1), the Department of Defense is being forced to plan furloughs for civilian personnel. To that end, Army Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody has…
There's a ruckus in the blogosphere over the plan of the Virginia Republican party to require voters in its primary to sign a statement saying they 'intend' to support the party's presidential nominee in 2008. Tracy Mehan of the American Spectator writes: What is pretty clear is that the SBE [State…
The Pew Research Center has released the results of its latest poll on Americans' views on Iraq and the state of the nation. The dramatically improved view of the situation in Iraq has attracted a great deal of attention--and rightly so. But Pew soft-pedals the good news in its summary, and you…
The effort to stop the Iraq war seems to be falling apart. Democratic leaders in Congress are trying to extend funds without incurring the wrath of war opponents, polls show the American people recognize the improvements on the ground in Iraq, and now an Iraq war veteran and leader of the anti-war…
Here's a secret I can share after years of working on Capitol Hill: many people who call Congressional offices do not get calls back. With thousands of people calling each day, it's hard to return them all. And if you're calling to give the representative or senator a hard time over a vote or…
As the presidential campaign unfolds, it's striking to note that the main Democratic storyline is the rejection of Clintonism. Even as the party seems poised to nominate the wife of the former president, the Democratic candidates are rejecting Bill Clinton's tone and policies. Where Bill Clinton…
The Las Vegas Review Journal carries a blunt editorial today on the latest poll demonstrating the growing unpopularity of Majority Leader Harry Reid among Nevada voters: More evidence surfaced over the holiday weekend that Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's dalliance with the MoveOn.org crowd is costing…
and I'll tell you who you are--so the old saying goes. By that measure, Mike Huckabee is an unlikely up-and-comer in the Republican presidential primary. Bob Novak's column calling Governor Huckabee a 'false conservative' has attracted a great deal of attention today. Less noticed is this…
Over the last few weeks, I've written several times on the political games Congressional Democrats are playing with Iraq funding. They quietly worked to ensure that the Department of Defense would be able to continue the Iraq effort for several months, so that they could flaunt their defiance of…
Democrats in Congress and their backers in the blogosphere look forward to another year of pointless debates about the Iraq war, with Congress unable or unwilling to influence the course of events. Liberals argue that Democrats can only benefit; that voters won't view the outcome in Iraq positively…
As expected, today's extraordinary front page article in the New York Times on progress in Iraq is causing aneurysms across wide swathes of the left-wing blogosphere. You might think the news that "the security improvements in most neighborhoods are real" might be cause for bipartisan celebration,…
I've written about the effort by Congressional Democrats to unobtrusively ensure that the military effort in Iraq receives the funding it needs, so that they can continue to flout their defiance of the president when it comes to the Iraq appropriations legislation. Now Democrats are crying foul,…
The New York Times offers a fiction this morning: "Democrats Say They Won't Back Down on War." All signs indicate that Democrats will continue proposing such measures as long as Mr. Bush remains in office and troops remain in Iraq. "We are going to keep plugging away," said Senator Carl Levin of…
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has taken a lot of abuse in recent weeks--for his hastily-dropped plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens, his quickly-withdrawn plan to tax internet purchases, and his move to speed-up release for violent criminals. But if Spitzer is to have any prayer of…
The debate over the administration request for funding for the Iraq war in 2008 is growing increasingly complex. As we've covered here, Democrats wrote a Department of Defense funding bill which specifically authorized the Bush administration to borrow funds from regular accounts to conduct the…
Was it really less than a month ago that House leaders tried to pass a deeply flawed rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by running roughshod over the opposition? As we covered at the time, the House leadership version of FISA actually makes it harder to conduct surveillance of…
For those wondering why Democrats in Congress get such terrible grades in Gallup's latest polling, it might be because of moves like this one: House and Senate Democrats have inserted at least 18 previously undisclosed earmarks into the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and related…
Gallup releases a poll today showing widespread dissatisfaction with how Democrats in Congress are handling important issues--such as terrorism, the economy, immigration, and the budget deficit: The latest Gallup Panel survey, conducted Oct. 25-28, 2007, asked Americans to say whether they are…
I've written before on the legislation introduced in Congress to deter internet providers from sharing data with governments that may use it to prosecute dissidents. The House Foreign Affairs Committee--which has approved that legislation--also held a hearing on November 6, to grill Yahoo for its…
Yesterday I joined several other conservative bloggers in a session with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton at the Heritage Foundation. (Check out Tech Republican, Soren Dayton, and Quin Hillyer for more coverage of the event, as well as the American Spectator for video of his appearance there.)…
The Wall Street Journal reports that it is becoming more and more likely that millions of taxpayers will see processing of their 2007 returns delayed due to Congress' inability to pass a fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax: Some lawmakers predict Congress probably won't take action until next…
Do Democrats in Congress realize that consistent with the plans of General Petraeus and the Pentagon, the United States has begun to draw down our troops levels in Iraq? The U.S. military is sending 3,000 soldiers home from Diyala province, the second large unit to leave Iraq as troop levels are…
The Netroots have not been all that happy with Congressional Democrats this year. Congress has challenged the president on Iraq, and considered 40 bills to force a course change. But ultimately Democratic leaders have backed down and given the president the funding needed to continue the Iraq…
If you listen to some election prognosticators, you get the sense that the 2008 election is already over. It sometimes seems as if the only questions left are whether the Democrats will have 60 Senate seats and if so, how long it will take to approve single-payer health care. Political analyst Stu…
There's been a lot of back and forth in the blogosphere and in the media over how cutting a political issue immigration is. Mickey Kaus seems to have focused on almost nothing but immigration lately, and the question of how it's impacting races. Jim Geraghty has looked at polling showing that for…
Fausta Wertz pulls together some interesting stories about Venezuela. Indebted to Russia, expecting oil revenue that probably won't be realized, and now potentially dealing with a rival with deep oil reserves of its own. It could not happen to a nicer fella than Hugo Chavez.
We covered yesterday the range of complaints against the plans of House Democrats to raise taxes while paying for a short-term patch in the Alternative Minimum Tax. Today the Hill reports that the House might even delay a vote on the legislation until they are sure they have the votes to pass it:…
We note with interest the "little magazine" started at Jewcy.com, and dotted with contributors to THE WEEKLY STANDARD and DAILY STANDARD. We'll be bookmarking The Cabal for frequent reading. Among the bloggers at the Cabal are Stephen Schwartz, Jamie Kirchick, and "chef d'blog" Michael Weiss.
