Today’s edition of quick hits. * Congressional and White House negotiators agreed this afternoon on the provisions of a new immigration reform measure. The AP reports, “Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, his party’s lead negotiator on the deal, hailed it as ‘the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders […]
Just two days after several Republican presidential hopefuls seemed almost desperate to brag about their appreciation for torture — as Slate’s John Dickerson put it, “Some candidates appeared ready to do the torturing themselves” — an important WaPo op-ed tries to set the record straight. Charles C. Krulak, commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 […]
A few weeks ago, Gen David Petraeus told reporters about an important upcoming milestone in the administration’s war policy. “During Secretary Gates’ recent visit to Iraq,” Petraeus said, “we agreed that in early September, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and I would provide an assessment of the situation in Iraq with respect to our mission and offer […]
About a month ago, after the White House refused to even consider replacing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Roll Call reported that Senate Dems were “seriously considering bringing a resolution to the floor expressing no confidence in Gonzales.” A senior leadership source told Roll Call the measure would be non-binding — Congress can’t force the president […]
The NYT noted today that “someone at the White House (and Americans need to know who) dispatched Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card to Mr. Ashcroft’s hospital bed.” Was it the president? He doesn’t want to talk about it. From a White House event this morning: Q: Thank you, sir. There’s been some very dramatic testimony […]
Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week seems to have sent a shockwave through much of the political world, renewing interest in a scandal that was never resolved. All of a sudden, questions that were unanswered months ago are being asked again, and thanks to Comey’s dramatic insights, […]
The Bush administration and congressional Democrats are at odds over a pay hike for U.S. troops. Take a wild guess who “supports our troops” more. Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization […]
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: * New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will formally kick off his presidential campaign on Monday, after months of campaigning. He will make his announcement in Los Angeles, instead of his home state. * […]
Robert Novak breaks a little news in his column today, noting that Susan Ralston, Karl Rove’s former executive assistant (and disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s former secretary), is “requesting immunity to testify before Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman’s investigating committee.” If accurate, this could be a fairly big deal. Last fall, we learned that Abramoff had […]
James Comey’s testimony this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee has caused all kinds of headaches for Attorney General [tag]Alberto Gonzales[/tag], but Peter Swire touched on one of the more notable problems yesterday — [tag]Comey[/tag] seems to have pointed to an instance in which Gonzales lied under oath. In a 2006 hearing, Gonzales, during a […]