Given that I devoted several posts to highlighting far-right, blame-the-victim lunacy in response to the massacre at Virginia Tech, I thought it only fair to underscore a high-profile conservative who doesn’t share in his colleagues’ crass stupidity. The National Review’s John Derbyshire, as we all know by now, got this ball rolling on Tuesday, the […]
I’ve never been able to predict what will make the right apoplectic. For example, this seems to have sent conservatives into quite a tizzy. A top Democratic lawmaker declared on Thursday that the war in Iraq “is lost,” pointing to the sustained bloodshed there even as President George W. Bush urged patience with his strategy. […]
Late in the day yesterday, after hours of hearings, Alberto Gonzales faced some fascinating questions from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). It’s a shame it was largely lost in the shuffle, because one of their exchanges was of particular interest. Whitehouse began by finding some common ground with Gonzales. “I assume that we can agree with […]
To my surprise, John McCain’s little song about bombing Iran actually turned into a real news story. What do you know. Sen. John McCain has a message for any critics who thought his musical joke about bombing Iran wasn’t funny: Get a life. While campaigning for president in South Carolina on Wednesday, McCain responded to […]
Reader H.B. alerted me to some interesting comments Defense Secretary Robert Gates made in Baghdad yesterday, as part of a direct challenge to the Maliki government to step up and do more — quickly. “Frankly, I would like to see faster progress,” Gates said, moments before boarding a military aircraft to travel to Iraq. Continued […]
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: * Joe Trippi, best known for his work as one of Howard Dean’s campaign managers in 2004, didn’t expect to work for any of the 2008 aspirants, but announced yesterday that he is […]
Yesterday afternoon, two unnamed senior White House aides told CNN that Alberto Gonzales’ testimony was a disaster. One described him as “going down in flames.” Another said he was “not doing himself any favors.” Political norms tell us there is simply no way Gonzales can stay on the job. I’d just remind everyone that political […]
The president gave a fairly long speech yesterday in Tipp City, Ohio, and for the first time in nearly a year, opened the floor to a Q&A with the audience. Now, there wasn’t too much of a risk for Bush — this was a very friendly audience, with tickets distributed exclusively through the local chamber […]
It’s been the linchpin of the Bush war policy in Iraq: “As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.” By one count, White House officials have used the phrase publicly over 125 times, not including media interviews. It’s the key principle that will lead U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq. Or rather, it used […]
Watching yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with [tag]Attorney General[/tag] (for now) [tag]Alberto Gonzales[/tag], the one thing I kept thinking of was the flurry of news reports from the last couple of weeks about Gonzales’ extraordinary preparation efforts. The WaPo literally ran a front-page item recently about the AG having “retreated from public view,” in order […]