Dana Milbank
National

» Politics |
A national political reporter for the Post, Milbank writes Washington Sketch, an observational column about political theater in the White House, Congress and elsewhere in the capital. He covered the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and President Bush's first term.
Before coming to the Post as a Style political writer in 2000, he covered the Clinton White House for the New Republic and Congress for the Wall Street Journal.
Articles by Dana Milbank
Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told (July 24, 2008)
Oops! We Did It Again. (July 23, 2008)
Irreverent Reverends (July 22, 2008)
John Ashcroft, Riding Back on a White Horse (July 18, 2008)
Keeping His Eye on the Ball (July 17, 2008)
Let the Games Begin! (July 16, 2008)
Pull Up a Chair, Mr. Rove (July 11, 2008)
Putting Her Foot Down and Getting the Boot (July 10, 2008)
Latin Lovers (July 9, 2008)
Risky Business (July 8, 2008)
The Economy? Words Fail Me. (July 4, 2008)
Not So Quiet on the Third Front (July 3, 2008)
When Anonymity Fails, Be Nasty, Brutish and Short (June 27, 2008)
In the Physics of Capitol Hill, Energy Generates Friction (June 26, 2008)
To the Loser Go the Spoils (June 25, 2008)
Burned Up About the Other Fossil Fuel (June 24, 2008)
House Panel Proves McClellan's Point Without Even Trying (June 21, 2008)
Abu Ghraib? Doesn't Ring a Bell. (June 18, 2008)
Why Tomatoes Hate America (June 13, 2008)
Impeach Bush? But That Would Mean . . . (June 12, 2008)
Democrats Still Struggling With Whole 'Party Unity' Thing (June 11, 2008)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Celebrity (June 10, 2008)
A Thank-You for 18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling (June 8, 2008)
It's a Mitzvah (June 5, 2008)
In Defeat, Clinton Graciously Pretends to Win (June 4, 2008)
A No-Name Town Looks Like Waterloo (June 3, 2008)
Democrats Come Together To Tear Their Party in Half (June 1, 2008)
Monster's Ball (May 30, 2008)
The Man Who Wasn't There, Still Here (May 29, 2008)
Obama as You've Never Known Him! (May 23, 2008)
Pumping for Answers (May 22, 2008)
The Land of Bluegrass, Bourbon and Kool-Aid (May 21, 2008)
Still After the Holy Grail (May 20, 2008)
Agitated? Irritable? Hostile? Aggressive? Impulsive? Restless? (May 15, 2008)
This Is an Ex-Candidate (May 14, 2008)
A Spoiler, by Way of the Dairy Case (May 13, 2008)
Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens (May 9, 2008)
What Part of 'In It to Win It' Does America Not Understand? (May 8, 2008)
Waiting for the Game to Change (May 7, 2008)
It's About Nothing (May 6, 2008)
Five Years, Two Words, No Letup (May 2, 2008)
The Escape Artist (April 30, 2008)
Still More Lamentations From Jeremiah (April 29, 2008)
Iraq War Is Everyone Else's Fault, Feith Explains (April 25, 2008)
What the Family Would Let You See, the Pentagon Obstructs (April 24, 2008)
Just When You Think They Might Be Out, They Get Pulled Back In (April 23, 2008)
In This Forgotten Town, Obama Can Forget About It (April 22, 2008)
Isn't That Special? (April 18, 2008)
It's Not the Holy See, but We Like It (April 17, 2008)
For Obama and McCain, the Bitter and the Sweet (April 15, 2008)
The D.C. Madam Case, All Sordid Out (April 11, 2008)
From the GOP, the General Gets Unfriendly Fire (April 10, 2008)
Iraq and the Special Theory of Relativity (April 9, 2008)
Buddy, Can You Spare a Billion? (April 4, 2008)
Belatedly, the Bad-News Bearer (April 3, 2008)
Goofy Characters and Weird People -- Sounds Like a Hearing (April 2, 2008)
The Coalition of the Unwilling (April 1, 2008)
They Shoot E-Mails, Don't They? (March 27, 2008)
Spring Forecast? It's Always Gloomy. (March 26, 2008)
