Just as a rule, you know you’re in trouble when the sentence begins, “We were not lying, but…” In the months of build-up towards war in Iraq, the White House seemed to have trouble maintaining a consistent argument as to why the invasion was necessary. First, the administration hinted that Iraq was somehow involved in […]
If you’re ever in the mood to see dozens of professional adults transform into wild-eyed madmen before your very eyes, walk into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and say two words: Ralph Nader. The 2000 election was almost three years ago and far more attention is now being spent on finding the right […]
I know it can’t be easy for Bush to try and generate public demand for his tax cut plan. Even voters with a passive familiarity with current events know that the U.S. is running huge deficits, government programs are getting cut, and unless they’re pretty wealthy, they don’t have much more money in their pocket […]
As political conventions of the last century have gone, there’s a predictable pattern. Both parties select a host city about two years before the convention and then schedule the events for the summer preceding the November election. The party that doesn’t have the White House goes first, usually a couple of weeks before the party […]
The firestorm surrounding Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-Pa.) comments equating homosexuality with polygamy, bigamy, and incest is continuing today, with all the predictable players making all the expected announcements. Santorum still thinks he’s right, the religious right wants the GOP to do more to rally to his defense, and the left is still angry. But thanks […]
The more I think about the foreign policy divisions within the Bush administration, the more I believe it is without precedent in American history. As the LA Times noted today, it’s not unusual for there to be criticism from GOP hawks against a more moderate State Department. In the 1950s, Secretary of State Dean Acheson […]
Gary Kamiya, executive editor of Salon, should have had a hunch he was going to stir up some controversy, but he wrote what he was thinking anyway. On April 11, just two days after Saddam Hussein’s government was driven from Baghdad, Kamiya wrote a provocative article about Iraqi “liberation” and the celebrating going on in […]
Yesterday I noted that Marc Racicot, chairman of the Republican National Committee, was making an effort to reach out to gay voters, telling the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay group, that the GOP has a “commitment to inclusion.” I think Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) missed Racicot’s memo. As you’ve probably heard by […]
I’m a huge fan on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” As political satire goes, it doesn’t get any funnier than this show. Stewart does little to hide the fact that he’s a liberal, but the show isn’t about leftist propaganda, it’s a daily parody of the news and the media that reports it. […]
There are about a half-dozen serious Democratic candidates considering a run for California’s governorship in 2006, and in left-leaning state like California, each has a pretty good chance at becoming governor. One of the early favorites is California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who’s developed a strong reputation on criminal justice issues in the state. And […]