Ripping the mask off of Bush’s ‘faith-based’ initiative

Long-time readers may recall that we’ve been covering David Kuo, the former second-in-command at the White House Faith-Based Office, since he first went public with his concerns in early 2005. Kuo, an evangelical Christian and conservative Republican, joined the Bush gang after stints with Bill Bennett and John Ashcroft, thinking he would help implement an […]

Wednesday’s mini-report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * Mark Foley seemed to have a unique fondness for the pages’ dormitory, didn’t he? * I promise to stop linking to Keith Olbermann’s must-see commentaries just as soon as they stop being so extraordinary. (thanks to reader C.K. for the reminder) * In an entirely entertaining turn of events, […]

McCain’s new friends

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has dipped more than a toe into the blogosphere in recent months, yesterday going to so far as to write a post on North Korea (which, in part, blamed Clinton’s “failed” policy) at Captain’s Quarters, one of the right’s leading blogs. I’m not surprised that McCain would conduct some extensive online […]

Meet Dr. K.A. Paul

Chances are, most Americans have never heard of Dr. [tag]K.A. Paul[/tag], leader of a group called the Global Peace Initiative, but he’s an entertaining character. It was Paul, for example, who told an audience in Cleveland on Monday that voters should oust Republicans from the congressional majority because, as he sees it, the GOP is […]

Whatever you do, don’t mention the word ‘gun’

After a series of horrific school shootings in recent weeks, the White House decided to host a panel discussion in Maryland on school safety. Victims and their families spoke, the president listened, the Attorney General was on hand to discuss some law-enforcement efforts, and most of the discussion appeared intentionally driven towards promoting some kind […]

Iraqis are willing to ‘tolerate’ violence?

I can appreciate that word-choice hasn’t always been the president’s strong point, but this one is even more embarrassing than most. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN: Thank you, Mr. President. Back on Iraq, a group of American and Iraqi health officials today released a report saying that 655,000 Iraqis have died since the Iraq war. That figure […]

Iraqi casualties may total 600,000

If accurate, this is simply stunning. A team of American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that 600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003 American invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war here. The figure breaks down to about 15,000 violent deaths a month, a number […]

‘I worry more about abortion and gay marriage and all that crazy stuff’

So, is this finally the election cycle in which socially-conservative voters move away from the culture war and start voting on their economic self-interest? It depends a bit on whom you ask. The Washington Post, in an interesting front-page piece today, says the notion of basing votes on far-right “values” is in decline, especially in […]

Wednesday’s political round-up

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: * In Connecticut, Ned Lamont (D) has narrowed the gap a little against Sen. Joe Lieberman (I), but only a little. A new Hartford Courant/University of Connecticut poll shows the incumbent leading by […]

Arabic linguists still in short supply

On Sept. 10, 2001, the National Security Agency picked up suggestive comments by al Queda operatives, including, “Tomorrow is zero hour.” The tape of the conversation was not translated until after 9/11. Soon after, as Newsweek reported, FBI Director Robert Mueller established a 12-hour rule: all significant electronic intercepts of suspected terrorist conversations must be […]