The conventional wisdom was so widely believed, there hardly seemed any point in questioning it. The alleged [tag]terrorist[/tag] plot would be a political boon for the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag], the timing would hurt Democrats, and the story had the ability to completely reshape the last 12 weeks of the campaign cycle. Since the story captured […]
Whether you believe last week’s alleged terrorist plot was a serious threat or not, everything we know about the incident suggests law-enforcement efforts were key to disrupting the threat. It’s odd, therefore, for the Bush White House to continue to insist otherwise. Consider, for example, what the president told a friendly audience in Pennsylvania yesterday. […]
This front-page New York Times is the latest evidence that conditions in Iraq, which couldn’t get much worse, have definitely gotten worse. The number of roadside bombs planted in Iraq rose in July to the highest monthly total of the [tag]war[/tag], offering more evidence that the anti-American insurgency has continued to strengthen despite the killing […]
Following up on yesterday afternoon’s post, the alleged [tag]terrorist [/tag]plot disrupted in [tag]Britain[/tag] last week is looking weaker by the day. A week ago, Homeland Security Secretary Michael [tag]Chertoff[/tag] told reporters, “Certainly in terms of the complexity, the sophistication, the international dimension and the number of people involved, this plot has the hallmarks of an […]
When I first did an item about the thwarted terrorist hijacking plot six days ago, I received a flurry of emails from regulars encouraging me to be skeptical. Plenty of commenters expressed similar uncertainty, so much so that a far-right blogger compiled a list of your comments, ignored Drum’s law, and did a post about […]
In 1992, towards the end of the presidential campaign, then-VP Dan Quayle acknowledged what all the polls were saying: people were unsatisfied with the status quo. Responding to the public’s desire for something different, Quayle told reporters, “Republicans are the party of change.” It was a pretty weak sales pitch. The Reagan-Bush years had spanned […]
Sen. [tag]George Allen[/tag]’s (R-Va.) “[tag]macaca[/tag]” controversy is still going strong. In the latest twist, Allen campaign staffers have a new spin to explain the whole sordid mess. What does Macaca really mean? Three Virginia Republicans confirmed to the Hotline that several Allen campaign aides and advisers are telling allies that the word was a made-up, […]
For years, [tag]New York Times[/tag] columnist [tag]Thomas Friedman[/tag] has, comically, given the administration an almost never-ending series of six-month intervals to get [tag]Iraq[/tag] right. Last week, Friedman’s overly-patient approach ended and he announced that he was fed up with the war. “The longer we maintain a unilateral failing strategy in Iraq,” he concluded, “the harder […]
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: * Pennsylvania Gov. [tag]Ed Rendell[/tag] (D) continues to excel on the campaign trail and a new Quinnipiac poll shows his double-digit lead getting even bigger over former football player [tag]Lynn Swann[/tag] (R). The […]
As part of an apparent drive to highlight the president’s new-found interest in competing ideas, the White House hosted a 90-minute meeting yesterday with Bush, his war cabinet, and several outside experts yesterday to discuss the war in Iraq in considerable detail. It reportedly included a wide range of ideas — but I’m still not […]