Swampland

Sotomayor's Aristotle

Jay Newton-Small — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:36:07 +0000

Most lawyers (and any one who's seen Legally Blonde) know well Aristotle's famous phrase: The law is reason free from passion. Thus far Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings have been reasonably free of passion. There have been no silver bullets, no arguments, no gaffes, no slip ups and given her metered, dulcet tones the words hot blooded [...]

At Tonight's All-Star Game: A President In Pinstripes?

Michael Scherer — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:10:24 +0000

The All-Star game is baseball's celebration of transcendent talent and league loyalty. For one game a year, fierce rivals suit up on the same team, and the fans get to root for the best players in the sport, not just their hometown stars. But tonight at the 2009 All-Star game in St. Louis, Barack Obama [...]

Playing Good Cop/Bad Cop with Sotomayor?

Jay Newton-Small — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:23:39 +0000

The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are either playing a very delicate game of good cop/bad cop with President Obama's nominee to the nation's highest court, Sonia Sotomayor, or they're fracturing as a conference and a large number of Rs could end up voting for her. Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the panel, [...]

The CIA: What Was It Up To?

Karen Tumulty — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:13:11 +0000

It is the biggest mystery in Washington at the moment. Here's what our colleague Bobby Ghosh says his sources are telling him: Speculation abounds about the nature of the secret program Dick Cheney asked the CIA to keep from the Congressional oversight committees. The most sensational reports suggest it was plan to find and kill top [...]

Sotomayor's Opening Statement

Jay Newton-Small — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:53:54 +0000

Blessedly free of sports analogies: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also want to thank Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for that kind introduction. In recent weeks, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting eighty-nine gracious Senators, including all the members of this Committee. I thank you for the time you have spent with me. Our meetings [...]

Health Reform and Abortion (Cont'd.)

Karen Tumulty — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:25:18 +0000

Last week, I wrote a story about how the question of abortion coverage is complicating the House's efforts to write a health reform bill. It has also arisen in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. If you watch this clip, which our friends at the C-SPAN Video Library provided me, you can see [...]

Oh NO! He's CRASHING!

Joe Klein — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:47:06 +0000

Bill Kristol has, for the past twenty years, played neoconservative wise man with gradually diminishing effect. His major claim to fame was coming up with the recalcitrant strategy--vote no!--that turned Republicans like Bob Dole away from reforming health care in 1994. This was considered brilliant at the time. Ever since, he has been known for [...]

Free Maziar Bahari

Joe Klein — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:57:08 +0000

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham has issued a plea for the release of Newsweek journalist and documentarian Maziar Bahari. I've met Maziar several times, I attended rallies and press conferences with him in the runup to the June 12 election, and the idea that he is any sort of spy is blatant nonsense. The Iranian authorities [...]

Judging Sonia

Jay Newton-Small — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:53:56 +0000

Opening statements have begun in the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Today is bound to be bland: 19 opening statements from committee members followed by the highlight, Sotomayor's opening remarks. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the crucial days with senators taking turns questioning President Obama's nominee. Here's a webstory from me [...]

Obama's Statement at Cape Coast Castle

Michael Scherer — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:26:52 +0000

The president and his family toured Cape Coast Castle Saturday, an historic departure point in Ghana for untold numbers of slaves bound for America and the Caribbean. After, Barack Obama gave a statement. Here is an excerpt: As Americans, and as African Americans, obviously there's a special sense that on the one hand this place was [...]