The New York Times reports today that Iraq is looking more and more hopeful: "The Iraqi people have just decided that they've had it up to here with violence," he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified. Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced…
Radio Farda--the Farsi language service at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty--is increasingly proving a critical source for information about what's happening inside Iran. Radio Farda's job is "surrogate broadcasting"--telling the stories that the Iranian press would report, if only they were free to…
We've been covering the debate in Congress over how to "fix" the AMT. Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel has proposed a repeal that includes a tax increase of $3.5 trillion. We've also discussed how Democrats are claiming that their move to block a tax increase that was never supposed to happen…
Is impeachment dead or alive? With the referral of Congressman Kucinich's impeachment resolution to committee, Speaker Pelosi says the issue is "disposed of." Majority Leader Hoyer says, "Congress is not going to proceed with impeachment." And Judiciary Chairman Conyers says: "The committee has a…
Hot Air has the story and the audio: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Tuesday that the troop surge, which began in June, has had a significant impact on the situation in Iraq and noted that he had always been critical of the Bush administration for deploying an insufficient number…
Democrats have been making the case for some time that many Americans are hurting economically, no matter what the national data may show about overall economic growth and the low unemployment rate. Many point to trouble in the housing sector as a cause of worry for ordinary Americans. Political…
This afternoon Dennis Kucinich took to the House floor to press his case for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney. A little while later, and as expected, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer moved to table the resolution without a debate. At 2:53 (according to C-SPAN) the House began a 15 minute vote on…
The Iraq war is clearly confusing Democrats. They declared it lost, pushed for the U.S. to withdraw, denied progress, and now have turned to trying to explain the progress. And the one possibility that seems to have been ruled out is that U.S. troops may have played some part. Why is that notion so…
House Subcommitee Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) believes it's not sufficient that federal employment be open to felons. He's pushing for job set asides for felons as well: Davis said agencies should work with federally and locally funded rehabilitation programs to hire recently released felons as a…
On the floor of the House of Representatives tomorrow, Dennis Kucinich will offer a privileged resolution to impeach the vice president. In all likelihood, the measure will be rejected, but it will probably lead to a recorded vote that forces all Members of the House to take a stand for or against…
Congress has yet to act on the president's request for roughly $200 billion in supplemental funding for the war on terror, including the war in Iraq. Given Speaker Pelosi's recent promise that Democrats would offer 'more of the same' in an effort to get President Bush to 'change course' (again?),…
This exchange between the DailyKos community and Democrat Jane Harman--one of her party's more serious national security advocates--is pretty funny. The exchange started with some allegations by a Kos 'diarist' against Harman and others: Select members of Congress have been briefed, at least in…
Last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives approved legislation to make it illegal for U.S. Internet hosting companies to give users' personal information to governments that restrict Internet access. The legislation is aimed at China, as well as companies like…
Jim Geraghty suggests that Barack Obama's plan for Iraq doesn't live up to its author's reputation as an intellectual. Specifically, he points to Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops within 16 months, and then return them to Iraq to prevent a genocide, if it appears that one is likely to occur.…
It seems most everyone in Congress agrees that the Alternative Minimum Tax must be 'corrected.' Because the tax was not indexed for inflation when created in 1969, it will ensnare more than 20 million taxpayers in 2008. Congress never intended it to affect that many, and no one wants to pay the…
From General Odierno's briefing today. The graphs speak for themselves about the dramatic changes in Iraq since the full implementation of the surge: ODIERNO: "…Due to Phantom Thunder and Phantom Strike, we have been able to eliminate key safe havens, liberate portions of the population and…
It's just that so little of it seems to get much attention in the major media! Leave it to THE WEEKLY STANDARD's own Dean Barnett to capture the situation: SO WHAT'S HAPPENED the past several months? One thing's for sure--you wouldn't know the story by reading the New York Times. Throughout Iraq,…
The House has now joined the Senate in passing an extension of the Internet Tax Moratorium: A bill to extend a moratorium on Internet access taxes for seven years was approved 402-0 by the House Tuesday, less than two days before it was set to expire. The House initially approved a four-year ban,…
The Hill reports that Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has announced that the House is not likely to vote on FISA 'anytime soon,' apparently waiting to see how the Senate handles the issue: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has postponed a vote to amend the 1978 Foreign Intelligence…
One of the most lame and tiresome things about the American anti-war movement is the way some activists both spout off about how brave they are in speaking truth to power, and then complain about the legal penalties they suffer for breaking the law as part of their protests. Few seem to recognize…
The good news for Democrats: there's plenty of time for improvement. The bad news: this is starting to look like one of the most ineffective, unproductive, Congresses in memory. Approval of Congress overall has fallen to 22 percent. Speaker Pelosi's approval rating among Californians has fallen to…
The Wall Street Journal reports on the stunning success of Representative John Murtha in channeling taxpayer dollars to pork-barrel projects in his district, including awards for companies under FBI investigation and others which show no results, as well as many for projects the Pentagon did not…
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel has been promising for months that his legislation to 'fix' the AMT would promote fairness and equity. It already seems to have won strong support from Speaker Pelosi and the rest of the House Democrats. Harvard's Greg Mankiw, however, calls…
Early in 2007, Congressional Democrats split their conference--pitting moderates against liberals--as they considered whether and how to fund the Iraq war. They ultimately held their troops in line to pass an Iraq funding bill with a forced date for surrender. But when the president vetoed the…
It's been clear for several days that the House of Representatives was going to defer consideration of the controversial resolution to officially recognize the Armenian genocide. The New York Times carries the obituary today. How quickly did the U.S. relationship with Turkey get 'back to normal?'…
Representative Dennis Kucinich has apparently told a blogger conference call that he'll raise the issue of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives -- through a point of personal privilege: ...Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced he will go before the U.S. House of Representatives on a…
I don't know why we never thought of this: While it appears from more than one point of view that the War in Iraq and the War on Terror are situations from which we may never be able to extricate ourselves, from the mountains of Pakistan comes a very simple solution: convert to Islam. Before we…
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the United States government faces a budget deficit of $343 billion from 2008-2017. With total spending over that time near $36 trillion, the projected deficit is essentially a rounding error--one that could easily be closed by trimming projected…
The Democratic margin of control in the US Senate is one seat, and Harry Reid has apparently decided to flip one seat to the GOP in 2010. Reid has told [his circle of advisers] that he will definitely seek a fifth term, according to McCue and others who have attended the sessions, and he is…
MoveOn.org has sent a message to its members announcing the start of a coordinated campaign to prevent the U.S. from a military strike against Iran. From their E-mail: To be honest, I don't even like to think about the possibility of war with Iran. But here's the unfortunate truth-plans for an…
The Politico reports on the refusal of some moderate Democrats to make required donations to the party's campaign committee: A large group of "Blue Dog" Democrats has refused to give money to the party's campaign committee so far this cycle, underscoring simmering tension inside the Caucus and…
Democrats vowed to change the culture in Washington. And while their ethics reforms were criticized by clean-government advocates for not going far enough, they're tried to take credit for 'draining the swamp' anyway. How will they do that now though, considering that even with the additional…
It's a good thing Congressional Democrats didn't wait until the last minute to begin figuring out how to revise and renew FISA. It's clear that it's a very divisive process for them. Senator Kit Bond--the senior Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee--held a conference call yesterday with…
Charlie Cook is one of the nation's leading election analysts and progonosticators. In his latest column (sent by E-mail, with no link currently available), he warns that while everything seems to be going Democrats' way, their streak of good luck is bound to end. Further, he says that Democratic…
On Friday, I wrote about the failure of the Senate to consider legislation by Senator Sununu to make the internet tax moratorium permanent. I mentioned that Senator Landrieu objected to a unanimous-consent request by Senator McConnell to consider the bill. Senator Landrieu has requested that we…
The Turkish press reports that Turkey's Ambassador to the United States is preparing to return to Washington, satisfied that the House will apparently not vote on legislation to recognize the Armenian genocide. The Turkish ambassador to the US is to return to Washington, D.C., after being recalled…
On Wednesday afternoon, the House was forced to indefinitely defer its consideration of the Democrats' bill to extend FISA. By Wednesday evening, leading Senate Republicans and Democrats had agreed to a compromise bill. It was expected that this bill could move quickly and be signed into law. But…
We've been following the halting progress of the Internet Tax Moratorium. Earlier this week Members of the House were denied the opportunity to vote on a permanent extension, and instead overwhelmingly passed a four-year extension. While it seems likely that the Senate will soon pass this…
Pete Stark tells San Francisco's KCBS radio that he stands by his attacks yesterday on House Republicans and President Bush: During his outburst, the Fremont lawmaker said "you don't have money to fund the war, or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get…
Frustrated by the lack of progress toward surrender in Iraq, veteran John Bruhns has quit the anti-war group AAEI: The leading Washington coalition for ending the war in Iraq has lost its highest-profile Iraq veteran. John Bruhns, a former Army sergeant who participated in the 2003 invasion, left…
