John McCaslin

Inside the Beltway

At 4:07 p.m. Tuesday, the front page of the Democratic National Committee Web site flashed the headline: "Welcoming Sen. Specter to the Democratic Party."

April 30, 2009

Inside the Beltway

"So did you hear about Arlen Specter?" Inside the Beltway asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, as she was en route to the Senate floor Tuesday.

April 29, 2009

Inside the Beltway

The money chase by political action committees continued its upward climb in 2007-2008, raising $1.2 billion, according to new figures from the Federal Election Commission.

April 28, 2009

Inside the Beltway

An Inside the Beltway reader named Rich wasn't impressed with a Pew Research poll finding that, in light of the economic crisis, one in five American adults "are following the example of first lady Michelle Obama and are making plans to plant a vegetable garden to save money on food."

April 27, 2009

Inside the Beltway

In defending President Obama's easing of U.S. policy towards Cuba, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, remarked this week: "I had some friends who recently went to Cuba, through Mexico, with a visa. They came back and said, 'You know, they are still using oxen for power in their agriculture.'

April 24, 2009

Inside the Beltway

The 2009 Miss California controversy isn't going away, with renewed calls for homosexual activist Perez Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr.,to apologize to Miss California Carrie Prejean for his "appalling level of vitriol."

April 23, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Campaigning for president on Jan. 29, 2000,George W. Bush asked residents of Concord, N.H., the somewhat confusing question: "Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"

April 22, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Could it be true that protruding in stone from high atop the holy and majestic Gothic-style Washington National Cathedral is a crooked politician?

April 21, 2009

Inside the Beltway

How unstable might Iraq actually become once President Obama shifts the U.S. focus further east, to Afghanistan?

April 20, 2009

Inside the Beltway

What's all this about President Obama wanting to decide where Americans will live?

April 17, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Illinois Democrat, is collecting a series of legal bills months after it was disclosed he was "Senate Candidate No. 5" in the arrest documents filed against former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevic

April 16, 2009

Inside the Beltway

"'If you flew the entire SEC staff to Boston and sat them in Fenway Park, they wouldn't be able to find first base,'" whistleblower Harry Markopolos told a House panel earlier this year.

April 15, 2009

Inside the Beltway

CNN anchor Rick Sanchez launched into a fit of editorializing last week by accusing a former CNN colleague, Glenn Beck, of contributing to the recent rash of mass killings in the United States.

April 13, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Inside the Beltway would be remiss to overlook a decision in recent days by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) surrounding 2008 presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and whether she broke U.S. laws by having British pop singer Elton John, a foreign national, raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for her campaign by performing a benefit concert.

April 10, 2009

Inside the Beltway

”Are we allowed now to use the president's full name, Barack Hussein Obama? The rules keep changing.”

April 9, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Former President Bush is suicidal! screams a recent headline in the Globe. Yeah, right.

April 7, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, wants to assure everybody that he's not the greedy type:

April 6, 2009

Inside the Beltway

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, we're intrigued to see, is using The Washington Times as an example in its 24-page State Department employees' "Whistleblower and Whistleblower Reprisal" test, which a government source leaked to Inside the Beltway.

April 3, 2009

Inside the Beltway

"Reminds me of Jimmy Carter turning off the lights at the White House," says our insider at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who forwards a memo he and his colleagues were sent by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

April 2, 2009

Inside the Beltway

Sen. Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee who withdrew his name to become commerce secretary, says President Obama in a few short weeks has managed to steer the country "dramatically to the left," and in doing so he has sacrificed the "American dream" for future generations.

April 1, 2009