Posts by Matthew DeLong

Earlier today, Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff Joe Arpaio weighed in via Twitter on fellow anti-illegal immigration crusader Lou Dobbs’ announcement that he was resigning from CNN.

Breaking from The Associated Press:
President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Breaking news from The New York Times:
Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

More bad economic news from The New York Times:
The United States economy shed 190,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in September, the Department of Labor said Friday in its monthly economic appraisal.

It was widely reported that the corporate-funded, small-government, anti-health care reform group Americans for Prosperity was helping to organize Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) Tea Party at the Capitol today. ThinkProgress has video of AfP workers handing out signs and talking points to the Tea Partiers the group shuttled in from other areas. According to one [...]

TPMDC’s Christina Bellantoni reports on a wild scene over at the Cannon House Office Building, following Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) anti-health care reform Tea Party on the Capitol steps, after which attendees were encouraged to storm congressional offices and confront representatives.
U.S. Capitol Police arrested 10 people this afternoon after the Capitol Hill Tea Party crowd [...]

This is kind of remarkable. In an interview with ABC’s “Top Line,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele pretty overtly sought to align the GOP with the burgeoning conservative Tea Party movement, threatening to “come after” moderate Republicans who side with Democrats on hot-button issues.
“So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have [...]

Politico reports that Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) chief of staff Michelle Marston is stepping down.
Multiple sources have confirmed that Michelle Marston, a veteran Hill aide, is leaving Bachmann’s office.
In an e-mail exchange with POLITICO, Marston declined to say why she’s going.
“I’m just not talking about it, and frankly I don’t think there’s a story here,” [...]

The Iowa Independent reports that Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) today echoed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s comments that yesterday’s election results should not be viewed as a referendum on the Obama presidency. From The Iowa Independent:
“I don’t think it’s a referendum on Obama,” the Republican lawmaker said in a conference call with reporters. “I [...]

Breaking news from Reuters:
An Italian judge sentenced 23 former CIA agents to up to eight years in prison on Wednesday for the abduction of a Muslim cleric in a landmark ruling against the “rendition” flights used by the former U.S. government.
The Americans were tried in absentia for the 2003 kidnapping, in a case that garnered [...]