Aidryane's blog

The Senate gave final approval Thursday to a $70 billion election-year package of tax cuts that will extend lower rates for investors and also save billions for families with above-average incomes. The Senate passed the measure by a 54-44 vote, clearing it for President Bush’s signature. The legislation provides a two-year extension of the reduced 15 percent tax rate for capital gains and dividends, currently set to expire at the end of 2008.  Read More »

Democratic Party leaders are wondering what to do about a candidate for attorney general who denies the Holocaust occurred and wants to “reawaken white racial awareness.”Larry Darby, the founder of the Atheist Law Center, made an abortive bid for the attorney general job as a Libertarian in 2002, but only recently have his views on race and the Holocaust come to light.He has no money f  Read More »

Buttressed by the White House, Gen. Michael Hayden resumed his meetings with lawmakers Friday as part of the process for his nomination to head the CIA. But a meeting with Sen. Chuck Hagel led the Nebraska Republican to declare that he had many more questions about the new controversy over the surveillance programs Hayden piloted as head of the National Security Agency. Hagel, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he supports Hayden but was “concerned” about the reports of the NSA collecting phone call records and that “the issue needs to be clearly aired.” “Why did they do it?” he asked in a series of quick rhetorical questions to reporters.  Read More »

New White House press secretary Tony Snow suffered a couple missteps in his first question-and-answer session with the White House press corps Friday.Snow danced around several queries by saying he did not know enough to answer. And although he had at times been harshly critical of President Bush as a Fox News commentator and conservative radio host, Snow clearly was being careful not to step on the wrong toes now that he speaks on behalf of Bush.For instance, one reporter asked about the government’s abrupt end this week to an inquiry into a warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance.Snow deferred that one to deputy press secretary Dana Perino. “There’s a very limited number of people who are briefed on that program,” she said.As the discussion continued, reporters complained that they couldn’t hear the soft-spoken Perino. Snow took over, read a few talking points from a sheet of paper and then ended that line of questioning. “As the new kid on the block, I’m not fully briefed on the issue,” he said.All of this created an atmosphere of contention among the elbow-to-elbow press corps.Snow, a telegenic man who has built a reputation as a bright, unflappable presence on radio and television, seemed to take it in stride. “This is just a mess,” he acknowledged good-naturedly.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News Channel and other conservative news outlets have been skewering Hillary Rodham Clinton for years, will host a summer fund-raiser for the senator, mystifying some observers and enraging others.Especially incensed are liberal activists, who for months have decried what they see as a shift to a right on Clinton’s part as the Democrat contemplates a run for president in 2008.  Read More »

As the White House prepared for President Bush to address the nation on immigration, sources told NBC News on Friday that the Pentagon could deploy as many as 5,000 National Guard troops to the country’s southwest borders to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.The White House said it was seeking time from television networks for the president’s remarks on Monday at 8 p.m. ET. Bush, trying to build momentum for legislation that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens, is to speak from the Oval Office.“This is crunch time,” Tony Snow, the new White House press secretary, told reporters.Senate passage of the legislation appears assured, but many House Republicans oppose allowing illegal immigrants now in the country a chance at citizenship.  Read More »

If Pennsylvania is a barometer, an endangered species list could be taking shape for incumbents in this fall’s elections as increasing voter anger spreads across the political landscape.Unhappy voters tick off a list of offenses — some national, others local — in a swing state critical to deciding what party controls Congress for President Bush’s last two years and to shaping the presidential race in 2008.Rising gas prices and the continuing bloodshed in Iraq have stoked the Pennsylvania discontent to levels not seen since 1994 when Republicans pushed out Democrats to seize control of the House and Senate.  Read More »

A relatively small but ardent group of protesters organized by the Minuteman group rallied against illegal immigration on Capitol Hill on Friday, lambasting President Bush and the U.S. Senate for considering legislation to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship."They are literally going to shove amnesty down our throats," Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist said to the applause of about 150 people.  Read More »