G eorge W. Bush convinced many swing voters that he was “a uniter, not a divider.” He pledged to work with Republicans and Democrats to change the tone of partisan rancor in Washington. But Washington is not Austin, and the sense of a stolen election has strengthened Democratic unity in a closely divided Congress. Any […]
Joshua Green
Joshua Green is an editor at The Washington Monthly and a former staff writer at The American Prospect.
Posted inFeatures
Party Politics
It may seem odd that the only public celebration of George W. Bush’s 54th birthday took place in July at Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. But then feting the birthday boy wasn’t what the hosts had in mind. The room was overflowing with, well, not exactly admirers, but certainly folks who had […]
Posted inEducation in America
Loan Sharks:
President Bush’s education effort so far has been high on photo ops and low on substance. He claimed he was increasing education funding by more than 11 percent. That’s not quite right. Adjusted for some fuzzy math — Bush credited himself with increases passed under Clinton — the number is more like 5.9 percent. But […]
Posted inArticle
Hot Air:
So there you are, a pollutant-spewing refinery, nimbly dodging Environmental Protection Agency regulators as you deliver record earnings to shareholders. Along with your comrades, you’ve donated $25.5 million to Republicans in the 2000 election cycle. Things are going smoothly. Your man Bush is in the White House, he’s drummed up an “energy crisis” that he […]
Posted inFeatures
Tom Delay’s Empty suit
“House Democrats yesterday filed suit against Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) accusing him of extortion and money laundering. The civil suit alleges the whip pressured contributors into donating to the GOP and then directed those funds to nonprofit political groups that do not disclose their donors or how they are spending the money.” The Washington […]
Posted inArticle
Lott to Learn
If you believe Trent Lott, Tom Daschle will have his hands full when he becomes majority leader of the Senate later today. Over the weekend, the deposed Republican majority leader bitterly threatened to “wage war” against Democrats, insisting their 50-49 majority does not actually constitute a majority and promising to grind Senate operations to a […]
Posted inArticle
Amnesty for the GOP:
Earlier this week, the Bush administration’s immigration taskforce leaked word that it was considering a proposal to grant amnesty to the estimated 3 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States. The amnesty plan is one of many proposals under consideration by the taskforce. But just leaking the fact that it was being considered guaranteed […]
Posted inArticle
Pardon Me?
George W. Bush’s spokesman Ari Fleischer said last week that the president-elect has no plans to pardon Bill Clinton if — as expected — independent counsel Robert Ray indicts him when he leaves office next month. Most Republicans strongly favor Bush’s position and are eager to see the legal system finally deliver Clinton his comeuppance. […]
Posted inArticle
Numbers Racket:
One frequently cited reason for the Democrats’ uninspired response to George W. Bush’s $1.6 trillion tax cut plan is that they’re no longer privy to the White House’s staff of number crunchers. There once was a time, under President Clinton, when these tax wizards worked on behalf of Democrats. They’d run the numbers for the […]
Posted inArticle
Centrist Envy:
This morning, the centrist Democratic Leadership Council officially launched the election post-mortem with a lively panel discussion between leading New Democrats and liberals at the National Press Club. At hand was the question of why Al Gore lost the election — an issue certain to dominate Democratic discussion between now and 2004. Based on this […]