McClellan passes on Keyes endorsement

How bad are things for Alan Keyes in Illinois? The Bush White House, which is usually desperate to help GOP Senate candidates, was offered an opportunity to publicly support Keyes’ campaign yesterday — but instead dodged a question about his candidacy. During yesterday’s press briefing with Scott McClellan, some smart-ass reporter asked about the president’s […]

Bush’s lackadaisical approach to federal tax law

Much has been made of this Bush quote already, but I wanted to add my two cents. “Just remember, when you’re talking about, oh, we’re just going to run up the taxes on a certain number of people — first of all, real rich people figure out how to dodge taxes.” Now if this seems […]

Bush taps Goss for CIA

Less than a month ago, Peter Goss, a former CIA case officer and current chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, was rumored to be Bush’s top choice to replace George Tenet as director of the CIA. Bush aides let it be known that Goss was the frontrunner — while congressional Dems let it […]

White House already has its eye on Rehnquist’s replacement

William Rehnquist turns 80 this year and has already admitted to “thinking about retirement.” And, in case you needed yet another reason to vote for John Kerry in November, here are four very scary words you should consider: Chief Justice Clarence Thomas. This isn’t just some far-right dream; it’s a plan for which Bush’s White […]

The Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan leak

This is a story that’s just starting to reach the big time after a weekend of simmering beneath the surface, but it’s extraordinarily important and deserves far more attention than it’s been receiving. Juan Cole and Kevin Drum have written a number of informative posts on this over the past couple of days and I […]

Remember, this is Bush’s man in Oklahoma

It was bad enough when Oklahoma Senate candidate and former House Rep. Tom Coburn (R) announced he wants to execute physicians for performing a legal medical procedure. “I favor the death penalty,” Coburn said, “for abortionists and other people who take life.” And it wasn’t much better when we learned that the Gun Owners of […]

Waxman has a knack for asking questions Ashcroft doesn’t want to answer

When it comes to Justice Department investigations, the norm is for investigators not to comment publicly on any case, at least while the inquiry is ongoing. With this in mind, it seems odd, to put it mildly, that Ashcroft’s Justice Department has authorized federal officials to speak to Congress about the investigation into Sandy Berger’s […]

If Zell Miller still wants to ‘tar and feather’ Kid Rock, here’s his chance

Kid Rock’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl half-time show infuriated Sen. Zell Miller (R-Ga.) so much, he used it on the Senate floor as an example of the nation’s “deficit of decency.” “[T]he thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he […]

Bush desperately needs a new excuse

I wasn’t planning on returning to this topic, but the White House’s spinning of last month’s abysmal job numbers was so annoying, I can’t let it go. In reality, Bush doesn’t have a lot of options here. His vaunted tax cuts should be, according to White House estimates, producing robust job growth right now. Instead, […]

Hardly a ringing endorsement

Alan Keyes made it official yesterday, announcing his candidacy and offering the kind of sentiment that captures the GOP’s perspective on this race: “I’m not going to stand here and with tremendous ease promise you a victory….” But to get a sense of what key national figures from Illinois, including, say, the Speaker of the […]