This seems to be a pattern. Since Bush’s inauguration, there have been consistent instances in which federal agencies, which are supposed to be objective and impartial, have been used for political gain by Bush partisans. Tom DeLay, for example, used civil servants at Bush’s Treasury Department to work up an attack of John Kerry’s tax […]
Speaking of the White House being excessively secretive with materials, the New York Times had a good report today about an intelligence briefing Bush doesn’t want us to see. In light of all the blame directed at the CIA over faulty (read: wrong) intelligence about Iraq, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) thought it’d be interesting to […]
For some inexplicable reason, the Bush campaign seems intent on seeing a tape of a New York fundraiser Kerry held last week. Apparently, Whoopi Goldberg used some profanity and BC04 is worked up about it. Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman repeated his request that the Kerry campaign release a tape of a concert fund-raiser last […]
Josh Marshall noted a disturbing (to put it mildly) quote from Oklahoma Senate candidate and former House Rep. Tom Coburn (R). “I favor the death penalty,” Coburn told the AP last week, “for abortionists and other people who take life.” That’s right, we may soon have a Republican senator who wants to execute physicians for […]
Immediately after John Edwards was named John Kerry’s running mate, the Republicans released an opposition research report noting every negative thing they could think of about Edwards, his beliefs, and his record. As I noted last week, some of the attacks bordered on the bizarre. For instance, the GOP attacked Edwards for opting out of […]
A few months ago, some Republican on Capitol Hill thought he had a brilliant idea. Lawmakers, with significant support from the White House, would push a vote on a constitutional amendment on gay marriage. It was a strategy that had everything the GOP could hope for: it would focus political attention on social issues (and […]
Here’s a funny instance of a misguided press flack choosing the wrong word (via TBogg). “The last sign of a defeated and intellectually bankrupt party is a hate-filled strategy of caricature assassination,” said Jonathan Grella, a DeLay spokesman. (emphasis added) We’re intellectually bankrupt, but he wants to protect caricatures? Sure, I know what he meant, […]
Though it didn’t generate much attention over the July 4 weekend, the New York Times had a very interesting story about a behind-the-scenes deal in which the Bush administration released suspected Saudi terrorists from Gitmo in order to keep some international allies content. American officials agreed to return five terrorism suspects to Saudi Arabia from […]
Read the key section from the now-infamous Newsweek report again. [The Department of Justice] was specifically asked to review a recent letter to Ridge from DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission…. Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge […]
The Constitution’s 12th Amendment explains that a person ineligible for the presidency is also ineligible for the vice presidency. Moreover, whether one agrees with the provision or not, Article 2, Sec. 1, of the Constitution says you have to be a “natural born citizen” to be eligible to seek the presidency, and according to the […]