Gauging public opinion on Bush’s warrantless-search program has been tricky. The story broke over the holiday season when the public was less engaged and at least one oft-cited poll was worded so poorly, it didn’t offer anything of substance to anyone. The latest poll from USA Today/CNN/Gallup, however, not only offers useful data, it also […]
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: * When it comes to public attention vulnerable Republican incumbents, Rick Santorum’s race tends to be big news. But let’s also not forget the competitive race in Missouri, where incumbent Sen. Jim Talent […]
The president said something yesterday about the military with which I agree wholeheartedly. “It is really important for the United States of America to have an all-volunteer Army. The best way to keep people volunteering in the Army is to make sure they got good pay, good training, good equipment and good housing for their […]
A standard presidential talking point in defense of the war in Iraq is that it wasn’t Bush’s fault he launched an invasion. He frequently asserts, as he did in an address to the nation last month, that Saddam Hussein “was given an ultimatum — and he made his choice for war.” Bush repeats all the […]
Last summer, when the fight over the most conservative of Bush’s judicial nominees was reaching the boiling point, Republicans decided they didn’t like the phrase they had already come up with: the “nuclear option.” It started a protracted, mind-numbing discussion, and media hand wringing, over whether the tactic was the “nuclear option,” the “constitutional option,” […]
Trying to fact check every speech Bush delivers is too daunting a task for a humble blogger — a typical event includes far too much mendacity to bother. But since yesterday’s speech was supposed to be the president’s latest comprehensive defense of his warrantless-search program, it’s probably worth taking a moment to document the more […]
If the president is going to give a speech at a major university and open the floor to questions, it’s probably a good idea to prepare for a question or two about college financing. At yesterday’s event in Kansas, Bush faced his toughest question in a while — and couldn’t answer it. A student, Kansas […]
Gen. Michael Hayden, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, delivered remarks in DC yesterday in defense of Bush’s warrantless-search program, as part of a week-long political offensive to rally support for the White House initiative. To follow up on yesterday’s item about Hayden’s description of the scope of the program, it’s also worth noting […]
Why did the White House avoid oversight and warrants when implementing its warrantless-search program? One possible answer came by way of the New York Times in late-December, when the paper explained that the administration worked with telecommunications companies to trace and analyze large volumes of telephone and Internet communications, without warrants, after 9/11. It suggested […]
Scott McClellan, when answering questions about Jack Abramoff’s White House access, has been unusually evasive and non-committal for weeks, but today he got careless. McClellan routinely slices the truth pretty thin, but in response to questions about Bush-Abramoff pictures, McClellan either didn’t know what he was talking about or he was intentionally deceiving reporters. At […]