One of the reforms adopted by Democrats when they took control of Congress this year was 'pay-go.' Simply put, pay-go requires Congress to offset tax cuts and new entitlement spending with tax increases or spending cuts. As long as Congress sticks to the pay-go rule, it ensures that Congress does…
A new Harris Poll of 2,565 adults has some encouraging news for proponents of the U.S. effort in Iraq. While Americans remain skeptical of the mission and have little trust in either Congress or the president, their view of the situation in Iraq has improved. In March, 51% of respondents said the…
No one's ever accused Pete Stark of having any class, or of serving as an example for civil discourse in Congress. He's lived up to his reputation today. During debate this morning, he accused Republicans of funding the war for the fun of seeing innocents die: "But you're going to spend it to blow…
So thanks to Eric Cantor's shrewd parliamentary maneuver, House Democrats have been forced to defer a vote on terrorist surveillance legislation. The debate is on over who was playing politics--but Democrats give the game away by admitting they may be forced to allow debate on amendments. Look at…
Congressman Eric Cantor reports on his blog that House Democrats are stalling the FISA debate. According to Cantor, they don't know how to address the vote that House Republicans intend to force on whether or not intelligence agencies should be permitted to pursue Osama bin Laden and other…
The New York Times's Janet Elder writes a column 'on polling,' and reveals a surprising finding: Americans seem to regard the Iraq war as a part of the war on terror: The language used to talk about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the language used to take the nation to war in Iraq have…
Not many people are familiar with the House Rules Committee, or why it has so much power to determine what legislation passes the House. Simply put, the Committee sets the terms for debate of all significant legislation--how long a bill is debated, who may offer amendments, what amendments may be…
The Hill reports that several prominent House Democrats will hold a press conference today calling upon leadership not to schedule a vote on the Armenian genocide resolution that threatens to undermine Turkey's support for U.S. efforts in Iraq. Five House Democrats plan to hold a news conference…
As a follow-up to previous articles about the Internet Tax Freedom Act, the House has passed a 4-year extension of the ban. The measure is likely to be taken up and passed in the Senate before the current ban expires on November 1. Although supporters of making the ban permanent had enough votes to…
The House of Representatives has more than 20 committees, and more than 100 subcommittees. With all those chairmen, all those jurisdictions, and all those issues, it can be extremely hard to get attention for important legislative efforts. That's why press secretaries on the Hill go to extreme…
I've written before on the Internet Tax Freedom Act and the unwillingness of Congressional Democratic leaders to schedule a vote on legislation supported by a strong, bipartisan majority in Congress. Now Congressional Quarterly reports that House Democrats are using a procedural trick to prevent…
Jed Babbin and McQ of QandO tackle Speaker Pelosi's decision to schedule a vote on HRes 106, a resolution to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Babbin notes the obvious--Democrats who have been unable to end the Iraq war directly, now seem to have found a way to cripple the military effort…
This morning I had the opportunity to participate--along with a number of other bloggers--in a meeting with OMB Director Jim Nussle. Nussle took advantage of the timing of this session to call attention to the recent release of economic data showing the third consecutive year of decline in the…
Democratic leaders have for years criticized President Bush's arrogant foreign policy, and promised that things will change if the voters send a Democrat to the White House. One way it will change, apparently, is that our key trading partners will be on probation from day one of Hillary's…
Anti-war activists are excited that nearly 90 House Democrats (and Ron Paul) are writing to President Bush to inform him that they will no longer support the war. Actually, that's an exaggeration. FOUR House Democrats have written to the president to tell him they will no longer support the war. An…
The Politico reports that DC's well-heeled tax lobbyists are scrambling to figure out whose ox Charlie Rangel will gore when he introduces his massive tax bill in the next few weeks: By now, everyone knows Rep. Charles B. Rangel is poised to introduce the "mother" of all tax reforms, the biggest…
Is Nancy Pelosi saying that she wishes Iraq war protesters were treated like the homeless? "Look," she said, the chicken breast on her plate untouched. "I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from…
Who would have imagined that the march of technology would eventually force Mahmood Ahmadinejad to confront trolls on his blog. Nevertheless, a lively debate has broken out among the commenters--you might even call it a flamewar. There are the critics: Martha Washington mtv...@gmail.com How does it…
We've chronicled the shift in recent months in the attitude among the netroots towards moderate and conservative Democrats. Just a few months ago, the paramount goal of the left was achieving Congressional majorities--even if it meant backing Democrats who occasionally voted with the president. But…
An interesting question from Greg Stanko--vice president of Public Affairs for Ogilvy PR: It got me thinking about the last several weeks since the MoveOn.org ran its famous, or perhaps more correctly infamous, "Will General Petraeus Betray Us?" ad. While almost everything that could be written…
The Boston Globe's James Carroll writes today about the 'troubling turn in American history,' and notwithstanding the tripe that follows, it seems the 'troubling turn' occurred in 1492. Carrol seems to think that America can't get anything right without doing somebody wrong. These developments…
We are constantly told by the Left that the American people support their efforts to get the United States out of Iraq as quickly as possible. The Netroots demand that Congress put more pressure on the White House, since Americans supposedly stand with them on pushing for withdrawal on a timetable…
Ever since 1998 the U.S. Congress has, under Republican leadership, extended the Internet Tax Freedom Act. That statute forbids states and localities from enacting taxes on internet access, with few exceptions. That moratorium is scheduled to expire on November 1, and Congressional leaders can't…
When Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution wrote in the New York TImes that the surge was working, they were widely criticized by the antiwar left, which went to great lengths to undercut their findings. The two scholars could do nothing to convince their liberal critics…
Yesterday I joined several other bloggers in a conference call with Senator John Ensign, chair of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. He walked us through the races to watch next year. It's no secret that analysts are viewing 2008 as a very tough year for the GOP, and there's even speculation…
John Hawkins at Right Wing News makes a great catch. He notes that even when the HuffPo tries to pose as a defender of the troops, they can't help impugning them: This quote from Huffington Post columnist Stan Goff is so ironic that it's almost funny (emphasis mine), "Right-wing buffoon Rush…
Yesterday I wrote that Democrats in Congress had decided to capitulate on Iraq funding, and kick the can down the road until next year. Yet just minutes after I published that, the media was awash with headlines about how Democrats had decided to dig in and hold the president's feet to the fire:…
A little while ago I wrote about the plans of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel to raise taxes by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade. Today several Democratic leaders in the House have debuted a plan to raise income taxes 'to pay for the war.' According to the Congressional Budget…
The Washington Post features the results of their latest poll, and uses a headline suggesting bad news for the administration and the war in Iraq: Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut Most Americans oppose fully funding President Bush's $190 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a…
The Senate yesterday passed the annual defense authorization bill with little fanfare. Although it was intended to be the vehicle for any Iraq restrictions Democrats could come up with, it passed by an eye-popping 92-3. If you needed any proof that the measure contained little to provoke…
Michelle Malkin summarizes the faux outrage from the left over Rush Limbaugh's comments about phony soldiers: Here is what this phony fiasco is really all about: It's about the MoveOn.org Democrats trying to save face in the aftermath of the disastrous "General Betray Us" smear. They want their own…
Roll Call reports that a few months after Silvestre Reyes became chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he asked his brother to create a political action committee called BEST PAC. That committee received tens of thousands in donations from employees and clients of a lobbying firm. Those…
As the level of American casualties in Iraq falls to its lowest level in more than a year, while Iraqi casualties fall as well, Erick at Red State notes that as tragic as the loss of life is, the final year of the Carter administration saw greater losses of life among U.S. soldiers than any year of…
The Missile Defense Agency reports on a successful test today: The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced today it has completed an important exercise and flight test involving a successful intercept by a ground-based interceptor missile designed to protect the United States against a limited…
Lawmakers deplore 'frightening' state of Army readiness: Members of the House Armed Services Committee expressed concern Wednesday that the sustained combat in Iraq and Afghanistan has reduced the Army's ability to respond to any new conflict. "The Army has degraded to an intolerable point," Armed…
The folks on the Left are beside themselves today--thinking that by dint of a truncated quote, they will succeed in shutting down Rush Limbaugh and taking him off the air. Before lining up next to the folks from Crooks and Liars, FireDogLake, Media Matters, ThinkProgress, Huffington Post, and the…
The Politico states the obvious--notwithstanding their protestations, Democrats in Congress are not doing all they can to end the war in Iraq: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could force a vote a day over Iraq. She could keep the House in session all night, over weekends and through planned…
Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has an intriguing personality. He can be fiercely partisan and confrontational, or affable and friendly. He is at times one of the easiest Congressional Democrats to work with on bipartisan initiatives. Yet he is prone to offensive attacks and the politics of personal…
The Washington Post reports on a story leaked to Spain's El Pais about a meeting between President Bush and the former Spanish president Jose Maria Aznar weeks ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It's interesting to note how Bush discusses Saddam's signals that he might accept exile from Iraq. El…
