FirstRead writes, "There’s no need to sugarcoat it -- former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-NE) confirmation hearing yesterday before the Senate Armed Service Committee was brutal. It was a combination of a defense secretary nominee who appeared unprepared (you could tell he’s been out of politics since 2008), as well as...
Touche (with an accent), Ron Fournier at the National Journal, “In the real world, when somebody calls you an old friend, it matters. You can take them at their word. In Washington, ground zero for hypocrisy and posturing, “friend” is a 4-letter word and "old friend" is double trouble. Such...
"Like any good CEO, the Democratic Senate majority leader is delegating to a group of empowered lieutenants. Unlike some recent high-profile, back-room deals—the 2011 debt-limit and fiscal-cliff deals, to name two—the Nevadan is running immigration, guns, and the budget through the regular process. That means giving power back to committee...
"As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will oversee any legislation on gun control that makes its way to the Senate floor. At the first in a series of congressional hearings on the issue Wednesday, his line of questioning suggested that expanded background checks and closing the...
In Senate testimony Wednesday, the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre drew a hard line against expanding background checks for gun purchases, a position new polls show may go against the views of most members of his own organization ... 74% of NRA members supported requiring a background check system for all gun...
The Washington Post reports that, “Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced a new version of the assault weapons ban on Thursday. And it’s already looking like a lost cause. Most everyone agrees that the ban is the most ambitious and politically difficult item on the President gun control agenda. And there...