Consider a few newsworthy items from the last week or so, and the responses they generated from the national news [tag]media[/tag]. * The Boston Globe reported that President [tag]Bush[/tag] believes he is not obligated to follow the Patriot Act’s provisions that require him inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act’s expanded police […]
[tag]Fred Barnes[/tag], Bush cheerleader to a fault, still seems convinced that a presidential comeback is right around the corner. In fact, in the latest issue of The Weekly Standard, Barnes addresses a game plan that could set Bush’s ship straight. * Staff shakeup. The president has a problem with firing anyone. Unlike most presidents, he’s […]
If the Republicans were really anxious to highlight the pure insanity of Sen. [tag]Russ Feingold[/tag]’s [tag]censure resolution[/tag], they shouldn’t have picked a Friday afternoon hearing. It was engaging political theater, but some of the actors didn’t show up. The Senate Judiciary Committee opened a bitter if lopsided debate on Friday over whether Congress should [tag]censure[/tag] […]
Reading over the headlines about former DeLay aide [tag]Tony Rudy[/tag] pleading guilty yesterday, there seems to be some debate about whether, and to what extent, this is a disaster for the former House Majority Leader. A former top aide to Representative [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that he accepted thousands of dollars […]
First up from this week’s God machine is a progressive Christian denomination that’s having a little trouble reaching the public airwaves. The nation’s major television networks have rejected an ad that shows a gay couple and others being banished from a church, saying it violates their rules against controversial or religious advertising. The 30-second commercial […]
Guest Post by Morbo As Carpetbagger mentioned the other day, the Rev. Rick Scarborough, a kind of poor man’s Jerry Falwell, held a two-day conference in the nation’s capital this week to lament the [tag]persecution[/tag] of [tag]Christians[/tag] he insists is rampant in American society. Those poor fundamentalist Christians! They have the Republican leadership of the […]
Guest Post by Morbo The April 3 edition of The New Republic has an interesting cover story on [tag]Richard John Neuhaus[/tag], a Roman Catholic priest who runs a right-wing journal about religion and public life called First Things. The TNR article is a review of Neuhaus’ new book Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy and the Splendor […]
The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait, after being mocked rather relentlessly on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show for not owning a gun, brought some much needed attention this week to an interesting cultural phenomenon: [tag]red-state[/tag] elitism. This is a very odd cultural moment we find ourselves in, where there is a stigma attached to not owning a […]
Salon’s [tag]Joe Conason[/tag] picks up on what may be the most breathtaking line in the president’s rhetorical quiver. Specifically, Conason noted that Bush, at his most recent press conference, insisted that Saddam Hussein, before the March 2003 invasion, “chose to deny inspectors [and] chose not to disclose.” [H]ave the rest of the reporters in the […]
[tag]Gallup[/tag] released a poll earlier this week that made most of the [tag]Republican[/tag] establishment awfully nervous. When it comes to voters’ partisan ID, the GOP’s edge has vanished. Republicans had gained the upper hand in recent years, but 33% of Americans, in the latest Gallup poll, now call themselves [tag]Democrats[/tag], with those favoring the GOP […]