What We're Talking About When We Talk About Politico
Every few months, for reasons that only they can really know, Politico founders submit themselves to questioning from publications that not so secretly hate them.
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Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto is not a rape apologist. He's not a woman hater. He only attacks sexual assault victims to help other women.
Every few months, for reasons that only they can really know, Politico founders submit themselves to questioning from publications that not so secretly hate them.
President Obama "goes further than he has before" in explaining "the balance between security and freedom," the Charlie Rose Show tweeted to hype its 45-minute interview that airs Monday night. And while a leaked transcript shows Obama does go into further detail than he has before, we've already heard most of these defenses. This is what they sound like this week.
The Gang of Eight that's working on passing an immigration reform law seems more like a gang of seven people who are managing one guy: Marco Rubio. The Florida senator and budding Republican star appears to be both critical to passing the bill and always within inches of blowing it up.
In order to figure out if we are striking the right balance between freedom and security, it helps to know what's on both sides of the scale. But when it comes to the National Security Agency's domestic and Internet surveillance program, even after all of Edward Snowden's leaks, we don't actually know very much at all.
The former Florida governor and potential 2016 presidential candidate said at a conference on Friday that immigration reform would help America: "Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population." But this is why he's really off-key.
Syria is being compared to a lot of things — Kosovo, Rwanda, Libya, Iraq — and the Obama administration is divided over which lessons should apply. Here's what the president will and will not do next.
Based on multiple media reports, all citing unnamed officials, the Obama administration has decided to start supplying some Syrian rebel groups with arms and ammunition.
When the world learned that the would-be lieutenant governor had written that yoga could leave you vulnerable to Satan, it seemed the world finally had a brave leader who would take a stand against hideous yoga fashion and smelly hot studios and Lululemon princesses. But no. An unusual 45-minute press conference revealed all.
The pitbull and her "indispensable" network had a bad breakup, but great news, guys! They're getting back together! Starting Monday! Because Sarah Palin can't stay famous without Fox.
Tea Partiers have long had a hunch that President Obama was a tyrant smugly unrestrained by the Constitution, but now they have proof!
The Church of Scientology forced the British tabloid The Sun to apologize for reporting that UFOs were seen flying over the church's British headquarters — but The Sun apologized to the aliens. It is one of the best newspaper apologies ever.
Though his name has been in the news for removing the references to terrorism in the Benghazi talking points, the deputy director of the intelligence agency says it really is about family time. He will be replaced by Avril Haines, the first woman to hold that job.
"Nobody's listening to the content of people's phone calls," President Obama says. But it doesn't matter. The government doesn't need to listen to your calls. Because it already knows where you are, and that does matter.
Intelligence officials are in the middle of their all-out public relations campaign following revelations that the NSA collects all phone call metadata and most of the Internet. Their rousing defense of the surveillance programs, which will continue Wednesday afternoon, suggests intelligence officials would benefit from a public debate, because they would be forced to hear people explain how ridiculous they sound.
The Arizona congressman defended his proposal to ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy — with no rape or incest exception — by saying the following at an actual committee meeting of the United States House of Representatives on Wednesday: "The incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low."
Senate Armed Services Committee chair Carl Levin has killed a proposal that would have taken away military commanders' control in deciding whether to prosecute sexual assault cases and given it to an independent prosecutor.
There is a lot of fan fiction swirling around right now about Edward Snowden, the man who leaked the NSA's programs to collect all phone calls and all email.
Conservative opponents to immigration reform are starting to get creative in thinking up ways to stop the bill working its way through the Senate. There are reasons for opponents to be very nervous: In an interview with ABC, House Speaker John Boehner would not rule out passing an immigration bill without the support of a majority of Republicans.
Booker has a massive lead in the race to replace the late Frank Lautenberg, which helps explain why Republicans are so made at Chris Christie.
It wasn't even 24 hours since Edward Snowden revealed himself as the NSA surveillance leaker — but that was plenty of time for everyone to decide whether he's a good guy or a contemptible monster.
