A poll out today from Quinnipiac, as noted earlier, asked voters to rank 23 national figures from 0 to 100 degrees on a “feeling thermometer.”
Among the talking heads and former leaders were the GOP’s potential 2012 candidates. Their numbers seem to illustrate the party’s problem with the prospective field: For the most part, people …
When it comes to legislators, men are to be expected and ladies are to be exceptions. We may see a lot of Sarah Palin on TV, but the inordinate amount of coverage she gets really just goes to show how folks become atwitter when a woman, much less a Republican one, walks onto the national political scene. Her sudden emergence in 2008 …
Following yesterday’s introduction to the first amendments filed with the 2011 House budget, here is a roundup of some of the more colorful caveats tacked on in the second batch released by the House Rules Committee today. Certainly no one can say Congress is lacking in its variety of pet causes (or pet peeves).
–California …
While potential 2012 candidates were cracking the occasional crowd-pleaser on CPAC’s main stage — “The closest I’ve come to being on a reality TV show is C-SPAN’s coverage of the Senate floor,” Sen. John Thune said at a certain Mama Grizzly’s expense — professional comedians were trying out various means of conversion elsewhere around …
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 …
The audience has a long history of giving lively performances — whether it’s because they’re yelling, “You lie!” or throwing shoes or protesting so much that Hamlet determines his father was indeed murdered by that slime Claudius. But last night the audience (as seen from the House press gallery that sits above and behind the …
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka gave a speech at D.C.’s National Press Club this morning — his own take on the state of the union, serving in part as a precursor to Obama’s upcoming speech.
He was flanked by a cast of individuals to put a human face to his political points. A 9/11 first responder named Stan introduced him, a …
A few senators are continuing to brave the gun debate in wake of the Tucson shooting. But as they express support for various gun control measures, they also concede that the current political climate gives them little hope those measures will ever be implemented.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, suggested Sunday that the …
This written statement was just handed to reporters outside the Loughners’ house, that of Jared and his parents, in Tucson:
This is a very difficult time for us. We ask the media to respect our privacy. There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel better. We don’t
…
Much discussion is ensuing about political rhetoric, though there is no knowledge yet of why the shooting took place. I have removed a screen shot of one such an example, at commenter request. For a good discussion, you can follow this link to a Seattle PI, also linked to by a commenter.
Regardless of why the shooting took place, …
Some politicians issue pardons as they leave office, while others make last-minute appointments. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is instead leaving his constituents with a message: Dangerous wild animals pose a threat to Ohio’s citizens.
In an executive order issued yesterday, Strickland restricted the possession, sale and transfer of big …
In the latest issue of American Speech, the Fall 2010 edition, the editors finally get around to determining the winners for the 2009 Words of the Year. The most fun is undoubtedly “Dracula sneeze,” meaning the type where you achoo into the crux of your elbow to avoid spreading those nasty germs. But beyond adorable PSA terms, the list …
The field of researchers searching for a science behind political affiliation is expanding. Check out my story on some of the latest studies and the controversy over their work.
