During the presidential campaign, the Bush campaign was relentless in attacking John Kerry for his willingness to alter the Patriot Act. One of the campaign’s first ads featured a female voiceover darkly warning voters about Kerry’s agenda, charging, “On the war on terror: weaken the Patriot Act used to arrest terrorists and protect America.” A […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Former Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse made it official yesterday, announcing his campaign against Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R). Whitehouse cited the need for another Dem in the Senate to “fight back” […]
Ever since John Danforth wrote that devastating New York Times op-ed last week, I’ve been waiting to see whether he’s forced to take it all back. (I keep seeing the image of Karl Rove leaving a horse head in his bed….) It would be pretty ordinary at this point. Conservatives who have crossed paths with […]
This seems like the kind of email that would be included in a comprehensive, “independent” report on intelligence failures before the war in Iraq. The CIA had evidence that Curveball was a shameless fabricator months before Secretary of State Colin Powell cited the Iraqi’s reports before the United Nations. But in the Feb. 4, 2003, […]
For years, taking on Tom DeLay in his home district was a thankless, futile task. When a powerful lawmaker climbs the political ladder, amasses huge sums of money, and represents a district that shares his or her ideology, there’s not much of a point in mounting a serious challenge. Before 2004, DeLay’s closest race ever […]
Bush has a habit of finding uniquely unqualified people to fill administration posts (tapping a man who wants to eliminate the U.N. to be the U.N. ambassador, for example), but tapping Pete Coors to be the next ambassador to Canada seems like an almost-comedic choice. (Thanks to B.A. for the tip) Coors, who lost his […]
Just to follow up on John Cornyn’s madness for a moment, I think it’s interesting to see the way in which the traditional, almost stereotypical, philosophies about how the left and right look at wrong-doing have almost completely reversed. For the better part of my lifetime, the right looked at evil in stark and absolute […]
I know that every blog with a pulse had this yesterday, but I don’t care. It’s a comment that’s so stunning, it speaks volumes about the lawmaker who said it and the party that encourages such twisted thinking. Senator John Cornyn: “I don’t know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some […]
For anyone interested, I’ll be doing a nationally-syndicated radio show this afternoon, talking about the latest news from the world of politics. The show is “Culture Shocks,” hosted by the always-great Barry Lynn. I’ll be on from 5 to 6 Eastern. (Regular readers may notice that this will be my fifth appearance on the program. […]
In one sense, I should admire and treasure the few sincere Republican centrists left. They’ve largely been run out of their party on a rail, so perhaps it’d be wise to cut them considerable slack and support their efforts to drag their party back away from the right-wing fringe. In truth, I’d like to. I’d […]