Category: The Senate

The Good Old Days.

After a flurry of Internet criticism, GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott is forced to apologize for his paean to segregation at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party, a paean which echoed his prior support for such racialist organizations as the Council of Conservative Citizens. So, were Lott’s remarks really a “poor choice of words” or a brief glimpse of something more sinister in the Majority Leader’s character? You be the judge.

Kerry steps out.

Democratic hopeful John Kerry bashes Dubya’s tax plan, and makes the case for payroll tax cuts instead. Nice move…payroll tax reduction isn’t only smart policy, it puts the GOP in an unhappy position – explaining why they’re suddenly against tax cuts that help average Americans at the expense of corporations.

Was it Tuttle or Buttle?

Well, that’s that, then. Despite some historic raging against the bureaucratic behemoth by Sen. Robert Byrd, the Senate passes the Homeland Security Act 90-9. Nice to see Feingold voted against it, at any rate. Well, here’s hoping my extra history degree will find me a place in Information Adjustments (and well away from the careerists in Information Retrieval.) Hmm…speaking of which, I wonder what history books out there might suggest “patterns indicative of terrorist activity.” Guess I better buy them earlier rather than later…and in cash.

Homeland (and Corporate) Security.

John McCain joins the Dems in fighting the Homeland Security Bill, mainly because it has swollen 450 pages since election day with ridiculous helpings of GOP pork. Looks like the only entities with security in Dubya’s universe are pharmaceutical companies and the anti-terrorism industry. Update: Despite McCain’s vote, the Dems lose again. (Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Zell Miller voted with the GOP, as did Wellstone’s current replacement, Dean Barkley.)

The Rollback begins.

An appeal court today approved broadened wiretap powers for John Ashcroft’s Justice Department. (But don’t worry…they’ll only use it on the bad people.) In loosely related news, the Dems are discovering a filibuster won’t work in stopping much of the GOP’s desired legislation, including oil and gas drilling of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Looks like things’ll be getting worse before they get better.

Speaking of big oil, I was doing some reading between classes in what passes for a student center here at Columbia and ended up sitting next to the undergraduate pro-war-in-Iraq table. (To be honest, I’m always a bit startled by the conservatism of today’s undergraduate community, although I suppose it wasn’t much different in my day – I still remember the drunken revelries all over campus that accompanied the 1994 midterms.) At any rate, I noticed the organization’s name was Students United for Victory, which would make their acronym SUV. Ah well, I presume the irony was lost on these earnest young hawks.

Trial Balloons.

After the humbling defeat of Election Tuesday, Dem presidential hopefuls start taking tentative steps down a more combative course. First Daschle rightfully questioned the terrorism initiative in the wake of the recent Bin Laden tape, and now Gore is outwardly questioning the Supreme Court for its 2000 election decision. Speaking of which, anyone hoping beyond hope for a “new” Candidate Gore in 2004 should just take note of how loudly the gears are grinding here. The Gores have two books coming out – Joined at the Heart (as a friend of mine noted, a truly awful name that conjures up visions of Chang and Eng) and The Spirit of Family – aimed at resurrecting whatever national goodwill Al managed to muster by “The Kiss” at the Democratic Convention. As usual, Gore‘s making his points ham-fistedly.

Fresh faces.

Despite a last minute op-ed gambit by Harold Ford (I thought he was making an interesting case until he conflated national security with the Iraq vote), Nancy Pelosi wins the Democratic leadership handily. Hopefully, she’ll make the most of it. On the GOP side, Tom DeLay moved up the ranks to take Dick Armey’s spot. I’d say a higher national profile for the Exterminator is a good thing. The more people get a sense of how creepy DeLay is, the more palatable the Dems will seem in contrast.

Lame Ducks and Loose Cannons.

The lame duck Congress meets in Washington to pass Dubya’s homeland security act. But will Trent Lott and the freak-show Right tie Dubya down to a host of anti-abortion bills first? That’s just the type of contentious and constrictive legislation that’ll end GOP domination of DC in 2004.