Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN spoke to White House aides who described Gonzales’ performance today as “going down in flames.” One prominent Republican described the AG’s testimony as similar to “watching a clubbing of [a] baby seal.” Ouch. * We know that far too many on the right have been blaming Virginia Tech […]
All we’ve heard for weeks is that Alberto Gonzales needed to reassure lawmakers that he was up to the job. He needed to keep the Republicans together and keep Democrats at bay. He needed one sterling performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee to demonstrate why he’s the right man for the job. It ain’t happening. […]
I suppose it was inevitable. If you criticize the president, you must hate the troops, and if you criticize Alberto Gonzales, you must hate the Justice Department. Consider this exchange between the Attorney General and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). (Paul Kiel has the video clip, from which I made this transcription. If there are any […]
Wow, this sure is tiresome. (via TP) Presidential confidant Karl Rove painted a bleak picture Wednesday of what would happen if the United States walked away from the global war on terror. “We are foolish if we think we can turn away from this threat and draw inward, and they will not come,” President Bush’s […]
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recently told GQ Magazine that he’s concerned about polls or day-to-day events in the Middle East; he deserves to be president because he knows “what’s best for the security of this nation.” And to help demonstrate what McCain thinks is best for our security, consider what the senator told an audience […]
About a half-hour ago, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), referring to a November 2006 meeting of top Justice Department officials, asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the decision to purge the now-fired U.S. Attorneys. Gonzales said, “I don’t recall that the decision was made at that meeting.” Leahy, looking incredulous, asked if Gonzales […]
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: * It looks like Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign has moved from “if” to “when.” Thompson met with a series of Republican lawmakers at the Capitol Hill Club yesterday — estimates go as high […]
Consider this lede from a story published today by McClatchy Newspapers. In fact, read it twice. “For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates,” McClatchy reported. “The administration intensified its […]
It wasn’t my intention to do a series of posts noting the most offensive reactions to the Virginia Tech slayings from our friends on the other end of the political spectrum; it’s just worked out that way. I keep noticing bizarre screeds and feel compelled to share. Of course, if you’re anything like me, you’ve […]
I’ve had a few discouraging words about the Washington Post’s John Solomon, after a series of news-less front-page exposes left me wondering, “What is Solomon thinking?” Yesterday, we got a much clearer sense of exactly what Solomon is thinking. The Post’s money and politics reporter did an online Q&A with readers yesterday afternoon and addressed […]