Health Insurance Mandates
Sam Stein reports that "Democrats are bracing themselves for a new line of conservative attack against a provision in the health care legislation once considered so non-controversial that it was endorsed by several major Republican officials." What is it, you might ask, that these dastardly Republicans are opposing out of their racist hatred of Barack Obama? On Tuesday, Sen. Jon Kyl ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 23, 2009 09:09
Profound Changes in U.S. Foreign Policy?
Author David Rothkopf (who served as a deputy undersecretary of commerce under Bill Clinton) argues in the Sunday Washington Post that, while the commentariet is distracted by Hillary Clinton's celebrity, the new secretary of state is "overseeing what may be the most profound changes in U.S. foreign policy in two decades -- a transformation that may render the presidencies of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 24, 2009 08:59
Hilary Clinton’s Congo Outburst and the Media
Hillary Clinton's Congo blow-up is a story that just won't go away. Even those sympathetic to Obama and Clinton, like Jon Stewart, are having a field day with this. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Hillary in the Congo www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance Mrs. Clinton’s answer on Monday has quickly become the No. 1 sound bite ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 13, 2009 07:04
Hillary Clinton’s Congo Blow-Up
Hillary Clinton chewed out a Congolese student for asking what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a public policy issue: ABC's Kirit Radia: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost her cool Monday after a Congolese student, speaking through a translator, asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "You want me to tell you what ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 11, 2009 07:32
Sarah Palin’s Toenails
Huffington Post is catching some grief over a post by Anya Strzemien titled "Sarah Palin's Toenails: What's Painted On Them? (PHOTOS, POLL)." Apparently, the Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential nominee had some manner of decorative adornment on her nails which were in display in some orange strappy sandals: While some are taking HuffPo to task for journalistic silliness and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 9, 2009 14:30
Clinton: Obama Passed ‘3 a.m.’ Test
Hillary Clinton tells George Stephanopoulous that President Obama has passed her test: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said President Barack Obama has "absolutely" answered questions she posed during the Democratic campaign about his lack of experience and ability to handle an international crisis. In her first Sunday show interview since her presidential bid ended a year ago, I asked Clinton if Obama ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 7, 2009 08:28
Obama Correspondents’ Dinner Zingers
President Obama took his first turn at the annual event where presidents become stand-up comics and the pretense that politicians and the press are adversaries are dropped for a night. He was terrific, as presidents almost invariably are. WaPo's Richard Leiby rounds up some of the zingers: [N]o one in his administration was safe from his one-liners. Not Secretary of State Hillary Rodham ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 10, 2009 05:57
Tom Ridge Maryland Resident, Pennsylvanian?
Taegan Goddard passes on word that Tom Ridge, once Pennsylvania's governor and putatively contemplating running for Arlen Specter's seat representing that state in the Senate, is a resident of Maryland for the purposes of federal tax and lobbying filings. Do these sort of things matter in statewide elections? Is anyone otherwise disposed to vote for Ridge going to be dissuaded by ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 5, 2009 14:51
Hillary’s Debt
Hillary Clinton still owes a lot of money from her ill-fated run for president. She owes $2.3 million just to consultant Mark Penn. So, naturally, Clinton's pals are holding various fundraisers to pay down said debt. Ezra Klein asks an uncomfortable question: Between 2004 and 2006, tax documents show that Bill Clinton earned $51 million. Put differently, erasing his wife's campaign debt ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 17, 2009 09:36
Economist to Obama: ‘Lead, Dammit’
The editorial board at The Economist (which apparently considers itself a "newspaper" despite coming out weekly in magazine format) praises President Obama for having "already done some commendable things" in the foreign policy arena but charges that, domestically, "His performance has been weaker than those who endorsed his candidacy, including this newspaper, had hoped." They note that, after a euphoric ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 28, 2009 05:49
Rush Limbaugh: Not That Influential?
Jonathan Last offers a long retort to the notion that Rush Limbaugh is a significant influencer of American politics, much less the de facto leader of the Republican Party. He rejects, for example, the notion that having a large audience necessarily matters: Consider television. From 1998 to 2005, Everybody Loves Raymond was among the top 15 rated shows on TV. For ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 6, 2009 06:51
Byrd: Czars Executive Power Grab
Old Man Byrd is at it again: West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving Democratic senator, on Wednesday criticized President Barack Obama’s appointment of White House “czars” to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch. Byrd complained in a letter to the president that his decision to create White House offices on ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 26, 2009 08:38
The Mommy Slur
Hilary Bok is rather bent out of shape at a Washington Whispers poll which asks "If you had a choice of four daycare centers run separately by Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi, which would you choose for your kids?" She suggests some alternative poll questions: If you needed some yard work done, would you hire Mel Martinez, Henry ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 22, 2009 09:16
What’s Hillary Clinton’s Role?
In "Hillary Clinton's Job Description," I consider the steady stream of data pointing to an obvious conclusion: there's not much left for new Secretary of State to do. Clinton is a shrewd insider in the games of Washington and one presumes that she considered the possibility that her erstwhile opponent for the presidency was shunting her to State to prevent ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 11, 2009 09:17
Ginsburg’s Replacement
It seems mighty churlish to be speculating about replacements for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg only a day after her surgery for pancreatic cancer but such is punditry. Jeffrey Toobin gets us started with some interesting considerations: A woman? It seems certain. It’s inconceivable that the Court could be all-male when the legal profession as a whole is nearing gender parity. A ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 7, 2009 06:15
