Senate

Clown Cars In Ohio

Featured image This year’s Senate race in Ohio could be pivotal to who controls that body in 2025. Incumbent Sherrod Brown, while not unpopular, should be beatable by a strong candidate in increasingly-red Ohio. But here, as so often happens, the question is whether the GOP can come up with a good nominee. The principal candidates in the Republican primary, which is tomorrow, are Trump-endorsed Bernie Moreno and state senator Matt Dolan. »

Sinema Is Out

Featured image Kyrsten Sinema announced today that she will not seek reelection to her Arizona Senate seat: Sinema’s move is significant but not unexpected. She raised only $595,000 in the final quarter of 2023, a fraction of the totals that Lake and Gallego each raised — although Sinema maintains nearly $11 million in her campaign account. So it sounds like her mind was made up a while ago. Sinema’s withdrawal means the »

Mitch, We Knew Ye Really, Really Well

Featured image Mitch McConnell announced today that he will resign his Senate leadership position in November, while remaining in office through his current term. I have generally thought well of McConnell and believe that on the whole, he has done a good job of leading his caucus. But it is notable that, as far as I know, not a single Republican has expressed regret at his decision. It was time to go, »

Border bill on life support

Featured image Punchbowl News reports on the unraveling of Republican support for the border bill component of the “emergency” national security supplemental appropriation act last night. “Supplemental national security appropriations act” should probably be in quotes too. This is a characteristic Washington farce. Senator Schumer planned to put up the bill for an initial procedural vote tomorrow. The more time his Republican colleagues had to look at the bill, my theory went, »

Biden’s border win

Featured image Politico West Wing Playbook celebrates “Biden’s border win.” This is what the White House wants its supporters at Politico to know about the so-called “bipartisan border bill.” Metaphorically speaking, we need to separate the propagandistic twigs and seeds from the dope before we put this in our pipe and smoke it, Clinton style (links omitted): Last night’s unveiling of a bipartisan border bill kicked off a hectic race for the »

Speaking of loopholes

Featured image The Firm of Schumer & McConnell (as Senator Lee calls it) released the text of the “bipartisan border bill” last night. The text is posted here. It’s part of an “emergency” supplemental appropriations bill that runs to 370 pages. The proponents of the bill have also released a 19-page summary. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin has posted his take on the bill’s highlights on X beginning here. Senator Schumer wants »

A fistful of watches

Featured image Senator Robert Menendez wants to hang on to his Senate seat and who can blame him? It has served him well. The original indictment handed up against Menendez last year alleged a mind-boggling level of depravity and corruption. Among other things, he seems to have abused his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a disgusting manner. The betrayal of trust involved is difficult to fathom if not to »

Is Fetterman a better man?

Featured image I thought Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was an unfettered leftist. With his vocal support of Israel, however, I have to reassess. Fetterman is a better man — a better man than I previously thought. He seems more in tune with old-school Democrats than with the throbbing heart of the current Democratic Party. Annie Karni collects quotes from Fetterman and Bernie bro progressives expressing their disapproval of him in the New »

The compleat Democrat

Featured image You can see why California Governor Gavin Newsom had to go beyond California to find a fitting replacement for the late Dianne Feinstein in the United States Senate. He put a lot of thought into it. He conducted an extensive search. Before Feinstein’s body was cold, Newsom was ready with his announcement. He had found the compleat Democrat: Laphonza Butler of Silver Spring, Maryland. It’s almost funny. But consider, to »

Newsom jumps the shark

Featured image California Governor Gavin Newsom promised to appoint a black woman to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the Senate, so you know this is a man who has his priorities in order. Politico reveals that Newsom will appoint Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein’s seat. Butler apparently does not reside in California — Politico reports that she is registered to vote in Maryland. However, Butler owns a home in California. When »

Dianne Feinstein, Centrist?

Featured image Dianne Feinstein died last night. She cast a Senate vote earlier in the day. Tributes to her are pouring in, which is natural and appropriate. But check out how the Washington Post described her: I think it is true that Feinstein was not as crazy as some of her Democratic colleagues, but is there any plausible sense in which she was a centrist? The American Conservative Union rates members of »

Hoodies Banned From the Hood

Featured image An interesting news story. Make of it what you will: The Senate passed a bipartisan resolution Wednesday to restore the formal dress code in the upper chamber following blowback over the loosening of the unofficial rule. Under the resolution, which passed unanimously, senators will once again be required to wear business attire on the floor. Does that mean Fetterman voted for it? Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who publicly split with »

The Menendez miasma

Featured image Senator Robert Menendez wants to hang on to his Senate seat and who can blame him? It has served him well. The pending indictment against Menendez alleges a mind-boggling level of depravity and corruption. Among other things, he seems to have abused his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a disgusting manner. The betrayal of trust involved is difficult to fathom. Having dodged the bullet on the corruption »

Now Can We Do Joe Biden?

Featured image As Scott noted earlier, Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been charged with bribery. Allegedly he was using his influence on behalf of the government of Egypt, along with several individuals or companies. The feds executed a search warrant at his house: The feds raided Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022 and found “the fruits” of his “corrupt bribery agreement” — including the 2019 Mercedes »

Menendez indicted again

Featured image New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez has been indicted along with his wife and three other defendants in the Southern District of New York. The detailed three-count indictment runs to 39 pages and alleges a bribery scheme benefiting Menendez and his wife in exchange for official acts undertaken by the senator. The prosecutors seek forfeiture involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and numerous gold bars seized from a safe »

Clothes Make the Man

Featured image More accurately, clothes reflect the man. John Fetterman dresses in a manner that is deliberately slovenly and inappropriate, and that appears intended to mock the institution of which he is a member. But it’s not just that: the rest of his conduct is similarly inappropriate and demeaning to the office he holds. When Fetterman speaks, his brain damage is evident, and he can be an object of sympathy. But when »

(D., Lower Slobbovia)

Featured image Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has unfettered John Fetterman. Undoing the Senate’s sumptuary code, Schumer disclosed that staff for the chamber’s Sergeant-at-Arms will no longer enforce a dress code on the Senate floor. Schumer left the neck of the Democratic Party unmentioned, but everyone understands that Fetterman is the inspiration for Schumer’s initiative. Now Fetterman can freely wander the Senate in his accustomed attire of hooded sweatshirt and shorts. Cartoonist »