Gun Control

Obama Doesn't Mention Gun Control In State Of The Union

Ryan J. Reilly | January 26, 2011, 9:55AM

To the dismay of groups hoping the White House would take the lead on proposed legislation to ban high-capacity extended magazines in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), President Barack Obama did not mention gun control in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Read more »

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Scott Brown Will Support DADT Repeal

Rachel Slajda | December 3, 2010, 2:16PM

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) announced today that he intends to support the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

After two days of hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee, Brown, who serves on the committee, announced that he is supporting repeal.

Read more »

Lobbyists

Business Lobby Shifting Back To GOP

Zachary Roth | February 8, 2010, 4:04PM

Grover Norquist

Some of the business interests that had abandoned their traditional conservatism to flirt with the Obama agenda may now be shifting back towards the GOP -- another sign that the president's standing is badly weakened a year after taking office.

During 2008 and much of 2009, Obama enjoyed an unusual amount of support for a Democrat from the business community, much of which had grown disillusioned with President Bush and hoped for a return to the steady growth of the Clinton years. But after a string of political setbacks, high-lighted by Scott Brown's win last month in the Massachusetts Senate race, some key business groups and sectors appear to be shifting back to the GOP column.

Read more »

Tea Parties

Tea Party Dilemma: To GOP Or Not To GOP?

Zachary Roth | January 22, 2010, 9:03AM

Like thousands of other Americans, Jim Knapp got involved with the Tea Party movement in the spring of 2009. Knapp, who lives in Sacramento, California, helped form a local group that organized a well-attended event on Tax Day last April.

But around May, something unexpected happened: Locally-based Republican party strategists started coming to the group's meetings. That alarmed Knapp and many of his fellow activists, who were motivated in large part by a deep suspicion of both major parties. "I said, 'what the fuck are you doing here?'" the blunt-spoken Knapp told TPMmuckraker.

Read more »

Robo-calls

Conservative Robocalls In MA Senate Race May Be Designed To Bamboozle Voters

Zachary Roth | January 18, 2010, 6:36PM

MA Senate candidate Joe Kennedy (I)

Are conservatives trying to hoodwink low-information voters with a last-minute, under-the-radar robocall campaign in the Massachusetts Senate race?

Boston reader A.F., a registered Democrat, received a recorded call recently from Right March PAC, a right-wing PAC led by Dr. William Greene, a conservative activist.

Read more »

John McCormack

Weekly Standard Scribe And Coakley Aide In Altercation On DC Street

Zachary Roth | January 13, 2010, 6:35PM

MA AG Martha Coakley

Conservatives are up in arms over an incident last night in which a Weekly Standard reporter who was pursuing Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley ended up on the ground -- with ripped pants -- after an altercation with a Coakley aide.

Here's what seem to have happened, based on video of the incident, and several written accounts, including one by the reporter himself:

Read more »