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: * Hoping to clamp down on rumor’s, U2’s Bono used an associate to publicly explain the band’s concerts are not being used to support any candidates. Political figures from both sides of the […]
Bloomberg reported today that former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) believes the party’s schism over the Harriet Miers nomination threatens the Republicans’ control of Congress. “This will be the demise of the majority, sadly enough,” Simpson said. Overdramatic? It’s probably a little too soon to say, but National Review’s Byron York offers a terrific behind-the-scenes look […]
There is some irony in the new White House line of attack against its critics. As opposition to Harriet Miers’ Supreme Court nomination picks up, top Bush aides — including Ed Gillespie and Laura Bush — have thrown around the “sexism” charge. The fact that it’s not true seems to be irrelevant. As Jonathan Chait […]
Matt Scully, a White House speechwriter in Bush’s first term, wrote a passionate defense of Harriet Miers in a New York Times op-ed today. Inadvertently, however, Scully may have raised yet another reason to worry about Miers’ Supreme Court nomination. White House speechwriters first learned the name Harriet Miers in January 2001, when drafts started […]
The FDA has been burdened by a series of debacles in recent years, but from a political perspective, few have been as embarrassing as the agency’s inability to do anything right with regards to Plan B contraception. Nearly two years ago, an FDA advisory panel voted 23 to 4 to approve over-the-counter access to this […]
I have to admit, I was surprised to see the media smack the White House around with unusual ferocity for the Bush gang’s scripted videoconference with troops in Iraq. We’ve seen these “Bubble Boy” problems before, but reporters acted fed up yesterday. I think there’s a good reason for the change. To fully appreciate just […]
Bush participated this morning in a video teleconference with U.S. troops in Tikrit, Iraq. Amazingly, everyone stayed on-message. One could be forgiven for giving in to cynicism and thinking that maybe the White House scripted the whole thing and the teleconference was an excuse for another war-president photo op. Except, it wouldn’t be cynical, it’d […]
Sidney Blumenthal said something yesterday about the Plame scandal that got me thinking. From the steakhouses of the lobbyists to the cloakrooms of the Senate, from book launch parties to news bureaus, the main subject in Washington is who will be indicted and when. It’s a common sentiment; people I know in DC tell me […]
The Rocky Mountain News ran a widely-cited article recently suggesting that James Dobson’s support for Harriet Miers is less than solid. I’m not so sure. Here’s the newspaper account: “Lord, you know I don’t have the wisdom to make this decision,” Dobson said. “You know that what I feel now and what I think is […]
Almost exactly a year ago, Kevin Drum noted a Cornell study that highlighted a point many of us suspected throughout the campaign: whenever the government would issue a terrorist warning, Bush’s poll support got a bump. The full report is here, and the basic result is simple: a terror warning leads to an average increase […]