Twenty-eight members of the House of Representatives have come together to sign a statement of principles to govern future action on Iraq. Led by Congressmen John Tanner (D-TN) and Mike Castle (R-DE), the group seeks to end the fighting over Iraq policy inside the walls of Congress, and establish…
Our colleague Patrick Ruffini points out that there is a bellwether Congressional race currently underway, in Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District. The Republican candidate -- whom polls show to be within striking distance -- is Jim Ogonowski. Ruffini has this to say about Ogonowski and the…
JunkScience.com is sponsoring a competition: The Ultimate Global Warming Challenge. If you can prove that humans are causing catastrophic global warming, you canl win $125,000. When the contest was announced on August 7, the prize was only $100,000. But apparently the team at JunkScience is getting…
Samantha Sault has an excellent round up of the reaction to Mahmoud Ahmadinehad's appearance at Columbia, and Lee Bollinger's introduction of him. But watching Bollinger's comments make me wonder how the Columbia president can be anything other than a strong proponent of forceful and aggressive…
Today I had the opportunity to participate in a discussion with Congressman Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. The event was sponsored by the Heritage Foundation's Rob Bluey. Hoekstra's comments ran the gamut--touching on everything from SCHIP, to Iraq, to FISA,…
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The inability of Congressional Democrats to force a change of course on Iraq has led to strained relations with the Netroots--a subject we've covered here. While Democrats in Washington try to figure out how to appeal to both moderates and their anti-war base, that base is debating whether to…
Sonny Bunch picked apart some of the silliness Senator Clinton offered during her full Ginsburg on yesterday's round of Sunday shows. It's interesting to take note of her comments on Iraq, as well. She told CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "I've reached the conclusion that the best way to support our troops is…
In the week just concluded, the Senate has debated a variety of measures related to the war in Iraq. The only measure which passed was one to denounce MoveOn for for its attack on General David Petraeus. By that measure, it was the most productive week the Senate has had on Iraq in months. But if…
Congressional Quarterly looks at the agenda ahead in the House and Senate -- including legislation to prevent a government shutdown: In the final week of the 2007 fiscal year, the House and Senate face packed agendas in an effort to keep the government funded and extend authorizations for a host of…
Via Instapundit, I see CNN's report on Majority Leader Reid's 'frustration' at finding himself powerless to end the war in Iraq. Professor Reynolds seems to suggest that Senator Reid is not speaking in earnest: HARRY REID: "Frustrated Dems will keep pushing for end to Iraq war." But not hard enough…
Jim Geraghty has posted an excellent column about the potential effect of Hillary Clinton as nominee on Democratic hopes of holding onto seats in southern and swing states. It's well worth a read. Geraghty finds that if you're a Red State Democrat, you're probably backing someone else for the…
It's been clear for a while that the Democratic party is seriously divided over what to do about Iraq. There are essentially no Democrats who support the war in Iraq, and very few who truly support the broader war on terror. But while there's strong opposition to the current anti-terror agenda,…
So notwithstanding the shabby treatment General Petraeus received at the hands of Democrats on Capitol Hill, it looks like Harry Reid, at least, knows how to follow orders: Less than a day after Reid met with several leaders of the antiwar movement in New York, he and other Democratic leaders took…
It's with good reason that Washington is renowned for its partisanship, but sometimes Republicans and Democrats actually work together on worthwhile proposals. That may be happening on the entitlement front. Senators Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg--the Chairman and Ranking Republican on the Senate…
Roll Call reports that Congressman Jack Murtha, chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, has received donations from every private entity for which he secured an earmark: Every private entity that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) favored with an earmark in this year's defense bill…
TPM's Greg Sargent notes that CBS's polls before and after the testimony of General Petraeus and Admiral Crocker show a surprising result: after their excellent testimony, the percentage of people favoring withdrawal from Iraq went up rather than down: Before the testimony, 65% wanted the troops…
Last week, CNN's Glenn Beck aired a weeklong series of reports regarding purported plans by al Qaeda to coordinate a series of attacks at U.S. schools. Author Brad Thor, formerly of the Department of Homeland Security's 'Red Cell' suggests that the Beslan attack was a dry run, and that al Qaeda…
Roll Call reports that former Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney appears to be planning a return to Congress in 2008: Now that former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) has withdrawn her name from consideration as the Green Party's long-shot presidential nominee, speculation is mounting that the…
Bob Novak reports that away from any public scrutiny, Ways and Means Chairman Rangel is preparing a huge tax increase on many Americans: Rangel, having finally achieved his coveted chairman's role after years of waiting, wants to make history. His staff is hard at work on an audacious plan that…
If Congress is in session, then Congressional Democrats must be working on a way to end the Iraq war. This week the stage is the Senate, which is taking up the defense authorization bill. The first amendments to be considered are likely to deal with the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay -- one amendment…
McQ over at QandO reminds Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid of where they stood on Iraq until very recently: Nancy Pelosi said: "Months ago, House and Senate Democratic leaders suggested to the President that he implement one of the Study Group's chief recommendations - to change the primary mission of…
Fox News publishes the result of a very interesting poll--one that asks voters whom they would prefer to have as president to deal with a terrorist attack. Rudy Giuliani defeats Hillary Clinton in a slam dunk: The latest FOX News poll shows that if the United States were hit with a terrorist…
After largely taking his name out of the mix of possible presidential contenders, Newt Gingrich has been quiet for a few months. In July he said that he would not run if Thompson 'ran and did well.' That was probably just a recognition of reality--since there would be no room for a Gingrich…
Talking Points Memo takes issue with the comments of House Republican Leader Boehner regarding the sacrifice of the United States and its men and women in uniform: BLITZER: How much longer will U.S. taxpayers have to shell out $2 billion a week or $3 billion a week as some now are suggesting the…
The Hill reports that Democrats have quietly ditched another of the high-profile promises they campaigned on last year: After reclaiming the majority, Democrats took aim at the alleged campaign by the GOP to use its policymaking powers to pressure trade associations and corporations to install…
Jonathan Adler points to a Newsweek article by Michael Hirsh, which reports that Sandy Berger and Madeline Albright have been brought back as top foreign policy advisers to Hillary's presidential campaign: The more experienced Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has relied largely on her husband and a…
This afternoon (US time), I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with three Congressman currently in Baghdad. The delegation is there to review the situation on the ground and determine how much progress is being made on security and political goals. Of particular interest, Mr.…
It's indisputable--even elementary--that in order to solve a policy challenge, you need to assess it and recommend an appropriate course of action. If the problem changes, then you have to reassess your approach. If your approach is simply to recommend 'something different' from the current…
The WWS has learned that House Republican Leader John Boehner has arrived in Iraq this morning, leading a bipartisan Congressional delegation. Fresh on the heels of the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, the delegation is there to review the facts on the ground for themselves.…
Roll Call has looked into another beneficiary of John Murtha's earmarks, an organization called the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals with Disabilities (PAID). PAID was created by Murtha's earmarks, and it is headed by a former staffer who is also a paid lobbyist. Despite claiming to…
The U.S. Congress appears almost dysfunctional, unable to address pressing issues of national welfare. And now there's more alarming news: Congress is failing to meet certain benchmarks--even those that have already been allowed to slip before. Congressional Quarterly says "Deadlines Are Piling up…
Democratic politicians have to some degree relished the political fight over the Iraq war, which they have seen as a boon to the effort to elect Democratic politicians. They've stood firmly--even stubbornly--in support of withdrawing American troops from Iraq, regardless of the realty on the…
Plenty of conservative bloggers have noticed the resemblance between some of the rhetoric in Osama bin Laden's latest tape, and the comments on lefty blogs in the U.S. Arianna Huffington wrote that Bush had left bin Laden "free to offer kudos to Noam Chomsky and Michael Scheuer's Imperial Hubris,…
The Politico is one among many publications covering the scrambling and division among Democratic leaders as they try and develop a new Iraq strategy now that it's clear they cannot force a precipitous withdrawal. And this piece states pretty clearly that the last strategy failed: The emerging…
I had the opportunity to speak with Congressman Eric Cantor yesterday evening, regarding the upcoming race in Virginia to succeed retiring Senator John Warner. Cantor stated that he's hearing strong rumors that former Governor Mark Warner will declare for the seat next week. Given the proven…
Having bet on defeat in Iraq, Congressional Democratic leaders now glumly prepare for the worst of possible outcomes: victory. That's an exaggeration of course; victory in Iraq is a long way away. But where Democrats were once confident that the media drumbeat of bad news in Iraq would force the…
If you've not yet bookmarked In From the Cold, take a moment to do so. 'Former Spook' often has excellent insights on intelligence and national security issues. Today he looks at the data for U.S. casualties in Iraq in August. He looks both at what the media are likely to claim, and what the…
Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee, pens a piece worth reading at RedState today. McCotter argues that the Iraqi national Parliament is not a leading indicator of progress on political reconciliation, but a lagging one: This Iraqi "election for freedom"…
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) has returned from Iraq and given an interview to a liberal blog site--Think Progress--in which she complains about a 'Green Zone Fog' that clouds the minds of Members of Congress. She is to be congratulated on getting so close to the truth; we have identified it here as a…
