The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are either playing a very delicate game of good cop/bad cop with President Obama’s nominee to the nation’s highest court, Sonia Sotomayor, or they’re fracturing as a conference and a large number of Rs could end up voting for her.
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The CIA: What Was It Up To?
It is the biggest mystery in Washington at the moment. Here’s what our colleague Bobby Ghosh says his sources are telling him:
Sotomayor’s Opening Statement
Blessedly free of sports analogies:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also want to thank Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for that kind introduction.
In recent weeks, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting eighty-nine gracious Senators, including all the members of this Committee. I thank you for the time you have spent with me. …
Oh NO! He’s CRASHING!
Bill Kristol has, for the past twenty years, played neoconservative wise man with gradually diminishing effect. His major claim to fame was coming up with the recalcitrant strategy–vote no!–that turned Republicans like Bob Dole away from reforming health care in 1994. This was considered brilliant at the time. Ever since, he has been …
Free Maziar Bahari
Newsweek editor Jon Meacham has issued a plea for the release of Newsweek journalist and documentarian Maziar Bahari. I’ve met Maziar several times, I attended rallies and press conferences with him in the runup to the June 12 election, and the idea that he is any sort of spy is blatant nonsense. The Iranian authorities should know that …
Judging Sonia
Opening statements have begun in the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Today is bound to be bland: 19 opening statements from committee members followed by the highlight, Sotomayor’s opening remarks. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the crucial days with senators taking turns questioning President Obama’s …
Barack Obama’s Speech To Africa
UPDATE: After visiting Cape Coast Castle, a former departure point for slaves, Obama is now (5:15 p.m. Ghana time; 1:15 p.m. EST) set to lift off in a helicopter for the airport, and a final departure ceremony in Africa before flying home. My story on Obama’s speech to the Ghanaian parliament, meanwhile, has just been posted at TIME.com. …
The Scene in Ghana
So far, the massive crowds that the Secret Service feared woudl clog up the Barack Obama’s motorcade routes have not materialized, which is not to say that the nation of Ghana is not thrilled by the presidential visit. Hundreds at a time have gathered along the roads, before clogged neighborhoods and open fields where kids play shoeless …
The Surreal Week That Was
Jay Newton-Small may not be posting any more about Sarah Palin, but Paul Slansky is. As we like to do on Friday afternoons, we invite our Swampland commenters to tell us what struck them most this week–extra credit if you can do it as an index item.
Paying for Health Care: Did Obama Have the Answer?
Whenever I talk to anyone at the White House about the difficulties they are having on Capitol Hill figuring out a way to pay for health reform, they remind me that the President Obama still has an idea on the table–one that has never been taken very seriously at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Papal Meaning For POTUS
President Obama is now a veteran of the gilded palace routine–the Kremlin, Buckingham, Quirinale, he’s been to them all. This afternoon he will visit another of the most elaborately-decorated buildings in the world, the Vatican, and according to his aides, he is particularly excited, but not for the architecture. “He recognizes that …
Re: The Crowds In Ghana
Ah, the memories! I was with Clinton that day in Ghana as well. It was a day–and a trip–that I still regard as among the most amazing experiences I have ever had. We didn’t have this blog back then, but I was able to find one of my dispatches here.
I envy you this one, Michael. Have a great time.
A Final Palin Post
I’m back from the Last Frontier with this week’s dead tree cover story on Sarah Palin, written with the very excellent editor-at-large David Von Drehle. I don’t think this will be the last we hear from the soon-to-be-former governor. To me, one of the most interesting aspects of the story is how vehemently the Palin camp blames Barack Obama.