Rice to testify in public, under oath

Just minutes ago, the White House announced that NSA Condi Rice will testify before the 9/11 Commission, thus caving to intense political pressure. This, in many ways, was inevitable. The alleged “compromise” the White House was floating never made any sense, and with so many public officials — including Republicans — insisting that the reasons […]

Dems finally get a serious Senate candidate in Georgia

As difficult as it’s been to deal with the multiple Dem Senate retirements in the South, one by one, the party has picked up the slack with some strong candidates. What once looked like a disaster (losing five Dems seats to the GOP and destroying any chance of us taking back the Senate majority) now […]

How Frist’s bluster turned to silence in a hurry

Every step of the way, the GOP has been one step behind on Richard Clarke. That said, in a controversy that has made a lot of Republicans look awfully foolish, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) may have carved out a uniquely embarrassing place for himself on Friday. Frist, relying heavily on a prepared text […]

So much for the ‘bear traps’ awaiting Kerry on the Senate floor

The Republicans thought they had it all figured out. As a sitting senator running for president, Kerry could be placed in a very tough spot if the GOP majority stacked the Senate schedule with controversial bills. If Kerry voted against the measures, they’d tar him as an out-of-touch liberal. If he voted for them, he […]

Kudos to Tom Daschle

Last week I mentioned how encouraging it was to see Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) speak out so frequently and fervently on a variety of issues in which he disagrees with the White House. Today I’d like to extend a similar thanks to Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). On its face, this may seem silly. Daschle is […]

As if Roy Moore wasn’t bad enough, now his attorney wants in on the game

Everyone already knows that our favorite theocrat, former Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore, is weighing a run for president. What I didn’t know is that one of his lawyers has political ambitions of his own. The AP reported late last week that Phillip Jauregui, a Birmingham attorney representing ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore, told […]

Richard Clarke’s take on the war on terror after 9/11

If you missed Richard Clarke on Meet the Press yesterday, you missed a clinic on how to spurn the GOP smear machine. Here was a credible, experienced public servant offering a point-by-point response to each of the baseless attacks, and just importantly, highlighting the underlying purpose of Bush’s character assassination — distracting attention away from […]

Bush believes mixing religion and politics is great, unless Kerry does it

John Kerry’s appearance yesterday at the New North Side Baptist Church in St. Louis seemed to go well. While his campaign rhetoric tends to deal far more with policy than piety, Kerry did what most candidates do when they appear in a house of worship — he laid out his principles in a religious context. […]