In defending Bush’s warrantless-search program, the White House has come up with a variety of angles, but one principal legal rationale: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has a high, “probable cause” standard for obtaining a warrant. So high, in fact, that FISA became overly restrictive — intelligence officials had a specific target in mind, […]
I mentioned last week that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews told his national television audience that the terrorist responsible for 9/11 “sounds like an over the top Michael Moore here, if not a Michael Moore.” The ensuing flap, generated almost entirely by progressive blogs, wasn’t about Matthews and Moore so much as it was about liberals who […]
Clearly, TV preacher Pat Robertson, after a series of controversies stemming from imbalanced public remarks, is persona non grata in most sensible circles. More and more, the evangelical community isn’t returning his calls, and a political figure of any significance knows it would be foolish to be seen with Robertson right now. And yet, when […]
This may be of limited interest outside the poli sci crowd, but the WaPo’s Ruth Marcus touched on one of my favorite topics today: the fact that Bush hates Congress. [In a nutshell,] this executive branch treats its supposedly equal partner: as an annoying impediment to the real work of government. It provides information to […]
In its continuing quest to debate the president’s warrantless-search program without actually addressing the substance of the controversy, the White House released another campaign-style “Setting the Record Straight” document yesterday. This time, the issue was “domestic spying” — not the policy, mind you, but the wording. This comes directly from the talking points, with emphasis […]
Late last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales published a white paper for Congress, detailing his legal defense of Bush’s warrantless-search program. Predictably, it emphasized the president’s broad authority over national security matters. As it happens, however, it may have helped to further highlight just how expansive a view the administration is taking. A footnote 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: * Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) may not be as popular as he once was, but he remains competitive looking ahead to his re-election campaign. A new Rasmussen poll shows Schwarzenegger leading State Treasurer […]
It sounds as if the Washington Post editorial board is officially sick of Stonewall Scottie. Here are some things we know about Jack Abramoff and the White House: The disgraced lobbyist raised at least $100,000 for President Bush’s reelection campaign. He had long-standing ties to Karl Rove, a key presidential adviser. He had extensive dealings […]
I’d seen a few initial reports last year on the breathtaking fraud and mismanagement with Iraqi reconstruction funds, but I honestly can’t wait to hear the vaunted Bush political operation try and spin results like these. A new audit of American financial practices in Iraq has uncovered irregularities including millions of reconstruction dollars stuffed casually […]
After Congress created an investigatory committee to review what went wrong in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the White House pledged cooperation. But like so many Bush promises, the assurances were meaningless. The Bush administration, citing the confidentiality of executive branch communications, said Tuesday that it did not plan to turn over certain documents […]