Republicans in Washington have found themselves in quite a mess. The war in Iraq, corruption, deficits, discouraging polls, criminal investigations, the works. The party can’t pass a budget, can’t agree on immigration, and can’t put together a coherent legislative agenda. What are the [tag]Republican[/tag]s to do? What else? Cut [tag]taxes[/tag]. Burdened by an unpopular war […]
I suspect that a lot of people, upon hearing about the possibility of a preemptive strike in Iran, dimissed the possibility. It’s just too reckless, even for Bush. There are certain decisions that are so dangerous, so beyond-the-pale, that it’s hard to imagine any president agreeing to them. But [tag]Paul Krugman[/tag] makes a compelling case […]
Sen. [tag]Joe Lieberman[/tag]’s (D-Conn.) willingness to break party ranks on a variety of key issues, including his inexplicable support for Bush’s handling of the war, led businessman [tag]Ned Lamont[/tag] to launch a primary challenge this year, which apparently is causing considerable consternation at Lieberman campaign HQ. In fact, Lieberman is so concerned about his future, […]
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: * New York’s Republican gubernatorial primary got a little thinner over the weekend when long-shot candidate, Randy Daniels, New York’s former Secretary of State, announced that he was withdrawing from the race and […]
One side note to the [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] resignation story that didn’t get much attention last week was the fact that [tag]DeLay[/tag] was poised to step down for quite a while, but had to pretend to be interested in keeping his seat, in part for financial reasons. An additional impetus for putting off the resignation until […]
Just a couple of weeks ago, retired Army Major General Paul D. [tag]Eaton[/tag], the military official in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, said Defense Secretary Donald [tag]Rumsfeld[/tag] has created “a climate of groupthink” that has led him to “put the Pentagon at the mercy of his ego.” He insisted that […]
The good news is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen [tag]Specter[/tag] (R-Pa.) is taking a firm stand and arguing that it’s incumbent upon the president and vice president to explain the circumstances surrounding their classified leaks. The bad news is it’s [tag]Arlen Specter[/tag], who has a history of talking tough at the beginning of a story […]
Every once in a great while, when Patrick [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag]’s criminal investigation becomes a little too embarrassing for the [tag]White House[/tag], some of [tag]Bush[/tag]’s media allies will roll out a half-hearted attack on Fitzgerald’s credibility. It never works, and the criticisms are usually pretty pathetic, but it appears some conservatives feel the need to go through […]
It’s been a few days since the Scooter [tag]Libby[/tag] bombshell revealed that the president himself authorized the [tag]leak[/tag] of [tag]classified[/tag] information as part of a political pushback. It was easy to tell that this was a difficult scandal for the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag] because they struggled to come up with a coherent explanation for the […]