July 2010
Jul 01, 2010
On the Radar: July 1, 2010
Kagan approval seems sure after hearings
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan finished two long days of Senate questioning on Wednesday, appearing headed to confirmation as the fourth female justice in history. Continue reading
Confirmed: Hearings Aren't Pleasing Anybody
By Naftali Bendavid and Jess Bravin, The Wall Street Journal
With Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court seemingly in the bag, frustrated senators from both parties turned their fire on the hearing process itself. Continue reading...
Political rhetoric gets a hearing
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing gave both parties a chance to broadcast their views, with the GOP radical, cohesive and fierce; the Democrats, scattered, diverse and only occasionally fierce. Continue Reading...
Boehner defends criticism of financial overhaul as excessive
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) fired back at the White House Wednesday, arguing that "they're the ones who are out of touch" with the American people while defending his critique of the financial regulatory reform bill as excessive regulation. Continue Reading...
Despite Arrests, Working to Rebuild Russia Ties
By Peter Baker, The New York Times
They doffed their jackets and bonded over burgers, talking about everything from trade and geopolitics to their families. Everything, that is, except the spies that the government of one had hidden in a house just a few miles away and that the government of the other was about to arrest. Continue Reading...
Conservatives use Pelosi as face of liberalism in campaign ads
By Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post
Beware! Nancy Pelosi is a colossal tax-dollar-engorged monster who ravages small towns and must be brought down by Republican ray guns. Or at least that is what a cartoon version of the House speaker looked like in "Attack of the 50-Foot Pelosi," a television ad that a conservative group called Right Change aired in Pennsylvania last month. Continue Reading...
Sen. Robert Byrd's vanished ethic
By David S. Broder, The Washington Post
The paradox of Robert C. Byrd's life -- and the reason his death was recognized by his Senate colleagues as so significant a milestone -- is the balance he struck between the parochial and the profound. Continue Reading..
Jul 02, 2010
On the Radar: July 2, 2010
Democrats shaping battle plan against Republicans for November
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
Architects of President Obama's 2008 victory are braced for potentially sizable Democratic losses in November's midterm elections. But they say voters' unease about a GOP takeover will help their party maintain congressional majorities. Continue reading
Military Is Split on Kagan
By Naftali Bendavid, The Wall Street Journal
Republican and Democratic senators on Thursday presented witnesses from the military arena to bolster widely divergent portraits of Elena Kagan's handling of military recruiting while she was dean of Harvard Law School. Continue reading...
Political rhetoric gets a hearing
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing gave both parties a chance to broadcast their views, with the GOP radical, cohesive and fierce; the Democrats, scattered, diverse and only occasionally fierce. Continue reading...
Obama Urges Fix to ‘Broken’ Immigration System
By Peter Baker, The New York Times
President Obama pressed Congress on Thursday to adopt a sweeping plan to fix a “fundamentally broken” immigration system, taking on a volatile issue that has inflamed passions in a weak economy heading into the fall midterm campaign. Continue reading...
The “mini-stimulus”- A prophet in his own house
By Greg Ip, The Economist
BARACK OBAMA’S plea to stimulate economic growth now and cut deficits later got a mixed response from world leaders at the G20 summit in Toronto last weekend. And the reception back home was a lot worse. Continue reading...
Conservatives use Pelosi as face of liberalism in campaign ads
By Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post
Beware! Nancy Pelosi is a colossal tax-dollar-engorged monster who ravages small towns and must be brought down by Republican ray guns. Or at least that is what a cartoon version of the House speaker looked like in "Attack of the 50-Foot Pelosi," a television ad that a conservative group called Right Change aired in Pennsylvania last month. Continue reading...
Sen. Robert Byrd's vanished ethic
By David S. Broder, The Washington Post
The paradox of Robert C. Byrd's life -- and the reason his death was recognized by his Senate colleagues as so significant a milestone -- is the balance he struck between the parochial and the profound. Continue reading..
Jul 06, 2010
On the Radar: July 6, 2010
Michael Steele's Skirmish
By John Dickerson, SLATE Magazine
In politics, the Friday before a long weekend is known as a "trash day." Politicians deliberately wait to put out bad news on a trash day because, the theory goes, so few people are paying attention. Today Michael Steele, the Republican Party chairman, is testing that hypothesis. Continue reading
Petraeus advisor predicts changes in Afghan strategy
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
David Kilcullen says the new commander is more likely to push President Hamid Karzai for reform. Continue reading...
General Petraeus Takes Command
By Martha Raddatz, ABC News
Gen. Petraeus delivered his first address from Afghanistan Sunday. Watch video
The partisan rancor beneath Boehner's rhetoric
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
"I've made it pretty clear," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said, "that if we are a majority and I'm lucky enough to be speaker, I'm going to run the House differently than it's being run today and differently than it was run under Republicans in the past." Continue reading...
