In 2000, [tag]John McCain[/tag] was deeply offended when Bush’s ruthless attack dogs launched a vicious attack on him. Apparently hoping to have the same kind of success Bush did, McCain has decided to hire one of those attack dogs to lead his own campaign. Later today, Sen. John McCain’s exploratory committee plans to announce veteran […]
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 Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), a likely 2008 aspirant, “took a swipe at the new Democratic congressional majority for not consulting the nation’s Democratic governors more,” an ABC News report explained. […]
When the Military Commissions Act, which among other things suspended habeas corpus for suspected terrorists, went to the Senate floor in September, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) voiced some relatively passive concerns. He offered an amendment that would have protected habeas, which was defeated. Specter didn’t seem terribly concerned about the lack of his amendment — […]
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad employs 1,000 people, of which 33 speak Arabic. And only six of them speak Arabic fluently. Throughout the intelligence community, the pressure to quickly translate intercepted Arabic messages is intense, but agencies and the military lack qualified and well-trained linguists. With this in mind, one of the more obvious recommendations […]
For literally years now, there’s been an odd and unproductive debate that’s a bit of a tangent from the war in Iraq: has the media been exaggerating the level of violence? For too many on the right, it’s become the lynchpin of their entire defense for the administration’s policy — reporters highlight the “bad” news, […]
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow has hosted fewer briefings than he did before the election, which makes sense; Congress isn’t in session, Bush has been traveling, and there’s less going on in DC. That is, until yesterday, when the Iraq Study Group, in the words of Dana Milbank, “placed an improvised explosive device beneath […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The plan to add two additional seats to the House of Representatives — one likely Dem from the District of Columbia, and one likely Republican from Utah — was unfortunately scuttled by congressional Republicans. It’s a shame; it was a good, common-sense bill. Expect congressional Dems to bring it […]
I know we’ve talked at length about ignoble exit of the 109th Congress, and the do-nothing Congress’ do-nothing lame-duck session, but it’s worth remembering it’s a problem with some layers. What offends me is not just that Congress hasn’t done its job, and not just that they’re complaining about feeling “tired,” and not just that […]
This has to be the funniest item of the day. From the Evans-Novak Political Report: Important Bush Administration officials are ready to leave the government rather than undergo two years of hell from Democratic committee chairmen in Congress. Leading the exodus are officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fearing investigation by two chairmen, Representatives […]
Today’s White House press briefing was a rather aggressive affair, with reporters trying to pin Press Secretary Tony Snow down on what, if anything, the White House is prepared to do in response to the new report from the Iraq Study Group. There were, of course, plenty of evasive and ambiguous answers, but this was […]