Boston Herald (Free subscription) | yesterday
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison term of at least 27 years for a former Louisiana congressman convicted of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars...
Crooks and Liars (Free subscription) | yesterday
DOWNLOADS: (72) PLAYS: (392) The other day, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told ABC News that he and his fellow Republicans were going to get tough with anyone who didn't toe the party line on "core issues" such as health-care reform: Steele: So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do...
Haystack Commentary (Free subscription) | yesterday
Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao said the Obama administration invested considerable time in him. He said President Obama spoke with him for "a period of a couple weeks" and that Obama's staff spoke with him "on a number of occasions." Keeping with the great tradition of Chicago politics, the final pitch came Saturday around noon, when Obama called Cao and apparently offered assurances...
TPMmuckraker (Free subscription) | yesterday
Federal prosecutors have asked that former congressman William Jefferson serve up to 33 years in prison. The former Louisiana Democratic lawmaker was convicted in August on a slew of bribery-related charges.
Marc Ambinder (Free subscription) | yesterday
Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the House Democratic health care bill--a move that surprised many, and a vote that some analysts are making a big deal of today. It is significant in that Democrats can claim their bill passed with "bipartisan support," and because House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), just two days prior, promised a crowd of tea partiers...
The New Health Dialogue (Free subscription) | yesterday
There were enough live-bloggers and Twitterers, and news alerts about the House health care vote on Saturday night that we decided not to add to the cyber-din. But that doesn't mean we weren't curled up on the bedroom floor, glued to the television, Blackberry in hand, trying to carry on five or six email conversations with people we've known for years, who also savored this moment. (Probably none...
The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times (Free subscription) | yesterday
In court papers filed Friday, prosecutors urged a federal judge to sentence ex- Rep William Jefferson to up to 33 years in prison for his conviction on bribery charges. Jefferson was found guilty in August of taking more than $478,000...
The Swamp (Free subscription) | yesterday
by Mark Silva Rep. Anh "Joseph'' Cao, the one Republican who voted for the House's health-care legislation near midnight Saturday, said he had let the White House know he was on board: "I called the White House and said I could possibly support the bill." The president had called the freshman congressman from New Orleans around noon on Saturday, hours before a vote on an amendment banning...
NewsBusters (Free subscription) | yesterday
Saturday's vote to pass ObamaCare out of the House of Representatives was a nail-biter, passing with two votes to spare over the bare-minimum majority of 218. The final vote, 220-215, had 39 Democrats join all but one Republican in voting no. Yet while a solid 15 percent of the Democratic caucus bucked the party leadership with their no votes, the media have latched on to the sole Republican defector:...
Excellence In America (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
Do you remember, as I do, the first bomb attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993 ? It took a while, but finally Ramzi Youseff, a New Jersey Islamic "extremist" was fingered by law enforcement. He is serving time now. But at the time, President William Jefferson Clinton did not ...
All Politics Is Local (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
Some quick thoughts for a Monday: Now Former Deputy Premier of Ontario George Smitherman has announced his intention to run to be mayor of Toronto. For those outside of the centre of the universe, the race is open after incumbent Mayor Miller announced he would not seek re-election. It may be time to check back in with fivethirtyeight . The site and its head Nate Silver, gained fame in last year's...
Return of the Conservatives (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
What he did by taking exactly 122 seconds to mention what happened on Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas should remain in the forefront until he leaves office on 20 January 2013. Can you begin to imagine what it had been like if previous Presidents had given a "shout-out" to someone before discussing major events? Can you picture President Ronald Reagan recognizing one of his former Hollywood...
Joe. My. God. (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
After his lone GOP "yes" vote on the U.S. House's health care reform bill helped its approval by only a two vote margin yesterday, right wing sites such as Free Republic and others have already launched a campaign against Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), branding him a "traitor" and calling for his deportation back to Vietnam, among other unrepeatable things. Cao emigrated to the United...
It's My Mind (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
Before we get to the man who replaced William Jefferson in the US House of Representatives let's look at what was actually in this legislation: The House of Representatives Saturday passed, by a 220-215 vote, historic health-care overhaul legislation that would require virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance and create a government-run health insurance plan to help them do so. If passed...
Freedom Writing (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
Last night, the House of Representatives approved a version of the health care reform plan by the narrow vote of 220–215. If the vote supporting the measure had been strictly along party lines, that would have meant that there were 38 Democratic defectors. But, in reality, there were 39 Democrats who opposed the bill. That left 219 Democrats. In order to reach 220, they picked up the vote of...
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