A number of readers, as well as other bloggers, have taken issue with my post about the “purge” of U.S. attorneys by the Bush Administration. What most of the criticism seems to miss is that I am not dismissing as “no big deal” either those resignations that truly were forced or the Patriot Act provision that gives the AG the power to appoint replacements. The Carol Lam firing in the Southern District of California has a particularly bad odor to it. But…and this is a narrow disagreement….what I don’t see is a broad-based conspiracy. I see political hackery — in the Lam firing and in the placement of Tim Griffin in the Eastern District of Arkansas. The good news is, as I said, the checks and balances of divided government have returned. In other words, there’s no way the party in power on Capitol Hill will tolerate it. That’s not a partisan statement; it’s a salutary result of November’s mid-terms.
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Latest on Swampland
Why Romney Is Dodging the Press
Joe, the Romney campaign’s control-freakery makes for bad democracy, but I suspect it’s a smart strategy. Consider the way Mitt’s personal approval rating has bounced back over the past several weeks. As the GOP primaries wrapped up, Romney was roughly as unpopular as late-era George W. Bush. Now he’s about even with Barack Obama.
Since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, Romney’s favorable-unfavorable rating has jumped to 50%-41%, his best ever and in the same neighborhood as Obama’s 52%-46% standing.
What changed? Well, for one thing, other Republican rivals are no longer attacking Romney. That helps. But it’s not like he’s had a free ride: the Obama camp has picked up where Rick and Newt left off. An alternate explanation would be that Americans are simply seeing less of Romney, and that makes them like him better.
From our PartnersFor Obama, gay marriage stance born of a long evolutionHuffPost Politics
Crossroads, Super PACs and the Incumbent Advertising Gap
In a recent piece about the Obama-Romney ad wars, Michael Scherer made the smart point that this election is different from past ones in that the incumbent no longer gets a free hit on his rival during the period immediately following the primary. The reason: super PACs have the cash to cover that gap while the challenger collects enough general election funds to keep pace.
