I wrote earlier this week about Orrin Hatch’s Tea Party courtship. Yesterday, Hatch won a bit of conservative cred for his voting record, notching a perfect score — one of 12 — on the American Conservative Union’s index. ACU is also the host of the festivities at CPAC, but some of the event’s attendees may not have heard Hatch aced …
Michael Scanlon Sentenced as Abramoff Era Ends
The investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff led to 20 convictions, millions of dollars in restitution, a congressman’s downfall and four years in prison for Abramoff himself. Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s partner and co-conspirator, helped set it all in motion.
Scanlon, a former PR executive and one-time aide to Tom DeLay, was an …
As Egypt Sidelines CPAC, Potential 2012 GOP Candidates Don’t Respond
The press areas of CPAC are filled with idle cable news producers and correspondents. In normal times, they would be busy filing updates on the coming 2012 campaign. But the nation, and the cable news bookers, are distracted these days by Egypt, where people are cheering in the streets, fireworks are exploding, and the 30-year rule of an …
How to Deal With Fannie and Freddie
The Obama administration released its report on what to do about the government’s role in the housing market this morning. Politically, the proposal looks like a punt to House Republicans — it noncommittally gives three options for ending/replacing Fannie and Freddie with the feds playing a very different role in each one. …
Ok, Kids, Time to Stop the Sleepovers (You’re Getting to the Age Where It’s Creepy)
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington yesterday sent a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics demanding an investigation into members sleeping in their offices. By CREW’s estimation at least 32 members — and as much as a fifth of the freshman class — save on rent and sleep on cots, air mattresses …
At CPAC, Romney Makes The Case Against Obama
Mitt Romney isn’t quite ready to formalize his bid for the Republican nomination, even if his wife gave him the green light when she introduced Romney Friday morning at CPAC. But it’s clear that Romney is in. The theme of his speech was “Believe in America,” and the content was similarly squishy: thick with platitudes, light on policy …
Mubarak Out
VP Omar Suleiman just announced curtly on Egyptian TV that Mubarak has stepped down and transferred power to the supreme council of the armed forces.
The contrast with Mubarak’s statement of last night is telling: Mubarak went on and on, made as if he was only transferring some power, and again defended his record–the crowds on the …
Before His Arrival, Ron Paul Is Everywhere At CPAC
Just five years ago, the Conservative Political Action Conference still had a Doris Day feel, like a time warp to 1978, when everyone was still filled with nostalgia for 1961. Pat Boone was the musical act, and he played before a screen that showed flapping flags, rhyming the word “God” with the word “God.” It was an old stale …
Don Berwick on Defense
If Don Berwick’s first appearance before a hostile congressional committee is any indication, there is no way the Medicare/Medicaid chief will ever earn the support of enough Republicans to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Berwick, installed via recess appointment last July, gave testimony and took questions from members of the …
Morning Must Reads: Mirage
Donald Trump speaks at the 38th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on February 10. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
–President Obama leans on the Egyptian government and asks for clarity in a long statement Thursday night after Mubarak’s defiant and opaque speech.
–“Believe in America” sounds like a …
At CPAC, It’s Evening In America
The heirs to Ronald Reagan’s conservative legacy gathered Thursday in a hotel ballroom to exchange variations on the dominant theme in today’s Republican politics: It is evening in America.
“The Germans are buying the New York Stock Exchange,” announced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “The U.S. is becoming the laughing …
What Now? U.S. to Provide New Aid to Egypt’s Opposition
As Hosni Mubarak clings to power in Egypt, President Barack Obama and his foreign policy aides face two problems. First, with diminishing influence over Mubarak, they have to try to ensure the dictator fully relinquishes control. Obama took a stab at this problem Thursday evening after Mubarak’s oblique and seemingly insufficient …
TSA Administrator Willing to Pull a Reagan
John Pistole, head of TSA since July, was verbally probed and prodded this morning at a hearing held by the Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Transportation. Among the divisive topics was Pistole’s decision to allow collective bargaining among the TSA’s officers (appropriately called TSOs). Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks expressed …