This morning’s White House press gaggle, hosted by Bush spokesperson Tony Fratto, was genuinely amusing. I realize bringing in a third-string press secretary is no way to get the White House’s A game, but this was just silly. Q: Senators Schumer and Feinstein are going to introduce a no confidence resolution for Attorney General Gonzales […]
Way back in early March, Paul Krugman noted an important angle to the prosecutor purge scandal: if the fired U.S. Attorneys were ousted for failing to “play ball” with the White House’s political agenda, some of the U.S. Attorneys who weren’t fired kept their jobs because they did “play ball.” In particular, Krugman highlighted New […]
Since Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) was given a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee — sparking a mini-rebellion among conservative activists — there’s been considerable scrutiny of some of the controversial lawmaker’s more notable scandals. With this in mind, Roll Call reports today that an eyebrow-raising earmark Calvert championed was cleared by the House […]
Andrew Sullivan noted today, “If it weren’t for the Republican debate, the death of Christianist Falwell, and the continuing U.S. Attorneys scandal, the Comey testimony would, I think, have been a huge story.” I assume Andrew means it would have been treated as a huge story — on the merits, Comey’s testimony is a jaw-dropper, […]
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as usual, is disgusted. This time, he’s blasting the field of 2008 presidential candidates who, Gingrich believes, are “demeaning the presidency” by jumping through pointless hoops. “We have shrunk our political process to this pathetic dance in which people spend an entire year raising money in order to offer non-answers, […]
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: * There are 10 sitting members of Congress running for president right now, but only John McCain believes he doesn’t have to show up for work anymore: “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is the […]
For all the excitement surrounding James Comey’s testimony this week, there’s been one missing element: a counter-argument. A couple of days ago, Tony Snow said, “Jim Comey gave his side of what transpired that day.” And what’s the other side? No one knows; the Bush White House and its allies have been surprisingly quiet. Finally, […]
Sure, we’ve known for quite some time that the Bush White House takes an expansive view of executive branch power. But as a defense against the Plame civil suit, Cheney’s legal team has managed to push the envelope to surprising degree. (And given these guys’ track record, that’s saying something.) Attorneys for Vice President Cheney […]
In January, Focus on the Family’s James Dobson ruled out Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as a Republican presidential candidate he’d even consider. “Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances.” Yesterday, Dobson added another name to the list: the other leading GOP candidate. A prominent Christian leader said […]
It’s kind of amusing to think that literally just a week ago, it seemed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was, facts be damned, going to keep his job. He believed he had “weathered the storm.” He was caught in the midst of a massive scandal he still can’t explain, his Justice Department is divided and dysfunctional, […]