First the Bush administration implemented a “stop-loss” program that forced military personnel from leaving active duty, even after they’ve fulfilled their obligations to the military. The back-door draft continued shortly thereafter when the administration recalled troops who have already retired and received honorable discharges, putting these men and women back into service, primarily in Iraq […]
It’s a shame for the families and teachers involved, but examples like these keep piling up. Ken Larson was pacing the floor of his office in a tiny elementary school in Oro Grande, Calif., surrounded by the chaos of fax lines beeping, three beleaguered secretaries peppering him with questions and phone lines ringing for the […]
This may come as a shock to, well, virtually no one, but the United States’ Iraq Survey Group, led by Charles Duelfer who took over for David Kay in January, has concluded what we’ve all believed for a long time: Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction before we invaded. A new report on Iraq’s […]
60 Minutes had a different newsworthy segment this week that had nothing to do with forged memos about a soldier who didn’t meet his responsibilities, but dealt with genuine videos of an actual military officer — Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin. CBS spoke with Boykin, giving him his first nationally televised opportunity to respond to […]
If memory serves, the most common line of attack against the first President Bush in 1992 was that he was “out of touch.” He’d talk about how great the economy was at the time, but people would look at their personal finances and job security and know otherwise. If Bush believed the status quo was […]
I’m a little surprised, frankly, that the Bush campaign’s apparent desire to avoid John Kerry in a debate isn’t a bigger story. Maybe reporters suspect this part of an elaborate ruse, which it very well may be, but I expected the “debate over the debate” to be a bigger story. As it stands now, the […]
I knew Ohio’s Republicans were having some internal troubles, but I don’t think I appreciated the depths of their discontent. Kos discovered yesterday that Grover Norquist, an informal Bush advisor and über-activist among DC’s right-wing elite, had some outrageously negative things to say about Ohio’s inept governor, Republican Bob Taft. (Kos even has an audio […]
Remember Nicole and Jeff Rank? They were the couple who were arrested at a Bush event — on the 4th of July, no less — for wearing T-shirts that criticized the president. (About the same time the Ranks were being dragged away, Bush was reminding the audience, “On this 4th of July, we confirm our […]
In July, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay warned us of what to expect. Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters that he plans to use “jurisdiction stripping” measures to achieve other social policy goals as well. For example, he will push legislation to stop federal courts from hearing lawsuits related to the words “under God” […]
The other day, ABC News’ The Note reported on some comments from Dick Cheney in the wake of the Chechen attack on a school in Belsan, Russia. Try as I might, I don’t know what the vice president was talking about. I’m pretty sure Cheney didn’t know either. Cheney: “Russia of course did not support […]