He was against negotiations before he was for them

I can appreciate the multi-faceted, complex foreign policy challenge posed by Iran, and yesterday’s announcement about qualified negations is multi-layered. Did the administration attach conditions that officials expected the Iranians to reject? Is there a power struggle between Cheney and Rice? Will the U.S. stick with European negotiators, or take Germany’s advice and talk to […]

At the start of hurricane season…

Today, officially, is the start of [tag]hurricane[/tag] [tag]season[/tag]. With this in mind, Nancy [tag]Pelosi[/tag]’s office released a really good report (.pdf) about on where we are nine months after [tag]Katrina[/tag]. The report is well done, but as FDL noted, it’s also terribly discouraging. * Up to $1 billion dollars in [tag]waste[/tag] and [tag]fraud[/tag] for housing […]

The Bill of Rights apply to the states — even Alabama

For political discourse to function at all, competing sides have to agree on certain base facts. There has to be a reality that everyone can recognize before rivals can debate more sophisticated and complex questions. For example, former [tag]Alabama[/tag] [tag]Supreme Court[/tag] Chief Justice [tag]Roy Moore[/tag] (R), who’s about to lose a Republican gubernatorial primary, insisted […]

Thursday’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: * Though some polls showed Pennsylvania’s Senate race narrowing, a new Rasmussen poll shows state Treasurer [tag]Bob Casey[/tag] (D) expanding his lead over Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R). The poll now shows Casey ahead, […]

Santorum’s ‘Bubble Boy’ policy at book signing sparks lawsuit

The incident sparked a few headlines last year, but it seemed like one of those stories that would fade away. Fortunately, this new [tag]lawsuit[/tag] will remind people about a pretty ridiculous skirmish. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a group of women who claim their constitutional rights were […]

The worst of the post-WWII era

Sean Wilentz thinks the current occupant of the Oval Office may be the [tag]worst [/tag][tag]president [/tag]in American [tag]history[/tag], but as far as the electorate is concerned, Bush is at least the worst of the post-WWII era. Strong Democratic sentiment pushes President George W. Bush to the top of the list when American voters pick the […]

New conservative game: comparing Iraqi violence to U.S. violence

On Tuesday, Red State, the far-right blog, noted a series of shootings in Milwaukee and, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, argued, “After 175 years of occupation, we are seemingly unable to extract ourselves from the quagmire that apparently is Wisconsin. I say it is time America cut its losses and pulled out of [tag]Wisconsin […]

Homeland Security’s ‘incomprehensible’ security grants

Five months ago, [tag]Department of Homeland Security[/tag] Secretary [tag]Michael Chertoff[/tag] said his agency had finally changed the way in which it distributes federal [tag]grants [/tag]to states and localities. Whereas the old system relied on a bizarre proportional method in which smaller states (and less likely [tag]terrorist [/tag][tag]targets[/tag]) got far more funding than needed, Chertoff said […]

Captain Ahab is still hunting Harry Reid

I would have been more than happy to let this story go away, but the [tag]AP[/tag]’s [tag]John Solomon[/tag] has taken his reporting to such a reckless level, it needs to be condemned far and wide. Let’s recap for a second. Solomon reported on Monday that Senate Minority Leader [tag]Harry Reid[/tag] received free tickets to a […]