For the better part of five years, people concerned with the integrity of news casts, particularly at the local level, have had to worry about the [tag]Bush[/tag] administration’s habit of producing taxpayer-financed [tag]propaganda[/tag] in the form of fake-news [tag]segments[/tag]. As far as the administration is concerned, they’ve been doing it, they’ll keep doing it, and […]
[tag]James Hansen[/tag], the longtime director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has spoken out repeatedly lately, explaining to anyone who will listen that Bush administration officials have tried to censor scientific information about [tag]global warming[/tag]. Apparently, it goes well beyond [tag]NASA[/tag]. Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has […]
These two never fill me with confidence, but this kind of infighting just makes matters worse. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not know what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was talking about when she said last week that the United States had made thousands of “tactical errors” in handling the war in […]
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: * If you’ve ever wondered why state Sen. [tag]Tom Kean[/tag] Jr. (R) continues to fare well in statewide polls for this year’s Senate race in New Jersey, pollsters at the Rutgers University-Eagleton Center […]
The Department of [tag]Homeland Security[/tag] has been slowly imploding for months. There have been high-profile disasters such as DHS’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, but there have been a series of lesser fiascos, including the department’s inability to secure its own headquarters, its inability to set up a list serve, and a Washington Post series explaining […]
Knight Ridder ran an interesting report late yesterday, explaining, “If [tag]Congress[/tag] ever turns against the [tag]war[/tag] in [tag]Iraq[/tag], analysts may look back at this week as a [tag]turning point[/tag].” Given what we saw yesterday, it’s a perfectly fair assessment. [T]hree [tag]Republicans[/tag] in the [tag]House[/tag] of Representatives endorsed a resolution calling for a robust and lengthy […]
By one important standard, [tag]Democrat[/tag]s have little reason to change its focus on [tag]abortion[/tag] rights — the party is mostly [tag]pro-choice[/tag], and so are most Americans. By another equally key standard, however, Dems are looking to expand their reach and appeal to voters who are willing to vote for the party, but have been hesitant […]
We learned in February that [tag]Scooter Libby[/tag] told a grand jury that he was authorized by his “superiors” to disclose classified information to reporters about Iraq’s weapons capability in June and July 2003. Who did that include? The conventional wisdom was that it was Dick [tag]Cheney[/tag]. Yesterday, Libby reportedly explained that it went a little […]
Rep. [tag]Curt Weldon[/tag] (R-Pa.) is no doubt feeling some pressure. He’s one of the more vulnerable House GOP incumbents this year and he’s facing recently-retired three-star Vice Adm. [tag]Joseph Sestak[/tag] (D), who’s been making real strides in the district. But there are some places candidates just can’t go, no matter how desperate they are to […]
In the unlikely event you didn’t catch this elsewhere yesterday afternoon, I thought I’d mention [tag]Harry Shearer[/tag]’s amazing scoop on the Huffington Post yesterday, showing behind-the-scenes video on MSNBC’s [tag]Chris Matthews[/tag] and [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] chatting during a commercial break. They assumed no one would ever hear what the two were talking about. They were wrong. […]