National - Monday, November 2, 2009 10:00 - 1 Comment

Staffer Error Gives Us Sneak Preview of Ethics Committee Investigations

The New York Times reports that two Democratic congresswomen, including the high-powered Rep. Maxine Waters (pictured) are under investigation for potential ethics violations. What they don’t mention until a little further down is that civilians are getting a peak behind the signs of the ethics committee deliberations thanks to a less-than-competent staffer:

A committee statement about the security breach said a junior staff member, working from home, improperly placed a document listing all the continuing inquiries into a file-sharing software system to which people outside the committee had access. The staff member, whose name was not released, has been fired, and committee officials said Thursday that they did not know who had gained improper access to the document.

So who else is on the list? There’s another nascent investigation going on focusing on 5 other Democrats and 2 Republicans. On the Democratic side, you might recognize the names John Murtha and Marcy Kaptur (both of whom are in positions of influence on the appropriations committee and relevant subcommittees).
Continue…

National - Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:00 - 3 Comments

Conservatives Battle Republicans Upstate

For fans of Republican self-destruction, it doesn’t get better than this year’s Congressional race in New York’s 23rd District. Dierdre Scozzafava, the Republican nominee, would normally be a shoo-in in the heavily red upstate district. However, conservatives upset with her comparatively moderate voting record (She supports raising taxes to pay for government services and balance the budget. Outrageous!) have rallied against her, running an insurgent campaign to elect Doug Hoffman, a local accountant, on the Conservative Party line.

The normally insignificant district in the Adirondack mountains has attracted the likes of Sarah Palin (she heard you can see Canada from up there) and Michelle Malkin, both of whom have endorsed Hoffman.
Continue…

National - Tuesday, October 27, 2009 9:00 - 9 Comments

In Defense of “Fishy” Politics

I’ve got to hand it to Pratik Mehta: compared to some of the outright lunacy that often comes from the Washington Square News op-ed page, yesterday’s column was The Federalist Papers. It picked a single issue–a thought-provoking one at that–raised some real, legitimate concerns, and included this crazy innovation in column-writing technology in which you insert real, correct facts right into your argument.

But if the theme for his column was “the tyranny of the minority,” then he certainly picked a funny example to run with in the lede: the recently passed hate crimes amendment.

This measure was an amendment to a national defense authorization bill for the 2010 fiscal year. Republicans have rightly pointed out that hate crimes have little in common with military spending and that the Democrats have thus forced their hand.

While I support the broadened definition of hate crimes and the penalties that come with it, I find this tactic deplorable. Both Republicans and Democrats utilize this fishy tactic of adding off-topic, or non-germane, amendments in order to enact measures that otherwise may not be passed.

Continue…

National - Monday, October 12, 2009 8:30 - 3 Comments

On Climate Change, Maybe We’re Not Completely Boned After All

I’ve never been particularly sanguine about American climate change legislation; even though we have a president who I think understands the gravity of the problem (he appointed a pretty badass Secretary of Energy, which is encouraging), I doubt his ability to get meaningful environmental policy through a Congress where a delusional global warming denialist like Senator James Inhofe can not only be considered a sane, responsible adult, but one of the top Republican expert on environmental issues.

But perhaps I’ve been overly grim about the odds of a bipartisan response. That would seem to be the message sent by a New York Times op-ed published on Saturday and written by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-WV SC). The gist of the piece is that they’re planning on taking the lead in a bipartisan push for sustainability and energy independence.
Continue…

National - Monday, October 5, 2009 9:25 - 3 Comments

Inside the Senator Ensign Sex/Corruption Scandal

Okay, so the above video isn’t directly related to this story. But given the fact that the public option got drowned last week in this sort of disingenuous claptrap, I just though I’d provide an ironic contrast between the utter smugness with which Senator John Ensign (R-NV) distorts death rate statistics and the deep, deep shit he’s in now.

