You remember Afghanistan. The Washington Post has the weird news today that Gen. David Rodriguez–our most knowledgeable officer about Afghan customs and politics in theater–will be coming home this fall when David Petraeus steps aside as commander of the international forces.
It had to happen. The gravitational tug was too intense. Like two massive stars colliding, Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, the hybrid king and queen of the political-entertainment, have come together and declared common cause. It began Tuesday, when Trump, on Good Morning America, declared his admiration for Palin. “I really respect her a lot,” [...]
Obama will bring his political balancing act to the Facebook campus today. The Journal reports talks between Robert Gibbs and the company have fallen apart. Stan Collender thinks the Congress needs to get an initial failed debt ceiling vote out of the way to give cover for inevitable passage. Democratic independent expenditure group House Majority [...]
What’s in a name? For Texas Democrats, it’s the hope that after 17 years of exile from statewide office, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez can lead them back to the promised land with a successful bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. A native Texan of Mexican-American descent who [...]
Republicans show a lot of swagger when the political conversation turns to the possibility of tax hikes–Mondale Democrats and all that. But to some degree, it’s a bluff, as a new McClatchy-Marist poll reminds us:
–Government Accountability Office officials, making a key point often lost in debate over raising the debt ceiling, in a report on the mechanics of the debt limit. (Via)
The Council on Foreign Relations’ Les Gelb warns that the failure of the U.S.-backed Libyan rebels to depose Muammar Gaddafi is providing comfort in certain nefarious foreign capitals:
Thompson deciphers Obama’s remarks on the Pentagon today in Northern Virginia: “Well-connected special interests get these programs stuck in the budget, even though the Pentagon says we don’t need these particular weapons systems.” Why the heck is our PAC giving these geezers on the defense appropriations subcommittees all this money if we can’t call in [...]
Count me among those skeptical that a new deficit summit/commission/gang will produce bipartisan consensus – and not just political theater. It’s no big secret what needs to be done to reduce the nation’s debt – raise taxes, cut spending or do both. While the details of what gets cut and who gets taxed are open [...]
President Obama delivered a campaign speech today in northern Virginia at a town hall gethering. Now, it wasn’t billed as a campaign speech. Officially, the White House says that despite a schedule of fundraisers that has the president jetting around the country–California and Nevada later this week–the 2012 campaign is far from his mind. “The [...]