An Antiwar Blockade Amid the Apathy Armada (March 20, 2008)
Bearest Thy Musket (March 19, 2008)
The Audacity of Chutzpah (March 18, 2008)
The Secret Is Out: There Was No Big Secret (March 14, 2008)
HMR, Fanning the Flames (March 13, 2008)
Crossing the Line (March 12, 2008)
At the Mayflower, Client 9's Sinking Ship (March 11, 2008)
Ma Bell for President (March 7, 2008)
Turbulence? What Turbulence? (March 5, 2008)
Ask Tough Questions? Yes, They Can! (March 4, 2008)
Don't Get Around Much Anymore (February 29, 2008)
At the High Court, Damage Control (February 28, 2008)
Team Clinton: Down, and Out of Touch (February 26, 2008)
A Man, a Mission (February 22, 2008)
Teetering on the Border (February 21, 2008)
Obama by the Numbers: Twice-Told Tales, and Nine in a Row (February 20, 2008)
Taking the Economists' Pulse (February 15, 2008)
Bottom Feeders (February 14, 2008)
The Decisive Winner, by a Nose (February 13, 2008)
At the Transmission Factory, a Smooth Shift (February 12, 2008)
Bush's Little Lovefest (February 9, 2008)
Exit, Stage Right (February 8, 2008)
For Clinton, A Lively Dead Heat (February 6, 2008)
The Mouths That Run Against McCain (February 5, 2008)
More Mr. Nice Guy (February 2, 2008)
Toast Is Served (February 1, 2008)
Much Ado About Not Much (January 30, 2008)
Jon Voight, Yes. Deliverance, No. (January 29, 2008)
All Eyes on Front (January 25, 2008)
Who's Ready for Change? (January 24, 2008)
Bill Clinton, Scoring a 3rd Run (January 23, 2008)
She Lives (January 9, 2008)
The Guy With the Bus Is on a Roll (January 8, 2008)
Whose Line Is It, Anyway? (January 7, 2008)
After a Win, No Time to Lose (January 5, 2008)
In Precinct 70, the Numbers Tell the Story (January 4, 2008)
Obama Has to Hope Cheers Equal Votes (January 3, 2008)
Iowa's Show Goes On, Mostly Without Iowans (January 2, 2008)
New Year's Fray (January 1, 2008)
Changes in Platitudes (December 28, 2007)
Hasta La Vista (December 21, 2007)
Is This Heaven? No, It's Iowa. (December 20, 2007)
Hillary, We Thoroughly Knew Ye (December 19, 2007)
Stuck on 9/11 (December 16, 2007)
Stand-Up Guy (December 15, 2007)
C'mon, Get Happy (December 14, 2007)
Attacks Add (December 14, 2007)
Standing His Ground (December 13, 2007)
Folk Ways (December 12, 2007)
No More Mr. Nice Guy (December 11, 2007)
Anything Goes (December 10, 2007)
Teaching the Teachers (December 9, 2007)
DANA MILBANK (November 22, 2007)
Pardon Me! (November 21, 2007)
Let's Do the Time Warp Again (November 16, 2007)
O Brother, Who Art Thou? (November 15, 2007)
Even Julia Roberts Didn't Love Him Like That (November 14, 2007)
Bush Beholds the Power of Pork (November 9, 2007)
Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk (November 9, 2007)
A Fraternité Party (November 8, 2007)
Searching for an Explanation: No Results Found. (November 7, 2007)
Hitting the Mute Button on the Freedom Agenda (November 6, 2007)
Logic Tortured (November 2, 2007)
Mr. Tanner, Unforgiven (October 31, 2007)
Nature or Nurture? Well, Smart Guy? (October 30, 2007)
Democrats, the War and Shays's Rebellion (October 26, 2007)
Children's Health Yields to the Senators From Pork (October 24, 2007)
Of Prostitutes and Prosecutors (October 23, 2007)
Next Stop: Nirvana (October 18, 2007)
Justice Denied, Sharpton Delayed (October 17, 2007)
Smile -- You're on Social Security! (October 16, 2007)
Guess Who Came to the Evangelicals' Dinner (October 12, 2007)
Belatedly, the House's History Lesson (October 11, 2007)
Smile, Though Your Head Is Aching (October 10, 2007)
At the Army Expo, It's a Gorge Zone (October 9, 2007)
Happy Days Are Hers Again (October 4, 2007)
The Man From Blackwater, Shooting From the Lip (October 3, 2007)
The General's Reluctant Farewell (October 2, 2007)
