Posted by Morbo The recent Supreme Court ruling declaring the execution of juveniles unconstitutional is welcome and long overdue. Still, Morbo finds himself somewhat troubled by part of the reasoning employed by the high court majority. The court spoke of a “national consensus” against juvenile executions and noted that most other nations long ago abolished […]
Posted by Morbo Back when there was a Soviet Union, an angry conservative confronted by an articulate liberal could always whip out this rhetorical trump-card: “I can understand why you support [insert liberal position here]. After all, that’s what they do in Soviet Russia! Maybe you should just move there!” Yes, red-baiting served the right […]
Posted by Morbo Vice President Dick Cheney’s appearance at a late January memorial service at Auschwitz in a goofy green parka and knit hat sparked justifiable outrage. This was a solemn occasion, and here was Cheney looking like he’d wandered in from the set of “Northern Exposure.” What’s worse, Morbo happens to know that Cheney […]
Rod Paige, the Secretary of Education throughout Bush’s first term, earned a reputation for breathtaking incompetence, a lack of influence, and bizarre priorities. His replacement, Margaret Spellings, is bound to be a better cabinet secretary, even if it’s succeeding from the soft bigotry of low expectations, right? Maybe not. Spellings’ first step as the nation’s […]
It wasn’t exactly a full-throated condemnation of misguided environmental policies, but James Baker clearly sounded more reasonable than normal yesterday in gently chastising the Bush administration on global warming. Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, a close ally of the Bush family, broke ranks with the Bush administration on Thursday and called for the […]
The series of twists and turns in the scandal surrounding GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff can get a little a complicated. His outrageous over-billing of Indian tribes seeking to protect their gambling interests is already the subject of multiple investigations, which implicate a series of Republican members of Congress. But new questions are also being raised […]
How can we forget our good friend Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence? As you may recall, eyebrows were raised around the world when media researchers discovered that Bush had asked a man to coordinate our military intelligence in the war on terror who also happened to be an […]
Those of us who believe political discourse has suffered considerably of late usually point to personal acrimony having a poisonous impact. The dearth of apologies makes things worse. Consider Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.), for example, believes American liberals should be on the front lines in Iraq and killed by insurgents. “I say we tell those […]
Over the course of the day, I hear about a variety of campaign-related news items, most of which wouldn’t require a post of their own, but may nevertheless be of interest to political observers. With this in mind, I’ve been thinking about starting a new daily feature in which I cull some of these items […]
The national media remains frustratingly disinterested in a story flush with intrigue — CIA secrets, White House malfeasance, hidden identities, even male prostitution — but congressional Dems are still looking for answers. For two weeks, several Democratic members of Congress have pressed the White House, the Secret Service, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland […]