U.S.
If We Arm the Terrorists, Who Detains Us?
It's not often that Washington Republicans will go out of their way to attack the world's largest oil supplier and Bush administration ally, Saudi Arabia. But that's precisely what three GOP House members did yesterday in an attempt to prevent a planned $123 million arms sale to the strategically placed monarchy.
Michigan Democrats Staying Quiet On Primary Options
As Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) made headlines Thursday for floating the possibility of a Democratic primary do-over, Michigan's Democrats are approaching the topic with similar gravity but lighter steps.
Both Michigan and Florida bumped their Democratic primaries forward this year, and both suffered the wrath of the Democratic National Committee, which stripped them of their nominating convention delegates. Nelson responded Thursday with a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, asking that either Florida's delegates be reinstated or the national party fund another primary election. If neither request is met, Nelson warned, the Democrats would run a greater risk of losing the state in November's presidential race.
And on the Sixth Day, the Intelligence Programs Plunged Into Uncertainty
For House Democrats, who left Washington last week without acting on legislation to expand White House spying powers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey has a few words of caution: The nation's intelligence programs, he wrote in a Feb. 22 letter (pdf here) to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), are now officially plunged into uncertainty due to your inaction.
Bush Budget Largely Irrelevant In Lame-duck Year
Bush kicked off the 2009 budget debate with a $3.1 trillion spending wish list that calls for significant hikes in military funding while scaling back on health care, environmental and low-income assistance programs.
Influential Lewis Drops Clinton for Obama
As if things weren't going bad enough for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, Georgia Rep. John Lewis (D) has dropped his support for the former first lady and instead endorsed rival Barack Obama, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
Pelosi Thumbs China's Eye With Praise for the Dalai Lama
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India,, today, praising the Tibetan spiritual leader for his courage and leadership in the face of Beijing's crackdown on recent anti-China protests in Tibet.
If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in Tibet we have lost all moral authority to speak on human rights anywhere in the world. The cause of Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world -- a challenge we can help meet...When we return home we will bring your message and try to meet the challenge to our conscience.
Reassurer In Chief
In the face of figures revealing the economy's swirling somewhere near the pit of the latrine, President Bush took the podium yesterday to reassure Americans that their "uncertainty" is certainly temporary.
Rick Santorum and the Art of Racial Profiling
Remember Rick Santorum?
The former Pennsylvania senator, It Takes a Family author and one-time poster-boy for the conservative Christian movement appeared on Fox News yesterday with a few suggestions about how the Western World should go about identifying the terrorists in our midst. And here's a hint: It's got nothing to do with warrantless wiretapping.
From the transcript:
The Looming Medicare Crunch
The New York Times' Robert Pear has been covering health care policy for years, and today he's got a nice succinct piece about the trouble facing Medicare and Medicaid. It's not a pretty picture. As Pear points out, the cost of the two programs last year was $627 billion, constituting 23 percent of all federal spending. In a decade that dollar figure will double, representing 30 percent of the budget.
'Appalling Gap'
Now here are four words you love to see in the same sentence: "appalling gap" and "homeland defense." Ann Scott Tyson of The Washington Post explains:
'Bipartisan' Think Tank Attacks Democrats
The neo-conservative non-profit has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State Department.
'It Boils Down to Trust'
One of the signature achievements of the surge, according to General David Petraeus and the White House, has been the creation of so-called "Concerned Local Citizens" groups—that is, bands of tribal fighters, mostly Sunni and including many former insurgents, who have agreed to take U.S. cash (and in some cases weaponry) if they pledge to fight al-Qaeda.
'New Definition of Lynching'
Pun of the day so far by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Virg.), regarding Rep. Stephen Lynch's (D-Mass.) questioning of Clemens. Davis said Lynch asked Clemons a bunch of unfair, complicated medical questions about an MRI report that strongly insinuates Clemens took steroids.
'Potted Plant' Under Fire
For the first two hours of the baseball steroid hearing, witness Charles Scheeler, a chief investigator in the Mitchell Report, didn't say a word.
'Tough Negotiators'
In November, the Bush administration announced that it would do something in Iraq it has resisted for four years: negotiate a long-term bilateral military commitment with the Iraqis. General Douglas Lute, the White House’s so-called "war czar," immediately told reporters that force levels and basing rights would be on the table. When I asked a spokesman for the Iraqi government about permanent U.S. bases in Iraq, he didn’t rule it out. And indeed, the U.S. Army has been preparing for this prospect for years. If it looks like U.S. troops will be in Iraq forever, that’s because the Bush administration, before it leaves office, is preparing to ensure U.S. troops will be in Iraq forever.
'Why Are We Bombing These People?'
From Tuesday's White House press conference with Dana Perino, long-time Washington reporter Helen Thomas, now a columnist with Hearst Newspapers, had a few pointed questions about the mission at hand in Iraq. From the official transcript:
(Sort of) In Defense of the Clemens Hearing
Congress is on vacation this week, providing an opportunity for members of the House oversight committee to catch up on the terrible press they got for the "Did Roger Clemens take steroids?" hearing last week.
Pundits across the nation have harumphed that committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) was on an ego trip and the committee has more pressing matters. Waxman, of course, helped facilitate the pile-on by telling the New York Times that the hearing took place only because Clemens' lawyers insisted upon it.
A Good Investment
If you'd run out in early February, when we told you about Topps presidential trading cards, and bought a pack, you'd be sitting pretty, no matter who wins Tuesday's primaries.
A House Divided
If Obama strikes back at Clinton's new negative tactics with his own, will the result be a damaged Democratic Party?
A New Day for Journalism Dawns
Talking Points Memo, one-time home of Laura and myself, brought down a corrupt attorney general. Today, the media establishment gives Josh Marshall, Paul Kiel and Justin Rood their due, in the form of the George Polk Award. Let no one ever say ever again that blogging and investigative reporting are polar opposites. Raise a glass of something sweet and brown to TPM.
