Cheney stops fighting the tide

Going into his Fox News interview, Dick Cheney’s strategy had to be pretty simple: accept responsibility, show contrition and humility, and express concern for the friend he shot. The full interview won’t be aired for a couple of hours, but at first blush, it seems Cheney said the right things after days of doing the […]

Cheney’s strategery

There are plenty of interesting questions surrounding the Cheney shooting, but one over-arching question remains: what was Cheney thinking? ABC News’ Claire Shipman has some sources in the VP’s office who gave her a behind-the-scenes narrative. It’s an interesting take, if you believe it. Sources close to the Vice President say that there was actually […]

‘There may be a beer or two in there’

The possible role of alcohol in the Cheney shooting has been widely discussed — just below the surface. Media outlets have reported that the Texas sheriff’s office concluded that “there was no alcohol or misconduct involved in the incident,” which seemed to resolve the questions that many reporters had, but few were willing to touch. […]

Senate Republicans start to cave on warrantless searches

It sounded sincere in December when a handful of Republican senators said they wanted an investigation into the president’s warrantless-search program. Senators of both parties on [12/20] demanded a congressional investigation into President Bush’s domestic-surveillance program, even as Vice President Dick Cheney warned that the president’s critics could face political repercussions. Five members of the […]

Cheney finally speaks — on Fox News

ABC News’ The Note conveniently laid out Dick Cheney’s options today, including keeping quiet, hosting a press conference, or sitting down for “an exclusive interview with one groveling, well-chosen interviewer.” As it turns out, Cheney actually chose one of these. Take a wild guess which one. Vice President Dick Cheney planned to break his silence […]

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: * Everyone’s favorite theocrat, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, is not exactly rallying much support on the campaign trail. A new Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll shows Gov. Bob […]

Fresh ‘Insight’ into the war on whistleblowers

For those keeping score at home, the current issue of Insight magazine has run its fourth article critical of the Bush administration in just the last couple of months. For an off-shoot of Sun Myung Moon’s far-right Washington Times, this remains an inexplicable development. This week, it’s a report on “the largest crackdown in decades […]

DeLay nervously lashes out at primary rival

In Texas’ 22nd District, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) routinely faces token opposition in Republican primaries. The challengers are never taken seriously; DeLay never deigns to even pretend they exist; and local Republican voters always dispatch the primary opposition at the polls easily. But this year’s different. DeLay’s constituents may be conservative, but […]

Bush has his priorities; are they yours?

I’ve hesitated to get too bogged down in the details of the president’s latest budget proposal because I know it’s not going anywhere. Congress has its own priorities and agendas, and many lawmakers from both parties have already made it quite clear that Bush’s budget is a no-go. As Stanley Collender, a federal budget analyst […]

‘Bush’s obliviousness is more interesting than Cheney’s bad aim’

According to Scott McClellan’s press briefing on Monday, the president was not exactly inquisitive about the details when notified that the Vice President had been involved in a shooting accident. As McClellan explained it, two hours after the incident, WH Chief of Staff Andy Card told Bush that an accident had occurred, but there was […]