The New York Times reports today that the Bush White House has decided that it’s finally time to get tough with Pakistan when it comes to terrorism. That’s probably a good idea — last week we learned that senior leaders of al Qaeda are operating from Pakistan, have rebuilt training camps, and have “re-established significant […]
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: * At a recent meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club of right-wing heavyweights (Dobson, Norquist, Falwell, et al), there was widespread discontent over the leading GOP frontrunners for the […]
Just to follow up for a moment on this morning’s post, there was another portion of Seymour Hersh’s New Yorker piece that warrants some attention. Hersh explains that as the U.S. sides with Saudi-backed Sunni extremists and puts money in the hands of Lebanese Sunni groups with ties to al Qaeda, they’re relying on a […]
I’m not in the habit of defending Republican presidential candidates against unfair criticisms, but this AP story was widely panned by bloggers all over the political spectrum over the weekend with good cause. It’s a cheap and unnecessary shot. While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential […]
Three weeks ago, Paul McNulty, the deputy attorney general, testified under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the U.S. Attorneys purged from their positions “had been urged to leave because of poor performance.” The claim looks less credible all the time. Internal Justice Department performance reports for six of the eight United States attorneys […]
The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh has a stunning new article out, describing new Bush administration efforts to intervene in Iraq’s civil war, siding with Saudi-backed Sunni extremists in the hopes of stemming the Shia influence backed by Iran. The result of the strategy is U.S. payments to Sunni groups with ties to al Qaeda, without […]
The Clinton-Obama dust-up seemed to get most of the attention this week, but there was another noteworthy exchange between two very high-profile political figures this week that deserves another look. Dick Cheney, speaking to ABC about the war in Iraq, said, “I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are […]
I can appreciate the fact that Scooter Libby’s conservative friends don’t mind his outrageous conduct, and are even willing to help raise money for his legal defense, but there should at least be limits on how ridiculous they’re willing to be with their praise for a man who was forced to resign in disgrace. Mary […]
In September, Rajiv Chandrasekaran wrote what may be the most telling article about the Bush administration’s handling of reconstruction in Iraq to date. Chandrasekaran explained that after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government in April 2003, the Bush gang decided to put a bunch of right-wing ideologues in charge of rebuilding Iraq, while ignoring qualified, […]
I have a hunch we’ll be seeing this quote pop up, repeatedly, for the next two years. So some guy stands up after John McCain’s luncheon speech here yesterday to a group of business types and asks him a question. “I’ve seen in the press where in your run for the presidency, you’ve been sucking […]