A standard presidential talking point in defense of the war in Iraq is that it wasn’t Bush’s fault he launched an invasion. He frequently asserts, as he did in an address to the nation last month, that Saddam Hussein “was given an ultimatum — and he made his choice for war.” Bush repeats all the […]
Last summer, when the fight over the most conservative of Bush’s judicial nominees was reaching the boiling point, Republicans decided they didn’t like the phrase they had already come up with: the “nuclear option.” It started a protracted, mind-numbing discussion, and media hand wringing, over whether the tactic was the “nuclear option,” the “constitutional option,” […]
Trying to fact check every speech Bush delivers is too daunting a task for a humble blogger — a typical event includes far too much mendacity to bother. But since yesterday’s speech was supposed to be the president’s latest comprehensive defense of his warrantless-search program, it’s probably worth taking a moment to document the more […]
If the president is going to give a speech at a major university and open the floor to questions, it’s probably a good idea to prepare for a question or two about college financing. At yesterday’s event in Kansas, Bush faced his toughest question in a while — and couldn’t answer it. A student, Kansas […]
Gen. Michael Hayden, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, delivered remarks in DC yesterday in defense of Bush’s warrantless-search program, as part of a week-long political offensive to rally support for the White House initiative. To follow up on yesterday’s item about Hayden’s description of the scope of the program, it’s also worth noting […]
Why did the White House avoid oversight and warrants when implementing its warrantless-search program? One possible answer came by way of the New York Times in late-December, when the paper explained that the administration worked with telecommunications companies to trace and analyze large volumes of telephone and Internet communications, without warrants, after 9/11. It suggested […]
Scott McClellan, when answering questions about Jack Abramoff’s White House access, has been unusually evasive and non-committal for weeks, but today he got careless. McClellan routinely slices the truth pretty thin, but in response to questions about Bush-Abramoff pictures, McClellan either didn’t know what he was talking about or he was intentionally deceiving reporters. At […]
The dreadful news about job losses and plant closings from Ford is the latest in a series of discouraging developments for the nation’s auto manufacturers. Reports today note that Ford will close 14 plants in North America and cut as many as 30,000 jobs over the next six years. During this morning’s gaggle, a reporter […]
Here’s a story in which the headline speaks volumes: “Bush to Take Unscripted Audience Questions.” Seriously, I didn’t write that; it’s the actual headline on a major AP national story. The lede, too, is unintentionally hilarious. Move over, Oprah. President Bush is making himself into television’s newest talk show host by making audience participation a […]
I’ve seen the ads in which Halliburton boasts of its support for the military. Somehow, the commercials just don’t seem to reflect a company that exposes troops to contaminated water. Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year, and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton Co., […]