Hot Button Blog

An examination of events surrounding daily news topics.

• White House communications chief to treat Fox differently than ABC, NBC

  The new White House communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, shares the same views as the old director, Anita Dunn, about Fox News and why it should be treated differently than other TV news networks. Published January 19 2010 · Comment

• The ‘hurry up and stall’ strategy

  Democrats are hinting it will take days, if not weeks, to seat the next senator from Massachusetts, but Sen. Teddy Kennedy and Rep. Nikki Tsongas, both Bay State Democrats, were sworn in within days of winning their special elections. Published January 18 2010 · Comment

• Sen. Kirk can’t vote for health care after Tuesday, argues GOP

  Although there will be at least one delay in seating Republican Scott Brown as Massachusetts senator if he wins the special election on Tuesday, Republicans say that won't buy time for the sitting appointed Democratic Sen. Paul Kirk to vote for health care legislation. Published January 17 2010 · Comment

• Former MSNBC talker Tucker Carlson calls Jeff Zucker ‘inept’

  Tucker Carlson, the founder of a new news and opinion Web site and former NBC employee, said the blowback that NBC’s “inept” CEO Jeff Zucker was getting for shifting his late-night schedule was “well deserved” and indicative of other media failures. Published January 15 2010 · Comment

• OMB to count jobs funded, not ‘created or saved’

  Peter Orzsag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has made a big change in the way the Obama administration counts the jobs created or saved by the stimulus bill. Published January 11 2010 · Comment

• 3 in 10 calls to IRS expected to be ignored

  The Internal Revenue Services is warning tax filers it will only be accepting 7 in 10 phone calls this year in a report released Thursday. Published January 7 2010 · Comment

• Recovery.gov gets ZIP codes wrong, too

  Not only has the government's Web site created to track stimulus spending incorrectly allocated billions of tax dollars to "phantom" congressional districts, it's allocating money to ZIP codes that don't exist, as well. Published January 6 2010 · Comment

• Conn. GOP Senate contender praised Carter in ‘05 letter

  Former Rep. Rob Simmons, who is competing with Linda McMahon for the GOP nomination in Connecticut's 2010 Senate race, may be former Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s biggest Republican fan. Published December 20 2009 · Comment

• Brady Campaign endorsed Tarkanian in 2006

  A 2006 endorsement and robocall from the Brady Campaign isn't the kind of thing Republican Danny Tarkanian wants coming up in his 2010 bid to unseat Nevada’s senior Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat who won an endorsement from the National Rifle Association in his last election. Published December 16 2009 · Comment

• Reid defies Obama’s calls to reduce earmarks

  President Obama may have asked Congress to reduce the number of earmarks in its spending bills, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, isn’t cutting back on his pork. Published December 16 2009 · Comment

• Coal company cuts 500 jobs, blames environmentalists

  Chalk up another 500 to the list of jobs President Obama will need to create or save. Published December 9 2009 · Comment

• Pawlenty sued for making cuts to balance state budget

  A bitter, partisan battle has landed Minnesota governor and potential 2012 GOP presidential contender Tim Pawlenty in court as state Democrats joined a handful of citizens in suing the governor over cuts he made to help balance the state budget. Published December 4 2009 · Comment

• Election Assistance Commission nixes job to man because of GOP affiliation

  The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal investigative agency, found that a government election commission had refused a man a high-ranking position because he was a Republican. Published December 3 2009 · Comment

• Health care bill contains work breaks for new moms

  If the Senate health care bill is passed, employers will be required to give new moms special work breaks to pump breast milk and a private area to do so for one year after giving birth. Published November 30 2009 · Comment

• RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to ‘rationing’

  Leaders of the Republican National Committee say revised recommendations issued by a government-funded panel that say women only need to be screened for breast cancer after the age of 50 could be the beginning of health care rationing by the government. Published November 19 2009 · Comment