DOJ May Skirt Court Order on Interrogation Documents »

Attorney General Eric Holder (WDCpix)

The Obama administration may circumvent the spirit of a judge’s order to disclose hundreds of documents relating to the CIA’s Bush-era interrogation program, delivering instead generic descriptions of the documents and legal arguments for continued nondisclosure.

Illustration by: Matt Mahurin

While the CIA inspector general’s 2004 report on torture was released  Monday, a [...]

Mike Huckabee: Obama-Style Health Care Might Have Made Kennedy ‘Take Pain Pills and Die’ »

Sam Stein listens in to Mike Huckabee’s little-noticed radio commentaries for ABC and finds a bit of bad taste. Huckabee’s commentary on the morning of Aug. 27, which aired hours after the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, argued that government health care might have prodded him to end his life early.
Transcript and audio below the [...]

What Does LeMieux’s Appointment Mean for Climate Legislation? »

Short answer: Hard to say.
Long answer: Retiring Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) has been a moderate voice on environmental policy — he voted for cloture on the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill last year — and his departure could deprive Democrats of one of their few potential Republican allies on this issue. Odds are that the environmentally friendly [...]

The Daily Dose »

What with all the death panel talk and senatorial waffling, it’s hard to keep track of the latest developments in the health care reform debate. So we’ll do the work for you. At the end of each day, TWI will run The Daily Dose, a recap of the health care stories of the day that [...]

Rep. Trent Franks: I Came Within Three Days of Launching an Obama Citizenship Lawsuit »

After a week of unwanted attention that seemed to end with him signing on to Rep. Bill Posey’s (R-Fla.) bill to demand birth certificates from future presidential candidates, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) has released the audio and transcript from the town hall where, according to the Mohave Daily News, he had talked about suing for [...]

Rubio Hits Crist for Florida Senate Appointment »

Marco Rubio, the conservative underdog in the 2010 GOP primary for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, tells CNN that Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.) made a “disappointing pick” when he appointed his friend and adviser George LeMieux to the seat.
George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor’s best friend, but that doesn’t make him the [...]

Idaho GOP Candidate Jokes About Hunting Obama. Twice. »

This is pretty unbelievable. Rex Rammell, a longshot candidate for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination in Idaho (longtime pol Butch Otter, a fellow Republican, is the incumbent), joked about “Obama tags” in a discussion of the state’s hunting laws. He was criticized for it. He backed down. And then he tweeted this:

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Poll: Romney Leads 2012 GOP Race, Obama Would Beat Any Opponent »

Ron Faucheaux’s Clarus Research Group has a poll out testing two main things: independent voters’ take on President Obama and the relative strength of possible 2012 Republican candidates. On the first measure, 77 percent of independents say that the president is “eventually going to have to raise taxes,” 69 percent say he’s doing “too much [...]

Did Mississippi Mother Lose Her Baby to Foster Care Because She Doesn’t Speak English? »

Time has a shocking immigration story in its Aug. 27 issue about an undocumented woman originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, who was reported to the Department of Homeland Security for deportation when she showed up at a hospital in Pascagoula, Miss., to give birth. The agency took the  newborn away and arranged to have it placed [...]

Birthers in Seeds »

Our Minnesota colleague Chris Steller posts this seed art tribute to President Obama’s certificate of live birth, put together over 10 hours by Mark Dahlager, who’s displaying it at the state fair (after the jump).

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Extra Bonus Quote of the Day »

“I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan. I think that these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit.”
– Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in an interview on Face the Nation, on the Bush administration’s interrogation methods.
In a related Time piece, McCain says “his private [...]

Will Deeds Get a Boost? »

Many analysts believe Creigh Deeds (D) was pushed to victory in Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary by a timely Washington Post endorsement that helped him in the Northern Virginia suburbs.
Now many wonder if today’s brutal piece in the Washington Post about his Republican opponent, Robert McDonnell (R), will do the same for Deeds in this [...]

Two Senators Back Vicki Kennedy for Husband’s Seat »

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — two of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s closest friends in the Senate — said on CNN they thought his widow, Vicki, would be a good temporary replacement for him if Massachusetts legislators change the law to allow an interim appointment.
Said Dodd: “We talk frequently. Whatever [...]

Bonus Quote of the Day »

“I hope you go out of business.”
– Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, to the newspaper’s director of advertising.

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