There are plenty of stories and commentaries out there highlighting why one issue or another hasn’t been receiving the necessary attention at the Democratic National Convention. In general, I find these rather pointless — Dems have crafted a fairly broad message, but it can’t include everything. If your pet issue gets left off the game […]
Sibel Edmonds’s plight is not only getting some needed attention after a long wait, she is also finally receiving some public vindication. Her lawsuit against the FBI, as you may recall, was quickly quashed by Ashcroft’s Justice Department, allegedly for national security purposes. (If you don’t recall the details about Edmonds, here’s some background.) Edmonds […]
Last night, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm laid out the case against Bush’s handling of the economy in a pretty good speech. “In the end, American families are getting doubly squeezed. While income is down, expenses are up.” If anything, Granholm was understating the case. As the New York Times reported today, under Bush’s stewardship of […]
Before talking about Bush’s latest deficit numbers, let’s take a stroll down memory lane to review what Bush has said about deficits in the past. For example, here was Bush on August 23, 1997: “All Republicans believe in a fiscally sound government. American families balance their budgets and pay their bills, and the federal government […]
I noticed yesterday that the AP carried a feed that used some pretty unforgiving language to describe John Kerry’s former rivals for the Democratic nomination. The headline read, “Losers fall in line behind party’s choice.” Here’s the lede: Loser by loser, the candidates who wanted to be where John Kerry is now paraded across the […]
OK, I was wrong about this. I thought Jack Ryan might hang around long enough to actually stay on the ballot in Illinois and challenge Barack Obama for the state’s Senate seat. Instead, Ryan finally dropped out today. Republican Jack Ryan officially withdrew from the U.S. Senate race Thursday, nearly five weeks after a sex […]
I know I’m behind on this one, but it’s a story that seemed to slip through the cracks the past few days. The federal Government Printing Office has ordered libraries across the country to destroy five US Department of Justice pamphlets that provide how-to instructions on prosecuting asset forfeiture cases, invoking a rarely-used authority to […]
Some guys just can’t catch a break. And other guys clearly don’t deserve one. TV preacher Jerry Falwell’s recent efforts to help Republican candidates, through his tax-exempt religious ministry, has already sparked controversy. My friends at Americans United uncovered his shenanigans and exposed Falwell’s blatant abuse. “For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this […]
The Dems had issued a stern warning to nearly everyone: keep the party’s message positive and the Bush-bashing to a minimum. So it was a surprise to many that on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after the festivities began in Boston, a respected U.S. senator offered a harsh critique of the president and his handling […]
I’ve never fully understood what makes a convention “good” by the standards of conventional wisdom. Journalists bemoan scripted and overly-choreographed events that seem more like infomercials than political gatherings, and yet, these same journalists praise conventions that put on a good show, hit the right scripted notes, present a united front for the cameras, and […]