Like most of Bush’s conservative allies, Fox News Channel is anxious to do its part to undermine Richard Clarke’s credibility. But for an outlet that claims to provide “news,” Fox News’ desperation to help Bush has led to some pretty blatant dishonesty. A reader named Gregory S. alerted me to an FNC report yesterday that […]
Here’s another scandal that needs a name, preferably without a “-gate” suffix. Again, I’m open to suggestion. While the real attention was deservedly on the testimony of Richard Clarke on one end of Capitol Hill yesterday, Medicare actuary Richard Foster had some interesting things to say of his own. In testimony before the House Ways […]
Upon learning that a Tom DeLay fundraising scandal may force him from his House leadership position, it’s tempting to ask, “Which one?” In this case, an investigation into one of the House majority leader’s political action committees — Texans for a Republican Majority — may soon lead to an indictment against him, and in turn, […]
It’s the biggest story in America and a devastating development for Bush, the kind of story that can literally affect the outcome of the presidential campaign. And yet John Kerry, who’s been on vacation, has hardly said a word about Richard Clarke. A careless mistake? A missed opportunity? Neither. Kerry’s reticence not only makes sense, […]
For a political operation that is supposed to stand with some of history’s best, Bush’s machine has had a rough couple of months. Just this year, they’ve crafted a State of the Union address that’s been widely panned, they’ve chosen a manufacturing czar who’s laid off workers and built factories in China, and they’ve rolled […]
My recent list of scandals that prompted formal investigations of Republicans sparked some interest, but an even longer list would include GOP scandals that haven’t been investigated but should be. And near the top of the list would have to be Tom DeLay’s tax-exempt charity, Celebrations for Children. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s low, even […]
In this year’s State of the Union, Bush was still willing to talk about his Medicare plan (at the time, it wasn’t engrossed in scandal). To hear him tell it, some of the provisions would offer cost-saving benefits for seniors. Meeting these goals requires bipartisan effort, and two months ago, you showed the way. By […]
Richard Clarke has been making the rounds quite a bit since Sunday’s 60 Minutes, but since I’m partial to print interviews, I found his discussion with Salon’s Joe Conason particularly helpful. The interview touches on all the major areas of controversy, as you’d expect. But the one thing that jumped out at me was just […]
For years, the very idea of gay soldiers serving their country in the U.S. military was an insane suggestion to conservatives. It’s bad for morale, we were told. It undermines discipline, they said. It damages unit cohesiveness, it was argued. But when push comes to shove, and the military is desperate for volunteers, suddenly those […]
Josh Marshall noted that James Woolsey, the former director of the CIA and an enthusiastic supporter of Bush’s alleged anti-terrorism efforts, was on CNN last night sharing some highly unusual (read: false) ideas. Marshall hadn’t seen the transcript, so I checked it out for myself. Not surprisingly, it’s just as bad as advertised. Keep in […]