Bessette/Pitney’s AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS: DELIBERATION, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP reviews the idea of "deliberative democracy." Building on the book, this blog offers insights, analysis, and facts about recent events.
White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to say if Ambassador Susan Rice's stock portfolio would present a conflict of interest if she took over the State Department, and he accused Republicans of feeding the story to the media in the first place.
POLITICO reported Wednesday that Rice owns as much as $600,000 worth of shares in TransCanada, whose proposed Keystone pipeline is under review by the State Department.
"I would commend Republican opposition researchers for the intellectual bandwidth that is required to read a financial disclosure form, because this was all documented in a financial disclosure form, entirely appropriately, legally, and by the book," Carney said.
... An RNC spokeswoman did not respond to messages seeking comment. As POLITICO reported, the information first appeared on the web site of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
