Christie Splits the Difference
Yesterday, New Jersey political observers were speculating as to which of two paths Governor Chris Christie would take with respect to the special election to replace the late Frank Lautenberg in the...
View ArticleChristie Coasts
Bridgewater, N.J. — I took a drive down I-287 to the Bridgewater Marriott, where the New Jersey GOP was celebrating primary night. It was a big, diverse group, especially considering their...
View ArticlePanopticon at Fort Meade
Late Wednesday night, the website of the British broadsheet The Guardian broke the news that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been monitoring the phone activity of millions of Verizon cell-phone...
View ArticleRohrabacher Reads Me the Pussy Riot Act
I appreciate Representative Rohrabacher’s defense of his colleague and friend against my “hysterical, over-the-top piece,” and share some of his esteem for King. I told representatives from King’s...
View ArticleAbraham Lincoln and the NSA (Just Go With It)
I have read Rich's magazine piece reclaiming Lincoln from his appropriators on the Left and his haters on the Right, and have started the book (which is excellent so far). It all has me thinking about...
View ArticleSnowden Is Not MLK
It is a testament both to the complexity of the political and legal questions surrounding the NSA’s PRISM program, and to the mixture of intellectual honesty and political opportunism characterizing...
View ArticleA Half-Measure in Syria
The White House has announced that the president has authorized the “expansion of#...#assistance to the Supreme Military Council (SMC),” one of several military arms of the Syrian rebellion. This after...
View ArticleA Baker’s Dozen for #AskSnowden
NSA leaker Edward Snowden recently participated in a web-based Q&A for the British Guardian using the Twitter hashtag “#AskSnowden.” Snowden provided some interesting new details but left a number...
View ArticleOut of Their Gawking Minds
I see the folks on the trendy side of the Internet once again consider me Gawkable (must be the three pounds I lost, thanks for noticing!). It’s not much of a post. This is it in its entirety,...
View ArticleLessons from the Farm Bill Collapse
The Farm Bill’s doom in the House was over-determined. First of all, the bill was a pork-filled stinker. NRO’s editors called it “a spree of Big Government corporatism predicated on an increasingly...
View ArticleEzrack Kleinbama
Today, I wrote about the president's desire to "go Bulworth," and compared one blogger's account (based on conversations with former Obama aides) of what Obama would say -- you know, if he weren't...
View ArticleFiring Lois Lerner
How do you solve a problem like Lois Lerner? Former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, under whose foggy watch the targeting of conservative groups occurred, was easy to fire — he had already quit. And...
View ArticleThere May Be More Weiner Pics Out There
So says the man himself in an interview with WNYC:“It is what it is,” Weiner said. “People may decide they want to come forward and say, here’s another email that I got or another photo. I’m certainly...
View ArticleBiden: Jews Doing Super Job With The Media
Pat's post is a bit of a spoiler. I was hoping to play my favorite game: Vice President Joe Biden or Onion Article?Here's the President of the United States Senate and statutory member of the National...
View ArticleTaking Lois Lerner to Mount Doom
I write today about the uphill battle to fire Lois Lerner, and the statistical rarity of firing any federal employee. There's a tidbit buried on the second page that could become much more significant...
View ArticleRand Paul Not Satisfied With President’s Answer on Drones
On ABC's This Week, Senator Rand Paul reacted to president Obama's first explicit statement of his view on the targeted killing of American citizens abroad, which seemed almost a direct response to...
View ArticleKing Defends Drones, Rejects Obama’s ‘Anguish’
Representative Peter King (R., N.Y.), as big of a GWoT hawk as there is in Congress, not only defended drones Sunday, he took exception with tone of President Obama's own defense of that program.Asked...
View ArticleClimate Nabobs: Probably No Link Between Climate Change and Tornado
In the midst of the usual doomsaying, a panel of climate experts said Sunday that, contrary to the rampant speculation, there is likely no link between climate change and the deadly tornado that struck...
View ArticleSchumer Won’t Talk Weiner
Senator Chuck Schumer refused to talk about Anthony Weiner's New York City mayoral bid Sunday, telling CBS's Bob Schieffer, "I'm not commenting on the mayor's race or Anthony Weiner's race."The...
View ArticleNot Whether Holder Lied, But When
The House judiciary committee is investigating whether Eric Holder lied under oath to Congress. Actually, they are investigating whether Holder lied to Congress or lied to a federal judge, since it...
View ArticleMcConnell As Jeremiah
Mitch McConnell is out with a new campaign video, and it is pretty darned effective. The upshot is basically: "I was on this IRS stuff a year ago, and the rest of you are just catching up."
View ArticleAl-Qaeda’s HR Issues
The Associated Press recently got its hands on a fascinating and at turns hilarious letter from Al Qaeda’s Shura (leadership) Council to one Mokhtar Belmokhtar (MBM), a disgruntled Assistant Regional...
View ArticleHarry Reid's Friend
Harvey Whittemore was long known as the most powerful lobbyist in Nevada. Nicknamed “the 64th legislator” in Carson City -- whose two legislative houses have a total of 63 elected representatives -- he...
View ArticleRe: Mark Pryor
Charlie, Senator Pryor says "No one from New York or Washington tells me what to do." So I took a quick look at his campaign finances. The upshot, in meme form:Or, if you prefer:
View ArticleHarry’s Man Harvey
Today I wrote down everything you need to know about Harvey Whittemore -- a lobbyist-turned-real-estate-developer-turned-convicted-campaign-finance-crook, and a close personal friend of Harry Reid and...
View ArticleShame on Steve King
Representative Steve King (R., Iowa) told reporters in Moscow that it was "hard to find sympathy for" members of Pussy Riot, the Russian punk group whose members were sentenced to two years in prison...
View ArticleThe Christie Pick
Rick and Bob, a little nugget to add. A source familiar with Christie's thinking tells me that both Tom Kean Jr. and his father, Tom Kean Sr., are in the mix, as are Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and state...
View ArticleChristie’s First Test
The death, at age 89, of Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg has put a wrinkle in the reelection plans of New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The cantankerous Republican enjoys high approval ratings...
View ArticleNext Against the Wall: White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler?
Buzzfeed has it from two White House sources that chief White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler played a key role in the president's (non)responses to both the Benghazi and the IRS scandals:BuzzFeed has...
View ArticleTerra Incognito
The National Football League has a self-explanatory designation for injured players: “physically unable to perform.” The PUP list lets the players who are on it stay under contract, attend meetings,...
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