Congressional Quarterly reports today that 67 Democrats who voted to slash the defense budget by more than 20 percent have won earmarks for home-district projects, totaling about half a billion dollars. Nine of the 12 Democrats who voted against funding defense completely were among those who…
One of the key issues that Congress will need to address when it returns in September is legislation to restrict energy production in the U.S. It's not framed that way, of course. The legislation being considered is ostensibly supposed to help produce more energy, but that's not the effect it will…
Yesterday I pointed out that the lefty bloggers seem to regard Congressman Jerry McNerney as a weak-minded victim of General David Petraeus's 'Jedi Mind Trick'. Today it seems that Brian Baird was also seduced by the Dark Side: It's becoming apparent that these people are being bombarded with such…
The Bush administration will soon deliver its September assessment on progress in Iraq. It's clear that in addition to reviewing the challenges to reconciliation at the national level, officials will consider 'bottom-up' progress. NBC's First Read carries a report on progress in Ramadi: Since then,…
Democrats and war opponents have for months argued for a withdrawal from Iraq, partly on the grounds that neither the people of Iraq nor its government would seriously attempt reconciliation so long as the U.S. commitment there seemed open-ended. Some Democrats went so far as to say that by…
John Edwards takes his turn in Foreign Affairs, explaining his foreign policy and showing how it differs from that of President Bush and his rivals for the Democratic nomination. On the critically important questions of how to deal with Iraq, and how to respond to international crises, Edwards is…
The Congressional Budget Office has released its August update of economic and fiscal data. Due to surging income tax receipts, the federal deficit for 2007 is expected to be $158 billion--a decline of $19 billion from the March projection, and $90 billion less than 2006. It's unclear right now…
One of the lessons of 9/11 is the danger of 'stovepiping' in our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It's not enough for agencies to collect the data they need to piece together and disrupt a plot; the analysts who 'own' those critical nuggets must be able to find others with relevant…
A number of supporters of victory in Iraq have come together to create Freedom's Watch, which is launching "a nationwide grassroots campaign...to ensure a strong national defense and a powerful effort to confront and defeat global terrorism." That advertising campaign will be a sharp contrast to…
It seems it was just a few months ago that liberal activists were talking proudly about their ability to put litmus tests aside and search for Democrats who could win marginal seats and bring a majority. When Democrats reclaimed control of the House of Representatives, these…
The Washington Post reports today on a phenomenon that's been clear to most of us for a while now: the improvement in security that has accompanied the surge has forced Democrats to change their rhetoric: Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on…
At first, Democrats argued that Iraq was no safer because of the surge, then, when evidence of progress mounted, they shifted to arguing that even though the security situation has improved, it has not led to political reconciliation. Senator Carl Levin seems to have shifted his stance faster than…
Nuclear power is poised for a comeback, as consumers and electric utilities look for ways to meet the rising demand for energy in the U.S. According to the Department of Energy, Americans will use 41 percent more electricity in 2030 than they did in 2005, and hydrocarbons like coal and gas are not…
The Veterans of Foreign Wars is holding its 108th annual convention in Kansas City this week. Senators Clinton, McCain, Obama, and Thompson will be addressing the group today and tomorrow. With both Democratic contenders opposing the new Baghdad security plan, and its accompanying surge of forces,…
In the brilliant BBC comedy series 'Yes Minister,' we learn that the best way to dissuade a politician from a certain course of action is to describe it as 'courageous.' Think of that when you read the comments of Representative Brian Baird (D-WA) upon his return from Iraq: "I believe that the…
Blog readers are today treated to a stunning display of hypocrisy among opponents of the Iraq war. Blogs on the left have spent the last few months tearing David Petraeus down, and expressing concern that come September, President Bush and his senior advisers would leave the limelight to the…
The August recess is a time when many members of Congress go on fact-finding missions to luxurious locales. This year some Members are choosing to spend their time in Iraq, to see for themselves how things are going there, and to prepare for the report from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.…
One of the last things Congress did before adjourning for the August recess was to pass the Protect America Act, which clarifies the authority of the Executive Branch to intercept without a court order the communications of suspected terrorists who are foreign nationals, located abroad. It…
I recently joined several other bloggers in a discussion with a senior administration official familiar with the ongoing effort in Iraq. The conversation reflected the changed dynamic on the ground--one where the improving security situation focuses greater attention on political progress and…
Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Examiner spoke today about his new book, Sabotage: America's Enemies Within the CIA, at the Heritage Foundation. The book focuses on what Scarborough characterizes as a campaign by some at the CIA to undermine the conduct of the war on terror, spread…
The New York Times expresses its disappointment that the United States has not ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty, which would allow the U.S. to contend with Denmark, Russia, and others for the rights to minerals under the North Pole: The United States does not find itself in a strong position.…
Glenn Greenwald, president of the WWS fan club, spends an extraordinary amount of ink today trying to debunk the credentials of Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack as critics of the war in Iraq. He also argues that because their visit to Iraq was coordinated by the U.S. military, with the military…
...and all I got was some lousy Post Office naming bills. With Congress off on its August recess (after ending session with a huge floor fight over a vote whose outcome shifted after the gavel came down), this is a good time to assess progress. To date, there have been 56 bills signed into law by…
The Missile Defense Agency has released a report entitled 'Proposed Missile Defense Assets in Europe.' The document is a handy guide that explains why we're pursuing the system and how it will enhance the security of the U.S. and its allies. It's full of nifty charts and graphs, which point mostly…
Our colleague Rob Bluey notes that in an apparent response to a challenge by Glenn Greenwald, General David Petraeus has had an interview with Alan Colmes. (It's unfortunate that Greenwald was apparently unaware of the interview, as he's failed to note it on his blog--either to alert readers in…
It appears that today is a watershed day with regard to US policy in Iraq. Democratic leaders now acknowledge that the surge is working. The only catch is, they say it's no surprise, they've known it for a while, and it's nothing significant. Senators Durbin and Casey are in Iraq, and were…
Democrats in Congress reacted quickly to the request by the Bush administration for clarification of their authority to listen in on the communications of foreign terrorists located abroad, passing legislation to modernize FISA. President Bush has since signed the measure into law. But while…
It's tradition that before each Congressional recess, House Republican leaders prepare recess briefing packets for their Members. The goal is to ensure that they're up-to-date when they head home, and have a quick summary of any important issues they may hear about while conducting events in their…
Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) spoke today to a group of bloggers about the Senate's passage of an ethics reform bill that omits transparency and disclosure of earmarks. The measure approved by the Senate today (and the House yesterday) left out provisions previously approved to:…
On the heels of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn's comments the other day that a positive progress report from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker might be "a big problem" for Democrats, there are more signs today of disagreement among House Democrats about how to proceed on Iraq. The Hill reports a…
Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) forcefully tells a moonbat that he opposes the effort to impeach the president:
Barack Obama says that he will order the military to go after Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and step up our effort in Afghanistan: I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans.…
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The Washington Post reports this morning on an interview with House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn. While Clyburn covered a lot of ground, the item that has attracted the most attention is Clyburn's acknowledgment that a positive report from General Petraeus on Operation Phantom Thunder could be "a…
One of the more important post-9/11 reforms was the creation of passenger watch lists and the effort to ensure that the names of all passengers flying to this country were disclosed before arrival. But while important to U.S. security, it has been a significant challenge to induce our partners to…
In an attempt to discredit the O'Hanlon/Pollack piece on the success of the surge (commented on here earlier today by my colleague Mike Goldfarb), bloggers on the left are trying to depict the two as long-time supporters of the war. Glenn Greenwald, in particular, assembles an array of quotes…
Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus report on progress in Iraq: He said the troop buildup has clearly established "tactical momentum," meaning its more aggressive efforts to secure volatile neighborhoods in Baghdad and areas around the capital are succeeding. The bigger issue is whether those…
Charles Krauthammer offers a strong column today on Barack Obama's national security naivety: For Barack Obama, it was strike two. And this one was a right-down-the-middle question from a YouTuber in Monday night's South Carolina debate: "Would you be willing to meet separately, without…
In between votes on the war in Iraq, the House is expected soon to consider the fiscal year 2008 defense appropriations bill. While this bill will occasion one or more votes on Iraq, it may also see a floor debate over missile defense. That's because when the House Appropriations Committee approved…
In their continuing effort to end the war in Iraq, the House of Representatives will vote today on legislation to bar the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq: Instead of embracing bipartisan alternatives, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dropped the Iraq debate altogether. House Speaker Nancy…
Yesterday a number of bloggers had the chance to speak with Juan Zarate, deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism. Mr. Zarate was recapping President Bush's speech at Charleston Air Force Base in which the president argued about the centrality of the war in Iraq to the ongoing war…
The Democratic candidates got together at the Citadel and all we got was this lousy T-shirt. Actually, we got a range of opinions on who won, and a few moments to chuckle at or worry about--depending on how you look at things. But there is joy on the left as the Democratic base surveys the debating…
