blogging the beltway

E-mails released Friday morning confirm unequivocally that White House officials praised USDA executives for their swift firing of Shirley Sherrod, the former Agriculture employee forced to resign in July on bogus charges of racism. There’s still no proof that President Obama or his close advisors ordered Sherrod to be dispatched, as Sherrod has claimed, but…

A controversial new campaign called Drop the I-Word seeks to eliminate the use of the word “illegal” in discussions about immigration. Sponsored by the website ColorLines, and its publisher, the Applied Research Center, Drop the I-Word’s website says using the term “illegal” to describe undocumented immigrants “creates an environment of hate by exploiting racial fear…

A casting call went out today for Barack Obama’s upcoming youth town hall. This is from Backstage.com: PRESIDENT OBAMA TOWN HALL, MTV MTV, BET and CMT are casting the audience for town hall meeting with President Obama. Shooting Oct. 14, 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Seeking—Audience Members: males & females, 18+. To apply, email [email protected] and put…

In a conference call with journalists today, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) harshly derided GOP leadership before vowing to work with any black Republican congressman seeking to join the Congressional Black Caucus. In a notably gloomy address, Clyburn warned of the Republicans’ Pledge to America, an ambitious legislative agenda for the next Congress that…

Tea Party-movement-backed Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell today released a campaign ad in which she tells Delaware voters directly, “I’m not a witch.” I’m no advertising expert, but it seems to me that if you’ve got to remind people that you’re not a witch, your problems are bigger than a 30-second spot can handle. Besides…

Media outlets of every stripe today are ignoring the message at the core of Saturday’s One Nation Working Together march—Americans need jobs—to focus instead on comparing it with Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally. Held in August, Restoring Honor was the conservative soiree of the summer, drawing Sarah Palin, Alveda King and 87,000 Beck acolytes, according…

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today addressed concerns about Saturday’s One Nation Working Together rally, an event at which hundreds of unofficial Democratic allies will march to express their disappointment in the nation’s economy and educational system. Led by the NAACP, but supported by activist groups in everything from LGBT rights to labor, One…

Born and raised in the ultra-polluted Suisun City, California, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins would eventually decide to make environmental justice in communities of color her life’s work. As the current CEO of Green for All, a post she took when Van Jones vacated it for the Obama administration, Ellis-Lamkins is at the forefront of the battle against…

Try and imagine that, this weekend, I plan to stage an elaborate “prank.” Because I disagree with her politics, I’m going to coax Ann Coulter out from Connecticut under the pretense that I’d like to interview her. When she arrives, alone, she’s encountered by me and a couple friends, who tell her we’d like to…

A source close to Sen. Al Franken’s (D-Minn.) office has confirmed that Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) will co-sponsor Franken’s upcoming End Debt Collector Abuse Act. Prompted by a series of Star Tribune articles about caustic and relentless debt collectors who threaten, insult and terrorize American borrowers — some of whom are completely innocent — Franken’s…