GOP tries to nationalize elections; Dems resisting
By Charles Babington, Associated Press
Democrats and Republicans are framing the elections in starkly different terms, with GOP strategists painting it as a national referendum on President Barack Obama and the party in power, and Democrats working feverishly to make all politics local. Continue reading...
Jul 07, 2010
On the Radar: July 7, 2010
What Did the Obama-Netanyahu Meeting Achieve?
By John Dickerson, CBS News
President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came together in Washington on Tuesday, to mend what has been described as a rocky relationship in recent months. Continue reading
Many Republican leaders bypassing RNC chief Steele ahead of midterms
By Dan Balz and Chris Cilizza, The Washington Post
Michael S. Steele appears likely to weather his gaffe about the war in Afghanistan, perhaps his most significant lapse as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Continue reading...
Obama and Netanyahu promise to pursue Mideast peace talks
By Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times
Putting the rocky start to their relationship behind them, they emphasize their nations' ties in a meeting at the White House. Continue reading
As Dems lay low, GOP hits Obama on Arizona lawsuit
By Charles Babington, Associated Press
Republicans denounced the Obama administration's challenge of Arizona's new immigration law Tuesday, a fresh sign they may try to paint Democrats this fall as soft on illegal border crossings. Continue reading...
Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Challenging Arizona Immigration Law
By Pierre Thomas, ABC News
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit today challenging Arizona's new immigration law, which takes effect July 29. Department of Justice files a lawsuit, challenging new immigration law. The suit challenges the law on the grounds that immigration is under the purview of the federal government and that Arizona has overstepped its bounds. Continue reading...
Jul 08, 2010
On the Radar: July 8, 2010
"You Just Don't Get It"
By John Dickerson, SLATE Magazine
Do you get it? It is the question of the 2010 campaign so far, and the answer is always the same: no. "Republican leaders in Washington just don't get it," President Obama said this weekend after the GOP senators voted to block an extension of unemployment benefits. Continue reading
The boomer defection
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
Voters over 50 are leaning increasingly Republican, according to recent polling. That's a big problem for Democrats. Continue reading...
Obama to name Berwick Medicare, Medicaid chief
By Susan Milligan, Boston Globe
President Obama will bypass a testy Senate and appoint Harvard professor and health care policy maven Donald Berwick today to run the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, the White House confirmed last night. Continue reading
Al-Qaeda operative is charged in N.Y. subway plot
By Spencer Hsu, The Washington Post
A Saudi American al-Qaeda operative based in Pakistan personally directed a failed plot to bomb New York City's subway last September, federal authorities charged Wednesday, asserting that the same al-Qaeda unit helped plan an attack that was thwarted last year in Britain. Continue reading...
Jul 09, 2010
On the Radar: July 9, 2010
Democrats battle independents' weakening support of Obama and Congress
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
Of all the problems Democrats face this fall, none may be more challenging than trying to win back the support of independent voters. Continue reading...
Prisoner Swap in Vienna Ends U.S.-Russia Espionage Case
By Nicholas Kulish, Peter Baker and Ellen Barry, The New York Times
In a seeming flashback to the cold war, Russian and American officials traded prisoners in the bright sunlight on the tarmac of Vienna’s international airport on Friday, bringing to a quick end an episode that had threatened to disrupt relations between the countries. Continue reading
Gates: New media restrictions not meant to curtail coverage
By Nancy A. Youssef and Maggie Bridgeman, McClatchy Newspapers
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Thursday that a new policy requiring military commanders to get advance clearance from the Pentagon before talking to reporters, is aimed at stopping leaks, not preventing soldiers from talking to the news media. Continue reading
"You Just Don't Get It"
By John Dickerson, SLATE Magazine
Do you get it? It is the question of the 2010 campaign so far, and the answer is always the same: no. "Republican leaders in Washington just don't get it," President Obama said this weekend after the GOP senators voted to block an extension of unemployment benefits. Continue reading
The boomer defection
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
Voters over 50 are leaning increasingly Republican, according to recent polling. That's a big problem for Democrats. Continue reading...
Obama to name Berwick Medicare, Medicaid chief
By Susan Milligan, Boston Globe
President Obama will bypass a testy Senate and appoint Harvard professor and health care policy maven Donald Berwick today to run the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, the White House confirmed last night. Continue reading
Jul 12, 2010
On the Radar: July 12, 2010
Obama’s debt commission warns of fiscal ‘cancer’
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
The co-chairmen of President Obama's debt and deficit commission offered an ominous assessment of the nation's fiscal future here Sunday, calling current budgetary trends a cancer "that will destroy the country from within" unless checked by tough action in Washington. Continue reading...
