Swampland

I told Karen that our faithful commenters had asked after her; she’s tickled by your expressions of sympathy and good will and wants well-wishers to know that she’s recovering from surgery just fine and expects to be back on the job by the last week of June.

In truth, it’s not like she’s really AWAY from the job. She’s been sending …

A group of exceedingly prominent law professors (including Alan Dershowitz and Robert Bork) filed an amicus brief to Judge Reggie Walton yesterday, arguing that the Libby verdict could possibly be overturned on appeal because of the “close question” about the constitutionality of the special prosecutor.

I’ll leave it to the fine legal …

I enjoyed my time here in the Swampland this week; thanks again for the invitation. I wanted to leave you all with my thoughts on political trends over the next two years.

I would not expect any meaningful bills to come off of the Hill as the presidential primaries will overshadow any serious legislative efforts. Immigration reform …

What does it all mean?

Speaking to reporters, and referring to the debate over the war in Iraq, Gates said he had wanted to renominate Marine Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but then concluded doing so would create “a confirmation process that would not be in the best interest of the country.”

Because we …

From today’s front-page story on how Thompson is poaching fundraisers from McCain:

“I am very sorry to see what’s happened to John,” Dowd said in an interview. “I don’t think his campaign is being well run. It’s been over-managed. He blew through $8 1/2 million. It’s a difficult thing to leave a friend and go to another friend. But we

…

Nathan Thornburgh reports on what might have been:

Sure, there is a very real national-security threat in having a porous border. But a large — if unquantifiable — percentage of the people crossing that line illegally are not newcomers but rather people who have already established lives in the U.S. and would qualify for amnesty. If

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Here’s the thing I don’t understand about right-wing opposition to the now-collapsed immigration bill: Do they think they’re gonna get something better next time around? Sources close to “grand bargainers” say that the current feeling is that the failure of the bill will wind up creating momentum for a increased Democratic majority, …

Unlike the Presidential candidates, at least Swampland is talking about Social Security. Social Security is not a “poor, little, teeny-tiny” program. It takes almost 15 percent of our income and is a $12 trillion unfunded liability. Right now, we receive a paltry single digit rate of return on Social Security, and our children will …

Of course not: “Gilmore Will Join Candidates Bypassing Iowa Straw Poll”

Of course, Gilmore doesn’t either, so…

UPDATE: Oh, Sean, joking, dear, joking…

Two Editorials

[Michael Kinsley joins us with a thought that he'd rather not hold for print]

Newspaper editorials don’t get much attention these days, and most are written as if they don’t even want attention. But there were two screaming for attention yesterday.

An extraordinarily vindictive editorial in The New York Times not only …

More heated debate on the Hill, when Lindsey Graham got all clutch-pearls over an amendment offered by Obama:

It would undercut ”everybody over here who’s walked the plank and told our base, ‘You’re wrong,”’ Graham said. ”So when you’re out on the campaign trail, my friend, tell them about why we can’t come together. This is

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Innovation improves our lives. This season, I was able to watch my Dallas Stars, whose games are only on local television, from any computer that has an internet connection and hardly missed a game. Technology is one issue area that should be of particular interest to Swampland readers. It has been an issue I have followed my entire …