The New York Times opines today on what they see as the limits on the president's power as Commander in Chief. And in particular, they describe Bush as the sort of 'imperial President' the Founders would have feared: Given how intent the president is on expanding his authority, it is startling to…
Senator Clinton has taken offense -- and many others in the blogosphere seem to have as well -- at the response she received from Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman. (Note here and here, for two of many examples.) We encourage you to read the full text of Edelman's response and determine for…
You should take the time to read Hugh Hewitt's interview with General David Petraeus, who gives an excellent assessment of where Operation Phantom Thunder stands right now. He covers both the successes and the challenges. Some highlights: HH: Do you think al Qaeda in Iraq is buckling, General…
Was it just last week that the House passed legislation to force a 'responsible redeployment' from Iraq? Was it just this morning that the Senate demonstrated that they're far short of having the votes to overcome a filibuster and get a vote on a measure to force the president's hand on Iraq? You…
Dick Morris is a political strategist, so it's not an indictment to say that he views the war in Iraq through a strategist's prism, rather than as a national security or terrorism expert. He has argued in recent weeks that the president must commence a drawdown in Iraq to avoid a sweeping…
Today the Heritage Foundation hosted a briefing with Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), an orthopedic surgeon and former State Senator. He came to hammer home a message we've heard from lots of House Republicans lately -- we got the message. In his commentary, he talked about the many mistakes that…
The State Department today convened a conference call for interested media and bloggers with Thomas Timberman, the Team Leader of the North Babil Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (EPRT). Like the Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which focus on economic and political progress on the level of…
House and Senate negotiators are working out the plan for passage of legislation to implement many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Once it passes, Democrats will claim victory in having implemented all the remaining recommendations. But that won't exactly be true. Congress has…
By tradition, lame duck presidents do not accomplish much. They must narrow their legislative focus to a few significant priorities that will figure prominently when their legacies are assessed. In particular, they tend to focus on foreign policy--where Congress is traditionally more deferential to…
Ask and you shall receive... Earlier today I wrote about the need to change how Americans think about Iraq, and this afternoon White House Press Secretary Tony Snow explained to a number of bloggers his planned contribution: a 'surge of facts.' Snow spoke about the new audio/visual features of the…
As the president today explains where progress has been made in Iraq, and where the Iraqi government has failed to meet our expectations, it seems apparent that what we're doing is not working. I'm not speaking of Operation Phantom Thunder ('the surge'), where this magazine has chronicled the…
This is a Frank Capra/Bell Labs film from 1958. It warns that man's emission of greenhouse gases threaten to warm the Earth's temperature, melt the polar ice caps, and drown much of America--leaving Miami under 150 feet of water:
Amidst many missteps and revisions, there have been a few running themes to the Democratic 'strategy' on Iraq since the party took back Congress last fall. They've tried to cow the president into drawing down from Iraq while refusing to use their authority to do so--since that would leave them 'on…
It had always seemed to me that the Lefty blogs were pretty tough, and could both dish out and take some pretty stern stuff. But it seems that Joe Lieberman went over even their line yesterday, according to Election Central, 'he went out of his way to bash' Harry Reid. Kos says that 'Soulless Joe'…
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt spoke this afternoon to an audience at the Heritage Foundation in an address entitled 'Laying the Groundwork for a Revolution.' Blunt set forth the principles that he believes must guide Republican efforts to regain a majority on the Hill. In the main, Blunt…
Harry Reid, July 5: "President Bush and the Iraqis must move now to finally accept a measure of accountability for this war, implement the Iraq Study Group recommendations, transition the mission for our combat troops and start bringing them home from an intractable civil war." And today, the Hill…
The House and Senate return from their July 4 recess, and the first thing on the agenda is Iraq. While the news carries stories of Republican Senators further hedging on Iraq, WEEKLY STANDARD editor Bill Kristol argues that signs of progress warrant more patience: Obviously, we have a long way to…
One of the hallmarks of our time is a proliferation of more--and more advanced--electronic devices. Those devices need batteries--and in a variety that seems to be increasing by the day. While that's a nuisance for consumers, it can be life-threatening for a soldier: parttwo-49.jpg From Battery…
Despite the shift in control of Congress, there remains some skepticism about the United Nations. The Senate is expected soon to endorse a suspension of U.S. support for the UN Human Rights Council, in response to that body's criticism of Israel--and ONLY Israel--for human rights violations: The…
With the passing of the deadline for reporting second quarter fundraising, the presidential campaigns have been putting the spin on how they've done. Today the Giuliani campaign held a blogger conference call to discuss the results--without much need to spin, it seems. Campaign Manager Mike DuHaime…
I've written before on the help that the United States has gotten from Brazilian president Lula Inacio da Silva in dealing with Hugo Chavez. While the United States and Lula's Brazil aren't 'allies,' we've developed a pretty good working relationship based on shared interest. And what do we share…
We've written before on the plan by Congressional Democrats to turn the page on the Iraq funding debate, and instead talk about... Iraq funding. Today it's reported that as the Senate takes up the annual defense authorization bill next week, the first amendment to be considered will be offered by…
Sixteen months after a furor erupted over a bid by Dubai Ports World to manage six major US ports, the House and Senate have both approved legislation to tighten up the approval process for foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies: The Senate passed legislation to revamp the way security threats…
This is a quiet week on Capitol Hill, with both House and Senate taking their Independence Day breaks. (For news about a more compelling July 4th tradition, head over here.) While polls show great dissatisfaction with Congress and its inability to address critical issues, it looks like the House…
President Bush will entertain his Russian counterpart at Kennebunkport this weekend, and they have a lot to talk about. Putin is fresh off a meeting with Hugo Chavez--a good customer for conventional arms who's kicking the tires on an Iran-style nuclear program. And while Putin's Russia has become…
In what has become something of an annual ritual, the House of Representatives yesterday approved an amendment to appropriations legislation to expand commerce with Cuba. But while the House has voted every year since 1999 either to lift the embargo or the travel ban, this year it limited itself to…
Today President Bush made his first trip to Rhode Island, to speak at the Naval War College regarding the war in Iraq. With the final elements of the surge having arrived in Iraq just a few weeks ago, Operation Phantom Thunder has begun. The president highlighted the successes so far: Last…
The Washington Post reports today that the Chinese government quietly dispatched its vice foreign minister to meet with representatives of several presidential campaigns last week: One of China's top government officials reached out to the leading U.S. presidential contenders last week, holding an…
It's rare that Republicans and Democrats can agree on anything in Washington. But the fight over Iran's nuclear ambitions shows that even when they do come together, that doesn't guarantee that the White House will jump on board as well. Yesterday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed…
It looks like earmarking continues to run rampant--even in defense bills. The Politico reports: Just how open and honest the reformed process is can be seen in the new Department of Defense authorization bill that came out of the House Armed Services Committee in May. It did list 449 earmarks -- in…
the Heritage Foundation's Baker Spring and Peter Brookes led a forum on ballistic missile defense this afternoon. Spring has just authored a piece on the competing missile defense bills being considered in the House and Senate. His assessment: The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the…
The Washington Post's Richard Cohen makes a point that has been brought up several times here--that the Democratic presidential candidate might suffer in 2008 from a perceived weakness on defense: The history I have in mind is 1972. By the end of that year, 56,844 Americans had been killed in…
(But Still Pretty Bad) A little while back my colleague, Ulf Gartzke, wrote a piece on the perverse demographic effects of the European welfare state. The Economist follows with a piece that provides details on some of those effects, and some very interesting data. But while the piece is presented…
Much of the discussion on Capitol Hill nowadays centers on earmarks: those discrete priorities that senators and representatives quietly insert into moving legislation. While House Republicans celebrate a commitment by Democrats to subject earmarks to scrutiny and challenge, word comes that one of…
Ever since the Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives, Congressman John Murtha has been a train wreck. Whether it was the attention paid to his role as unindicted co-conspirator in AbScam, his promise to use a back-door way to 'slow-bleed' the war effort in Iraq, his push…
I've noted before that debates over energy in Congress seem disjointed and tend to focus on a laundry list of responses to today's political concerns, rather than any overarching strategy for addressing our future energy needs. While Congress may not yet be up to the challenge, the U.S. Chamber of…
Some time ago I warned Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi that they were making a mistake in not clarifying to their supporters that they would not withdraw funds for US troops in Iraq. Now, in explaining that Senate Democrats will seek to force additional votes on Iraq, Reid admits the truth…
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's 'Tear Down this Wall' speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. And this morning marked the dedication of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism, which was commissioned by Congress and funded through a combination of taxpayer dollars and private…
As President Bush follows his G-8 visit to Berlin with a stop in Bulgaria, Congressional Quarterly covers a bizarre 'kerfuffle' over a North Korean money laundering operation involving a Bulgarian bank: During a private meeting in Washington last February, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M.…
volunteers-756333.jpg John Edwards's idea of counterterrorism.
