Adele Stan

Editor’s Note: We asked Adele Stan, who blogs for Political Animal from time to time on the weekends, to give us a dispatch from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., this week, which she covered for AlterNet. Among political reporters, the Conservative Political Action Conference is something of a venture into an […]

As always, dear Animals, it’s been a pleasure to guest-blog for you. Thanks to Ed Kilgore and Paul Glastris for having me in. Tomorrow you’ll be treated to the musings of Elon Green. Until then, a few tidbits: * USA Today reports that some 650,000 people lost power in the storm not really named Nemo, […]

When President Barack Obama delivers his fourth State of the Union address this Tuesday, I gamely predict we will see more of the pugilistic, right-back-atcha Obama 2.0 who showed up at the president’s November press conference. He’ll likely lay out the case for forestalling the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, that are due […]

Of all the intramural competitions on display in this great land of ours, none is quite so riveting as the burst of bile between Karl Rove and the self-appointed leaders of the Tea Party movement. The lay reader of political news is apt to see this row as one that began with the announcement of […]

I know I’ve got this a bit backwards, and should have kicked off the morning with a list of bulleted items, but I was so captivated by the possibilities of storm-naming that I got distracted. So, here’s a belatedly-delivered assortment of breakfast pastry that I hope won’t ruin your lunch. * The editorial board New […]

Good morning, Animals! So good to be back with you, if only for a day, to once again examine the peculiar politics of our time — which these days includes atmospherics both figurative and literal. On the literal side, you may have heard something about snow, seeing as how the Center of the Universe — […]

As your nation’s capital enters a frenzied week of inauguration preparations, I bid you farewell for now. Thanks so much for stopping by, and special thanks to the commenters. But before I go a few things bear mentioning, most notably Colin Powell’s appearance on Meet the Press, where he told host David Gregory that in […]

When President Barack Obama began floating the name of Republican Chuck Hagel, the former U.S. senator from Nebraska, to replace Leon Panetta as secretary of defense, the Washington punditocracy scratched its collective head, asking why would Obama pick a fight with Republicans over SecDef, when he had more important fights looming over the sequester and […]

That splat, splat, splat you hear is the sound of a thousand tears hitting the surface of lattes in the coffee dens frequented by Washington, D.C., liberals upon hearing the news that the Administration is ruling out the minting of a $1 trillion coin to prevent a stalemate on allowing the federal government to borrow […]

When the news first hit yesterday of the untimely death of activist and internet genius Aaron Swartz, people from the worlds of academia, journalism, progressive activism and the left-wing hacker culture sat stunned. That so many, from across this broad spectrum not only knew the 26-year old, but had been recipients of his legendary generosity […]