I have some friends on Capitol Hill who speak highly of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. Maybe it’s just because he’s a step up from his predecessor, and better than Bush’s original choice for the job (remember Bernie Kerik?), but even Dems tell me this guy is generally on the ball. That said, after about […]
Despite earlier reports that Congress would not reconvene to address emergency funding for the Gulf Coast, lawmakers are poised to pass a $10-billion bill today. Good. And while I’m pleased to see Congress respond, I can’t help but notice that Speaker Hastert’s office seems a little confused. Just 48 hours ago, Roll Call reported that […]
I realize that the devastation in the Gulf Coast has not brought the rest of the world, even the political world, to a stop. But in light of the ongoing, almost slow-motion calamity, you’d think the Republican National Committee would have better sense that to send this out to its list yesterday afternoon. For the […]
It’s not often CNN drops its niceties on the air, so when it does, it’s noteworthy. CNN anchor Jack Cafferty, for example, expressed his disgust with what he’s seen as a widespread governmental failure in response to Hurricane Katrina. “I got to tell you something. We got five or six hundred letters before the show […]
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan hosted his first formal press briefing in a month today. I’ll give you one guess what the press corps wanted to discuss. There was, however, one exchange that stood out. Q: Scott, there’s already a line of discussion going on about the funding of projects prior to this, whether […]
I’m curious, can anyone think of a time the president was faced with an immediate crisis to which he rose to the occasion? Ever? When given an intelligence briefing that told him, “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US,” Bush barely blinked and decided not to cut short his month-long vacation. When told on 9/11 […]
In the last post, I tried to summarize what we’ve learned this week about steps Bush took — or, in this case, didn’t take — in advance of the devastation of the Gulf Coast. Now let’s consider the president’s performance after disaster struck. I think it’s safe to say it’s been a less-than-inspiring show of […]
In the midst of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, there are two equally-important but completely independent ways of considering the president’s performance — what he did before the disaster and what he did after it. Let’s first look at the prior. The devastation that we’re seeing is not in any way unexpected. On Good Morning America […]
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: * The White House actively recruited Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) to take on Harry Reid last year, but Gibbons wasn’t interested — he has a different race in mind. Yesterday, Gibbons announced he […]
How bad are the conditions in New Orleans? This bad. “This is mass chaos,” said Sgt. Jason Defess, 27, a National Guard military policeman who had been stationed on a ramp outside the Superdome since Monday. “To tell you the truth, I’d rather be in Iraq,” where he was deployed for 14 months, until January. […]