National Politics
Among the articles on my list to mention is this profile of House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R, CA) from the December 20 National Review. To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to investigate the progress of the following promise (and it’s not something that I’d expect the mainstream media to promote), but it’s…
RealClearPolitics reports that he has chosen a political director (what the heck is that??) and a pollster. The Boston Globe reports that, on Tuesday, he resigned from the Board of Directors of the Marriott. Meanwhile, as we speak, Mitt Romney is on an educational tour in the Middle East. And a poll taken last week…
Speaking of propaganda, here’s an interesting political whack from the gay-issues Washington Blade: “No doubt [David Cicilline] will carry on the record of retiring Rep. Patrick Kennedy in ensuring Rhode Island’s first district is represented by an effective congressman in promoting equality for all people,” Cole said. Cicilline defeated John Loughlin, a Rhode Island State…
What’s the point of a debt ceiling if Congress is going to spend in such a way as to make changing it obligatory? And shouldn’t it require a vote to change the debt ceiling before enacting policies that will certainly exceed it? The federal debt is limited to $14.3 trillion, but the debt now stands…
The question could be posed, it would seem, whether Ross Douthat is more broadly representative in his apparent desire to return to the two-party script (emphasis added): But in the past month of lame-duck activity, we’ve witnessed a return to political normalcy. The Republican midterm sweep delivered the coup de grace to the liberal fantasy…
It is the day after the 237th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. How appropriate. Over most of our lifetimes, the terms of the political debate were centered around who would give more goodies to the American people. Human nature being what it is, most people gladly took whatever the government gave them. Few thought…
For those interested, HERE is a working list of all of the earmarks contained in the lame duck FY2011 budget. I assume it will be continually updated as required (hence, the “working”). I’ve also broken out the RI earmarks from messr’s Reed, Whitehouse, Langevin and Kennedy and you can download it HERE. All told, according…
Despite a day that was keeping me on the jump Friday, I got to listen to Fred Thompson at the moment when, in his low key way, he was suggesting a more conciliatory way (in contrast with the approach taken by President Obama) that the president could have presented the unemployment-bennies-for-tax-rate-extension compromise legislation. Such an…
President Obama, triangulating his way to 2012, has proposed to freeze federal employee pay for 2 years. Given that said employees have received raises throughout the current recession, it’s probably about time. But let’s not forget those step increases! As regular AR readers know, year to year, each unionized employee moves up a job “step”…
Ian Donnis makes an interesting observation: Cicilline and other Democrats have been out front in decrying the US Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which unleased a new wave of 527 spending. But US News recently found that five of the seven biggest super PACs this year supported Democrats. The storyline one often…