The splashiest lobbying story this week was today’s Times profile of Tony Podesta, the power player (and Louise Bourgeois fan) whose clients include BP, Google, Harrah’s, Lockheed Martin, Wal-Mart, and the Fortress Investment Group. Reporter Eric Lichtblau was blessed with one of the best and most calmly deadpan headlines of the year: “Lobbyist Says It’s Read More
Trent Lott’s abrupt decision to resign from the Senate is baffling, but — unlike some of the other G.O.P. retirement announcements this year — it won’t offer Democrats a chance to bolster their majority.
His maneuver actually maximizes the odds, which are strong in the first place, of his party holding onto the seat. By Read More
Hillary “could decide to run over the Thanksgiving holidays,” says Hotline.
Anthony Weiner’s press aide is flacking for John Murtha, who is running for the No. 2 job in the house.
Rudyblogger notes that “Those who test the waters but never run (Warner, Feingold) never go through the step of setting Read More
Whenever Republican politicians have to address the subject of civil rights or racial equality, you’ll hear them talk about “the party of Lincoln.” They love that phrase, but the more they use it, the more they cause others to ask what, if anything, the G.O.P. has done in the 138 years since Lincoln was murdered Read More
For all the beauty and dignity of its surroundings, official Washington and its journalistic retinue exist in a psychological condition reminiscent of a suburban high school. There are the popular kids, there are the gossips seeking popularity, there are the nerds and, as in any caste system, there are the outcasts.
Even Trent Lott Read More
If there’s an uplifting aspect to Trent Lott’s nostalgic endorsement of Dixiecrat barbarism, it isn’t his strange apology, in which he pretended not to have said what he plainly did say. What gave cause for hope was the response of conservatives, whose fury obviously shook the Republican leader. After years of coddling the bigots in Read More
We are living in a time when scoundrels seek to bully the loyal opposition and demonize all dissent for their own advancement. That’s why certain Republican politicians and pundits have assaulted Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other Democrats in terms usually reserved for foreign and domestic enemies.
What has been even more troubling than Read More
The situation of John Walker, as the Taliban soldier who calls himself Abdul Hamid is known in his homeland, appears straightforward and quite simple.
He joined a foreign army–and perhaps an international-terrorist subset of that army–that initiated hostilities against the United States, including the murder of thousands of innocent civilians. He participated in armed violence Read More
If the Republicans are the stupid party, as conservative
commentators often remark, they are also undoubtedly the lucky party. Over the
past several years, their leaders in Congress have tried repeatedly to recruit
a certain very conservative Democrat from Modesto, Calif., into their ranks. As
recently as last December, the Bush transition team reportedly put Read More
Whenever Arizona Senator John McCain discusses the corruption
of Congress by corporate money, he correctly takes care to criticize both
parties. But as the Senate debates proposals for reform, it should be clear
that the Senator’s main antagonist is and always has been his fellow
Republican, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. He is Read More
