Congress is about to get a closer look at that Obama administration white paper that makes the case for the extra-judicial killing of Americans in certain cases. The White House directed the Department of Justice to release the paper to the House and Senate Intelligence committees. And Thursday, John Brennan, President Obama’s pick to head the CIA, will face vigorous questioning about the memo and the policy of using drones to kill Americans as part of the war against terrorists. Brennan’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for this afternoon on Capitol Hill.
President Obama’s drone policy is getting serious support from an unlikely source: South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Sen. Graham says it’s not fair to leave the president out there on his own while he’s getting hit from libertarians and the left.
Karl Rove may want to defeat Democrats, but first he has to win a fight he started within his own Republican Party. More and more conservatives are hitting back against Rove’s efforts to re-brand the beleaguered party, and Democrats are sitting back and enjoying that battle. Meanwhile Fox News is trying to regain favor with the establishment of the GOP by purging its air of the more partisan, controversial and reality-challenged elements. Good luck with that.
From the Department of Unlearned Lessons: Republicans in Michigan have introduced a bill that would require all women seeking an abortion to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound first. I guess they didn’t see how well that turned out in Virginia.
Vice President Joe Biden is pushing House Democrats to act on new gun safety measures. And a new poll finds a majority of Americans support the return of the assault weapons ban. So why do the GOP and their cronies at the NRA continue to put guns over people?
Meanwhile, Florida Senator Marco Rubio is tasked with the highest profile job in the GOP’s Extreme Makeover: He’ll give the official Republican response after Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
In other news about possible 2016 contenders, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is touting himself as a modern-day Ronald Reagan, especially on foreign policy. Paul said Reagan’s foreign policy was “robust but restrained”.
Hardball staff