As Slate’s Fred Kaplan explained a while back, a [tag]National Intelligence Estimate[/tag] ([tag]NIE[/tag]) “is not an ordinary report. It marks the one occasion when the Central Intelligence Agency warrants its name, acting as a central entity that pulls together the assessments of all the myriad intelligence departments, noting where they agree and where they differ.” […]
I know the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag] will occasionally alter official [tag]transcript[/tag]s when the president accidentally misstates someone’s name or confuses one country with another, but as a rule officials shouldn’t confuse protest with approval. And yet, after the president’s appearance before the NAACP yesterday, that’s exactly what happened. A little while after Bush acknowledged that […]
This has been bubbling just below the surface for a while — or above, if you live in certain states — but the [tag]Democratic[/tag] [tag]presidential[/tag] [tag]primary[/tag] [tag]calendar[/tag] for [tag]2008[/tag] is about to get a major shake-up. How [tag]New Hampshire[/tag] responds to said shake-up might lead to very awkward intra-party fights. Tomorrow, the Democratic Party’s Rules […]
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: * Neither of the Republicans in Pennsylvania’s two big statewide races this year fare well in a new poll from Strategic Vision, a Republican consulting and public affairs firm. According to the latest […]
It started innocently enough. Supporters of a Colorado Springs domestic-partnership ballot initiative launched what they called the “born different” campaign, featuring a little Brittany spaniel named Norman. In the ads, [tag]Norman[/tag] says “moo,” instead of “woof,” as a round-about way of trying to say that gays and lesbians are “born different” and don’t choose their […]
There are plenty of instances from recent years of [tag]blogger[/tag]s getting [tag]fired[/tag] for writing about their place of employment, but this is an interesting twist on the phenomenon. [tag]Christine Axsmith[/tag], a software contractor for the [tag]CIA[/tag], considered her blog a success within the select circle of people who could actually access it. Only people with […]
Operation Rescue, the radical anti-abortion group, has changed its name to Operation Save America. As reader G.F. reminds me, the group has not, however, changed its unhinged ways. Activists from Operation Save America, formerly known as Operation Rescue, have been in Jackson since Saturday for eight days of protests against the state’s only abortion clinic, […]
Over a year ago, in June 2005, the New York Times uncovered the fact that the White House hired [tag]Philip Cooney[/tag], a former lobbyist for the [tag]American Petroleum Institute[/tag], to be chief of staff of the president’s [tag]Council on Environmental Quality[/tag]. As part of his responsibilities, Cooney re-wrote government reports on [tag]global warming[/tag], editing out […]
When it comes to the president’s legally dubious tactics and power grabs, Bush isn’t catching many breaks from the federal judiciary lately. A month ago, the Supreme Court delivered a major setback to the administration in its Hamdan ruling; and yesterday, a federal district [tag]court[/tag] gave the green light to a lawsuit challenging Bush’s warrantless-[tag]search[/tag] […]
After a five-year boycott, the president finally addressed the [tag]NAACP[/tag] today. While [tag]Bush[/tag] emphasized his desire to “change the relationship” between the Republican Party and African Americans, he had to stretch matters a bit to show how his concerns coincide with those of the African-American community. “You know, one of my friends is Bob Johnson, […]