My Column

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Real, and It’s Bigger Than Ever – The Daily Beast

June 11th, 2013

In January 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned about the growth of the “military-industrial complex” in his farewell address.

Ed Snowden, late of Booz Allen Hamilton, is just one small expression of its rise. The rest is evident throughout the Gilded Age of the metro Washington area, a boom time of corporate cronyism in the wake of 9/11 that has led to fat contracts amid the outsourcing of national security, complete with the proliferation of top security clearances to private contractors like Snowden. Read More…

NSA Spying Shows Obama’s Machine Out of Control – The Daily Beast

June 6th, 2013

With news that Verizon was required to hand over supposedly private domestic phone records to the government as part of a national security dragnet, the second-term curse just got much more real for the Obama administration.

To date, however, the Obama second-term scandals do not seem carelessly self-inflicted from the top like those of the past, from Watergate to Iran-Contra to Monica or even the botched response to Hurricane Katrina.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t deeply destructive to President Obama’s legacy. Read More…

The Daily Beast The Last of Their Kind: World War II Heroes in the Senate – The Daily Beast

June 3rd, 2013

The Greatest Generation has left the building. With the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), there are no World War II veterans serving in the U.S. Senate chamber for the first time in a half century. The milestone represents not just the inevitable passage of time, but also the reduction of veterans serving in Congress overall. Read More…

Keans & Co.: 5 Picks Chris Christie Could Make to Replace Frank Lautenberg – The Daily Beast

June 3rd, 2013

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who had been the last surviving World War II veteran in the U.S. Senate, is dead. And that means Gov. Chris Christie will need to appoint a successor until a special election, likely to be held this November.

For Christie, it’s a decision piled high with political risks: he’s running for reelection this fall and eyeing a run for president in 2016. Whom he picks will send a message not just to New Jersey, but to the nation. Here is NewsBeast’s list of five contenders who are just a stroke of a pen away from joining the world’s most exclusive club. Read More…

Michele Bachmann Is Done: Her Hostage Tape to Reality – The Daily Beast

May 29th, 2013

Our long national nightmare is over.

Well, that’s overstating it. But the congresswoman who represented the worst of modern American politics more than she ever tried to represent her Minnesota constituents has announced that she will not run for reelection.

Michele Bachmann is done. Read More…