This just in… WASHINGTON – A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post. DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas … Read More
Beginning Of The End For Frist
The story has legs: WASHINGTON – When Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist asked a trustee to sell all his stock in his family’s hospital corporation, a large-scale sell-off by HCA Inc. insiders was under way. Shares of the Nashville, Tenn.-based hospital company were near a 52-week peak in June when Frist and HCA insiders were selling off their shares — … Read More
Trouble For Frist?
The lead paragraph says it all: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family’s hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent. Read more about insider trading here.
Dems Develop Backbone?
House-Senate Katrina probe dies as Dems refuse to participate in GOP-controlled probe.
Katrina Aid Package
Congress passed a $51 billion Katrina aid package today. Eleven (!!) voted against it. Take a guess: Were they (a) members of the "culture of life" Republican party, or (b) Democrats?
Whitewash Begins
This was predictable: Yesterday, congressional Republicans tried to get a head start, announcing the formation of an [Katrina] investigative commission that they can control. They rejected Democratic appeals to model the panel after the Sept. 11 commission, which was made up of non-lawmakers and was equally balanced between Republicans and Democrats. That commission won wide praise for assessing how the … Read More
Not Angry
In response to a comment on that his blog is "full of hatred and anger", Corrente not only denied the charge, but set out to compile a list of things he was not angry about, as well as things he doesn’t hate. It’s not only long, but a work-in-progress, so check out Corrente’s site for the latest revisions and updates: … Read More
Church and State
The Los Angeles Times (subscription requied) reports that evangelical programs on Capitol Hill attempt "to mold a new generation of leaders who will answer not to voters, but to God": "Nearly every Monday for six months, as many as a dozen congressional aides — many of them aspiring politicians — have gathered over takeout dinners to mine the Bible for … Read More
Mmmmm . . . Pork!
Great WaPo editorial called "Big Government Conservatives": THREE TIMES in the past quarter-century, conservative leaders have promised to restrain wasteful government spending. President Ronald Reagan tried it and showed he was at least half-serious by vetoing the pork-laden 1987 transportation bill. House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried it and risked his party’s electoral standing by battling to restrain the growth in … Read More
My, Oh My, Ohio
The special election for Ohio’s Second District House seat was a real nail-biter. A highly conservative area, it should have been a shoe-in for Republican nominee Jean Schmidt. But her Democratic opponent was a Bush-bashing Iraqi War veteran named Paul Hackett. He lost . . . barely, and there are lessons to learned. From The Left Coaster: Major Paul Hackett … Read More
Egregious Is As Egregious Does
"I thought Durbin was totally out of line. I watched some of his comments on the floor of the United States Senate. For him to make those comparisons was one of the more egregious things I’d ever heard uttered on the floor of the United States Senate." — Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with radio host Steve Gill. … Read More
Lame Duck Bush
There’s no other way to view it—even conservative Republicans are backing away from Bush: The [Republican-controlled] House handed President Bush the first defeat in his effort to preserve the broad powers of the USA Patriot Act, voting yesterday to curtail the FBI’s ability to seize library and bookstore records for terrorism investigations. Bush has threatened to veto any measure that … Read More
Another Bad Bill
Senate Bill 1113 hopes to do the following: “NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR DRUGS PRESCRIBED FOR THE TREATMENT OF SEXUAL OR ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION”. You can read the full text of the bill by going here, and doing a search. The bill, sponsored by Senators Santorum, Lott, Ensign and Grassley (no surprise), was obviously written in response to the recent discoveries that … Read More
Thoughts On The Nuclear Option
I have no particular warm spot in my heart for the filibuster. I don’t particularly loathe it either. I just view it as one of many silly and arcane congressional rules that has been around for decades, like the entire committee process which can effectively kill bills from even being considered. If I could make the rules for Congress, I … Read More
The Nuclear Compromise Revisited
You know what I posted here about the Nuclear Compromise? Turns out my tea-leaf reading was wrong. Kos explains why: So Frist says: Reacting to a Democratic offer in the fight over filibusters, Republican leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he isn’t interested in any deal that fails to ensure Senate confirmation for all of President Bush’s judicial nominees. Reid just … Read More