There are several elements of this story we already know for sure. While Bush’s Medicare bill was pending in Congress, the administration told lawmakers the plan would cost $400 billion. Medicare’s chief actuary knew that was false, but was told to hide the true estimates. Congress passed the bill and a few weeks later, the […]
I realize Nick Kristof’s New York Times column from Saturday has touched off a broader blog discussion about how Democrats should approach religious voters, but I want to step back and look at the column itself. There’s a good point in there somewhere, but it’s shrouded in a lot of inanity. If liberals demand that […]
I’m taking only my second day off of the year today. Sorry. But to make up for it, I’m still posting my every-Friday feature — your favorite and mine — Poll Day. As always, these state-by-state poll results were released within the last seven days. See you Monday. California (55 electoral votes) LA Times — […]
There are several big items in the media today about the Bush administration diverting $700 million from appropriations meant for the war Afghanistan and spending it to prepare for our invasion of Iraq. This controversy really seems to be going somewhere. First up, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon is more-or-less admitting that […]
It’s a 51-49 Senate, so compromise has to rule the day, right? Wrong. Dems may be one seat shy of parity, but they’ve been completely shut out of the legislative process by Republicans who — with control of both chambers of Congress and the White House — are in no mood to negotiate. So Dems […]
Bush spoke to a large gathering of newspaper editors, publishers, and executives yesterday, and admitted what everyone already knew. The whole issue of questions from the audience at the Associated Press annual luncheon was a running joke for the president during his talk. He opened his speech by saying, “I kind of like ducking questions,” […]
This may be misplaced optimism, but I still have hope that the Plame Game scandal will play a major role in this year’s campaign. Sure, there are a rash of other Bush-related scandals swirling around the White House — the $700 million diversion, the Bandar deal, the ignored al Queda warnings, the WMD, the lies […]
Just a couple of weeks before the invasion of Iraq began, Bush shared the neo-con fantasy about a 21st-century domino theory for the Middle East: “A liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region, by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions… The world has a clear interest […]
One last thing about the non-story surrounding Kerry’s military records. An email tip from an alert reader, B.W., noticed that the Bush campaign prepared a bizarre attack on Kerry’s handling of the issue, culminating with this statement: When Asked By Tim Russert On “Meet The Press” (2/8/04) To Release All His Records, The President Did […]
Over the last several days, the Bush campaign and the RNC made John Kerry’s military records out to be an incredibly important set of documents, crucial to the coming election. Any hesitation or hint of reluctance on the part of the Kerry campaign about this was effectively waving a red flag in front of an […]