When National Review’s William F. Buckley labeled the war in Iraq a failure, I was a little surprised. When Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly said the administration had made a “big mistake” with “the crazy-people underestimation,” and should “hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible,” this was even more unexpected. When Francis […]
Do you know what Bush really doesn’t need right now? Another criminal scandal that reaches the White House. I guess, therefore, that this story is really unwelcome news. Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as […]
One important angle to the debate over [tag]immigration[/tag] policy that hasn’t gotten much attention lately is that the president has decided that he simply doesn’t want to lead on the issue — and Republicans clearly aren’t happy about it. The House, Senate, immigration groups, civil right organization, and unions have been working on competing measures, […]
There were several interesting exchanges between the president and student at Johns Hopkins yesterday — on a question regarding global sex trafficking, [tag]Bush[/tag] told a student, “You know more about this subject than I” — but when it came to [tag]private military contractors[/tag] in Iraq, and the law that governs their conduct, the president seemed […]
The president finally addressed the controversy surrounding his decision to authorize the [tag]leak[/tag] of [tag]classified[/tag] information in the summer of 2003. Unfortunately, Bush’s explanation ranged from odd to incoherent. Responding to a student’s question about the [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag] investigation, [tag]Bush[/tag] suddenly became tongue-tied. The president explained, “Yes. No, I — this is — there’s an ongoing […]
It’s not unusual for Republicans to maintain a certain swagger, even when a fairly serious controversy arises. We’re talking about a group of people who take the strategy of “never let ’em see you sweat” very seriously. And yet, there’s something about the leak scandal that has them rattled. The predictable swagger is gone. Bloomberg […]
Republicans in Washington have found themselves in quite a mess. The war in Iraq, corruption, deficits, discouraging polls, criminal investigations, the works. The party can’t pass a budget, can’t agree on immigration, and can’t put together a coherent legislative agenda. What are the [tag]Republican[/tag]s to do? What else? Cut [tag]taxes[/tag]. Burdened by an unpopular war […]
I suspect that a lot of people, upon hearing about the possibility of a preemptive strike in Iran, dimissed the possibility. It’s just too reckless, even for Bush. There are certain decisions that are so dangerous, so beyond-the-pale, that it’s hard to imagine any president agreeing to them. But [tag]Paul Krugman[/tag] makes a compelling case […]
Sen. [tag]Joe Lieberman[/tag]’s (D-Conn.) willingness to break party ranks on a variety of key issues, including his inexplicable support for Bush’s handling of the war, led businessman [tag]Ned Lamont[/tag] to launch a primary challenge this year, which apparently is causing considerable consternation at Lieberman campaign HQ. In fact, Lieberman is so concerned about his future, […]
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: * New York’s Republican gubernatorial primary got a little thinner over the weekend when long-shot candidate, Randy Daniels, New York’s former Secretary of State, announced that he was withdrawing from the race and […]