You may have seen the very nice pictures of the president stopping at some kids’ lemonade stand in West Virginia this week. What you may not have heard is that the whole scene was, as Dan Froomkin described it, a “cynically staged photo op.” The president’s motorcade came to a halt when Bush stopped to […]
There are a handful of interesting national polls out today from a variety of news outlets, including NPR and NBC/Wall Street Journal, but I think Greg Sargent found the most important polling numbers of the day from the new CBS/New York Times poll. As Greg noted, it inexplicably didn’t make it into the Times’ article […]
In recent years, conservatives have targeted the federal judiciary as an enemy of all that is good in the world. Even among elected officials, the rhetoric can sometimes push reasonable boundaries of civil discourse. Tom DeLay, for example, made some veiled threats against judges after the Terri Schiavo controversy. Shortly thereafter, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) […]
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: * Michigan Gov. [tag]Jennifer Granholm[/tag] (D) is the most vulnerable Dem incumbent governor in the country, but she may finally be fighting herself off the ropes. Though several recent polls have shows Amway […]
Most days, it’s tough enough to talk about [tag]global warming[/tag] with unhinged lawmakers, confused presidents, and spectacularly dumb commercials from the oil industry muddling the discussion. But when we inject some far-right theology into the mix, it’s bound to get worse. James [tag]Dobson[/tag]’s [tag]Focus on the Family[/tag] sent an item to its membership yesterday, touting […]
Who wrote Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s speech before a joint meeting of [tag]Congress[/tag] yesterday? It’s probably safe to say the wordsmiths at the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag] had a hand in the writing. It’s also worth remembering that this wouldn’t be the first time. To be sure, [tag]Maliki[/tag] stuck to the points the administration […]
Just to follow up on yesterday’s item, [tag]CNN[/tag]’s interest in characterizing recent world events as some kind of Biblical [tag]apocalypse[/tag] is quickly becoming ridiculous. As Media Matters noted, the network’s coverage is enough to wonder if it’s CNN or CBN. For the second time in three days, CNN featured a segment on the potential coming […]
The growing “[tag]living wage[/tag]” movement, championed by unions and groups representing the working poor, scored a pretty significant victory yesterday in [tag]Chicago[/tag]. After months of fevered lobbying and bitter debate, the Chicago City Council passed a groundbreaking ordinance yesterday requiring “big box” stores, like [tag]Wal-Mart[/tag] and Home Depot, to pay a [tag]minimum wage[/tag] of $10 […]
The Washington Post’s Joshua Partlow got the chance to spend four days with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division in Baghdad recently and came away with a key observation: there’s a serious morale problem among U.S. troops. Army Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos considered the simple question about morale for more than an […]
I was kind of curious about how Maryland Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele would explain his comments that bashed the Bush White House and condemned this political party. In fact, I was just about convinced that the whole thing was a set-up. Steele made controversial comments he knew would generate lots of attention, with the […]