Federalism and Democracy
Continuing a long-running theme at his blog, Matt Yglesias laments that Senators from small states wield so much power. The latest fuel is a NYT feature on six moderates who are supposedly the linchpins to putting together a bipartisan health care deal and who routinely hash out the details of same over snacks. [V]ast power is being wielded by people who, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 28, 2009 14:37
Baby Bites Al Franken
Waiting at DC's Reagan National Airport yesterday evening for a flight to Minneapolis, we caught a photo of this baby biting Al Franken's nose: Okay, so it was our baby. Franken was very gracious and accommodating. One of the joys of being a United States Senator, apparently, is that one can not read a magazine -- or for that matter, sit ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 25, 2009 12:32
CIA Lying to Congress?
The CIA has been lying to Congress about somethingoranother for years now, sources tell NYT. The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, has told the House Intelligence Committee in closed-door testimony that the C.I.A. concealed “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 until late last month, seven Democratic committee members said. In a June 26 letter to Mr. Panetta discussing ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 9, 2009 08:37
Tale of Two Cites
The Congressional Budget Office, the "nonpartisan" arbiter of the cost of various proposals and plans for the legislature, comes in handy sometimes. Other times, not so much. So House Democrats are discovering anew. Just five days ago Speaker Pelosi vented her frustration with the CBO for its sky high projection for health care reform: “The CBO will always give you the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 23, 2009 00:51
Boxer to General: It’s “Senator” Not “Ma’am”
Senator Barbara Boxer upbraids a polite general for addressing her as "Ma'am." "Do me a favor," she said. "Could say senator instead of Ma'am It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, thank you." It may be a pet peeve of hers but a rather unclassy exchange. Subordinates tend to address generals as "general" ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 18, 2009 11:02
Joe Sestak to Challenge Specter in Democratic Primary
Talking Points Memo is reporting that Rep. Joe Sestak from Pennsylvania will be challenging Arlen Specter in the Democratic Primary. Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) is privately telling supporters that he intends to run for Senate, TPMDC has confirmed. "He intends to get in the race," says Meg Infantino, the Congressman's sister, who works at Sestak for Congress. "In the not too distant ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 28, 2009 00:12
Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Race
[caption id="attachment_36645" align="alignright" width="399" caption="President Barack Obama announces federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor, right, as his nominee for the Supreme Court, Tuesday, May 26, 2009, in an East Room ceremony of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)"][/caption] Kevin Drum notes that he's already tired of the "kabuki" that has emerged in reaction to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 27, 2009 08:07
Titles for Former Officials
Josh Marshall has noted something peculiar in the recent media tour of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich: He seems to insist with members of the press that he still be referred to as "Speaker Gingrich." And actually his website is speakergingrich.com. Not former Speaker Gingrich, Speaker Gingrich. And it goes beyond him. On Meet the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 26, 2009 07:12
Quote of the Day – Torture Trials Edition
"Well, conservative, conshmervative - even Karl Rove would pay good money to see Pelosi handcuffed to Dick Cheney." - Kate McMillan responding to news that the then-Minority Whip and top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee was briefed on the use of "enhanced interogation techniques" in the fall of 2002 and "gave it her stamp of approval." And, no, the fact ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 8, 2009 08:28
Ridge Not Running
The good news keeps pouring in for Arlen Specter. A day after it looked as if his Senate career had blown up in his face, with the Democrats stripping Specter of his seniority and polls showing that Tom Ridge would crush him in a head-to-head matchup, he's been given the chairmanship of the most important Judiciary subcommittee and Ridge has ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 7, 2009 14:22
Arlen Specter Gets Crime and Drugs
Taegan Goddard passes along reports from NBC that, "In an apparent effort to to ease the tension over Arlen Specter's bumpy transition into the Senate Democratic caucus, Sen. Dick Durbin is willing to voluntarily relinquish his chairmanship on a Judiciary subcommittee to Specter" and that therefore "Specter will become the Chairman of the Crime and Drug Subcommittee." A pretty nice ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 7, 2009 10:53
Specter Stripped of Seniority
Arlen Specter, who has continued to embarrass the Democratic Party to which he's just switched, such as announcing his hope that Republican Norm Coleman somehow wins his appeal and is seated instead of Democrat Al Franken, is not keeping his three decades of seniority after all. The Senate last night stripped Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) of his seniority on committees, a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 6, 2009 06:10
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
Specter Disappoints Democrats Now
It appears Arlen Specter is being received by the partisans of his new party about as well as he was by those of his old one. On "Meet the Press" this morning, he denied reports that he told President Obama "i'll be a loyal Democrat." He's demonstrated that, in fact, he's not going to be a loyal Democrat by voting ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 3, 2009 20:50
Souter Retiring in June
A couple weeks back, I wrote a post called "Souter Retiring?" The speculation was apparently well founded, as several outlets are now reporting that Justice David Souter will in fact step down at the end of the current session in June. NPR's Nina Totenberg makes the interesting observation that, "At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 1, 2009 05:55
