And is dubious Democrat Joe Lieberman finished as well? (At least in the party, that is.) A new Quinnipac poll shows him trailing challenger Ned Lamont 51-47 for the first time in the Connecticut primary, which takes place August 8. (Although, loath to make the same mistake as his former running mate, Lieberman has the one and only Bill Clinton — a man who knows how to survive an inappropriate kiss or two — coming to town on Monday to campaign for him.) Update: Clinton makes the case.
Tag: Congress
Jack’s Dates with Dubya.
Can Congress solve the Abramoff-Dubya riddle where Judicial Watch failed? Let’s hope so. The House Government Reform Committee subpoenas Casino Jack’s former law firm for information regarding his White House visits.
They Shall Overcome.
“‘I gave blood,’ Mr. Lewis said, his voice rising, as he stood alongside photographs of the clash. ‘Some of my colleagues gave their very lives.'” Publicly embarrassed by their recent lapse into old-school “massive resistance,” (and no doubt chagrined by their dismal poll numbers), the House GOP get their act together enough to pass the Voting Rights Act extension 390-33, after giving fringe right-wingers the chance to vote up or down on a few poison-pill amendments. (All failed, thanks to the Dems.) Still, several southern conservatives are not appeased: “One of the 33 holdouts was Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). ‘Some politicians in Washington wouldn’t dare vote against this bill because they’d be lambasted by the media and liberal interest groups.’“
The PartyPoker’s Over?
With the bill’s foremost opponent — “Casino Jack” Abramoff — now sidelined in disgrace, the House votes 317-93 to crack down on Internet gambling. “The biggest losers could be the estimated 23 million Americans who play poker over the Internet. ‘This bill would needlessly make outlaws of the millions of adult Americans who enjoy online poker, and is the latest example of how our representatives in Congress are ignoring real issues facing our country,’ warned the grass-roots Poker Players Alliance, in an alert to its more than 25,000 members.“
Uneven Stevens.
“I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.” Via my sis-in-law Lotta, GOP Senator Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens (R-AK) seems more than slightly confused about the functioning of the Internets, to use Dubya’s parlance.
…Lose Some.
“Every redistricting is a partisan political exercise, but this is going to put it at a level we have never seen…That’s the gift that the Supreme Court and Tom DeLay have given us.” In other news, the Court votes 5-4 that DeLay’s Texas redistricting plan needs to be tweaked — namely, that one district needs to be redrawn to accommodate the Voting Rights Act — but is otherwise legal and constitutional. “[W]ith six justices producing 123 pages of opinions, without any five of them able to agree on how to define an unconstitutional gerrymander, politicians of both parties said that the ruling leaves the door wide open to attempts to copy the DeLay strategy in other states.”
Minimum humanity…
Forced to capitulate somewhat on the estate tax in the House, the Republicans nevertheless illustrated anew their grotesque economic priorities in the Senate by voting down a raise in the minimum wage (Still at $5.15, it hasn’t been raised in nine years.) “Just last week, the House rejected an effort to block a $3,300 annual increase in the base salary for a member of Congress. If the raise goes through, rank-and-file members will earn $168,500 — a $31,600 increase since the last minimum-wage increase was enacted in 1997.“
Hastert’s House of Pork.
“The sound bites from politicians have always been that they’re doing what’s best for their districts, but we’re starting to see a pattern that looks like they might be doing what’s best for their pocketbooks.” As part of their continuing series on earmarks, the WP examines how several GOP reps seem to have been profiteering from their pork projects, including Ken Calvert (R-CA), Gary Miller (R-CA), and Speaker Denny Hastert. To wit, “House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.”
Whence the Joementum?
“If Lamont has been unconventional and smart, Lieberman so far has been conventional and dumb.” Slate‘s John Dickinson reports in from the Connecticut Democratic primary, where Joe Lieberman is finding his pro-war Republicrat schtick isn’t playing too well with the Dem grass roots and amid the blogosphere. “The challenger clearly has the momentum. He’s doing so well that Lieberman has had discussions with political advisers about running in the general election as an independent.”
Borderline Personality Disorder.
Something in their eyes is makin’ such a fool of he…In a “decision [that] was widely seen as a slap both at the Senate and the president,” the House GOP punt on the proposed immigration reform bill, likely until after the 2006 elections. “House Republicans have long frowned upon the president’s approach, passing instead a bill that would tighten border controls, clamp down on employers who hire undocumented workers and declare illegal immigrants and those who assist them to be felons. Their position solidified this month after a California special election to replace jailed former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R). Republican candidate Brian Bilbray won the seat, beating back a tough Democratic challenge by running hard against the president’s approach.“