Why Did We Attack Iraq Again?

Guest Post by Zoe Kentucky I know we’ve been given more reasons than we can remember, but the the most prominent justification has become this– to help spread freedom and democray in the Middle East, right? Not surprisingly that one isn’t quite true either. Apparently our true goal was to turn a secular government into […]

(Not) Blowing Hot Air

——————————————- Zoe Kentucky here, the East Coast blogger in da’ house, writing anonymously from Washington, DC. I have a background in progressive politics and I know far too much about America’s theocratic right. (I’ve been studying them for half of my life.) I’m not in the mood for a lengthy introduction, so I’m just going […]

Good Morning All You East Coast Liberals

Guest Post by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver As Michael Crowley, who’s guest-blogging for Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo said this past Monday, “I know that discovering a guest blogger at your favorite site can be like showing up at a ball game to find the star player benched with a pulled hamstring.” But then, […]

Be nice to the subs

I’m going to be away from my computer today and tomorrow, so I won’t be able to post anything. I have, however, arranged for some guest posters: Zoe Kentucky from Demagogue, Michael J.W. Stickings from The Reaction, and Thomas McKelvey Cleaver from That’s Another Fine Mess. One is on the east coast, one is on […]

It’s the war, stupid

A new Harris poll is out, and it, like every other poll in recent weeks, shows a steep decline in public support for the president. President Bush’s job approval ratings are at their lowest point of his presidency as only 40% of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of his job performance and 58% have […]

Robertson claims to have been ‘misinterpreted’

I don’t mean to belabor this point, but as someone who’s combated Pat Robertson’s efforts for nearly 10 years, I’m having too much fun with this. It appears that Robertson has finally come up with a response to the controversy surrounding his comments about assassinating Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: we heard him wrong. As Media […]

It depends on what the meaning of ‘vacation’ is

This one, by way of our friends at Think Progress, would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. Apparently, the White House is a little sensitive about the fact that Bush routinely takes time off and recently broke the record for most vacation days for a president (Reagan took 335 days off; Bush sailed past […]

Objectivity has no role in government data

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: respected government official gets demoted for being objective, while another official gets promoted for sticking to the Bush script. It’s happened yet again. The Bush administration is replacing the director of a small but critical branch of the Justice Department, months after he complained that senior political officials […]

Wednesday’s political round-up

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: * Gov. George Pataki (R-N.Y.) is not seeking re-election, so he’s starting to tout his would-be Republican successors. Yesterday, Pataki praised Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue as someone who would make “an excellent candidate” […]

Pentagon sloganeering — on gravestones

I realize that the Bush gang has a stronger affinity for message development than, well, anyone. These guys live and breathe political propaganda. I only wish they’d leave gravestones alone. For Bush’s message machine, there is no “Afghanistan war”; there’s “Operation Enduring Freedom.” It’s not the “Iraq war”; it’s “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” If you develop […]