Preaching to the Chorus (September 27, 2007)
A Bill That Everyone Can Love -- or Else (September 26, 2007)
Live From New York, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Unreality Show (September 25, 2007)
Bush's News Conference Almost Makes News (September 21, 2007)
Standing on One Principle, Voting on Another (September 20, 2007)
GOP Supporters Are Hard to Find on Craig's List (September 19, 2007)
There's the Red Vote, the Blue Vote . . . and the Little Green Vote (September 18, 2007)
Answers? Not for All the Lead in China. (September 13, 2007)
Enough About Iraq -- Let's Talk About Me (September 12, 2007)
On Day Two, Senators Tap Gift of Gab (September 11, 2007)
The General Does Battle With . . . a Broken Mike (September 11, 2007)
Gen. Rorschach and the Iraq-Shaped Inkblot (September 7, 2007)
Senate Family Welcomes Cousin Tim . . . Not So Much Uncle Larry (September 6, 2007)
And Representing the Great State of Denial . . . (September 5, 2007)
Press Secretary May Be Ready to Leave the Circus (August 31, 2007)
The Reigning Mayor's Running Denial (August 30, 2007)
A Senator's Wide Stance: 'I Am Not Gay' (August 29, 2007)
Gonzales Dug His Own Grave, and Many Are Happy to Dance on It (August 28, 2007)
For a Man in the Middle on Iraq, Church Provides No Sanctuary (August 24, 2007)
Humiliation at Abu Ghraib, and Then at the Prosecution Table (August 23, 2007)
Bipartisan, and Feeling Good About It (August 22, 2007)
The Caped Crusader From Vermont (August 21, 2007)
DANA MILBANK (August 10, 2007)
DANA MILBANK (August 9, 2007)
Forget About It! (August 2, 2007)
Here Lies a Man Impeached (August 1, 2007)
More Bulldog Than Poodle (July 31, 2007)
The Honor Scout Is Indeed Trustworthy (July 27, 2007)
Contempt Contretemps (July 26, 2007)
With Senate and Gonzales, Familiarity Breeds Contempt (July 25, 2007)
Senate's Iraq Debate Is More Slumber Than Party (July 19, 2007)
Taking No Prisoners -- and No Questions (July 18, 2007)
Sex and the Conservative (July 17, 2007)
Against Claims of Executive Privilege, a Committee Comes Up Dry (July 12, 2007)
In Whole or in Part, a Missing Vitter (July 11, 2007)
War Is Hell, in a Handbasket (July 10, 2007)
And Now, an Important Announcement About [Thump] (July 6, 2007)
Through the Looking Glass, Darkly (July 4, 2007)
Shaking Up Is Hard to Do (July 3, 2007)
Jabs and All, the Ides of March Arrives Late (June 29, 2007)
Bill Had His Al, and Hillary Might Have Her Bill (June 28, 2007)
Abramoff, Prison and a Crazy Little Thing Called Love (June 27, 2007)
The Cheese Stands Alone (June 26, 2007)
DANA MILBANK (June 19, 2007)
A Wind-Powered Town, an Energy Bill and a Lot of Hot Air (June 15, 2007)
An Unappetizing Bill of Fare (June 13, 2007)
A Jolly Good Show, but the Wrong Side of the Pond (June 12, 2007)
Snubbing the White House, Without Snubbing the White House (June 8, 2007)
Hillary Fever Skips a Generation (June 7, 2007)
Standing by Their Man (June 6, 2007)
No Politics Here: Just a Job for Professionals -- Lots of Them (June 5, 2007)
As the World Warms, the White House Aspires (June 1, 2007)
Denying Genocide in Darfur -- and Americans Their Coca-Cola (May 31, 2007)
Is It Wise to Be So Smart? (May 30, 2007)
In the Rose Garden, It Was All Al-Qaeda (May 25, 2007)
Monica's Own Monica Problem (May 24, 2007)
Today's Special: Pork. And Tomorrow's. (May 23, 2007)
On Behalf of the 'American People' (May 22, 2007)
Just the Two of Us (May 18, 2007)
Hagel as Hamlet -- or the Third Man? (May 17, 2007)
Ashcroft and the Night Visitors (May 16, 2007)
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (May 15, 2007)
Another Hearing, Another Chance to Say Nothing (May 11, 2007)
The President Learns It's Good to Be the King (May 8, 2007)
