In order to extricate itself from the taint of curruption left by DeLay and Abramoff, the GOP voted Rep. John Boehner to be the majority leader in the House last week. Boehner’s legislative work has focused on helping small businesses, i.e., fighting minimum-wage increases, supporting small-business tax breaks and tax-free savings accounts to help cover insurance costs. Boehner’s primary residence … Read More
Awwwkward
President Bush was among the four presidents attending the funeral of Coretta Scott King (the others were Clinton, Carter, and Bush I), and he had to sit through this: "We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there [standing ovation]… but Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without … Read More
Rove Threatened To Blacklist Republicans
Well, the unitary executive is so unitary that nobody can accuse him of being partisan: Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November. "It’s … Read More
Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee
Dateline Missouri: Saying the nation’s symbol "deserves more respect than the protest message of some liberal hippie," a Missouri state lawmaker has introduced a bill legalizing the use of force to stop someone from desecrating the American flag. Republican Rep. Sam Gaskill, a former fighter pilot in Vietnam, defended his bill yesterday, insisting the measure would prevent the defilement of … Read More
Plame: Yes, She Was Covert
Well, the ridiculous defense that "Valarie Plame was not covert" has finally — finally — been handed a death blow: Newly released court papers could put holes in the defense of Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, in the Valerie Plame leak case. Lawyers for Libby, and White House allies, have repeatedly questioned whether Plame, the … Read More
You Know Your Party Is Corrupt When….
It can’t even hold an honest internal election. The Republicans in the House got together to vote by secret ballot for a Republican leader. The three main choices were Blunt, Boehner, and Shadegg. There were more ballots cast than members in the room.
Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) – Man Of Principle
When Capitol Police dragged Rep. Young’s wife out of the SOTU because she was wearing a "Support Our Troops" T-shirt, Rep. Young was outraged. Even though Mrs. Young was not handcuffed, fingerprint, and thrown in jail (like Cindy Sheehan), Rep. Young took to the floor of the House and denounced the actions of the police. But later on, to reporters: … Read More
Respect And Reason
This conservative blogger ought to visit his own website. He pens a screed against Cindy Sheehan, writing: This is a time when our country should be emanating strength and unity of purpose, where intellectual differences are debated with respect and reason. And to the right of these words? An advertisement of Jonah Goldberg’s book: "Liberal Fascism". Complete with a picture … Read More
Last Post About The SOTU, I Promise
The best thing about this clip (Quicktime) is that Bush thinks he is about to give a snappy retort to the Democratic outburst, and then he totally trips over his tongue.
Trick Question
MyDD commissioned a poll. One of the questions was this: Q14. Given events since the invasion, do you support the decision to maintain a U.S. combat force of over 100,000 troops in Iraq for the next few years? All Dem Rep … Read More
As Emily Litella Said: “Never Mind”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry: One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn’t mean it literally. What the hell?
Cindy’s Story
As you probably know, Cindy Sheehan was arrested lat night just before Bush’s State of the Union speech. She blogged the full account here, but this is how it begins: This afternoon at the People’s State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, … Read More
Bush State Of The Union
I caught most of it, and these are my few sporadic impressions. (1) When he was listing all the democracies now in the Middle East . . . was it just me, or was there a big huge elephant in the room? An elephant by the name of "Palestine"? C’mon. Everybody was thinking about it. (2) He wants a line-item … Read More
The Only Interesting Thing About The Alito Nomination
I haven’t been blogging about the Alito nomination, because any hope of victory went away in the 2004 Presidential election. We lost, so we’re getting Alito. End of story. But there’s a lot of buzz about this online blog post from yesterday: Mister Senator… This post will be read by thousands and thousands of people… It’s directed at ONE person. … Read More