Most members of Congress are not outraged by the NSA's programs to collect all your phone calls and emails. They're outraged that someone would expose them. Now that the leaker has gone public — Edward Snowden is still holed up somewhere in Hong Kong, with "way, way more" secrets — the campaign to discredit him as a nutcase has begun.
There is a split among conservatives between those who think the NSA's collection of data about every phone call in America is an important counterterrorism tool, and those who think President Obama is, as usual, trampling on the constitution and the flag and the Founding Fathers. But Rush Limbaugh takes it one step further. He says Obama is leading a coup d'etat. And this time it's for real.
President Obama defended the National Security Agency's collection of all our phone calls on Friday by saying at a press briefing that if the agency was acting like "Big Brother and how this is a potential program run amok," then Congress would be free to air those concerns. This is not true.
In a new interview with CNN's Gloria Borger, Romney showed he's still not a natural in dealing with the press. When asked if he had hard feelings about Chris Christie praising President Obama after Sandy, Romney said no. Instead? "I wish the hurricane hadn't happened when it did because it gave the president a chance to look presidential." There's more.
The Obama administration has investigated more leak than all others combined, and its chase for leakers is straying into madness.
In a memo to staffers obtained by The Atlantic Wire, publisher Katharine Weymouth announced that the new pay "meter" applies to them, too. In the Post's offices, employees will have full access to the site. But at home, employees who do not get the paper delivered will have to buy a digital subscription. Good news though: they might be able to expense it!
Marco Rubio is threatening to vote against his own immigration reform bill, Utah Sen. Mike Lee says he "cannot support" the "nonsensical" bill, and now comes a report that bipartisan immigration talks in the House have failed. But here's the real problem.
The candidate for Virginia lieutenant governor has a lot of opinions — especially on gays, like that they are "ikky" — that have made him more famous than you might expect. On Wednesday, we learned that Jackson's book warns that yoga can put you at risk for satanic possession.
Republicans wanted a do-over on Benghazi. They got it, but with today's appointment of Rice as national security adviser, Obama is signaling that he thinks he won round two. Here's the tale of the tapping — and how the emails went mainstream, and then didn't.
Another Romneyesque figure has been spotted in President Obama's administration. Michael Froman, nominated to be the U.S. trade representative, has about $500,000 in a Cayman Islands account.
Military commanders made it very clear, in a Senate hearing on sexual assault in the armed forces on Tuesday, that they do not want a bunch of senators taking away their power to discipline their own troops. The question now is how much power they'll lose.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has set the special election to replace Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died on Monday, for October. The primary will be in August. So we now have a little window into how Christie's making his calculations — and getting the love of New Jersey voters is pretty clearly his priority over the love of conservative presidential primary voters.
While pundits wonder why President Obama won't impose his will on House Republicans, the mystical manipulation mystery for GOP Congressional leaders is why they won't impose their will on House conservatives.
The College National Republican Committee goes where the Republican National Committee wouldn't dare in its 2012 election autopsy — they admit that it's not just the party's positions on gay marriage and abortion that repel young voters. It's the economic policy, too.
President Obama gave a speech about bringing mental health "out of the shadows" on Monday, and because he is for it, that means somebody has to be against it.
Trump says that even though he won the Republican primary for Mitt Romney, Romney didn't call him a single time. Trump thinks he could have won Florida for Romney, too, if Romney hadn't been too chicken. But that's fine, because Trump is considering another fake presidential campaign.
Summer is the best time of the year, because of the beach, the ocean, fresh fruit, beer, sports, and enough Vitamin D to end seasonal depression. But it comes with a cost: humiliating sweat stains. You are not alone. Look at all these sweaters.
Through a month of scandal, a growing number of people conveniently claimed that the IRS had audited them because they are conservative — and claimed as much without much more proof than that 1) the IRS had audited them and 2) they are conservative.
The two men are absent by choice, and they say as much in new interviews out today. Lean-in pioneer Sheryl Sandberg would probably have some advice for these guys.
The RedState editor has tripled down on his claim that since males dominate females in "the natural world," it's only "science" that male humans should be the breadwinners of the American family. He was just stating the "facts," he says. But he was not stating facts at all.
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