TPM Readers bring their finely honed skills to casting the key roles in the upcoming Jack Abramoff biopic.
So was Specter somehow joking when he said he still supports Norm Coleman? A few asked. And we were curious. So Eric Kleefeld asked interviewer Deborah Solomon. And she was sure Specter meant it.
But just as Eric and I were doing the edit we saw a new report that Specter was taking it back, saying he’d misspoken — or to put it in his words, which really defy elaboration: “I have to get used to my new teammates.”
The really weird thing is that you’d figure one of the biggest benefits of leaving the GOP would be not having to pretend to like Norm Coleman anymore. So the whole thing’s sort of weird, right?
Politico: Wealthy voters who voted for Obama may abandon him for making the tax changes he campaigned on.
From the Times …
In a highly unusual reversal, the Defense Department’s inspector general’s office has withdrawn a report it issued in January exonerating a Pentagon public relations program that made extensive use of retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio networks.
Donald M. Horstman, the Pentagon’s deputy inspector general for policy and oversight, said in a memorandum released on Tuesday that the report was so riddled with flaws and inaccuracies that none of its conclusions could be relied upon. In addition to repudiating its own report, the inspector general’s office took the additional step of removing the report from its Web site.
Who’s leading Obama’s Supreme Court nominee vetting team? That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
Michael Steele deviously lures enemies into taking away most of his power.
Next Big Question: Now that he’s lost control of the RNC’s budget, will Steele at least get a weekly allowance?