McCain Outs Obama Iraq Trip! Trying to Get Him Killed!
The Outrage of the Day comes to us from Josh Marshall, a pretty even keeled fellow. John McCain said this to reporters. "I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon. Says ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 19, 2008 06:11
Congressional Approval at Record Low, Republicans More Likely than Democrats to Approve
President Bush isn't alone in being unpopular: Congress is down to 14 percent approval, the lowest in the history of the Gallup poll. While the approval numbers are the worst ever, there is a silver lining: "The 75% currently disapproving of Congress is just shy of the record-high 78% in March 1992" Lydia Saad calls these numbers "extraordinary." Approval ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 16, 2008 09:07
Presidential Succession Crisis?
Bruce Ackerman has read a novel and heard unsubstantiated rumors and from these concocted a Constitutional crisis which he's convinced the folks at Slate to publish. New Yorker writer Jane Mayer's new book, The Dark Side, opens with a shocker. Apparently sometime in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan issued a "secret executive order" that in the event of the death of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 15, 2008 18:04
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bailout Debacle
The widespread rumors of a government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have already had dramatic consequences, perhaps creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Iain Dey and Dominic Rushe, writing for The Times of London, note that, "The two companies lost almost half their market value last week as rumours of a government bail-out swept the stock markets, hammering share ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 13, 2008 07:53
Evolution of Social Media: From Blogger to Twitter
Looking for art to illustrate the previous post, I stumbled on this amusing bit at Dave Schappell's blog: There's some truth to that. . . .Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 10, 2008 12:56
Congressional Twitter Fight Hits NPR
Friend of OTB Aaron Brazell was on NPR very early today talking about the controversy over Congress and social media. The cause of the Twittering representatives has been taken up by bloggers like Aaron Brazell of Technosailor. "Frankly, we're in 2008, and we have a government for the people and by the people," says Brazell, who lives in Baltimore. "Right now, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 10, 2008 12:53
Congress Banning Social Media?
As if to prove Robert Heinlein correct, the House Administration Committee is, apparently with honorable intent, considering effectively banning the use of popular social media sites, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook by Members. Soren Dayton couches this in partisan terms: "In typical fashion, House Democrats are trying to pass rules that stifle debate and require regulation." In fact, though, it appears ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 9, 2008 08:54
Obama’s Spending Wish List
This just in: Politicians promise lots of things they won't be able to deliver if they get elected. Yesterday, we had the hilarity of John McCain's promise to balance the budget in four years without raising taxes or cutting anything but "wasteful" spending. Today, we've got an analysis from the Los Angeles Times showing that Barack Obama is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 8, 2008 12:03
War Powers Consultation Act
Former Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher take to the op-ed pages of the NYT to call for a new War Powers Act. A bipartisan group that we led, the National War Powers Commission, has unanimously concluded after a year of study that the law purporting to govern the decision to engage in war — the 1973 War Powers ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 8, 2008 07:21
FBI Building Not Secure
The FBI headquarters complex has a wee problem: “The Hoover Building does not meet the Interagency Security Committee’s criteria for a secure Federal facility capable of handling intelligence and other sensitive information,” the Senate Appropriations Committee observed in a new report on the 2009 Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations bill. “The Committee finds these conditions unacceptable and directs the Government Accountability Office ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 7, 2008 12:40
