Well, this certainly explains a lot. For Americans troubled by the prospect of federal agents eavesdropping on their phone conversations or combing through their Internet records, there is good news: A little-known board exists in the White House whose purpose is to ensure that privacy and civil liberties are protected in the fight against terrorism. […]
One of the more frustrating aspects to the Bush White House’s scandals is that, in almost every instance, they were warned about the very problem they were about to face. True to form, the Bush gang was convinced they knew better — dissent from the official line simply helped identify those who were insufficiently loyal. […]
Over the weekend, it seemed Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) had finally shown some independent thinking and was ready to exert some oversight on the Bush administration. After years of carrying water for the White House, Roberts’ change of heart on the president’s warrantless-search program was welcome and encouraging. It almost lasted a […]
Early last week, Media Matters published a terrific and well-researched report on the ideological slant that dominates the Sunday morning news/talk shows. The results helped highlight what many of us have noticed for years: “Republicans and conservatives have been offered more opportunities to appear on the Sunday shows – in some cases, dramatically so.” With […]
During the 2004 campaign, there were occasional rumors about Bush replacing Cheney on the GOP ticket. The gossip was usually hard to take seriously and was generally ignored. But this week, the speculation came roaring back, due in large part to Cheney’s inexplicable handling of last weekend’s hunting accident. Unlike the 2004 rumors, this week’s […]
In July 2004, the Bush-Cheney campaign caused quite a flap in the religious community by asking church goers to turn over church directories to the campaign and distribute partisan materials in their churches. The move was denounced throughout the Christian community — even the Southern Baptists said it was “appalling.” A month later the Republican […]
A few of the Republican senators who’ve caved to an “all-out White House lobbying campaign” and reversed course on Bush’s warrantless-search program have made some revealing comments the past few days. It points to their fundamental misunderstanding of the role of accountability in the political process. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), for example, was one of […]
The common consensus is that Cheney-Shot-A-Guy-Gate has just about run its course — some media outlets have literally declared the story “over” — but that’s all the more reason the AP deserves kudos for a piece this morning highlighting some of the nagging “discrepancies” in the story. * Assigning blame: The first instinct for the […]
First up from this week’s God machine is a story that seems like a joke, but it completely real. Remember the absurdity of the “war on Christmas”? Apparently, some culture warriors are equally concerned about the “war on Valentine’s Day.” A group of parents in the Katy Independent School District, near Houston, Texas, literally went […]
Guest Post by Morbo We all make mistakes. Accidents happen. When I was learning to drive, I made the ever-popular rookie driver error of hitting the gas pedal when I should have hit the brake and ran over a mailbox. No one was hurt, but my dad was so rattled he decided to send me […]