Senate Republicans stole computer files from Dems for a year

It seemed a little odd at first. In November, the Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News’ Sean Hannity suddenly “obtained” an unsent memo from Democrats on the Senate Judciary Committee. The memos proved slightly embarrassing, documenting how and why Dem senators were working with progressive political organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund […]

I’m glad someone is tenacious about the Plame Game scandal

While I’m sure the White House would love nothing more than to see Congress, the Justice Department, and everyone else forget all about the illegal leak of an undercover CIA agent, the story is nevertheless managing to stay in the news. The New York Times reported today that a group of former CIA agents, who […]

We can make the tax cuts permanent, and we might halve the deficit, but we can’t do both

Going through Bush’s State of the Union address, it’s hard to pick out the single most deceptive and cynical manipulation of the truth. There’s just so much to choose from. But in light of some excellent analysis from Kevin Drum, I think there’s some consensus building around this: “Unless you act, Americans face a tax […]

Kerry enjoys post-Iowa bump in New Hampshire, while Dean is fading fast

A month ago, a Zogby poll in New Hampshire was released, showing Howard Dean in the lead with a whopping 42%, Kerry a distant second at 12%, and Clark in single digits at 9%. At the time, I foolishly said, “The question isn’t whether Dean will win, it’s how much he’ll win by.” (Note to […]

Bush shoots and misses with SOTU

Speaking of the State of the Union, Bush appears to have missed a key opportunity Tuesday night. Presidents usually use the SOTU, particularly in an election year, to lay out a popular agenda that puts the opposition on the defensive and strikes a chord with the public. Bush appears to have done the opposite this […]

Still trying to figure out what ‘program activities’ are

I saw this, thought it was hilarious, and decided to share it with you. Addressing the WMD issue in the State of the Union the other night, Bush said the following: “[T]he Kay report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations.” […]

Why did Dean lose in Iowa?

I talked a bit yesterday about how Dean fell apart in Iowa, but I wanted to expand a bit on figuring out why he did so poorly. It’s no trivial matter — if Dean can fix his problems, he can still recover and win the nomination; if not, he’s toast. On paper, Howard Dean seemed […]

Where does all that money go?

Slate’s Explainer feature, usually written by Brendan Koerner, raised a really interesting question yesterday: Where do campaign war chests go when candidates quit? I’ve always wondered about that, but never knew the details. Dick Gephardt, for example, withdrew yesterday with millions of dollars left his campaign accounts. Even after paying off some debts, he’s still […]

Dean retools his message, but concedes a little too much

I got an interesting email from the Dean campaign this morning with a decidedly different message and tone from the ones sent out the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses. I noticed two changes, one positive and the other misguided. First, Dean’s email dropped a lot of the divisive rhetoric that has marked his […]

Lieberman’s secret plan to outsmart Karl Rove

Joe Lieberman’s presidential campaign, if you can call it that, is getting increasingly less coherent as time goes on. Yesterday, ABC News’ The Note noticed that Lieberman’s team has a new pitch to convince voters that he’s the man to challenge Bush in November. “After telling voters about their Clear Choices and the Third and […]