Here’s the skinny: over the summer, it came out that Ensign had been having an affair the wife of a senior aide. But hey, no big deal, right? Those rich, successful, big-time politicians have affairs the same way us slovenly peasants have Happy Meals: in massive quantities, and usually without pausing to chew.

This time it’s different, though. In fact, it’s significantly worse.
Continue…

National - Thursday, October 1, 2009 9:00 - 2 Comments

Freshman Florida Congressman Rising to Prominence in the Health Care Debate

I think this guy is going to be someone to watch for Hill junkies in the future.

And yes, that’s the word “holocaust” he used. And this isn’t the first time he’s used caught attention for using harsh language on the house floor; it’s not even the first time this week. On the same day he invoked the holocaust, he also said the Republican health care plan was “die quickly.”

As TPM reports, his choice of words has caused something of a mini-scandal, with one Republican congressman writing, but not introducing (to give Grayson a chance to apologize, he says), a resolution condemning the choice of words.

Grayson has no intention of backing down, though. He’s been on CNN to say as much, and he’s even fundraising off of it.
Continue…

National - Monday, September 28, 2009 8:47 - 3 Comments

Senate Intelligence Committee Republicans Trying to Kneecap Torture Investigation

Three cheers for bipartisanship and its wonderful treasure trove of productive cooperation:

Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said Friday that they will no longer participate in an investigation into the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, arguing that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s decision to reexamine allegations of detainee abuse by the CIA would hobble any inquiry.

[...]

“Had Mr. Holder honored the pledge made by the President to look forward, not backwards, we would still be active participants in the Committee’s review,” the ranking Republican on the intelligence panel, Sen. Christopher S. Bond of Missouri [pictured], said in a statement. “What current or former CIA employee would be willing to gamble his freedom by answering the Committee’s questions? Indeed, forcing these terror fighters to make this choice is neither fair nor just.”
Continue…

National - Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:30 - 0 Comments

Congressional GOP Hit on ACORN Has Hilarious Unintended Consequences

You may remember the community organizing group ACORN from the 2008 election, when they were accused of voter fraud and got added to the long list of Obama’s “questionable associations” that McCain campaign spokespeople could mention cryptically, waggling their eyebrows all the while.

Well, they’re back in the news again. The above video was part of an attempt by conservative activists to unveil corruption within the organization. And they were successful, to the extent that they revealed that a few mid-level people were, indeed, corrupt; except for the one who called the police to report what he thought was an incident of human trafficking.

All the employees in the video were promptly canned, even that guy. And in a saner world, that would be the end of it. But alas, Republicans have a certain penchant for overreach, and Democrats have an ever greater penchant for abject passivity. So instead of moving on to more important things, we’re treated to the Congressional Comedy Hour.
Continue…

National - Thursday, September 17, 2009 9:27 - 6 Comments

NYC Congressman Working to Repeal Anti-Gay Marriage Law

The Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 federal law that allows states to not recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages and actually requires the federal government not to recognize them, is the new target of a group of House democrats. The three Democrats (if you live on the West Side one of them is your Congressman Jerrold Nadler) have introduced the Respect for Marriage act, which would repeal the DOMA.

If passed, the bill would require the federal government to recognize any marriage considered valid in whichever state it was entered into. Currently, same-sex marriages, even in the five states which currently provide for them, cannot be recognized by the federal government for immigration and social security benefits purposes. The Respect for Marriage act would require the federal government to recognize these marriages for any federal purposes.
Continue…

National - Tuesday, September 15, 2009 9:00 - 0 Comments

House Democrats to Spank Ill-Mannered Congressman

The above is Congressman Joe Wilson in his first floor speech since he yelled “You lie!” at the president during an address. Note that he’s very pointedly not apologizing on the House floor, as House Democrats wanted him to do. Also please note that he already apologized to Obama, who accepted.

So why are we still talking about this? Because politics is a stupid, stupid business, that’s why.
Continue…