Swap Idea Emerged Early in Case of Russia Agents
By Peter Baker, Charlie Savage and Benjamin Weiser, The New York Times
On a Friday afternoon in mid-June, President Obama sat down with advisers in the Oval Office and learned that the F.B.I. planned to round up the largest ring of Russian sleeper agents since the cold war. After discussion about what the agents had done, the conversation turned to the fallout: what to do after the arrests? Continue reading
Historic oil spill fails to produce gains for U.S. environmentalists
By David A. Fahrenthold and Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post
For environmentalists, the BP oil spill may be disproving the maxim that great tragedies produce great change. Continue reading
Congress returns from recess to even more of the same
By Shailagh Murray, The Washington Post
Congress will return this week from the July 4th recess to a pile of unfinished business. Continue reading
A post-November congressional outlook: partisan gridlock
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
Republicans may well retake the House in November, but that doesn't mean the partisan atmosphere in Washington will end. Continue reading...
Building a more positive Tea Party?
By David Broder, The Washington Post
The Tea Party phenomenon is one of the significant puzzles of this year's politics -- exciting to some people and alarming to others. By placing it in the historical context of other populist movements, Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute has helped define it -- and the important choice that Republicans now face Continue reading
Jul 13, 2010
On the Radar: July 13, 2010
Confidence in Obama reaches new low, Washington Post-ABC News poll finds
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
Public confidence in President Obama has hit a new low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Four months before midterm elections that will define the second half of his term, nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy. Continue reading...
Byrd’s Successor: Appointment This Week?
By Naftali Bendavid, The Wall Street Journal
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin hopes to appoint a new senator from his state by week’s end, a move eagerly awaited by Senate Democrats. Continue reading...
Could Republicans Take the House?
By John Dickerson, Slate Magazine
When Robert Gibbs said on Meet the Press that Democrats could lose the House of Representatives, Republicans jumped on the remarks. "The fact that the Obama White House is acknowledging that there is even a possibility that Democrats could lose their majority in the House should be read as a tacit admission that their economic policies have failed in the eyes of the voters," said Ken Spain, the Republican Congressional Committee's communications director. Continue reading...
Obama's task for midterm election: recapture 2008 magic
By Christi Parsons, Tribune Company
In a bid to minimize defeat, Democrats are strategically deploying the president to reenergize voters even as his job approval rating has dwindled. Continue reading...
As Congress Returns, Series of Tests Awaits
By John Harwood, Tribune Company
Lawmakers took vacation, but economic and political currents swirling around them did not. In some ways, both parties return to Washington this week on the defensive. Continue reading...
Jul 14, 2010
On the Radar: July 14, 2010
Sen. Brown Flexes Muscle in Wall Street Reform
By Eamon Javers, CNBC
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is a rookie in the United States Senate, and rookies aren't supposed to be power players, but the freshman was able to flex plenty of muscle in the Wall Street reform legislation. Continue reading...
News Hub: Finance Overhaul Gains Key Support
By David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal
Two Senate Republicans said they planned to support the financial overhaul bill, likely giving the White House the 60 votes it needs to push the sweeping rewrite into law soon. David Wessel discusses. Watch video
Obama Says Budget Nominee Is Fit for ‘Hall of Fame’
By Peter Baker, The New York Times
When Jacob J. Lew packed up his office on his last day as White House budget director in January 2001, he left behind a tidy sum of $236 billion in surplus funds for his successor. Nine years later, he is returning to a White House some $1.3 trillion in the hole. Continue reading...
Scientist Heads Home, Iran Says
By David E. Sanger, William Yong, The New York Times
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin hopes to appoint a new senator from his state by week’s end, a move eagerly awaited by Senate Democrats. Continue reading...
Confidence in Obama reaches new low, Washington Post-ABC News poll finds
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
Public confidence in President Obama has hit a new low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Four months before midterm elections that will define the second half of his term, nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy. Continue reading...
Could Republicans Take the House?
By John Dickerson, Slate Magazine
When Robert Gibbs said on Meet the Press that Democrats could lose the House of Representatives, Republicans jumped on the remarks. "The fact that the Obama White House is acknowledging that there is even a possibility that Democrats could lose their majority in the House should be read as a tacit admission that their economic policies have failed in the eyes of the voters," said Ken Spain, the Republican Congressional Committee's communications director. Continue reading...
Gay-marriage lawsuits escalate
By Joan Biskupic, USA Today
Lawsuits over gay marriage have escalated on the nation's two coasts, energizing advocates on both sides and bringing the legal battle over same-sex marriage closer to the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading...
Jul 15, 2010
On the Radar: July 15, 2010
Why President Obama loses by winning
By John Harris, POLITICO
The imminent passage of financial reform, just a couple months after the passage of comprehensive health care, should decisively end the narrative that President Obama represents a Jimmy Carter-style case of naïve hope crushed by the inability to master Washington. Continue reading...
