Today’s edition of quick hits. * The latest statement from Sen. Tim Johnson’s (D-S.D.) office: Admiral John Eisold, Attending Physician of the United States Capitol said, “Senator Tim Johnson has continued to have an uncomplicated post-operative course. Specifically, he has been appropriately responsive to both word and touch. No further surgical intervention has been required.” […]
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow’s list of gems is already impressive, but last week included a particularly noteworthy one. NBC’s David Gregory read verbatim quotes from the Iraq Study Group and asked for the White House’s response. Snow accused Gregory of being “partisan.” Gregory followed up, “Are you suggesting that I’m trying to frame […]
Late last week, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), a top-tier 2008 presidential contender, ran into a little trouble. Apparently, when running for the Senate in 1994, and governor in 2002, Romney was pro-choice and pro-gay rights. When running for president now, he’s pro-life and anti-gay rights. Not surprisingly, some of the same far-right groups and […]
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is clearly lining up institutional support in advance of his presidential campaign, but he doesn’t seem to know quite what to think of the blogosphere. On the one hand, he’s bashed blogs. On the other, he’s reached out and started contributing to a handful of far-right sites directly. Rhetoric and posturing […]
There’s an old expression, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.” Apparently, there’s a new addendum to the adage: “Never pick a fight with someone who sells novels by the millions.” TNR’s Michael Crowley wrote a terrific-but-scathing cover story in March, blasting novelist Michael Crichton for his climate-change denials, partisanship, […]
I generally don’t pay too much attention to Laura Bush’s policy opinions; she’s not an elected official, she has no obvious power to speak of, and her comments are rarely of any consequence. They are, however, frequently annoying. On MSNBC this morning, Norah O’Donnell asked Laura Bush about a new poll that found “only 2 […]
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: * Former Sen. John Edwards appears to have the early edge on the Iowa caucuses, at least according to a new poll from the Des Moines Register. Before campaigning begins (and before we […]
The latest report on Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) sounds relatively encouraging. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) underwent emergency surgery overnight to repair bleeding inside his brain and was “recovering without complication” this morning, according to the U.S. Capitol physician. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who has spent considerable time visiting with Johnson and his family, said […]
My friend Tom Schaller noted today that we passed a major war-related milestone recently, when we reached the 25,000th American casualty — about 22,000 wounded, and nearly 3,000 dead. (Newsweek’s Glenn Kutler created a powerful slideshow on the subject.) It prompted Tom to raise an interesting question. So far this month, there have been 48 […]
Yesterday, we learned that the civilian leadership at the Pentagon seems increasingly fond of what’s been dubbed the “double down” policy for Iraq, whereby there would be a substantial buildup in American troops in the country, despite the potential for making a dreadful situation worse. Apparently, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are not on board […]