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: * If scandal-ridden Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) runs for re-election, as he claims he will, he’ll have to deal with a primary challenge for the first time in his career. Businessman George Schwartzman, […]
There have been a number of excellent responses from Dems on the Hill to the Rove scandal, but one stands out for me. Harry Reid said, “The White House promised if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration. I trust they will follow through on this […]
Clearly, the White House has been rattled by the Rove/Plame scandal, but let’s also take a moment to note how unconcerned they are by the seriousness of the last important presidential scandal: Iran-Contra. In 1987, Robert L. Earl told a grand jury that he had destroyed and stolen national security documents while working for Lt. […]
With Karl Rove’s Plame scandal finally hitting the big time, Republicans are taking a wait-and-see approach. They’re inclined to stand by him, but they don’t want to get caught supporting a guy who’s going to be fired, or worse, indicted. There was, however, one interesting response yesterday from one of the few high-profile party officials […]
If you’ve seen yesterday’s White House press briefing, you know that this wasn’t the usual give-and-take between Scott McClellan and the press corps. The reporters seemed … what’s the word … angry. There’s been ample speculation about what finally prompted change from these guys, especially since they were so disinterested in the Plame scandal last […]
It’s nice to see the last two reporters who helped bring down a corrupt presidency weigh in on the latest scandal to burden a different corrupt presidency. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein appeared together on CNN yesterday afternoon, in part to promote their new book on Mark Felt and Watergate. But, in light of current […]
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan took questions from reporters twice today, once in an informal gaggle this morning, and again in the formal briefing room this afternoon. Those of us who’ve lamented the fact that the WH press corps was negligent in following up on the Plame scandal last week have nothing to complain […]
One angle to the Plame scandal that I’ve always wondered about is what Karl Rove told everyone else at the White House. When Scott McClellan, for example, said he had spoken directly to Rove, and learned he was “not involved” with “the leaking of classified information,” was McClellan lying to the press corps or was […]
So, Social Security privatization is dead, right? Dems won’t stand for it, Republicans are running from it, the political world has moved on to Supreme Court speculation, and the White House lacks the ability to get his plan approach through Congress. Any chance Republicans would be foolish enough to bring a privatization scheme to the […]
It doesn’t happen often, but Bob Novak actually wrote a terrific column today, highlighting the injustice that led Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) to lose his position as chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. During an official Fourth of July celebration at the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Secretary of Veterans […]