Perhaps the most frustrating part of the national security “debate” is that it’s so terribly predictable. Going into an election cycle, the Republicans trot out their poll-tested soundbites and repeat them ad nauseum: cut and run, defeato-crats, waving the white flag, etc. The Dems, to varying degrees, go on the defensive, explaining why the Republican […]
Earlier this year, the president delivered a State of the Union address that included one sentiment with which I could strongly agree: it’s time to take science seriously. “Tonight I announce an American Competitiveness Initiative, to encourage innovation throughout our economy, and to give our nation’s children a firm grounding in math and science…. [W]e […]
Well, it’s good to see Bill O’Reilly thinking outside the box. The United States needs a new strategy to deal with this ominous threat. Slugging it out in Iraq may be necessary, but there might be another way. President Bush needs to level with the American people and begin putting this country on a war […]
Something tells me King Abdullah, one of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East, isn’t terribly impressed with the Bush administration’s efforts to transform the region. A British Broadcasting Co. interviewer, chatting with major U.S. ally Jordan’s King Abdullah , began: ” Condoleezza Rice called it the birth pangs of a new Middle […]
Yesterday, we talked about prominent far-right conservative writers who hoped to exploit the [tag]thwarted[/tag] [tag]hijacking[/tag] [tag]plot[/tag] for political gain, even though the plot did nothing to bolster their argument. Of course, it’s not just writers — the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag] and [tag]GOP[/tag] officials kicked their exploitation machine into high gear. “Weeks before [tag]September 11th[/tag], this […]
I know it’s behind an annoying pay wall, but David Brooks brings up one of my favorite topics in his column today: a third party. It’s not one of my favorites because I think we need one necessarily; it’s because I’m yet to hear a coherent explanation of what this party is going to believe […]
Earlier, I mentioned a series of far-right bloggers who connected the terrorist plot in London, remarkably, to Ned Lamont’s Senate campaign. As Glenn Greenwald noted, it was just the beginning — several top conservative writers are using the thwarted plot to justify…well, everything they already believe. [S]upporters of President Bush have wasted no time attempting […]
Apropos of nothing, National Journal’s Chuck Todd raised an interesting point as part of a longer piece today. If Lamont wins in November, and if Democrats win many of their Senate targets, is anyone aware of just how liberal the new Senate class will be? At times, Sherrod Brown has rivaled the liberalism of Dennis […]
You know what won’t help the right with its race-relations problems? When high-profile conservatives make obviously [tag]racist[/tag] comments about a leading African-American lawmaker. In her August 9 column, right-wing pundit [tag]Ann Coulter[/tag] wrote of African-American Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA): Congresswoman [tag]Maxine Waters[/tag] had parachuted into Connecticut earlier in the week to campaign against [Sen. Joseph […]
How strange is the political world right now? We find one alleged Democrat complaining about “cut and run” policies in Iraq, and we find Bush complaining about the “culture of corruption.” “For too long, the culture of corruption has undercut development and good governance and bred criminality and mistrust around the world. High-level corruption by […]