Dozens of Heads Were Bowed (May 4, 2007)
It's All About Al-Qaeda Again (May 3, 2007)
Democrats Recall an Anniversary Bush Would Rather Forget (May 2, 2007)
Call Her Madam -- and a Lot of Washington Nervous (May 1, 2007)
Playing on the Senate Floor Is a Dirty Business, Children (April 27, 2007)
'Subpoenafest': Democratic Tigers and Republican Guerrillas (April 26, 2007)
Kucinich's Battle Against Cheney Not So (Im)Peachy Keen (April 25, 2007)
Identity Theft? Gonzales Might Know Something About That (April 24, 2007)
The In-Crowd Steps Out (April 23, 2007)
Maybe Gonzales Won't Recall His Painful Day on the Hill (April 20, 2007)
Conservative Republicans Starving for a Thompson Run (April 19, 2007)
Even Politicians Couldn't Find Words (April 18, 2007)
Closed-Door Openness at Foggy Bottom (April 17, 2007)
Byrd Doggedly Expresses His Love for Man's Best Friend (April 13, 2007)
Of Stem Cells and Heartstrings (April 12, 2007)
Kerry and Gingrich Hugging Trees -- and (Almost) Each Other (April 11, 2007)
The White House Commemorates a Very Special Day (April 10, 2007)
The Right Dusts Off Its 'Impeach Clinton' Buttons (April 6, 2007)
Pass the Piñata, Please: A Former President Regards the Current One (April 5, 2007)
Political Theater and the Critic in Chief (April 4, 2007)
Taking One for the Team, When He Could Remember (March 30, 2007)
Senate's Bold Proposal for Iraq: Sugar Beets and Rural Schools -- in the U.S. (March 29, 2007)
Defender of the Second Amendment, if Not of His Aide (March 28, 2007)
Alternative Fuels Can't Help a President Who's Lost His Way (March 27, 2007)
Some Heated Words for Mr. Global Warming (March 22, 2007)
Up in Smoke at the High Court (March 20, 2007)
Enter Plame, Stage Left; She Coolly Surveys the Hearing Room (March 17, 2007)
At Candidates Forum, Silence About the War Speaks Volumes (March 15, 2007)
The Grand Elusion (March 14, 2007)
When No News Is Strange News (March 13, 2007)
Candidate Clinton, Embracing the Trite and the True (March 9, 2007)
Too Much, Too Late (March 8, 2007)
Two Generals Provide A Contrast in Accountability (March 6, 2007)
But Did Ginger Rogers Wear Flip-Flops? (March 3, 2007)
From the Fed Chairman, Red Flags and Brown Socks (March 1, 2007)
The White House Gets Neighborly in the Middle East (February 28, 2007)
Giuliani's Mouth Is Running, but His Meter Isn't (February 27, 2007)
Painting Over the Problems at Walter Reed's Building 18 (February 23, 2007)
At Mock Briefing, Less Give-and-Take and More Sharing (February 22, 2007)
The Defense Rests, and Not a Minute Too Soon (February 21, 2007)
As Senate Avoids Debate, Only Statements Are Sartorial (February 18, 2007)
Reluctantly, the Senate's Weekend Warriors (February 16, 2007)
A Man of Many Beliefs Gives a News Conference With Few Answers (February 15, 2007)
For the GOP, Taking the War Out of the War Debate (February 14, 2007)
Star Character Witnesses at Libby Trial (February 13, 2007)
Congress Has So Little to Do, And So Much Time to Do It (February 8, 2007)
Rusty Democrats Unable to Pin Anything on Bremer (February 7, 2007)
The Upshot of the Debate: No Debate (February 6, 2007)
Democrats Control the Hill, but Not Themselves (February 3, 2007)
Wherever a Senator's Question Leads, Kissinger Gamely Follows (February 1, 2007)
Fleischer Handles Questioning in the Usual Fashion (January 30, 2007)
In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR (January 26, 2007)
No Resolution to Biden's Talk Show (January 25, 2007)
Cheney and Pelosi Do the Two-Party Two-Step (January 24, 2007)
Despite 1% Poll Standing, Brownback Is a Winner Among Antiabortion Right (January 23, 2007)
A New Day in Washington, Same as the Old Days (January 19, 2007)
