It seems like the most straightforward and elementary angle to the entire purge scandal: why were the prosecutors fired? The administration’s answer to this question has evolved over time, but as the LA Times notes today, the Justice Department’s memos show “performance issues were being detailed after the fact in order to justify the terminations.” […]
There’s still some time for the players to strike a deal, but it’s far more likely that Senate Dems and the Bush White House are headed for a fairly serious constitutional clash. President Bush and Congress clashed Tuesday over an inquiry into the firing of federal prosecutors and appeared headed toward a constitutional showdown over […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Senate voted 94 to 2 today to undo the Patriot Act provision that allows the Bush administration to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies. As the AP explained, “The bill, which has yet to be considered in the House, would set a 120-day deadline for the administration to appoint […]
It’s been a fairly eventful afternoon for the purge scandal; let’s consider the latest news. * Bush is scheduled to address the controversy at 5:45pm (eastern). CNN reports, however, that we shouldn’t expect too much in the way of actual news: “What is expected from the president is that he will say that Attorney General […]
The Bush gang has been mulling over whether to let Karl Rove and Harriet Miers talk to lawmakers about the prosecutor purge scandal. This afternoon, the White House announced its response. The White House will allow the president’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers to be interviewed by congressional […]
The notion that the Bush gang is running some kind of Manchurian White House, intentionally undermining the United States on our enemies’ behalf, is not entirely new. In 2004, Doonesbury had an amusing item, explaining that Bush’s presidency had united the Muslim world against the United States, inspired a new generation of future terrorists with […]
Here’s an odd thought I’ve been mulling over: Dick Cheney’s name hasn’t come up at all throughout the entire prosecutor purge scandal. No one has suggested he orchestrated the firings; there haven’t been any obvious references to the Office of the Vice President in any of the emails or related documents; and there doesn’t seem […]
The WaPo’s Richard Cohen addressed the controversy today over whether the lives of troops killed in Iraq have been “wasted,” a word used in this context by both John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D). In analyzing recent events, however, Cohen’s memory of the last five weeks is faulty. McCain used the “W” word when […]
Almost two years ago, in June 2005, the New York Times uncovered the fact that the White House hired [tag]Philip Cooney[/tag], a former lobbyist for the [tag]American Petroleum Institute[/tag], to be chief of staff of the president’s [tag]Council on Environmental Quality[/tag]. As part of his responsibilities, Cooney re-wrote government reports on [tag]global warming[/tag], editing out […]
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: * Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seems to have annoyed an important GOP constituency: Cubans in Miami. Romney inadvertently associated a notorious Fidel Castro-spewed Communist catch phrase with freedom fighters, describing the socialist […]