Washington Babylon

From The Hill: In public, Senate Republicans have kept their distance from conservative attacks on Sonia Sotomayor— but behind the scenes, they have encouraged activists to keep their crosshairs trained…

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From Politico: It was Barack Obama himself who first proposed that Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe make a play to be this generation’s Theodore White—the legendary journalist whose insider account of…

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The pro comes from M. J. Rosenberg: Mission accomplished. For the first time in memory, an American President spoke to Muslims and Arabs not as antagonists who need to take…

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From the BBC: So little is known about Kim Jong-un – the youngest son and reportedly the named successor of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il – that even his date…

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The media treated George W. Bush very well during the early days of his administration (as it does every incoming president) but the slavish devotion to Barack Obama is an…

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From Politico: The congressional cussing caucus is in need of new members. The Capitol lost its prince of profanity when Rahm Emanuel left for the White House five months ago.…

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The former sheriff of Page County, Virginia, Daniel Presgraves, has been indicted on 22 counts of public corruption, including accepting bribes to protect cockfighting. Based on the indictment, Presgraves appears…

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From Politico last Friday: Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury looking into the PMA Group, a once-high flying lobbying firm that collapsed after a…

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From Bloomberg: Louis Susman has one thing in common with many of his predecessors nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom: money. Susman, 71, a retired Citigroup…

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From The Hill: Sotomayor also claimed: “For me, a very special part of my being Latina is the mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir — rice, beans and pork…

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From Starpulse: Sharon Stone flapped her way through a speech at the recent opening of a luxurious resort in Turkey – stunning the crowd with her admission she had never…

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From David Rothkopf: I had to accept the reality that The Lobby existed exactly as described in best-selling literature and on well-respected blogs. After all, these clearly well-organized, crafty Catholic-Americans…

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Now you do. An interactive guide from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: For many years, Rep. Murtha has been treating our tax dollars like his own personal piggy…

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Last week Raser Technologies announced a Capitol Hill event for its unlikely new product: an electric Hummer H3, which the company claims gets up to 100 miles per gallon. Even…

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From Talkingpointsmemo: We’ve gotten our hands on the Pentagon report on which the New York Times based its front-pager last week asserting that 1 in 7 Guantanamo detainees “returned” to…

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From Jeff Stein: A former deep-cover CIA operative says the spy agency’s congressional briefers routinely shade the truth or hide facts altogether from congressional overseers. “They mumble, they dissemble, and…

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I wrote yesterday about the non-profit group associated with former Senator Norm Coleman’s political donors, the Step Into World Peace foundation. The group’s website stopped working last week, after I…

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From Foreign Policy: Israeli media are reporting that a small and unconventional Iran office in the Israeli Ministry of Defense will be shut down. The 30-year-old office has been headed…

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When I was writing last fall about then-Senator Norm Coleman’s friends and political donors, I received several tips about a curious Minnesota-based non-profit called the Step Into World Peace (SIWP)…

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From yesterday’s Washington Post: Over the past five years, a local defense contractor with close ties to Rep. John P. Murtha, a Democrat who has represented southwestern Pennsylvania for three…

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“US intelligence agencies have launched an intensive effort to examine the various tribes linked to the Taliban to determine whether some can be broken off through diplomatic and economic initiatives,…

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Two sources have told me that David Goldwyn, a long-time advocate and consultant for the oil industry and energy-rich Third World countries, is on the short list for a top…

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Former President George W. Bush’s “Freedom Agenda,” a set of policies that exists only in the minds of Washington Post editorial page writers and senior fellows at the American Enterprise…

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From, God help me, Charles Krauthammer: Observers of all political stripes are stunned by how much of the Bush national security agenda is being adopted by this new Democratic government.…

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Jon Stewart describes the sexual potency of the Obama-Cheney “duel”on the Daily Show last night : “There is one unifying thread that runs through every strata of our media, and…

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From the Houston Chronicle: The Senate today tentatively passed a controversial bill to allow college students who are at least 21 years old and licensed to carry concealed handguns to…

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From the Washington Post: Public fury has been rising over items that politicians have charged to taxpayers — a massage chair, pornographic movies, a moat cleaning, a plasma TV, horse…

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From USA Today: More than one in four members of President George W. Bush’s Cabinet have landed jobs with consulting or lobbying firms in which they can help clients navigate…

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