Steve Benen

TAKING ‘STOCK’….In February 2004, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao was on CNN defending the Bush administration’s economic policies. When Judy Woodruff noted the president’s poor record on job creation, Chao suggested there’s only one number that matters. Woodruff: I want to cite the one economic analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston. He said, these are his […]

COME FOR THE SUNSHINE; STAY FOR THE INSANITY…. Having been born and raised in Miami, I look back at Florida with some fascination. In fact, I’ve long harbored a silly notion that all bad things that happen in this country have an almost direct connection to the Sunshine State. After the Elian Gonzalez controversy, the […]

FAITH-BASED FUNDING GONE AWRY….The idea that the Bush administration would use tax dollars to pay religious leaders to advance its agenda is, alas, not new. Throughout Bush’s first two years in office, for example, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives routinely distributed grants to ministries that, coincidentally, Republicans were trying to curry […]

STILL MISSING THE POINT….It’s been 12 days since the president has had to deal with questions about his warrantless-search program, a respite Bush has no doubt enjoyed. But today, after visiting with some injured troops, the president took a few questions from reporters. Guess what they wanted to talk about. “It’s seems logical to me […]

TV BLOGGING….A few years ago, I was among at least 12 people who were deeply disappointed by the cancellation of Matt Groening’s Futurama, yanked mercilessly from the air after just five entertaining seasons. If you were one of the 12, however, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s talk of a comeback. After better-than-expected DVD […]

RESISTANCE AT JUSTICE ON WARRANTLESS SEARCHES….After the Bush administration’s warrantless-search program came to light, one of the early talking points used to defend the program’s legality emphasized Justice Department support. As Condoleezza Rice explained on Meet the Press, the initiative “has been reviewed not just by the White House counsel but by the lawyers of […]

BILL BENNETT TO CNN….Rumor has it that conservative radio talk-show-host and best-selling compiler Bill Bennett will soon join CNN as a political analyst. Oh, where to begin. The natural thing to recall is that Bennett made national headlines a few months ago when he declared on his radio program that if “you wanted to reduce […]

THE U.S. FAMILY NETWORK….To a limited extent, The U.S. Family Network, primarily a project of Tom DeLay, was already somewhat controversial. In April 2004, a Federal Election Commission investigation found that the group had illegally received $500,000 from the National Republican Congressional Committee. At the time, it just seemed like routine campaign shenanigans. The 2004 […]

IMMIGRATION ‘REFORM’….There are plenty of reasons to worry about immigration “reform” measures recently passed by the House, but there’s one provision in particular that’s generating quite a bit of attention. Churches, social service agencies and immigration groups across the country are rallying against a provision in the recently passed House border-security bill that would make […]

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY ‘HEALTH’….There are plenty of great museums in Washington, but Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) has an idea for one more: a national health museum near the Smithsonian. To hear Gingrey’s pitch, it sounds like a pretty straightforward and non-controversial concept: there would be one museum near the national mall […]