Yesterday, a Washington Post article noted that Bush is beginning to reach out to one-time allies, but only on his terms. Bush bonds with leaders who see the world as he does, who in his view “get” the war on terrorism, who talk simply and straightforwardly and do not break any private commitments and understandings, […]
I return to this issue only once in a great while, so I hope you’ll forgive a brief (or maybe not so brief) tirade on an issue that doesn’t get a lot of attention. A bipartisan pair of senators — Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) — told the FDA yesterday that the federal […]
The Senate Judiciary Committee hosted an unusually vapid hearing yesterday on “hostility” toward religious expression. It’s a serious topic, but it wasn’t something the committee was approaching with any sincerity. It was pretty obvious — they invited Roy Moore to testify. I realize why this happened. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of Moore’s best buddies, […]
For the last four years, Bush has enjoyed few friends in the mainstream media as reliable as the Washington Post editorial board, particularly regarding the war on terror and the war in Iraq. It’s all the more reason I was surprised by the striking language used in today’s editorial on the administration’s torture policies and […]
My goodness, these guys sure are idiots. As if the last tape of Enron traders boasting of screwing the public wasn’t bad enough, CBS reported yesterday on another one. It’s just as bad. In one tape, an employee says, “You gotta think the economy is going to f——g get crushed, man. This is like a […]
Last week, the Bush White House, which claims to be consistent and unswerving, added to its long list of flip-flops by reversing course on a federal tobacco buyout. This week, it appears the White House is prepared to change its once-firm position on Plan B contraception. To be sure, the administration’s position on emergency contraception […]
Yesterday, I wondered aloud about the unintended consequences of the “Safe Harbor for Churches” plan being pushed by the House GOP. It seemed to me that Republicans might be opening a door wider than they realize. The GOP wants the Bush campaign to manipulate churches as part of a new political machine. I get that. […]
This week’s media revelations about the Bush administration’s belief that the president is above the law in using torture in the war on terror has obviously pushed international prison abuse back on to the front burner. The White House appears to have been caught off guard, because their arguments aren’t making a lot of sense. […]
We learned last week that the Bush campaign was very quietly pushing a new scheme to rope “friendly congregations” into a political machine. It was (and is) a pretty simple plan: BC04 asked congregations nationwide to ignore legal restrictions and distribute Bush campaign literature, register voters, and spread the GOP gospel. An email from Bush’s […]
Before the war in Iraq began, the Bush White House’s diplomatic skills looked pretty ridiculous. The administration bullied our friends, threatened our neighbors, alienated allies, and effectively told the world we just didn’t care what anyone else thought. This quote from the Washington Post almost a year-and-a-half ago is still striking: A senior diplomat from […]