May 23, 2013

Obama’s Speech Rehashes Gitmo Fight in Congress

President Obama's counterterrorism speech has reopened a long-standing battle on Capitol Hill about what to do with detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, highlighting sharp divisions even among the president's political adversaries. Read more »
May 23, 2013

How the GOP Will Keep Stirring the Scandal Stew Over Recess

Congressional Republicans head into next week’s Memorial Day recess armed with a strategy designed to keep the controversies that have consumed Washington in the news back home. Read more »
May 23, 2013

Obama’s 20 Steps to Counterterrorism

Unpacking the president's hour-long (with heckling) speech on drones, Gitmo, and everything in between.  Read more »
May 23, 2013

Republican Trio Wants More Questions Answered on Benghazi

Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte won’t drop it. Despite the White House’s release of Benghazi e-mails, the Republican trio has a long list of additional questions, all carrying serious political implications. Read more »
May 22, 2013

State of Play: Where the IRS Case Stands After 3 Hearings

Three IRS hearings are in the books. Two senior IRS officials are on their way out. And one key witness has invoked the Fifth Amendment. Here are the story lines to follow next. Read more »
May 22, 2013

Can Obama End the 'Forever War'?

Ahead of Thursday's speech, the president is trying to narrow the use of drones. Read more »
May 22, 2013

Meet the Man Who Set Off the IRS Firestorm

All the attention this scandal has brought is new for him, but this inspector general has operated in the halls of power his entire career. He worked for Bob Dole and in President George H.W. Bush’s White House, and in between, he attended Harvard Law School alongside a young Michelle—soon-to-be Obama—Robinson. Read more »
May 21, 2013

Immigration Bill's Last Hurdle Tonight -- Gay Rights

Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy will still not say whether he plans to put forward an amendment tonight that would extend the bill’s immigration provisions to gay couples. Read more »
May 21, 2013

Top IRS Official to Invoke Fifth, Issa Subpoenas

Lois Lerner, the IRS official who headed the tax-exempt division when the targeting of tea-party groups took place, plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions before Congress on Wednesday. Read more »
May 21, 2013

Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting for Public Opinion to Turn Against Obama

The president has a base of loyalists that won't quit and, at least for now, there's no evidence he was involved in any scandals. Read more »
May 21, 2013

Oklahoma Tornado Fallout: Disaster Assistance, Weather Detection Spending Cut in Sequestration

As disaster personnel and volunteers comb through the havoc left by the tornadoes that tore through Oklahoma on Sunday and Monday, they are going to rely on critical federal funding that was severely reduced by the massive cuts known as sequestration and which raises the possibility that Congress will have to cough up more money on future disasters. Read more »
OFF TO THE RACES May 20, 2013

Republicans’ Hatred of Obama Blinds Them to Public Disinterest in Scandals

Red-faced Republicans, circling and preparing to pounce on a second-term Democratic president they loathe, do not respect, and certainly do not fear. Sound familiar? Perhaps reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s second term, after the Monica Lewinsky story broke? During that time, Republicans became so consumed by their hatred of Clinton and their conviction that this event would bring him down that they convinced themselves the rest of the country was just as outraged by his behavior as they were. By the way, what was Clinton’s lowest Gallup job-approval rating in his second term, throughout the travails of investigations and impeachment? It was 53 percent. The conservative echo machine had worked itself into such a frenzy, the GOP didn’t realize that the outrage was largely confined to the ranks of those who never voted for Clinton anyway. Read more »
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