Congressional Procession of Iraq Proposals Likely to Lead Nowhere (January 18, 2007)
It's Never Too Early to Get Defensive (January 17, 2007)
'Prebutters' Ensure Debate Over 'Way Forward' Is Backward (January 11, 2007)
For GOP Senators, Bush's Next Step in Iraq Means a Delicate Dance (January 10, 2007)
At Newsstands Everywhere, the Honorable Beach Babe From Illinois (January 9, 2007)
Reid Takes Center Stage, but He's Hardly the Star of the Show (January 5, 2007)
In the House, Suddenly Righteous Republicans (January 4, 2007)
George W. Bush and the Media: Final Words and Last Laughs (January 3, 2007)
At the Capitol, VIP Roll Call Has Many No-Shows (December 31, 2006)
Having a Loud Microphone, With Not Much to Say (December 21, 2006)
Just Call Him Tony 'I Don't Know' Snow (December 13, 2006)
In Theater of War, It's Iraq Study Group's Turn to Take the Stage (December 7, 2006)
Senators So Very, Very Not Contrary Toward Gates (December 6, 2006)
One War, No Answers (November 30, 2006)
Crowning Majority Leader, Democrats Are All Smiles and Bile (November 17, 2006)
'Redemption' for the Pariah From Pascagoula (November 16, 2006)
McCain to Form Committee To Explore White House Bid (November 13, 2006)
The Thumpees Try Their Luck at the Blame Game (November 9, 2006)
Exit-Poll Withdrawal and Rage at the Machines (November 8, 2006)
When It Comes to Politics, Charlie Cook Has the Prophecy Market Cornered (October 25, 2006)
During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer (October 20, 2006)
Retreating to Small Talk When the News Isn't So Good (October 12, 2006)
Guns Are in Schools but Not in the President's Vocabulary (October 11, 2006)
A Few Conservative Voices Still Speak for the Speaker (October 4, 2006)
On Display at HP Hearing, Many Ways to Say 'Shocking' (September 29, 2006)
109th Congress Gets Props for Creativity, if Nothing Else (September 28, 2006)
For Democrats, Welcome Words on Rumsfeld -- if Not the War (September 26, 2006)
Bush's Bill Suffers a Torturous Day in Committee (September 21, 2006)
This Just In: The Iraq Study Group Has Nothing to Report (September 20, 2006)
The Senator's Gentile Rebuke (September 19, 2006)
Democrats Meander in a New New Direction (September 15, 2006)
A Reprise of the Grand Old Party Line (September 13, 2006)
With 9/11 Film, Kean Finds Tough Critic in Hamilton (September 12, 2006)
Down the Homestretch, the House Wanders Off Course (September 8, 2006)
For Lieberman, the 'I' Stands for 'Ignored' (September 7, 2006)
Do You Have a Question, Pixeleen Minstral? (September 1, 2006)
Schumer Has Seen the Future, and It's Democratic (August 30, 2006)
Pronouncing Blame on the Israel Lobby (August 29, 2006)
Another Day, Another Dozen Apologies From Sen. Allen (August 25, 2006)
The Wagging of the 'Civil' Tongues (August 22, 2006)
In Congress, Lonely on Lebanon (August 16, 2006)
A Growing Separation of Press and State (August 15, 2006)
At Bolton Hearing, Some Unnatural Phenomena (July 28, 2006)
More Q Than A on the Middle East (July 26, 2006)
For One Senate Candidate, the 'R' Is a 'Scarlet Letter' (July 25, 2006)
For Bush and the NAACP, Uneasy Does It (July 21, 2006)
The Man Upstairs Is in the House (July 19, 2006)
Stem Cell Debate Wedges Bush Between a Rock and a Hard Place (July 18, 2006)
A Giant of Journalism Comes Up Short (July 17, 2006)
The Ex-Speakers Speak With One Voice on the Sorry State of Congress (July 13, 2006)
It's Bush's Way or the Highway on Guantanamo Bay (July 12, 2006)
British Foreign Secretary Makes No Waves in Visit Across the Pond (July 11, 2006)
July Sixers Get the Cake; Canadian Gets the Crumbs (July 7, 2006)
Six-Party Talks -- and Half a Dozen Doughnuts (July 6, 2006)