Before the Bush administration launched the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the president laid out a series of reasons the threat required immediate military action. The reasons — all of them — were stunningly wrong. Iraq had not acquired uranium for a nuclear weapon; it did not have vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction; there […]
The Christian Coalition used to be a very serious threat. With a huge budget and a vast army of dedicated conservative activists, the Coalition had the means, clout, and credibility to pursue a fierce religious right agenda. In fact, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that in the mid-1990s, the Christian Coalition was […]
Maybe there’s a good spin for this, but I can’t think of one. While working with Environmental Protection Agency officials to write regulations for coal-fired power plants over several recent months, White House staff members played down the toxic effects of mercury, hundreds of pages of documents and e-mail messages show. The staff members deleted […]
Cobb County, Ga., has already been at the center of some major church-state legal battles in recent years, but it appears it’s going to enjoy the spotlight once again. In 2002, the county adopted a new policy whereby public school administrators would add stickers — the county calls them “disclaimers”; I call “warning labels” — […]
The Washington Post had a tremendous scoop last week, having obtained portions of a speech Condi Rice was scheduled to deliver Sept. 11, 2001. In it, Rice was prepared to explain that the real threats against the United States were not terrorists, but missiles. The NSA believed, at the time, that the Clinton administration had […]
Everyone needs a champion in Congress, fighting for their interests. The House Republican caucus has made it clear that they will take a back seat to no one in standing up for a cause they deeply believe in: more corporate tax breaks. The recent congressional fight over a massive federal transportation bill generally focused on […]
What are we up to now? 18 if my count is right. One week ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Republican officials, led by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, used the Treasury Department to orchestrate GOP talking points on John Kerry’s economic plan. The Treasury tapped civil servants to calculate the cost of Sen. […]
I’m not a big Bill Schneider fan. The CNN political correspondent is obviously conservative — he’s even a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank — and his on-air analysis usually consists of reading poll numbers and making painfully obvious observations. Worse, Schneider has a tendency of saying unusually dumb things about […]
The Republican Party’s problems with civil rights and respect for minorities go way beyond a single offensive GOP lawmaker sparking another racial controversy. Although, one has to admit, there have been plenty of those of late — Trent Lott’s mess, Barbara Cubin comparing African Americans to drug addicts, Cass Ballenger admitting to having “segregationist feelings,” […]
In his March 9 press briefing last month, White House press secretary Scott McClellan was asked whether Condi Rice would be allowed to testify before the 9/11 Commission. McClellan insisted that the Commission hasn’t fully appreciated or respected Rice’s efforts to cooperate in the past. Dr. Rice sat down, was scheduled for I believe a […]