Noting Richard Holbrooke’s dire pessimism about the future of the war, Kevin Drum noted today that he’s “pretty gloomy” about Iraq. “A year ago, I thought (or maybe just hoped) that a milestone-related withdrawal plan might improve Iraq’s chances of avoiding complete chaos,” he wrote. “Today I can’t even convince myself of that little.” Neither […]
This might be funny if it weren’t so sad. Was [tag]Saddam Hussein[/tag] a security threat to the United States? Did the [tag]Iraqi[/tag] dictator have connections to [tag]Al Qaeda[/tag] or other terrorist ties? What happened to the [tag]weapons of mass destruction[/tag] everyone believed were in his possession? Did [tag]Saddam[/tag] move them? Did they ever exist? All […]
A few days ago, after [tag]Ann Coulter[/tag]’s latest flap, I asked whether there was literally anything a conservative could say that would make him or her a [tag]pariah[/tag]. Apparently, there is one thing. A discussion about protests by an anti-homosexual church at the funerals of fallen American soldiers turned into an astounding shoutfest on national […]
If I didn’t know better, I might think [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] is a little embarrassed about what his Spanish-speaking constituents think about his position on immigration. English-language visitors to www.ricksantorum.com encountered a home page filled with concern about the “[tag]amnesty[/tag]-ridden proposal” the U.S. Senate adopted to deal with illegal [tag]immigration[/tag]. But a section of the site […]
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 Colorado, [tag]Marc Holtzman[/tag]’s (R) on-again, off-again gubernatorial campaign is back on after Colorado’s secretary of state put the former university president back on the Republican primary ballot. Two weeks ago, Holtzman […]
Last week, I noted that the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]administration[/tag]’s new-and-improved policy towards [tag]Iran[/tag] is not just a fundamental shift; it’s an approach that embraces some of the same ideas that it flatly rejected in recent years. Indeed, the same Bush administration that said it would isolate Iran and never negotiate with its regime, has offered Iran […]
Maybe it’s because I find it easier to deal with Bush’s presidency by looking ahead to its conclusion, but I’m frequently preoccupied with 2008 speculation. With this in mind, this is a [tag]poll[/tag] that has quickly captured the political world’s attention. Former U.S. Sen. [tag]John Edwards[/tag] of North Carolina leads a list of potential Democratic […]
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Blake Gottesman, the president’s “body guy,” who sticks close behind Bush for 14 to 18 hours a day. (If you’ve seen the TV show, “The West Wing,” Gottesman is like Charlie.) Gottesman, despite having less than one year of undergraduate work under his belt, is off to Harvard […]
Talk about your [tag]soft bigotry of low expectations[/tag]; the New York Times ran a lengthy article yesterday that offers the [tag]president[/tag] credit for — get this — schmoozing with [tag]Republican[/tag] lawmakers. Senator John W. Warner and his wife were at the [tag]White House[/tag] for a Memorial Day photo session with veterans when they received an […]
[tag]Allen Raymond[/tag], a former [tag]RNC[/tag] official and one of the few Republican officials to go to jail as a result of the New Hampshire [tag]phone-jamming[/tag] [tag]scandal[/tag] of 2002, sat down this week with the Boston Globe for his first post-incarceration interview. Apparently, he’s had time to reflect on what his party is all about. [Raymond] […]