I have a TIME.com story out today on what’s happening with the potential government shutdown and how 2011 is different from the last time this happened in 1995.
Thune Won’t Run for President
South Dakota Senator John Thune said Tuesday in a statement he will not seek the Republican nomination for President in 2012. Thune’s name had been floated as the sole sitting senator who might make a run. After beating Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2003, Thune has quickly climbed the Senate ranks. He currently serves as chairman …
How Can You Start a Campaign Without a Candidate?
That is essentially the dilemma of the political operatives and supporters waiting for Ambassador Jon Huntsman’s gig in China to wrap up at the end of April. Their answer: Vague aphorisms, abstract questions and not-so-subtle use of the letter of H. Meet Horizon PAC and its new website:
A political action committee created by
…
Morning Must Reads: Alarm
A woman holds up a Libyan flag during a protest outside the United Nations building in New York on February 21. (REUTERS/Andrew Burton)
–Secretary of State Clinton is watching Libya “with alarm”:
We join the international community in strongly condemning the violence in Libya. Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives
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Presidents’ Day Reads: Bargaining
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka speaks to protesters in Madison’s Capital Rotunda on February 18. (Mark Hirsch/Getty Images)
–More than 200 are dead after soldiers reportedly fired on protesters in Libya over the weekend. Gaddafi’s son addressed the nation and promised reforms, but warned further unrest would lead to “rivers of …
In the ArenaUncategorized
More Hemlock
In a response to my earlier post about the fundamental problem with public employees unions, Alex Altman writes:
Yes, it’s way too hard to fire bad teachers. But we smear good ones with the same brush. In his State of the Union last month, President Obama noted that teachers are known as “nation-builders” in Korea. “Here in America,
…
Re: Wisconsin: The Hemlock Revolution
John Boehner argues the proper frame for the Madison protests is not the uprising in Egypt but last year’s skirmishes in Greece: “When the American people watched the people of Greece take to the streets to protest cuts to unsustainable government programs, they worried it might foreshadow events in our nation’s distant future – but …
1,000 Words: Toast
Budget Amendments, Part III
Two notable amendments to the House CR that we’ve not mentioned:
Yesterday, Republicans passed an amendment to block implementation of the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules, which would prohibit Internet providers from favoring certain content over wired networks. The vote was 240-181, and came largely along party lines. For months, …
Bingaman Bows Out
Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman is expected to announce his retirement today, deepening the difficulty the party faces in its efforts to hold the chamber in 2012. Bingaman, who is in his fifth term, joins colleagues Virginia’s Jim Webb and North Dakota’s Kent Conrad in declining to run for re-election. (Sen. Joe Lieberman of …
What Alaska’s Refusal to Implement Health Reform Really Means
Yesterday, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell gave a speech in which he refused to implement the Affordable Care Act. Citing a recent Florida court ruling that the law is unconstitutional, Parnell said, “We will not proceed down an unlawful course to implement it.” Here’s Parnell:
In its daily health care e-mail newsletter, Politico …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Wisconsin: The Hemlock Revolution
Revolutions everywhere–in the middle east, in the middle west. But there is a difference: in the middle east, the protesters are marching for democracy; in the middle west, they’re protesting against it. I mean, Isn’t it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting “Freedom, …
President Obama’s Bahrain Burden Grows
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCaODMobmZ4&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
On Tuesday, President Obama took a victory lap on his handling of the crises in Egypt. “Without revisiting all the events over the last three weeks, I think history will end up recording that at every juncture in the situation in Egypt that we were on the right …