Blog Profile / The Plum Line
| URL : | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Politics / US Politics | |
| Posts on Regator: | 3254 | |
| Posts / Week: | 29.9 | |
| Archived Since: | April 20, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Happy Hour Roundup
A new CNN poll finds that the percentage who regard the GOP unfavorably has jumped five points since March, to 59 percent. And 58 percent say Obama is a strong leader. CNN’s polling director claims the new leadership finding suggests … Continue reading ?
Separating what matters from what doesn’t in scandal coverage
One effect of scandal coverage, as opposed to normal news coverage, is that the press rapidly loses perspective. That works both ways: small, meaningless “revelations” get reported as major developments even if they really have no actual importance; meanwhile, real … Continue reading ?
Dems betting heavily on GOP scandal overreach in 2014
Will the current “scandals” underway in Washington damage Democrats in the 2014 Congressional races? Some Democratic strategists appear to be worried that they will. But Democrats overseeing House races are banking heavily on GOP overreach — on the likelihood that … Continue reading ?
Leak investigations are indeed having a chilling effect
Over the weekend the Post broke a remarkable story about an ongoing Justice Department investigation into a 2009 leak of classified information about North Korea. Investigators did more than just gather phone records, as happened in the probe of leaks to the … Continue reading ?
GOP’s goal isn’t deficit reduction. It’s gutting the safety net.
This morning, Reuters noted that the odds of a “grand bargain” on taxes and spending between Democratic and Republican lawmakers are rapidly diminishing — because the deficit is falling. “A sudden improvement in the outlook for the government deficit over the … Continue reading ?
The Morning Plum: Presidential scandals, only in the minds of Republicans
Over the weekend, CNN released the first extensive national polling on the “scandals” that have gripped Washington, and it got a bit of a bounce yesterday over two key findings. First, Obama’s approval rating is holding steady (53 percent) despite the scandal chatter. … Continue reading ?
Happy Hour Roundup
Great history here: Sarah Kliff dives into old news clippings to document how uncertain people initially were that Medicare would succeed, and how hard it was to sell the elderly on the program. Major reform is hard. The same … Continue reading ?
What’s next for immigration reform? A roadmap
House negotiators announced yesterday that they’d reached a bipartisan agreement on an immigration bill. But as Ed Kilgore colorfully points out today, there’s not really any actual deal. Instead, on key items such as guest workers and health care, they’ve agreed to … Continue reading ?
The ultimate in manufactured crises
The oddest thing about the chatter in Washington about the coming debt ceiling crisis is that it sidesteps the most important thing about it. I’m talking about the fact that the leadership in both parties agrees that the debt limit … Continue reading ?
Harry Reid eyeing July for the `nuclear option’
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is increasingly focused on the month of July as the time to exercise the so-called “nuclear option” and revisit filibuster reform, and he has privately told top advisers that he’s all but certain to take action if the … Continue reading ?
Scandals are no substitute for an agenda
Republicans are furiously trying to spin the administration’s “scandals” into political gold, but it’s unclear whether Americans are taking the bait. As Greg pointed out this morning, a new Gallup poll finds only a slim majority of Americans who are “closely following” the Benghazi … Continue reading ?
The Morning Plum: GOP leaders urge caution amid scandal-mania. Will GOP base listen?
Yesterday I noted here that Republicans in the grip of Washington scandal-mania run the risk of a rerun of 1998, in which overreach amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal led to backlash against Bill Clinton’s tormentors. It turns out multiple Republican … Continue reading ?
Happy Hour Roundup
Must read from Ron Brownstein on how GOP scandal overreach risks empowering the party’s extreme factions, setting the stage for failure to moderate on key issues, harming the party in future national elections. Steve Benen makes a good point: … Continue reading ?
Where is the line, Harry Reid?
Two of Obama’s major nominees — Gina McCarthy to head the EPA, and Thomas Perez as secretary of labor — were voted out of committee today in straight party-line votes. Next stop? The Senate floor, where both are likely to … Continue reading ?
IRS scandal overreach?
Today, House Republicans are voting to repeal Obamacare for the 37th time. But there’s actually something new about today’s repeal vote. Republicans believe they have a new weapon to use against Obamacare they didn’t have before: The IRS scandal. Republican … Continue reading ?
Beltway narrative schizophrenia
It’s hard not to notice that a kind of narrative schizophrenia has taken hold as Republicans seek to turn the various ongoing scandals in Washington to their advantage — and as commentators try to interpret what the political fallout from them … Continue reading ?
Congress has tackled the deficit — at the cost of the economy
This morning, Eric Rosengren, chief executive of the Boston Federal Reserve, cautioned lawmakers against further fiscal retrenchment, lest they slow the recovery. As he said at the Global Interdependence Center’s Central Banking Conference in Italy: “Given the economic realities I … Continue reading ?
The Morning Plum: Will 2014 turn out to be 2006, or 1998?
Last night’s release of the Benghazi emails has pretty much doused whatever smoldering embers remained from the Benghazi ”scandal,” but the scandal “narrative” will live on, fed by serious lingering questions about IRS and Justice Department conduct. So naturally the talk … Continue reading ?
Happy Hour Roundup
Just in: Barack Obama gave a statement this evening on the IRS affair, saying that he “will not tolerate” misbehavior from any agency, and especially the IRS, and that the acting commissioner of the IRS, Steven Miller, has resigned. That’s … Continue reading ?
When the Village turns on a President
A lot of liberal bloggers have harshly criticized Politico’s big, much-discussed piece today reporting that “the town is turning on Obama — and this is very bad news for the president.” If Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei claim this to be the … Continue reading ?