National Politics
UPDATE: The video below is now complete; I’ve also managed to take some of the echo out of the audio, so it might be a little easier to understand what people are saying. Given that Andrew and I attended a separate press session before Congressman Jim Langevin’s town hall meeting in Warwick, tonight, and that…
The Prez is off: Seven months after taking the oath of office, President Obama on Sunday began his first vacation, traveling to this tony hideaway for Hollywood stars, the wealthy and the occasional politician….Past presidents have been queasy about what they called their time away from the White House, fearing the image of a checked-out…
Sing it, brother: That’s why the “stimulus” flopped. It didn’t just fail to stimulate, it actively deterred stimulation, because it was the first explicit signal to America and the world that the Democrats’ political priorities overrode everything else. If you’re a business owner, why take on extra employees when cap’n’trade is promising increased regulatory costs…
UPDATE: The collection of video clips (below) from this event is complete. Thursday night’s community dinner with Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse did indeed have its drama. It also had moments of should-have-been-revelation that we’ll be exploring in the days to come. In the meantime, I’m collecting the raw video in the extended entry…
When the Pawtucket Times’ Jim Baron lobbed Congressman Langevin the “death panel” volley ball to smack down during the pre-town hall presser, it occurred to me that if (and I repeat: if) some monstrosity of a socializing healthcare bill becomes law, at least some of the blame with fall to Sarah Palin. When she initially…
Opinions have, predictably, been split about the verbal ping-pong match of Fox News’s Major Garrett and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. On the left, that pushy reporter from the conservative propaganda network was forcing baseless accusations into the public discourse. On the right, he was speaking truth to power. Well, well, well: The White House said…
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s office has sent a response to my inquiry as to the senator’s knowledge of the complexities of the healthcare bill: Thank you for your interest in the important work of reforming our health care system. As a temporary member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee over the last several months,…
Bill Sammon recalls a day, back in 2002: When Bush visited Portland, Ore., for a fundraiser, protesters stalked his motorcade, assailed his limousine and stoned a car containing his advisers. Chanting “Bush is a terrorist!”, the demonstrators bullied passers-by, including gay softball players and a wheelchair-bound grandfather with multiple sclerosis. One protester even brandished a…
If anything, Mark Steyn’s latest lays on the wordplay a bit too thick, but apart from his usual humor, this one’s worth reading if only to sow the last four sentences of this block quote into the conservative repartee: “The right-wing extremist Republican base is back!” warns the Democratic National Committee. These right-wing extremists have…
John Loughlin, the presumed Republican candidate for Patrick Kennedy’s seat in Congress, has issued a press release stating that “the Congressman has a basic obligation to share his in-depth knowledge” about healthcare legislation at three to five town-hall-style meetings. As a matter of an elected representative’s responsibility, Loughlin is absolutely correct, but constituents might have…