I can appreciate the awkwardness the administration must feel when it comes to their enormous, record-breaking budget deficits. The president ran in 2000 on a platform that not only called for a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution, but insisted that deficits were “dangerous” for the economy. Once in office, inheriting the largest-ever surplus from his […]
The political world couldn’t help but laugh when comments Bush made in April 2004 started making the rounds yesterday in which the president said “a wiretap requires a court order” even when “we’re talking about chasing down terrorists,” because, as Bush described it, “we value the Constitution.” We may be in a post-9/11 era, the […]
The outcome wasn’t entirely unexpected, but the Senate vote on spending cuts for low-income families was depressing nevertheless. The Senate narrowly passed a $40 billion budget-cutting bill today, with Vice President Cheney casting the deciding vote after the chamber split 50-50 on the measure. Taking his seat as president of the Senate after cutting short […]
Some have suggested, inside the White House and out, that the debate over Bush’s warrantless-spying program is partisan in nature. Bush wants to sidestep judicial oversight while eavesdropping on phone calls and Dems and their liberal allies aren’t happy about. This misses the fact that plenty on the right are plenty concerned about what’s transpired. […]
It’s always good news when Congress and the president can agree, with strong bi-partisan support, on legislation that will improve medical research. But it’s worth taking a moment to realize that yesterday’s bill signing on “stem-cell” legislation is not quite what it seems to be. President Bush signed legislation to establish a national databank of […]
As nearly every White House talking point offered as a response to the warrantless-search controversy falls apart after a moment’s reflection, the Bush gang appears to be running out of things to say. This is particularly true when it comes to congressional oversight. It’s an important part of the debate. As I mentioned yesterday, the […]
During his press conference on Monday, the president fielded a series of questions about his NSA domestic surveillance program, prompting Bush to emphasize the fact that the spying was directed at international discussions. “…I want to make clear to the people listening that this program is limited in nature to those that are known al […]
A month ago, Michael Scanlon, Tom DeLay’s former press secretary and Jack Abramoff’s business partner, struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors, sending shockwaves of fear throughout the Republican establishment. Shortly thereafter, Adam Kidan, another Abramoff business partner, also came to a plea agreement. A week later, Tony Rudy, whom Abramoff from DeLay’s office, apparently […]
The White House insists there’s nothing wrong with the president sidestepping the law and spying within the United States without seeking a judge’s approval. One of the judges who’s been signing off on secret warrants clearly disagrees. A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of […]
Over the weekend, Dick Cheney said Bush’s NSA surveillance program “might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11,” had it been in place at the time. Today, Cheney dropped the pretense and said spying on Americans on American soil without a warrant has literally been a lifesaver. Cheney said the program had “saved […]