I said yesterday that Bush’s meeting with 13 former secretaries of state and defense about the war in Iraq was a public relations stunt for Bush to hear advice that he will no doubt ignore. It turns out it wasn’t even that. But if it was a bipartisan consultation, as advertised by the White House, […]
If you have an even passive interest in political news, you know that Jack Abramoff’s corruption charges are a pretty big deal. The fact that he’s turned state’s witness and may implicate as many as 60 lawmakers, in addition to several Bush administration officials, is a political earthquake that has the potential to completely up-end […]
I guess the questions surrounding the Christiane Amanpour controversy grew intense enough to compel the National Security Agency to respond. According to what the agency told CNN, nothing happened. A senior U.S. intelligence official told CNN on Thursday that the National Security Agency did not target CNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour or any other […]
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: * Sen. George Allen’s (R-Va.) presidential aspirations got a significant boost yesterday when former RNC chair and Bush confidant Ed Gillespie joined Allen’s political action committee. * In a poll that will further […]
I know Rick Santorum is worried about losing to Bob Casey in November, but I didn’t know he was worried enough to suggest he can’t trust the Bush administration to give the country a fair analysis of the war in Iraq. Sen. Rick Santorum yesterday wrote a letter to President Bush asking him to create […]
It’s encouraging, to an extent, to see Republicans scramble to distance themselves from Jack Abramoff. It’s even more heartening to see Tom DeLay’s chances of regaining his leadership post diminish in light of the scandal. But I’d feel a lot better about the GOP’s strategy if it wasn’t framed in such cold, calculating terms. President […]
At last count, there were five Senate Republicans who, to varying degrees, criticized the White House for its warrantless-search program and argued that hearings to explore this controversy are necessary: Specter (Pa.), Graham (S.C.), Hagel (Neb.), Snowe (Maine), and Lugar (Ind.). Unfortunately, there aren’t any real fire-breathers in the bunch — Specter and Snowe are […]
I don’t intend to belabor the point of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s latest lunacy, but the Washington Post’s Alan Cooperman touched on a good point today that warrants additional attention. The television evangelist Pat Robertson and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not agree on much, but both suggested yesterday that the severe illness of Israeli […]
The surprise isn’t that the Florida Supreme Court struck down Jeb Bush’s statewide voucher program; the surprise is that Bush ever thought he could win in the first place. The Florida Supreme Court struck down the state’s voucher system that allows some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying it violates the state […]
Around mid-November, the White House shifted into campaign mode and began issuing “Setting the Record Straight” talking points, all the time, as official White House statements. In the preceding 12 months, the Bush gang issued one of these campaign-style releases. Since Nov. 11, they’ve done nine. The latest is the Bush gang’s effort to take […]