I hate to criticize Scott McClellan two posts in a row — oh, who am I kidding — but there was another exchange in today’s briefing that’s important. Indeed, it gave us a hint as to how the White House will deal with questions surrounding Bush’s warrantless-search program whenever queries get uncomfortable. Q: A number […]
Sidestepping questions about polls isn’t just a habit for Scott McClellan, it’s a pastime. Every question that references a poll is just another opportunity for the White House press secretary to talk about how insignificant the entire polling industry is to him, the president, and his administration colleagues. In November, the day after Dems scored […]
Kudos of the Day to syndicated columnist Norman Solomon for having the nerve to call out Bill O’Reilly in a big way in this week’s column, titled “Media New Year’s Resolutions for 2006.” Solomon advised O’Reilly: “Carefully listen to the archival footage in [the movie] ‘Good Night, and Good Luck.’ If you don’t notice your […]
Maybe he needs to rally the far-right base in advance of a very tough re-election fight, or maybe he’s trying to atone for criticizing intelligent-design creationism, but whatever the motivation, even Rick Santorum should know better than to appear at Justice Sunday III. [Santorum] was just added to the program of Justice Sunday III, a […]
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: * Two weeks ago, Texas Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn dropped hints that she’d consider leaving a GOP primary against incumbent Gov. Rick Perry (R) to ran as an independent. Yesterday, […]
The Washington Times ran an item today on Dems drafting a campaign strategy that will emphasize privacy issues over the next year. The article explains, of course, that the theme will underscore fights of warrantless-searches, the Alito nomination, and the Patriot Act. Apparently, Republicans are planning to rely on the tricks used during the last […]
About a week ago, the New York Times moved the ball forward on the controversy surrounding Bush’s warrantless-search program, noting that the administration worked with telecommunications companies to trace and analyze large volumes of telephone and Internet communications, without warrants, after 9/11. As the NYT explained, the NSA eavesdropped on specific conversations, but also utilized […]
The LA Times had an interesting, albeit thoroughly depressing, article on the front page today on the electronic voting machines cities and states bought after the 2000 race — which they’re now looking to replace. Five years after the vote-counting debacle in Florida suspended the election of a new U.S. president, California and other states […]
Over night, the Houston Chronicle and Bloomberg News reported that Jack Abramoff’s plea bargain deal is this close to being complete. This morning, CNN and the NYT are reporting it’s a done deal. Details are still a little sketchy, but Abramoff will reportedly plead guilty to charges of fraud, public corruption, and tax evasion, accept […]
When a bill passed by Congress faces litigation, judges can look back at the congressional record to better understand the purpose and intent of the legislation. When a president signs a bill into law, historically there’s nothing he could do to express his own intentions about what the law means and is supposed to do. […]