The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove to testify on the U.S. Attorney purge scandal, and was supposed to appear this morning. Not surprisingly, the man the president affectionately calls “Turd Blossom” didn’t show up. It’s probably worth taking a moment to consider the White House’s explanation for blowing off a congressional subpoena. Dan Froomkin […]
Last week, Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a U.S. soldier in Iraq, was all the rage among conservatives. Beauchamp had used a pseudonym, “Scott Thomas,” to write a few pieces about the war and his experiences for The New Republic. His columns weren’t controversial until he published an item that noted some inappropriate behavior on the […]
The Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon and Ken Pollack certainly know how to raise a fuss. On Monday, their op-ed on the war in Iraq appeared in the NYT and immediately became The Most Important Opinion Piece Ever, at least as far as Bush and his supporters are concerned. The two, who recently returned from an […]
A couple of days ago, I tried to figure out why, exactly, Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign offended me more than the other GOP candidates. After all, on a variety of social issues, Giuliani used to be surprisingly progressive — abortion rights, gay rights, gun control — and he even endorsed Mario Cuomo over George Pataki […]
I’ve been hesitant to write about the horrific highway bridge collapse in Minneapolis. It’s hard to even know where to start. Obviously, best wishes go out to the entire community, which has obviously been shaken by this awful tragedy. As a student of politics, I can’t help but notice that the Bush White House, scarred […]
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll (.pdf) includes most of the predictable numbers — Bush is unpopular, Americans are uneasy about the economy, etc. — but respondents were also asked which party they trusted more to handle various policy issues. The Dems enjoy huge, double-digit advantages on every domestic issue (environment, health care, education, […]
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: * If you haven’t seen it, Mitt Romney has a new web video in which he pretends to chat with his family about whether to run for president. It culminates with one of […]
It’s hard to know where to start with something like this item from Hugh Hewitt. President Bush invited ten talk hosts into the Oval Office for an hour of conversation [yesterday] — Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Janet Parshall and me [Hewitt]. It seems […]
By most reasonable standards, the existing presidential primary system is pretty tough to defend. Unless you live in Iowa or New Hampshire — and for some residents, even if you do — you know your state’s influence matters quite a bit less, and in some instances, not at all. A move is afoot to overhaul […]
Just to follow up for a moment on my earlier item, I was struck by the White House’s response to Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism policy with relation to Pakistan. Q: I gather, Tony, from your answer to Martha that you don’t think very much of Barack Obama’s suggestion, he’d send U.S. troops into Pakistan to take […]