Lawmaker News

The title of this note is taken from Norman Mailer's famous essay about John Kennedy, which he wrote in 1960 during the Democratic National Convention. It remains one of the most brilliant political writings in history and I heartily recommend that anyone who has not read it should find it.

We will soon learn whether Harry Reid can play big-time poker with George Bush on the Iraq war, a subject to be discussed here soon.

For now, a standing ovation for the Speaker, the House Democratic Caucus, the Out Of Iraq Caucus, the Fighting Democrats in the House, and two Republicans who had the courage of their convictions, Walter Jones (N.C.) and Wayne Gilchrest (Md.). Read more...

It was a lopsided result. Our latest Quick Poll! question asked whether you approved or disapproved of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's public suggestion that the Iraq war was already lost. Of people voting in the poll, 76% approved and only 26% disapproved.

What does this show? It's difficult to be sure. We were criticized perhaps justly for asking a question that conservatives and/or Republicans had little incentive to answer; while Democrats and liberals might jump to Reid's defense, Republicans and conservatives were as likely to shrug and move on. Why not, asked one visitor to the site, pose a question about whether Reid should resign — that way, both his defenders and critics would be spurred to vote.

Maybe so. Thanks for the feedback.

The new congressional majority is making great headlines beating up members of the executive branch, but making little progress on important priorities of the nation.

House Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has subpoenaed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rise over nuclear yellow cake, sparking a possible executive branch-legislative branch showdown. This fight will dominate the headlines. But what new ground will this hearing break? After all, Rice already testified on this issue in her confirmation for the post she currently occupies.

Following the grilling of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last week over the firing of U.S. attorneys who everyone agrees the president has the right to fire, you can see a trend here. Read more...

Vice-President Dick Cheney took the unusual step Tuesday of blasting Senate Majority Leader during a visit to Capitol Hill. The veep usually says nothing on these visits. But he broke custom this time, he says, because he believes Reid was so seriously out of line in suggesting publicly last week that the Iraq war is already "lost." What do you think? Scroll down to our Quick Poll! and tell us whether you approve or disapprove of what Reid said.

General Petraeus is coming to town tomorrow to brief lawmakers regarding progress on the ground in Iraq. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), according to ABC's Jake Tapper, won't be able to make a briefing with our lead commander in Iraq due to a conflict in her schedule.

Are you kidding me? The Congress will vote on a $124 billlion supplemental this week to fund the war on terror and the Speaker can't find a few minutes to hear for herself how things are going? The line from the Speaker's office is that she already spoke to the general today by phone but she can't make the briefing tomorrow. Unreal.

I can't think of anything more important facing the United States than fighting and winning the war on terror and yet the Speaker's too busy to spare a few moments to sit with her colleagues and hear how our brave men and women in uniform are doing to protect us all. Read more...

On gun control, how times have changed.

Not so long ago, the lament was: Why’s it take a campus massacre like Columbine to get any action on gun control? Today, the lament is just the opposite: Why, even after a campus massacre like Virginia Tech, is there no action on gun control?

This is not exactly a rerun of Profiles in Courage. In the wake of the mass murder at Virginia Tech, not one Democratic presidential candidate has talked about gun control. Not one. Nor have but a handful of Democrats in Congress. Read more...

As America comes to grips with the deadliest shooting in its history, this should be a time for grief, sorrow and reflection. This should not be a time for politics, but sadly, that seems to be where certain members of Congress and other advocacy groups seem to be headed.

According to today’s Opinion Journal’s Political Diary, Paul Helmke, former mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., and current president of the Brady Campaign, immediately issued a statement calling for more gun control measures to be put on the books. While his sense of timing is a bit grotesque, Mr. Helmke should know that lawmakers can’t legislate sanity; a deranged individual who apparently obtained his firearms legally and senselessly killed his classmates can’t be stopped by more gun control laws. Read more...

Now that Don Imus has been fired, who else should be pink-slipped?

Here are my candidates:

Alberto Gonzales: I have lots of friends at the Justice Department, so this may seem hard. But it ain’t. Al has got to go. The days are counting down for this Administration, and for it to be able to get anything done with the limited time left, it needs to throw any excess baggage overboard. In other words, if you aren’t helping, you are hurting.

Nancy Pelosi: First Syria, next stop Iran? Let’s stop confusing the world, and leave diplomacy with the Executive Branch. Can you imagine if Newt decided to sit down with Milosevic while he was ethnic-cleansing the Balkans? Read more...

Newt Gingrich and Spanish. Oh, boy! You really should not go there, Newt.

In his attack on bilingual education he spoke of “the language of living in the ghetto.” Then he kind of, sort of, apologized. After listening to him, you really do know what “ghetto Spanish” sounds like.

But here is the irony about Newt and his attack.

Gingrich apologizes in a bilingual TV announcement, on a bilingual website containing a Spanish translation of his biography … and still insists on condemning a bilingual approach to helping kids learn English.

So you do think we should be English-only, huh? Or maybe you do want that Hispanic vote after all, Newt! Where do you stand?

With the administration of the most failed and catastrophic national-security policy in history in full-throated attack demeaning the Speaker, and mainstream media as usual parroting the attack with minimal response for the first 24 hours, it is time to make this case: The Speaker is absolutely right and it is important to consider exactly why.

First, let's be clear about exactly what the Speaker did. She put pressure on Syria to do exactly what the president claims he wants Syria to do. She put pressure on Syria to do exactly what Israel wants Syria to do.

If there is any message received by Syria from this trip, it is that the Speaker and Democrats join the president in demanding Syria provide security guarantees to Israel, stop any support for terrorist groups, and stop any action that helps those in Iraq killing Americans. Read more...