Slate Articles

Trent Franks Feels Your Pain

David Weigel — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:17:08 GMT

It’s the day of the vote for one of the biggest bills of his career, and Arizona Rep. Trent Franks has been sidelined. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (no easy acronym), which had been a pipe dream in the last Congress, was coming to the floor and expected to pass. The trial of Philadelphia’s illegal-late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, and the attendant gross-out media attention, powered the bill out of committee. So, typically, the bill’s author would lead the debate on his product.

The Second-Term Slump

John Dickerson — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:05:20 GMT

Barack Obama's poll numbers are sliding. Around Christmastime, his average approval rating, according to RealClearPolitics, was nearly 54 percent, 12 points higher than his average disapproval rating of 42 percent. Now his numbers have flipped. His average approval rating at 46.6 percent is roughly 2 points lower than his disapproval rating at 48.3 percent. If these numbers hold, President Obama is never going to get re-elected.

Let’s Make a Baby

David Weigel — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:01:20 GMT

The saddest “gaffe” is the one that nobody actually bothers to dispute with facts. Such a misstep was delivered in Washington over the weekend, when Jeb Bush faced an audience at Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference. Rushing through a speech, he decided to skimp on euphemisms.

Remember the Norms!

John Dickerson — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:37:25 GMT

For months, President Obama has been resisting the chorus of voices outside the administration (and the advisers closer at hand) asking that he back Syria’s rebels. The death toll climbed to nearly 93,000, and the president did not move. Refugees flooding in to Jordan by the thousands each day didn't change his mind. Worries that the Syrian civil war was destabilizing the region didn't move him. Nor did the increased involvement of Hezbollah. This week, former President Bill Clinton (in his own uniquely colorful way) said Obama should act. Now, the president is moving. In a brisk escalation of the U.S. involvement in Syria, the United States will provide military aid to rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. The move, we are told, came after U.S. intelligence determined that the Syrian regime has deployed chemical weapons, resulting in up to 150 deaths.

Hereditary Traits

Jeremy Stahl — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:06:44 GMT

On Thursday, BuzzFeed Washington, D.C., bureau chief John Stanton published a pair of articles calling out the sons of two separate Republican members of Congress for racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, sexist, and homophobic social media accounts.

The Loneliest Spies

David Weigel — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:30:46 GMT

Seven years ago, when Republicans panicked about losing the House or the Senate to Democrats, they reached for a familiar bludgeon. The other party was “weak” on national security, wasn’t it? It wasn’t so committed to “fighting terror,” was it?

A Presidential Tease

John Dickerson — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:01:31 GMT

Hillary Clinton is now on Twitter. Yesterday she unlocked her account and unveiled a cheeky and impish personality. In her 160-character biography written under a thumbnail of her riding on a military transport plane as secretary of state, she referred to her various jobs—from first lady of Arkansas (FLOAR) to senator and secretary of state—and then called herself a "hair icon," "pantsuit aficionado," and “glass ceiling cracker.” It could have ended there on a note of winning self-deprecation, but it didn't. Referring to her future, it simply said "TBD …"

Declassify It

David Weigel — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:53:42 GMT

Lindsey Graham has seen the enemy, and he is Edward Snowden. On Tuesday, the first long workday since the 29-year-old National Security Agency whistle-blower blurted out his identify, the senator from South Carolina told reporters what was wrong with Snowden and his type, and how to fix it.

Why Americans Don’t Fear the NSA

John Dickerson — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 22:58:32 GMT

Cybersnooping was always scheduled to be an important topic during President Obama’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. We just didn't know until recently that it might be a chance for the two men to exchange best practices. The Chinese government is accused of stealing U.S. military secrets and hacking into the computer networks of American companies. Recent reports suggest the U.S. government may be hacking into the servers of American companies as well.

The GOP’s Free Pass

John Dickerson — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 01:16:51 GMT

Ever since the Obama administration ran aground on a series of scandals, Republicans have been trying hard to go from zero to Watergate. No matter how hard they stomp on the accelerator, the car won't go. On the left, there is a similar desire to go from zero to McCarthy. The main target: Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who has been investigating the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups. On Sunday, Issa called White House spokesman Jay Carney a "paid liar," in keeping with the Republican congressman’s general temperament, which is to accuse first and find the facts later. Democrats are trying to promote the idea that Republicans are overplaying their hand with these controversies. Several times, analysts have raised the specter of the 1990s House Republicans who took their party over the cliff with mad passion in the investigations of Bill Clinton.