Virginia Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, is clearly a glutton for controversy. Despite numerous concerns about her prominent involvement in the Tea Party, Thomas has once again stepped into the middle of the fray, announcing that she will head Liberty Consulting, a conservative lobbying group. But while Thomas’ disregard for possible conflicts of interest … Read more
As I wrote after the Midterms in November, the recent upheaval in the House of Representatives is of great consequence to climate legislation. The Republican majority chose Fred Upton (R-Michigan) as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Upton’s views on climate change have run the gamut: in 2009, he spoke of the dangers … Read more
In the State of the Union Address, President Obama promised “to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail” in the next 25 years. This is hardly the first mention of rail that the President has made: during his campaign, his official statement on transportation included a dedication to establishing high-speed rail lines. He … Read more
The astute politician is keenly aware of whose votes he needs to compete for. Some are in his column from day one. Others will never be. He focuses his energy on “swing” voters, those elusive, independent, and rather indecisive individuals who decide the fate of election after election. Naturally, in order to win the swing … Read more
In President Obama’s interview this past Super Bowl Sunday with Bill O’Reilly, Obama happily remarked that in his presidency he did not once raise taxes, and that in fact he had lowered taxes over the last two years. However, it is interesting to see how quickly the President forgot about some of the policies he … Read more
In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama called upon “all our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and ROTC.” Harvard students have taken this as a direct plea to Harvard University to recognize ROTC and commence military recruitment on campus now that the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy … Read more
As Henry Shull recently noted in his post “Decision 2012: Handicapping the Hopefuls with Danny Hayes”, there is a new possible candidate in the GOP Presidential mix: Michele Bachmann, who suffers a large name recognition deficit and is a long-shot candidate for the nomination. But how hard would it be, exactly, for her to win … Read more
Just as many students, both republicans and democrats, cheered the repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy,” and saw it as a positive step towards bringing proper recognition to a small group of students called to perform in the utmost service, some on campus took the repeal as a way to continue to press … Read more
Update concerning the Congresswoman: Fortunately, Rep. Giffords has continued her miraculously speedy recovery, and is starting rehab. We can only continue to hope and pray that all continues to go well, if not better. In the wake of the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords by a mentally deranged man – an attack which took … Read more
In January, I talked to Professor Danny Hayes at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University’s School of Public Affairs about prospects for the primary and general presidential elections in 2012. We discussed potential Republican candidates, factors that will affect the outcomes of these elections, and even who might be our next … Read more