Probably like many others I’ve been amazed to see the speed and scope of the scandal which has already destroyed The News of the World and threatens to engulf Rupert Murdoch’s entire global News Corp. empire. Today, if you hadn’t heard already, that former PM Gordon Brown was also a target and that other Murdoch papers in the UK (The Sun and The Sunday Times) also participated in these illegal practices.
Now though there are reports that at least The News of the World used its phone hacking practices against American 9/11 victims, which would for the first time give the scandal a clear nexus into the United States. CREW is now calling for an immediate congressional investigation.
Gingrich tells Family Leader chief Bob Vander Plaats he’ll need some revisions to the conservative group’s controversial “Marriage Vow” before he’s willing to sign it.
Democrats on the Hill in charge of boosting their parties representation in the House and Senate are reportedly deeply concerned that if the White House agrees to Medicare benefit cuts it will squander Democrats’ political advantage on that issue in 2012. They’d be right.
I mentioned earlier today that there was some indications that Republicans have a chance of picking up a Democratic seat in Tuesday’s special election in the CA-36. But the latest poll, by Public Policy Polling for DailyKos/SEIU, gives Democratic Janice Hahn a 52-44 lead over Republican Craig Huey.
Sen. Hatch (R) invokes image of Thurston Howell III on the Senate floor to explain tax rate policy.
The Huffington Post‘s Sam Stein is a well-liked and worthy competitor in the DC press corps, which is partly why his exchange with President Obama today got so many chuckles:
Stein: Are there things with respect to Social Security, like raising the retirement age, means testing — are those too big a chunk for —
Obama: I’m probably not going to get into the details, Sam, right now of negotiations. I might enjoy negotiating with you, but I don’t know how much juice you’ve got in the Republican caucus. (Laughter.) That’s what I figured.
The other reason is the gesture he and the President used.
Mitch McConnell: The Casey Anthony verdict shows why we shouldn’t try terrorists in civilian courts.
TPM Reader MS, on the Obama press conference:
Just a quick ground-level view. This morning Diane Rehm had on a couple of DC pundits, including the Cook Political Report guy, and all of them were lamenting the failure to get a deal through because of elements on the extreme left and extreme right that opposed a compromise. At no point did it seem to occur to any of these savvy political brains that only one of the two negotiating parties was refusing to sign on the dotted line — for a deal much larger than anything they were demanding only a couple of years ago.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is causing big headaches for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Iowa, where she’s leading in the latest poll and where Pawlenty’s campaign had staked much of its strategy for winning the GOP nomination. That doesn’t leave Pawlenty much choice but to start going after her record in Congress.
And by “going after,” I mean it in the Minnesota sense: “Her record in Congress, as I mentioned before, is, you know – again, great remarks, and great speeches, but in terms of results and accomplishments – nonexistent,” Pawlenty says.
Them’s fighting words in Duluth but hardly worth noticing in, say, South Carolina.