Last night, on Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show, the man-who-was-Kirk brought a poetic interpretation to the Alaskan Governor’s farewell speech.
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For the O’Brien set up, click here. To read Palin’s full remarks, click here. To see the Palin poem in its proper …
Astute observers will note that there’s a new face over there to the left of this post. We are thrilled to announce that TIME’s supremely talented photographer Brooks Kraft has just joined the Swampland gang. Among other things, Brooks will be sharing videos that he shoots as he covers the White House, giving all of us an inside look* …
The news tends to go small in the dog days of summer. At the White House today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded a half dozen questions (of various formulations) about the kind of beer President Obama would drink when he meets with Skip Gates and the embattled Cambridge Police Officer. (No clear answer. POTUS, who is not much of a …
So, Sarah Palin, as planned, is no longer a public official. She went out with a few fireworks yesterday:
And first, some straight talk for some, just some in the media because another right protected for all of us is freedom of the press, and you all have such important jobs reporting facts and informing the electorate, and exerting
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Washington, it is well known, was built on a swamp. In summer, it seems especially swampy. And it seems swampiest of all when it is locked in a major legislative struggle–and all of the above is going on right now. The amount of foolish, noxious complicated and misleading statements being tossed around right now (on all sides, by the …
Vice President Joe Biden was in Ukraine and Georgia last week to reassure the former U.S.S.R. counties that President Obama’s emphasis on rebuilding relations with Moscow doesn’t mean that U.S. has forgotten about their sovereignty. On the way home, Biden had some colorful comments for the Wall Street Journal:
“Russia has to make
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Another round of negotiations on the Hill. There are a lot of hurdles blocking reform — here are the 5 biggest — and this week all eyes will be on the House to see if Speaker Pelosi can produce a bill before adjourning Aug. 1. She has said she’d be willing to keep the House in an extra week to see it done but such a move would require …
It appears that the final act of the Henry Louis Gates Jr. imbroglio will take place at the White House, with the police officer, the professor and the President having a drink together. The President made a surprise appearance in the White House press room this afternoon to apologize for his remarks about the case–he said that they …
A webstory from me about the ongoing health care reform negotiations in both chambers on the Hill. The Senate late last night wrapped up its work on the defense authorization bill and broke for the weekend. Most of the working group of 6 have gone home. Staff will work through the weekend on cost bending issues and the principals are …
Not often do you see David Brooks and Paul Krugman in substantive agreement on anything, but they are today–on the need to contain health care costs and the gravity of the President’s effort to confront this problem head on. The immediate challenge is Medicare reform: the fee-for-service system, where doctors are paid by the …
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, today said he would not vote for President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. The decision is a surprising blow to Sotomayor as Hatch not only voted for the last 12 nominees to the bench — Republican or Democrat — but he also …
Silly me. I responded to the substance of last night’s press conference, which I thought was quite good, but heavily nuanced, since the President is in the midst of complex negotiations on health care. Most others responded to the style–actually, no, the style was pretty much the same old Obama–they responded to the “lack of” …
On Obama and the Iranian nuclear program.
The column was done before Hillary Clinton made her statement–later sort of retracted–about the U.S. protecting the Middle East with a nuclear umbrella, but it seems to me that containment and deterrence would be a perfectly acceptable policy, if the Iranians foolishly want to proceed with …