Sometimes, it’s just painful to read such abject nonsense. Looking back over the past four years, [Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld] acknowledged that the two biggest mistakes or misjudgments that had been made — though not necessarily by him — were the failure to discover any prohibited weapons in Iraq (“that’s clearly a disappointment”) and a […]
Atrios uncovered a doozy today. At an event in Iowa yesterday, Bush invited Mike and Sharla Hintz to serve as an example of the typical, hard-working American family that has benefited from a series of tax cuts aimed at the wealthy. Mr. Hintz seemed particularly enthusiastic. Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, […]
The fact that Treasury Secretary John Snow will soon be forced out is no longer in question; speculation now turns to his replacement. The New York Times focused attention yesterday on Bush’s right-hand man (not Cheney, the other right-hand man). President Bush has decided to replace John W. Snow as treasury secretary and has been […]
I realize Bush’s confidence in his own superiority is obvious, but it’s still amazing to hear that he doesn’t even understand how people could disagree with some of his more controversial positions. A brief question laden with incredulity foreshadowed George W. Bush’s determination to sell missile defence directly to Canadians and taught Prime Minister Paul […]
I guess Porter Goss hasn’t quite figured out how to stop embarrassing leaks that make his boss look bad. A classified cable sent by the Central Intelligence Agency’s station chief in Baghdad has warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and may not rebound any time soon, according to government officials. The cable, sent […]
Following up on a guest post from last week, Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s (R) decision to stop state employees from communicating with a newspaper he doesn’t like has led to an interesting lawsuit. The Baltimore Sun filed suit against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland on Friday, asserting that he violated the paper’s First […]
About two weeks ago, Kevin Drum noted an interesting observation from Mark Hertsgaard about an effective political opposition to Bush in his second term. “History doesn’t give us much evidence [of the press being tougher on a president in his second term],” says author Mark Hertsgaard. “Look at the Reagan era. The media certainly didn’t […]
Once again, Bush seems to be confused about his friends in Pakistan. From an Oval Office event over the weekend with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, by way of Noam Scheiber: “One of the interesting lessons that the world can look at is Pakistan. You see, there are some in the world who do not believe […]
This wasn’t the biggest political story of the weekend, but I found it amusing. When he addressed the annual awards dinner of American Banker, the trade newspaper, at the New York Palace Hotel last Wednesday, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts had one question: “At the level of pay that those of you who run banks […]
The NYT had an interesting item today about the sophisticated marketing strategy the Bush campaign used in targeting its audience. Reading it, you realize that these guys, misguided though they may be, are good at what they do. My friend PWalker, however, noted one tidbit from the article that warrants additional attention. The data also […]