Let's start by stating the obvious: members of the minority in the House and Senate who are in good health don't typically resign if they think there's a good chance their political party will become the majority at the next election. So Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott's (R-MS) surprise announcement yesterday that he will leave the Senate by the end of this year should be taken for what it is: an admission by a senior GOP party official that the chances of a Republican takeover are slim.
My column on nationaljournal.com this week deals with the continuing refusal of the Bush administration to work with Congress on appropriations, or much of anything else. The reason: "winning" rather than "governing' is what's important to this White House.
I didn't believe this when several colleagues told me about it late yesterday.
Via Wonkette:
Ric “The Nature Boy” Flair — an eight-time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Champion, six-time WCW Champion, two-time WWE Champion and winner of the 1992 “Royal Rumble” — has endorsed Mike Huckabee.
It wasn't that long ago that I was getting lots of calls from bond traders on Wall Street who needed career counseling. This was 1998-2001 when, for the first time in 70 years, the federal government had run 4 consecutive budget surpluses and there was talk about paying off the national debt by the end of the decade.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates yesterday became the latest member of the Bush cabinet to say something that can easily be proven wrong to support the White House.
As reported in the Washington Post, Gates said that a delay in getting the funds requested by the president for Iraq and Afghanistan would soon force him to start laying off employees and ceasing operations at bases.
Gates should know better, and should know that someone would quickly call him out on this.
