Susan Collins
A Brief History of Joe Biden's Up-and-Down Vice Presidency
Just a few weeks ago, Beltway tongues were gossiping about Vice President Joe Biden being a second-term neuter. See, for instance, the Politico article, "Joe Biden waits on sidelines," which opened like this: "Vice President Joe Biden walked the halls of Congress and hosted top-level talks at Blair House during the last fiscal showdown. This time, he’s roaming the aisles of Costco." READ MORE >>
Defending The Secret Service
Choose Leverage
The GOP's Secret Senate Plan
One of the oddities of the debate over repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell is that Republican moderates seem far more interested in procedure than substance. They favor repeal, but they oddly seem to care more that the Senate hew to Mitch McConnell's run-out-the-clock timetable than they care about the outcome of the issue: READ MORE >>
DADT Repeal Fails, Senate Hits A New Low
Bang or Whimper?
WASHINGTON—The lame-duck session of Congress that kicks off this week will test whether Democrats have spines made of Play-Doh, and whether President Obama has decided to pretend that capitulation is conciliation. READ MORE >>
Susan Collins And The Vacuity Of The Bipartisanship Fetish
The longstanding view of official Washington is that all political problems result from a decline of bipartisanship and civility. It is a powerful, yet vacuous belief, invoked constantly but almost never argued in any remotely terms. READ MORE >>
Citizens Confounded
WASHINGTON -- Imagine that your neighbors started getting letters describing all sorts of horrific deeds you had allegedly performed. Wouldn't you feel you had the right to know who was spreading this sleaze—especially if the charges were untrue? READ MORE >>
Mavericky: GOP Thwarts Disclosure Bill
A modest but worthwhile effort to curb the power of money in politics died on Tuesday afternoon when Senate Republicans refused to let debate on the measure go forward. The DISCLOSE Act would require corporations and interest groups to identify themselves when they sponsor political ads and, in the case of smaller organizations, to reveal their donors. READ MORE >>
Why Elizabeth Warren Will Likely Be Confirmed
Last week, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd aroused the ire of progressive activists when he wondered whether Elizabeth Warren, the former Harvard Law professor who is a leading candidate to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, would be “confirmable.” “There’s a serious question about it,” he said on NPR’s “Diane Rehm Show.” READ MORE >>
