Michael Gerson, Bush’s chief speechwriter from his first term, has dismissed out of hand the very idea that the president uses carefully crafted religious language that secular audiences fail to recognize but nevertheless resonates with evangelical audiences. Gerson, a former journalist who studied theology at Wheaton College in Illinois and worked as an aide on […]
It’s been a bedrock of administration policy: we don’t negotiate with terrorists. Although Al Qaeda-linked groups recently executed two kidnapped civilian workers, the United States continues to maintain it will not negotiate with terrorists, whatever the price — even if violence against Americans and their allies gets worse. “I think there’s a likelihood [attacks could […]
John Kerry did his very best to make port security a major issue during the presidential campaign. It never generated the attention it deserved, but not for lack of merit. * The CIA says, “[t]he United States is more likely to be attacked with a weapon of mass destruction smuggled into the country aboard a […]
By now, most of you have no doubt seen the truly unbelievable quote from Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) on WMD in Iraq. “America’s Operation Iraqi Freedom is still producing shock and awe, this time among the blame-America-first crowd,” he crowed. Then he said, “We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons and facilities to make […]
If there’s an explanation for this kind of abuse of power, I’d love to hear it. The chairman of a Senate committee that oversees environmental issues has directed two national organizations that oppose President Bush’s major clean-air initiative to turn over their financial and tax records to the Senate. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who […]
Doug Wead’s pre-presidential conversations with George W. Bush offer any number of interesting angles, but the story that’s getting the most play — Bush apparently smoked marijuana — seems the least interesting. The fact that a guy with a substance abuse problem in the ’60s and ’70s used pot is hardly a shocking development. Instead, […]