US Political News and Commentary | Government Coverage
July 4th, 2009
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The seating of Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will give Democrats the filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate, but only on paper. Absences by two ailing senators mean the party can count only 58 votes, and then only if Majority Leader Harry Reid can herd two independents and the independent streaks of 55 others behind Obamas [...]
July 4th, 2009
Palin | Be the First to Comment
From a folksy figure who catapulted from obscure governor to conservative darling and vice presidential nominee, its merely the latest move in a political drama that has left Republican elders scratching their heads.
No one is sure why Palin took such an unusual path. All points suggest a strategy designed to maintain her political viability with [...]
July 4th, 2009
Obama | Be the First to Comment
And when in Rome? Obama will go to the Vatican to see Pope Benedict XVI for their first meeting.
Obamas weeklong trip - he leaves Sunday night for Moscow - typifies the pace of his first-year agenda.
Capitalizing on his popularity and his partys hold on power in Washington, Obama is moving quickly and broadly on foreign [...]
July 4th, 2009
Obama | Be the First to Comment
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama returned from Camp David in time to host the Independence Day celebration. The Obamas have invited about 1,200 military families for the festivities Saturday night.
The loud sounds of the Foo Fighters carried across the White Houses South Lawn as the rockers rehearsed. During the presidential [...]
July 4th, 2009
Obama | Be the First to Comment
“We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall 233 years ago today.”
The president [...]
July 4th, 2009
Palin | Be the First to Comment
“She is a source of constant surprise,” said John Feehery, a Washington-based strategist who advised former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican. “Only time will tell if shes a meteor flashing through the sky or a bona fide political star.”
In [...]
July 4th, 2009
Obama | Be the First to Comment
Obama said an “unyielding spirit is what defines us as Americans” and led people during the nations history to explore the West, persevere during the Depression and build a robust industrial economy.
“That is the spirit we are called to show once more,” Obama said Saturday. “We are facing an array of challenges on a scale [...]
July 3rd, 2009
Palin | Be the First to Comment
The news rattles a Republican Party plagued with setbacks in recent weeks, including extramarital affairs disclosed by two other 2012 presidential prospects, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
Palin hastily called a news conference Friday morning at her home in suburban Wasilla, giving such short notice that only a few reporters actually [...]
July 3rd, 2009
Health and Human Services | Be the First to Comment
The plan includes a government-run insurance program as an alternative to private coverage, and would cost about $400 billion less than an earlier proposal.
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Senator Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a letter to members of [...]
July 2nd, 2009
Obama | Be the First to Comment
The president stopped short of abandoning his tentative idea of continuing to hold a small number of detainees in other prisons after Guantanamo closes, which is expected to happen early next year.
But Obama said he has strong reservations about detaining people without bringing them to trial - a legal quagmire that dogged former President George [...]