Over the last few weeks, the Bush White House has used, aggressively, the one remaining tool in their political arsenal: the bully pulpit. Americans have seen Bush deliver relatively high-profile speeches on Iraq, repeating, mantra-like, the idea that we’re winning the war and the effort is worth the sacrifice. There’s a certain segment of the […]
It may seem like wonky, insider talk to criticize congressional Republicans for procedural mischief, but the way GOP lawmakers run Congress says a great deal about their respect for the institution, its rules, and its power. For example, Kevin noted this Roll Call article, which highlights how Republicans dealt with a conference report. Shortly before […]
In the Scopes trial in 1925, creationists were thrilled to see John Scopes convicted. In what some have labeled “Scopes II,” opponents of modern science won’t be nearly as pleased. A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled today that a public school district in the central part of the state cannot require the inclusion of “intelligent […]
Last year, Bush wanted to ease public concerns about civil liberties in the post-9/11 era, so he emphasized the significance of court orders (via Atrios). “[T]here are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court […]
It was only a matter of time before Bush’s warrantless-search program, and the administration’s admission that it violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, led some of the president’s more aggressive congressional critics to start openly discussing the “I” word, among other options. Here’s a sampling of what Dems on the Hill were saying yesterday: * […]
A key part of the administration’s defense for the scandal of Bush’s support for warrantless searches is the idea of oversight. Sure, Bush officials concede, there was never any judicial oversight as the law requires, but there was legislative oversight, which as far as they’re concerned, makes the program less problematic. On Meet the Press […]
If you haven’t seen it, be sure to check out Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter’s online-only piece on the scandal he’s calling “Bush’s Snoopgate.” Alter has two compelling observations. The first is a brief behind-the-scenes look at what transpired about a week before the New York Times broke the story on the NSA surveillance program. Apparently, Bush […]
Last Wednesday, we learned that the Pentagon has spied on law-abiding, anti-war protestors. On Friday, we learned about Bush’s program of warrantless searches through the NSA. Today, it’s the FBI and controversial activist groups. Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups […]
As you’d probably expect, there were more than a few questions about the NSA’s warrantless-spying program at the president’s press conference this morning. If there was even one substantive response to fairly specific questions, it was hiding well. For example, one reporter asked Bush why he “skip[ped] the basic safeguards of asking courts for permission […]
Dick Cheney chatted with ABC News’ Terry Moran yesterday for an interesting interview, some of which will be aired tonight on Nightline. One exchange stood out for me. Moran: Are you troubled at all that more than 100 people in U.S. custody have died — 26 of them now being investigated as criminal homicides — […]