Dr. Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia writes on 15 bellwether races that will help determine control of the House of Representatives in 2008. Although 14 of the seats are held by Democrats, he gives the Democrat an edge in just 5 of them. But Sabato stresses that while this means the GOP…
We've chronicled before the Democratic retreat on promises to limit and fully disclose the lists of pork-barrel projects included in appropriations bills. Now House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey has clarified that even though pork-barrel projects won't be added to bills until…
Foreign Affairs takes a whack at everyone's favorite alternative fuel: ethanol. Loved by Republicans and Democrats alike because it curries favor in farm states and shows 'bona fides' on global warming, both parties have pushed to expand its use. Increased ethanol use however, presents significant…
Congressman Bill Jefferson (D-LA) has been indicted on 16 count--including a first-ever indictment of a federal official for violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Republicans and Democrats moved quickly to champion an investigation into the charges by the House Ethics Committee :…
I had the opportunity to attend a speech by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today at the Heritage Foundation. Paulson was highlighting the achievements of the Strategic Economic Dialogue with China. The SED was established last year, by Presidents Bush and Hu, "to provide an overarching framework…
We're reminded so many times each day that new technology is profoundly changing the way we live. Bright people talk about how technology is empowering individuals and ad hoc networks to bring powerful institutions to heel. In that vein, you might want to hold off on that sleek new…
June will be a busy month in the House of Representatives as the focus shifts to passing the 12 appropriations bills that fund all discretionary programs. Congressional Quarterly reports that the House is prepared to spend $23 billion more than the president has requested--and has already exceeded…
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The Hill reports that OMB director Rob Portman is pledging to track earmarks in all spending bills enacted for 2008: The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stated Thursday that it will keep track of earmarks during the 2008 fiscal year appropriations process. In a memo to all…
We've written on the case of John Murtha's clandestine pork-barrel projects before. Now CNN is taking a closer look at the project in Murtha's district--the National Drug Intelligence Center--that was recently funded by the House Intelligence Committee in violation of House rules. Lest there be any…
Interested in finding out who's acting as a paid representative of a foreign government here in the United States? Want to know how many people are lobbying for the United Kingdom, or Mexico, or Iran? You'll want to consult the new online portal for the Foreign Agents Registration Act, just posted…
The Democrats promised reform when they took back Congress, but those promises continue to unravel. Though they came to power promising to take the mystery out of earmarking, and require full disclosure, Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey recently said that earmarks will only be inserted…
Go over and read how Ed Morrissey's innocent question to Sen. John McCain in a media conference call led to a significant new hurdle for the Senate immigration bill. This is the end result: House conservatives are ready to stop the Senate immigration bill in its tracks with a potent procedural…
The New York Times reports on the problems that Democrats are having in convincing their base that they're not responsible for the continuation of the Iraq war--that it's the president and Congressional Republicans who are at fault: No one would mistake Peter A. DeFazio for a supporter of the Iraq…
Roll Call ($) reports today that with the bitter and draining fight over Iraq funding now behind them, Congressional Democrats intend to focus on domestic issues for no more than a few weeks before returning to Iraq once again: Democrats, meanwhile, will spend the bulk of the week on gas prices and…
It was a busy day in the House of Representatives, with action on both the Iraq funding legislation and a major ethics reform measure. On the ethics front--and with Democratic dissension forcing votes on two separate measures--Republicans provided 195 of the 218 votes needed to pass a strengthening…
Yesterday it seemed House Democrats would punt on ethics reform. But today the wind is shifting. Apparently Dems have decided not to go home this Memorial Day weekend without something to show their constituents (besides a much-delayed Iraq bill favored by the president). A major problem in…
Congressional Democrats approach the Memorial Day recess without a single piece of major legislation that they campaigned on signed into law. Few have been sent to the president at all. And in the last week before the holiday, House Democrats have voted to block a reprimand of John Murtha for…
I had the opportunity to participate in a blogger conference call this morning with a senior administration official who spoke about the president's upcoming speech at the Coast Guard Academy. The topic of that speech: recent revelations that highlight the importance that Osama bin Laden places on…
It's been reported in several outlets that Congressional Democrats have determined that, at least for now, they can't force the president to withdraw from Iraq. They are preparing to send the president a 'clean' supplemental. According to CQ, the House will vote on legislation as early as Thursday:…
Last night the New York Republican party held a major fundraising dinner in Manhattan, headlined by Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. Both candidates delivered very strong speeches, which were largely devoted to the importance of winning the war on terror. While Giuliani kicked the evening off with a…
Congressional Democrats claimed majorities in the House and Senate partially on the promise to clean up Washington. With that in mind, the House Democratic leadership has at last introduced ethics reform legislation. There are only two problems: it doesn't go as far as many of their own Members had…
Yesterday was a good day for House Republicans, who threw a spotlight on the attempt by Democrats to change House rules to avoid tough votes. Simply put, the 'motion to recommit' allows the minority to force a vote on any germane amendment to a given bill. The move by House Democrats would have…
The rules of the House of Representatives give a committed majority a lot of power to push through legislation favored by the leadership. Most significant legislation is considered under 'special rules' designed to structure (or limit) debate. Contrary to their campaign promises to change the way…
I just concluded a conference call with Mayor Giuliani in which he spoke with bloggers regarding the state of his campaign in the wake of last night's debate. All-in-all, he sounded pretty pleased. While a candidate who underperformed in the debate might open the call with revisions or additions to…
It seems that everyone has an opinion on the debate, and the consensus seems to be that Giuliani won, and that Huckabee helped himself as well. THE WEEKLY STANDARD's own Fred Barnes weighed in early, saying: ...in a few emotional moments in the debate, he grabbed the national security issue and…
A study from the UK's Tyndall Centre finds that alarmist messages about the dangers of global warming tend to promote feelings of apathy and helplessness in the audience: "There has been over-claiming or exaggeration, or at the very least casual use of language by scientists, some of whom are quite…
There's stunning news this morning. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared that while he believes the president has made numerous mistakes in the prosecution of the war in Iraq, he is scheduling a vote this week on legislation to provide full funding for the conflict and affirm the…
Newt Gingrich is letting it be known that he will probably get into the Republican presidential race: Newt Gingrich, the controversial former speaker of the House of Representatives, on Monday said there was a "great possibility" he would enter the Republican presidential field later this year and…
The big story last week in the House was an attempt to guarantee funding for the Iraq conflict for only a few months and to set up a vote on de-funding the conflict in July (a possibility I wrote about in February). While that approach isn't getting any traction, it's unclear what Congress will…
My colleague Mike Goldfarb noted yesterday that House Democrats were preparing to pass an intelligence authorization bill that directs the CIA not to get bogged down on things like the war on terror, but instead to focus on global warming. It was only later that we--and opponents of pork-barrel…
While Iraq war opponents are loathe to admit it, the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq is not a 'freebie.' Once the United States ends its military involvement, Iraq will still be home to sectarian violence, al Qaeda fighters, economic and political unrest, and a host of other problems. Indeed,…
It's more than four months into the new Democratic Congress--not a bad time to see how they're doing. So far there have been 25 bills signed into law. Here's the list: A bill to redesignate the White Rocks National Recreation Area in the State of Vermont as the "Robert T. Stafford White Rocks…
Some hours ago I planned the post I was going to write today on the big news you weren't hearing much about: the bipartisan legislation introduced yesterday to trigger a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Now it looks like that post may have been overtaken by events. I'll just give a few quick links since…
The Financial Times reports that a DC-based consulting firm called PFC energy has released a report warning of a reduced oil supply in years to come. The twist is that PFC isn't concerned (for now anyway) with a lack of petroleum reserves, but with decisions by governments to nationalize and limit…
The president has promised to veto the House Iraq appropriations bill if by some miracle it were to make it to his desk. Both Tony Snow and Secretary Gates have discussed the problems with the approach. As I've noted though, the real challenge for the White House is not what to do in the unlikely…
Say Anything takes a closer look at CNN's latest poll on Iraq -- the one that CNN headlines 'Americans disapprove of Bush's Iraq veto -- and finds that the picture is not that simple. Rob notes that when you look more closely at the questions, you see the following: A lot more poll respondents…
Roll Call ($) takes a lengthy look at the Congressional debate on the Iraq/Afghanistan appropriations measure and reports that each House is doing what it must to get a funding measure to conference. The piece notes the Senate's reluctance to pass a short-term bill, and gives a more detailed look…
shortleash.jpg Culled from a liberal blog: how the Democratic base views the war.
