One of the more common remarks made by the political establishment is that a president — any president — cannot expect to execute a war without the support of the public. There’s rarely any substantive follow-up on this point, however. It’s just understood — the backing of the electorate is simply necessary to continue fighting […]
As Kevin Drum noted, the Iraqi military faced off against the previously obscure “Soldiers of Heaven” in a fiece battle in Najaf over the weekend. It didn’t go well. Iraqi forces were surprised and nearly overwhelmed by the ferocity of an obscure renegade militia in a weekend battle near the holy city of Najaf and […]
Apparently, corporate lobbyists and the GOP’s wealthy corporate donors don’t have nearly enough influence over federal regulations already, so the president has decided to give them a hand. President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public […]
Scooter Libby told a grand jury that he first learned about Valerie Plame on July 10, 2003, during a chat with NBC’s Tim Russert. Ari Fleischer yesterday made it quite clear that Libby was lying. Ari Fleischer may turn out to be a stronger — and more credible — witness than he was a White […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * If you haven’t already, be sure to check out The Real McCain, a new website created by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films to highlight the Arizona senator’s flip-flops, equivocations, and general lack of principles. My good friend Cliff Schecter will even be hosting a blog at the site, […]
David Kurtz suggested over the weekend that it’s “time to shine some light” on the Office of the Vice President. TPM Muckraker seems to have taken it as a direct challenge. Step one: figure out who works for Dick Cheney. They may be public employees, being paid by the public treasury, but finding out who […]
As recently as two weeks ago, White House officials were leaking word that the president decided on a new war policy in part by doing the opposite of what the Iraq Study Group suggested. The Bush gang was intent on “looking distinctive” from the ISG. As the Washington Post reported, “As described by participants in […]
In the grand scheme of things, there are probably more important matters to get worked about than whether the president can bring himself to utter the words, “Democratic Party.” But so long as it’s an issue, consider what Bush said in last week’s State of the Union address, according to the official White House transcript. […]
Over at my other gig, I highlight about a dozen conservative blog posts a day, some of which are written by smart, engaging people with whom I generally disagree (such as James Joyner), though most are from writers who I find offensive and distasteful. In all, I probably go through 30 or so conservative blogs […]
You want congressional oversight hearings? Henry Waxman is going to deliver oversight hearings. With a Democrat now in the driver’s seat, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is set to hold Congress’s first in-depth hearings into charges of waste and fraud involving money spent on reconstruction in Iraq. Three days of hearings — the […]