I don’t want to alarm anyone, but at times, the president appears to be dangerously dumb. Consider this exchange, for example, from this morning’s press conference. Q: Mr. President, moments ago you said that al Qaeda attacked us before we were in Iraq. Since then Iraq has become much less stable; al Qaeda has used […]
To his enormous credit, NBC’s David Gregory, at this morning’s press conference in the Rose Garden, asked the president one of the more important questions Bush has heard in quite some time. “Mr. President, after the mistakes that have been made in this war, when you do as you did yesterday, where you raised two-year-old […]
The president held a 50-minute press conference in the Rose Garden this morning, offering a veritable treasure trove of content for blog posts. (Taking notes during the Q&A, I felt like a kid at a candy store…) Here’s one of several notable exchanges: Q: Good morning, Mr. President. I’d like to ask you about the […]
By last count, I’ve written 19 posts over the last four years about the Pentagon getting rid of well-trained military linguists, who help translate intercepted terrorist messages in a time of war, because they happen to be gay. My 20th has some vaguely encouraging news — the linguists are still getting kicked out, but at […]
Following up on the earlier item about Monica Goodling’s testimony, I wanted to add a point that’s probably obvious, but worth mentioning anyway: House Judiciary Committee Republicans really embarrassed themselves yesterday. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick explained, “One Republican congressman after another tenderly thanks her for enduring today’s hearing — as if she’s one of Jerry’s Kids […]
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: * A staffer for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign prepared a memo, which was leaked yesterday, suggesting the senator skip the Iowa caucuses and concentrate on other early primary states. Clinton and top campaign […]
The president delivered the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy — a speech the White House has apparently been playing up with reporters for a while — in which Bush, as the WaPo put it, “ratcheted up his campaign to link the violence in Iraq to actions by al-Qaeda.” “I’ve often warned that […]
Look, I know NewsMax is a conservative political magazine. I don’t expect hard-hitting investigative journalism, and I don’t expect anything but flattering coverage of Republican candidates and officials. But Ben Smith noted yesterday that NewsMax wrote a profile about Ann Romney, Mitt’s wife, that is so remarkably over-the-top, one almost wonders if it’s a joke. […]
I realize that when a prominent national figure passes away, many will want to paint his or her life in as positive a light as possible. It just seems polite. That said, the praise showered on TV preacher Jerry Falwell this week on the House floor was galling, even by the embarrassingly low standards of […]
The latest in a series of moments-we’ve-all-been-waiting-for in the purge scandal wrapped up yesterday afternoon, when former Justice Department official Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Was the hearing informative? Did Goodling give up the goods? Did her testimony help or hurt Alberto Gonzales? There’s quite a bit of new information here, so […]