Archive: December 9, 2007 - December 15, 2007
Meanwhile... (Holiday "Cheer" Redux....)
Leave it to old-school Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the Dean of the House, to use his Season's "greeting" email to slam his Republican colleagues. Here's the text of Dingell's holiday poem, titled "The Grinches that Stole Christmas": Every Democrat (and many Republicans) in Congress liked Christmas a lot. But some Grinches who lived just north of Congress, Did NOT! The Grinches hated Christmas! The whole...
By Mary Ann Akers | December 14, 2007; 4:20 PM ET | Comments (7)
Lawmakers (Not Really) Overcome By Holiday Spirit
It may be the most awkward Christmas gift Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has ever received: a paper angel ornament and - more to the point - a miniature lump of coal. The giver was the irascible Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who Flake mercilessly shamed on the House floor last summer for his now infamous "Christmas Tree" earmark. Flake, a.k.a. Mr. Anti-Government Waste, was hailed as...
By Mary Ann Akers | December 14, 2007; 9:55 AM ET | Comments (5)
Sen. Bill Nelson All Kissy Face Now With DNC
Looks like Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wants to kiss and make up with the Democratic National Committee. Then again, vice presidential ambitions do warm a man's heart. After slapping the party with a lawsuit for stripping Florida of its convention delegates but then getting smacked down by a judge last week who ruled in favor of the DNC, Nelson now wants to party with his...
By Mary Ann Akers | December 13, 2007; 12:15 PM ET | Comments (10)
Partisan Fallout Over House Page Misconduct
Update: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) this evening agreed to have a nonpartisan investigation by the chamber's inspector general into the entire page system after at least four teens in the program were recently expelled. "We expect the inspector general to gather the facts and recommend the appropriate and necessary corrective actions to be taken by the House," the...
By Mary Ann Akers | December 12, 2007; 7:48 PM ET | Comments (0)
Larry Craig, From Pop-Culture to Holiday Icon
Last week, his name became a verb in the pop-culture lexicon when actor William Shatner was "Larry Craiged" on ABC's Boston Legal show. This week, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), aka The Senator Who Won't Leave, is the subject of a lobbying firm's holiday card. This year's card from the bipartisan Federal Strategy Group founded by Jason Roe and Mike McKay - "Decking The Halls of...
By Mary Ann Akers | December 11, 2007; 2:15 PM ET | Comments (0)
Nurses Union Defends Cheney "Dead By Now" Ad
Some might view it as distasteful - Vice President Dick Cheney's office calls it "outrageous" - but a nurses union is sticking by its eye-popping ad running in 10 different Iowa newspapers today. The ad features a cut-out newspaper article about Cheney's latest hospitalization for heart treatment with the boldface words: If he were anyone else, he'd probably be dead by now. "What's outrageous is...
By Mary Ann Akers | December 10, 2007; 5:08 PM ET | Comments (0)