Not only can Citi afford to sponsor the New York Mets' new stadium (an offense to my sensibilities as a Yankees fan), but they can apparently afford to spend $50 billion on green projects over the next ten years (offending my sensibilities as a free-marketeer): Citigroup will on Tuesday commit to…
I had the opportunity to participate in a blogger conference call with Mayor Giuliani's campaign manager Mike DuHaime and Communications Director Katie Levinson. It amounted mostly to a 'temperature-taking' in the wake of the first GOP debate. And what does the Giuliani team want you to know,…
House Democrats quickly denied a report last week that they had given up on a proposed timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. That move would have constituted a significant concession to the president, and it was clearly unacceptable to their real leadership team. Instead, Roll Call ($) reports…
Hand it to the Democrats. While I suggested that they pull the Band-Aid, they are doing their best to avoid this simple reality: they cannot stop the war without de-funding it. Congressman Obey is reportedly deploying a strategy previewed here before -- micro-funding: The plan would split the now…
If you have not yet done so, I encourage you to go over to We Win, They Lose, and sign on as a supporter of the effort to ensure funding for our men and women in the field and ultimate victory in Iraq. Here's the key: Congress has passed and President Bush has vetoed H.R. 1591, the Iraq Surrender…
CNN reports that Barack Obama has been awarded a Secret Service protective detail: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, has been placed under the protection of the Secret Service, the agency said Thursday. The government is not aware of any specific,…
The Washington Post reported this morning that House Democrats made a key concession in talks with the White House on the Iraq supplemental--they will not include a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops: President Bush and Congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill…
While the ethical questions surrounding the behavior of Majority Leader Reid and Senator Dianne Feinstein have attracted little attention to date, it's refreshing to see them warrant a mention in the mainstream media: The shady improprieties of the current Senate majority leader are another story…
As we've noted before in this space, the debate over the US policy in Iraq suffers from a failure to address a critical question: what happens when we leave? There are ramifications for the Iraqis, for the region, for the world -- and not least -- for US security. CNN posts a piece that touches on…
With the president's veto of the Surrender in Iraq Act, (and the failure by the House to override the veto) Congress can now get to work on a funding request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Associated Press describes the conundrum in which the Democrats now find themselves, capturing the…
Craig Crawford, who provides political analysis for the family of NBC channels and who used to be a staple of the Imus show, is also a columnist for Congressional Quarterly. He writes a piece today that looks at the recent Democratic debate and warns that the leading candidates might have come off…
I just got off a conference call with White House spokesman Tony Snow and NSC Director for Iraq Brett McGurk. The 'occasion' was the receiving and veto of the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill. Overall impressions: the public debate about Iraq now revolves around several questions. Will the…
Democrats continue to try and have it both ways on Iraq: they promise their base that they will end the war, and they tell the press that they will definitely fund the troops. The two are mutually exclusive. If you intend to cut off funds for the war, you will have to cut off funds for the troops.…
Four months into the new Congress, the House has yet to pass ethics reform legislation. In fact, House Democrats have not yet even settled on the ethics package they will propose. Ethics reform has been discussed and debated ad nauseam, and there's nothing new under the sun, Speaker Pelosi and…
The White House is waiting for the Iraq supplemental that the president has promised to veto. It was cleared for the White House four days ago. As CQ notes, Congressional leaders never intended to send it before tomorrow--although it's unclear why. Rest assured though, Congressional leaders are…
This goes back a little ways. You may recall that after the Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives last fall, there was discussion over who would become chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Representative Jane Harman was in line for it, but she had quarreled with Speaker…
Bush and Lula, REUTERS/Caetano BarreiraHugo Chavez is an outsized personality with a bit of Don King about him. His foolish policies, anti-Americanism and devotion to a walking cadaver earn him a tremendous amount of attention in the United States. Less noticed, however, is that his attempt to…
We may have figured out why the Democratic policy on Iraq is so incoherent. At least some Democrats seem to think that Iraq, Haiti, and Somalia are all the same. The linked page includes video of Senator McCain advocating the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Somalia in 1993 and from Haiti…
Rest assured, when the war in Iraq is no longer the most important issue facing the Republic, the Weekly Standard will return to American Idol updates. That said, since Democrats insist on repeatedly quoting General Petraeus to justify their effort to pull the rug out from under the war effort, we…
Right now the entire focus of public debate on Iraq seems to be on when the troops should leave. The Bush administration argues for troops to remain until the job is done, while Democrats want troops to withdraw anywhere between today and next summer. But before pulling out of Iraq, we ought to…
With the news that Nancy Pelosi can't find time to listen to the Petraeus briefing on Iraq, you can see why Congressional Democrats might worry about the political instincts of their leadership: As the House and Senate prepare to vote this week on the final conference report on the $124 billion…
Since the midterm elections, Republicans have embraced the role of the loyal opposition in Congress -- doing their best to shift the debate in the House and Senate more to the center. On the war on terror, federal spending and congressional reform, there have been important victories. But at the…
It attracted little attention the other day when Harry Reid said: like it or not, George W. Bush is still the commander in chief - and this is his war. In 1994, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey infamously stated on the House floor 'your president is just not that important for us.' Liberals…
For some months, Democrats have been trying to force an end to the war in Iraq without being blamed by the public for cutting off funds for the troops. Given the resolve of President Bush to continue the mission however, it's clear that eventually the Democrats will have to choose. They must either…
Wow. This is a stunner. After months of trying to micro-manage the war in Iraq, Democrats are trying to 'micro-fund' it: A two-month spending bill to cover the costs of the Iraq war is "very likely" after President Bush vetoes the current Iraq spending bill, House Defense Appropriations Chairman…
The New York Times reports that there's a lot more talk about democracy in China nowadays: Communist Party journals and the state-run news media have published a stream of commentaries by retired officials and academics on "political system reform" and the need for "socialist democracy," including…
The Vermont State Senate today voted to recommend the commencement of impeachment proceedings against the president and vice president...yes, both of them: Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions in Iraq and…
I know he meant well, but Al Gore might be making global warming worse: Dr Bala and his colleagues took such effects into account using a computer model called the Integrated Climate and Carbon Model. Unlike most climate-change models, which calculate how the Earth should absorb and radiate heat in…
The Huffington Post has published another "blog post" from Rep. John Murtha, indicating (again) his support for re-instating the draft: Our military has done a tremendous job with what has been asked of them. They have juggled and balanced with what they have, but what they have is not enough. The…
So the saga that is the Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental continues today, with word that Congressional Democrats--having decided the big issues--are ready to begin a conference on the legislation. Roll Call ($) reports that Democratic leaders are breaking the bad news to House liberals--the conference…
As predicted here yesterday, Congressional Democrats have given up on proposed language that would have required all troops to withdraw from Iraq by September 2008. Instead, they hope to send to the president a funding bill that 'suggests' that all troops be withdrawn by March 31 of next year:…
Roll Call reports ($) this morning that General David Petraeus will return from Iraq next week to Washington to meet with members of Congress and discuss the state of affairs in Iraq. The visit coincides with Congressional consideration of the Iraq/Afghanistan funding bill. That bill will be in a…
Several news outlets report on the House-Senate conference which must resolve differences between their respective Iraq/Afghanistan supplementals. The primary question is whether the conference report will use the Senate language, which calls for a suggested timetable for withdrawal, or the House…
With tax day here, you'll be glad to know that Congress is changing the way it approaches important tax questions. If you're a lobbyist, you no longer have to buy tickets to two separate fundraisers if you want to support Ways and Means Chairman Rangel and Finance Chairman Baucus. Now you can buy…
Harry Reid may have been reacting to Cheney's declaration of victory in the battle over supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when he stated today that the president will not get a clean funding bill for Iraq: President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid head to a…
Lost amidst the debate over Iraq and the end of the Democrats' first 100 days in control of the Congress is this piece of disturbing news. Senator Max Baucus - Chairman of the Finance Committee and one of the leading proponents of expanded trade among Congressional Democrats - announced the other…
The House Republicans have released a report on the First 100 Days of the Democratic Congress, concluding that Democrats have accomplished little legislatively. Partisan Democrats will argue that this is not a surprise, given that they have narrow majorities and a president in opposition. They'll…
BerezovskyKlebnikovBookFullSize.jpgBoris Berezovsky says he's planning the overthrow of Vladimir Putin: "We need to use force to change this regime," Berezovsky, who has received asylum in Britain, told the Guardian newspaper. "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There…
As I've noted before, the base of the Democratic party is pushing its leaders further and further left on Iraq. In the weeks after the midterm election, it was clear that Democrats wanted to avoid the political damage associated with taking part-'ownership' of Iraq. As long as they gave the…
If you use YouTube, be sure to bookmark the MNF Iraq Channel.
The old adage warns that if you like sausage, you better not watch it made. The good news is that no one likes the Iraq supplemental that Congressional Democrats are working on. The House and Senate have to reconcile their bills--particularly on the question of whether the president will veto a…
Royal Dutch Shell is patenting a technique to convert shale to petroleum at a cost of only about $30/barrel. If it works, the world's single largest source of oil would be... the United States: Over the past few years, more and more apocalyptic stories have been popping up about a supposed…
I had the opportunity this afternoon to sit in on a session at the Heritage Foundation with Dr. Ali Aldabbagh, the spokesman for the Iraqi government. Dr. Ali is in the United States to address both institutions and government officials. His message is that Iraq is making progress on reducing…
While the Senate returns from its Easter recess this week, members of the House won't be back until next Monday or Tuesday (unless this leads to a surprise). In the past, I've noted that because of the narrow Democratic majority, some freshman Democrats are being forced to take 'tough votes.' This…
You have to love reading the New York Times for novel coverage of the war in Iraq. In this case, the piece by the ever downbeat Alissa J. Rubin notes that there are signs the surge is working: Nearly two months into the new security push in Baghdad, there has been some success in reducing the…
As John McCain prepares to re-launch his campaign, I thought I'd offer some suggestions. First off, it's smart for him to focus on winning the war in Iraq. As the Post points out, polls show that 70 percent of Republicans support winning the war in Iraq. To promise that you will fight for victory…
The Associated Press reports that Dick Cheney is misleading the American people regarding the existence of al Qaeda in Iraq prior to the war: Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein's Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing…