Archive: November 16, 2008 - November 22, 2008
Happy Toilet Day
For those who believe the country is headed down the toilet, there's new evidence out today that they may be right: It's World Toilet Day, and Capitol Hill is involved in the celebration: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) is listed as a participant in this afternoon's "Sanitation is Dignity" exhibit on...
By washingtonpost.com | November 19, 2008; 1:49 PM ET | Comments (11)
Team of Losers
House Republicans are holding leadership elections at this hour in a grand Ways and Means Committee room in the Longworth House Office Building. But at the rate they've been going, the GOP will be able to hold their caucus meetings in a phone booth. Barack Obama's courtship of Hillary Clinton...
By washingtonpost.com | November 19, 2008; 11:04 AM ET | Comments (17)
Charity For All. Even Lieberman.
(Alex Wong/Getty Images) Joe Lieberman's spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, wore an anxious look as he waited for his boss to emerge from the session with his fellow Senate Democrats. But he insisted all is well. "It's all love and harmony, kumbaya," he said. "They're in there singing campfire songs." For...
By Washington Post editors | November 18, 2008; 1:38 PM ET | Comments (43)
Waiting for Uncle Ted
Some 200 reporters and photographers lined the hallway outside the rooms where Senate Democrats and Republicans were meeting, separately, this morning to debate the fate of Sens. Joe Lieberman and Ted Stevens. At ten minutes after 11 a.m., a flurry of camera flashes started a stampede of reporters down the...
By Dana Milbank | November 18, 2008; 12:49 PM ET | Comments (6)
Oh, How the Mighty...
More than half an hour after the Senate Republican caucus meeting started in the Mansfield Room, newly defeated Sen. Gordon Smith, an Oregon Republican, is spotted walking through the Senate subway tunnel, head down, carrying his briefcase, alone....
By Dana Milbank | November 18, 2008; 10:07 AM ET | Comments (8)
Capitol Punishment
It's a rare double hanging in the Capitol this morning. In the Old Senate Chamber, Senate Democrats are meeting to decide the fate of apostate colleague Joe Lieberman. His crime: backing John McCain. A couple of doors down, in the Mansfield Room, Senate Republicans are meeting to decide the fate...
By Dana Milbank | November 18, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Mostly Silent Majority
Harry Reid evidently subscribes to the maxim that freshman senators, like children, should be seen but not heard. The wiry Senate majority leader, now sitting on a fat majority, took his newly elected senators out for some show and tell this afternoon in front of the television lights. But to...
By Dana Milbank | November 17, 2008; 3:01 PM ET | Comments (5)
Cheerio, Mr. President-Elect
This afternoon, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, ushered in the era of Froot Loop Diplomacy. McConnell, a persistent critic of Obama who suffered a scare in his own race on Election Night, celebrated Obama's win today as a triumph for the Senate. "It's a rare honor for...
By Dana Milbank | November 17, 2008; 2:05 PM ET | Comments (2)
Lion of the Senate Feels Fine
Ted Kennedy acted as if he were surprised at the question. "Fine," he said, seemingly puzzled that people would be inquiring about his health. "I feel fine." And he looked fine, too: His white mane neatly trimmed, his complexion in its trademark ruddy hue, and his midsection still ample. Kennedy...
By Dana Milbank | November 17, 2008; 1:16 PM ET | Comments (19)
