In a vote that surprised absolutely no one, the House easily approved rubber-stamped [tag]Bush[/tag]’s legislation on interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects. The final vote was 253 to 168 — 34 Dems voted with the GOP majority, while seven Republicans broke ranks to vote against it. The [tag]Senate[/tag] is expected to put its stamp of […]
Readers seem to like these quick hits, so, time permitting, I think I’ll keep this new daily feature. As with the last two editions, these are items that definitely deserve attention, but which I just didn’t get to today. * MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann was the victim of a fake anthrax mailing to his home yesterday. […]
We’ve discussed on more than a few occasions the fact that John McCain, media myths not withstanding, isn’t much of a “maverick.” It’s also worth noting, however, that his Senate ally, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, has slowly beginning to wear the same halo — and he doesn’t deserve it either. National Journal’s Jonathan Martin, writing […]
Glenn Greenwald read through the now-declassified summary (.pdf) of the National Intelligence Estimate and noticed something, at the very end, that a lot of us missed. From the document: Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies. This could prompt some leftist, nationalist, or separatist groups to adopt terrorist methods […]
Harold Meyerson makes a compelling argument today that the most important vote a lawmaker casts in a given Congress is his or her very first vote: for the chamber’s leadership. Using Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) as an example, Meyerson noted that Chafee made a fuss about his presidential vote in ’04, but it’s his majority-leader […]
A few months ago, Tom Engelhardt noted that the “debate” over [tag]permanent[/tag] [tag]U.S.[/tag] [tag]bases[/tag] in [tag]Iraq[/tag] was practically non-existent. After a search of the LexisNexis database, he explained, “American reporters adhere to a simple rule: The words ‘permanent,’ ‘bases,’ and ‘Iraq’ should never be placed in the same sentence, not even in the same paragraph; […]
Just to follow up briefly on yesterday’s item, Condoleezza Rice “hammered” the Clinton administration this week, responding to the former president’s Fox News interview by arguing that the Clinton White House had not fully prepared the Bush team for the terrorist threat, particularly that posed by al Qaeda. Raw Story responded with excerpts from a […]
It’s been weeks since I criticized our old friend Joe Lieberman (I), but this clearly deserves it. Even the news about the National Intelligence Estimate, which found that the Iraq war had spread terrorism, did not deter Lieberman. “Are there terrorists in Iraq? Of course there are. That’s a reason we went in,” he said. […]
The partisan breakdown is predictable, and the poll was taken before Clinton’s dust-up on Fox News, but Gallup released a poll today showing Americans blaming Bush more than Clinton for Osama bin Laden’s current freedom. The recent firestorm over former President Bill Clinton’s culpability for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was fueled on Tuesday when […]
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: * A new Field Poll in California, which tends to be pretty reliable, suggests Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has widened his lead over State Treasurer Phil Angelides (D). As the race stands, the […]