All of a sudden, Tom DeLay is back on his heels after a slew of fresh allegations have even Republicans gossiping about his political viability. But it would be foolish to count DeLay out just yet (and not just because of his strangely effective transformation into a pious crusader for Medicaid-supported coma victims). The roller […]
Sam Rosenfeld
Sam Rosenfeld, a former web editor for the Prospect, is visiting assistant professor of government at Wesleyan University, beginning in September.
Posted inDispatches
Squeeze Time
All budgets have got to be based on priorities,” George W. Bush said on February 8, “and mine are clear.” He wasn’t lying. The president’s $2.57 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2006 calls for a 16-percent cut in all non–homeland domestic discretionary spending — which includes most education, housing, environmental-protection, and research programs — […]
Posted inArticle
No Comparison
“My God, we’re not going to be like them,” cried a member of the House Republican leadership, upset over the recently proposed gutting of the House ethics rules, as quoted in The Washington Post. He was referring to the arrogant Democratic congressional majority of the late 1980s and early ’90s. Remember “them”? Those complacent, blinkered […]
Posted inArticle
Hard Raines
The spring of 2003 was a season of crisis for The New York Times, as revelations of the fraud perpetrated by reporter Jayson Blair brought a dramatic end to the stormy tenure of Executive Editor Howell Raines. Former Newsweek media writer Seth Mnookin has produced a definitive account of the period in his new book […]
Posted inSpecial Report
A Few Good States
When it comes to election systems, the United States isn’t all Floridas and Ohios. There are, in fact, a number of states that tend to run their elections well, through trusted systems and voter-friendly procedures. They don’t grab the attention of journalists and reformers precisely because they rarely produce newsworthy controversies and snafus. Reform experts […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Then Came the Hammer
The Hammer: Tom DeLay, God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress By Lou Dubose and Jan Reid • Public Affairs • 306 pages • $26.00 On Capitol Hill: The Struggle to Reform Congress and Its Consequences, 1948–2000 By Julian E. Zelizer • Cambridge University Press • 376 […]
Posted inArticle
Better Luck Next Time?
After the pummeling they took on November 2, Democrats consoled themselves that history would be on their side in 2006 — midterm elections normally spell congressional gains for the party out of power in the White House. Sure, that axiom didn’t apply in 2002, nor in 1998 … but it’s a rule, damn it, and […]
Posted inArticle
House Calls
Democrats have a shot at taking the presidency and a decent chance of winning control of the Senate next week. So what about those heady predictions we heard this past spring and summer that Democratic representatives would ride a national tide to a House takeover? Don’t bet on it. Sure, some still insist that the […]
Posted inArticle
House of Games
The short autumn session of the 108th Congress that began the first week of September came to a close this past weekend as members started shuttling home to campaign for November’s elections. But what a month it’s been! Returning to the Capitol on September 7, shortly after the stirring festivities of the Republican National Convention, […]
Posted inArticle
Insult to Intelligence
Representative Porter Goss endured six and a half hours of questioning during the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearings for his nomination as the new director of central intelligence (DCI), leading up to today’s all but preordained confirmation by the full Senate. Democrats ducked a fight they feared would leave them open to GOP charges of […]