Great Recession's psychological fallout
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
From lower birthrates to decreased civic participation and volunteerism, economic downturns have many non-economic effects. Continue reading...
Rousing the Spirits of Business to Create More Jobs
By David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal
Optimistic forecasters say the U.S. economy is likely to grow at a bit better than a 3.5% annual pace over the next 12 months, but even they say that will leave unemployment at a still-high 9% or so a year from now. The moderately pessimistic, whose ranks are growing daily, foresee growth a full percentage point or more slower. Continue reading...
Death of a Salesman
By John Dickerson, SLATE Magazine
A slew of new polls suggest Obama is not a great pitchman for his policies. Continue reading...
In key contests, Democrats championing gun rights
By Susan Milligan, Boston Globe
Democratic candidates in key states are embracing gun owners’ rights, winning favor from the National Rifle Association, a lobby that has long been the target of disdain from the party faithful. Continue reading...
Jul 19, 2010
On the Radar: July 19, 2010
A hidden world, growing beyond control
By Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, The Washington Post
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. Continue reading...
Obama's era of Big Things is over
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times
After getting healthcare reform and new financial regulations passed, the president needs to focus on more modest goals. Continue reading...
GOP, Dems woo wary voters in bid to control House
By Charles Babington, Associated Press
If Republicans are to harness enough voter anger to take control of the House this fall, they'll have to oust freshmen lawmakers such as Tom Perriello of Virginia, who won his seat two years ago by just 727 votes. Continue reading...
The Twitter Primary
By John Dickerson, SLATE Magazine
The next Republican presidential campaign will happen in lots of new places. There will be all the familiar locations we love so much—Iowa, New Hampshire, diners, and Lincoln Day dinners—but this week offered another reminder, as if we needed one, that the race for the 2012 nomination will play out in the virtual world and at hyperspeed. Continue reading...
Mystery for White House: Where Did the Jobs Go?
By John Harwood, The New York Times
Welcome as it is, progress toward finally capping the gulf oil leak hasn’t resolved the biggest conundrum facing President Obama before the midterm elections. Continue reading...
GOP Sees Path to Control of Senate
By Naftali Bendavid, The Wall Street Journal
Democrats for the first time are acknowledging that Republicans could retake the Senate this November if everything falls into place for the GOP, less than two years after Democrats held a daunting 60-seat majority. Continue reading...
Democrats engage in 'circular firing squad'
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post
In a week when Congress finally passed financial regulatory reform and the oil finally stopped gushing in the gulf, Democrats spent much of their time on an enterprise they can ill afford: arguing among themselves. Continue reading...
Either Reagan or George W. Bush could shape the fall election
By David S. Broder, The Washington Post
When Congress stays in session during the dog days of a Washington summer, rebellion is always bubbling just beneath the surface. And sure enough, it erupted at a caucus of House Democrats one night last week, triggered by an injudicious comment ...Continue reading...
Jul 20, 2010
On the Radar: July 20, 2010
National Security, Inc.
By Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, The Washington Post
What started as a temporary fix in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks has turned into a dependency that calls into question whether the federal workforce includes too many people obligated to shareholders rather than the public interest -- and whether the government is still in control of its most sensitive activities. Continue reading...
Cyberwarrior Shortage Threatens U.S. Security
By Tom Gjelten, National Public Radion
There may be no country on the planet more vulnerable to a massive cyberattack than the United States, where financial, transportation, telecommunications and even military operations are now deeply dependent on data networking. Continue reading...
Senate Set to Extend Jobless Benefits
By Naftali Bendavid and Greg Hitt, The Wall Street Journal
The Senate, after weeks of contentious debate, is poised to extend unemployment benefits Tuesday for more than 2.5 million Americans. Continue reading...
Obama takes another shot at GOP over blocking unemployment benefits
By Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post
With the Senate poised to finally pass an extension of unemployment benefits, President Obama went to the Rose Garden to take another shot at the Republicans who have repeatedly blocked the measure, causing a lapse in payments for 2.5 million of the nation's jobless. Continue reading...
In Parts Of La., Recreational Fishing Reopens
By Elizabeth Shogren, National Public Radio
Across the bayous of coastal Louisiana, people are again casting and reeling in redfish, specked trout and flounder. The state reopened recreational fishing in most coastal waters after tests showed that seafood from areas of the gulf not heavily contaminated by oil is safe to eat. Continue reading...
The Twitter Primary
By John Dickerson, SLATE Magazine
The next Republican presidential campaign will happen in lots of new places. There will be all the familiar locations we love so much—Iowa, New Hampshire, diners, and Lincoln Day dinners—but this week offered another reminder, as if we needed one, that the race for the 2012 nomination will play out in the virtual world and at hyperspeed. Continue reading...
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