Fox News ran an interesting item yesterday on the decline in the number of applicants to the U.S. military academies. The stunning part was to see Fox News go to great lengths to avoid the real cause for the drop. (Thanks to reader D.S. for the tip.) Obviously, this is a real problem. All four […]
It seems hard to believe, but it’s starting to seem as if Arnold Schwarzenegger is about as scandal prone as the president. A month ago, it was a controversy surrounding Schwarzenegger’s decision to take millions from an industry to represent their interests and then vetoing a bill in order to help the same industry. Two […]
When TV preacher Pat Robertson goes on national television every day to spew nonsense, he does so on a network owned and operated by ABC/Disney. In light of this week’s events, some are beginning to suggest that arrangement end. If only it were that simple. “Robertson’s vitriol is not appropriate for children, or for anyone […]
I can just imagine Karl Rove turning on the cable news stations yesterday, hoping to gauge how well his week-long offensive in defense of the war in Iraq is going, and finding that the only thing anyone wants to talk about is a crazed TV preacher — and close Bush/Rove ally — who’s created an […]
For reasonable people, this should be an easy one, but for the Bush gang it may have been a tough call — do you blast an ally who happens to be stark raving mad or do you tacitly support a foreign leader you’ve hated for years. In this case, we have TV preacher Pat Robertson […]
One of the many areas for concern with the new Iraqi constitution, when there’s an Iraqi constitution, is how the law will respect the rights of women. Fears that women will be second-class citizens are clearly justified, given what we’ve seen in recent days. Under a deal brokered Friday by the American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, […]
In reading the text of Bush’s speech yesterday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ national convention, the specificity didn’t exactly stand out as noteworthy, but apparently it was supposed to be a big deal. “We have lost 1,864 members of our Armed Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 223 in Operation Enduring Freedom. Each of […]
It’s par for the course, but White House spin-doctor extraordinaire Trent Duffy ran yesterday’s press gaggle aboard Air Force One and made one of those comments that offers insight into the Bush worldview. Q: Is the White House concerned about the protests that are planned in Salt Lake City today? Duffy: The President addressed that […]
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: * Sen. Linc Chafee (R-R.I.) is a top Dem target for 2006, but before former Rhode Island Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse (D) gets his shot, Chafee appears poised for a primary fight. As […]
Reports that researchers have developed a technique to turn ordinary skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells were front-age news yesterday, and with good cause. It’s a tremendous scientific achievement that holds great promise. But in terms of the ongoing debate over federal stem-cell policy, it doesn’t mean a thing. The political […]