The National Rifle Association will kick off its national convention today, and Republican presidential hopefuls are expected to promise to be the greatest friend gun owners have ever had in the White House. None of this is particularly unusual — the same thing happened in 2000, 1996, 1988, and so on. But this year is […]
Ordinarily, when a reporter asks the president to comment on a subject he’s not comfortable with, Bush will dodge pretty well. He’ll note his unwillingness to discuss the matter, but he’ll do so artfully (albeit unpersuasively) with some vaguely credible explanation. Yesterday, however, NBC’s David Gregory asked Bush about Israel’s bombing raid on a target […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Jena Six controversy hasn’t generated enough national attention thus far, but this is hard to ignore: “Thousands of protesters clogged the tiny town of Jena, Louisiana, Thursday to show their indignation over what they consider unjust, unequal punishments meted out in two racially charged incidents. They swarmed over […]
As he is inclined to do, the president assembled a group of sycophantic media guests to boost his ego at the White House yesterday, the latest in a series of gatherings between Bush and like-minded allies who enjoy telling him exactly what he wants to hear — and agrees with every word he says. At […]
San Diego’s Republican mayor, Jerry Sanders, got elected after promising voters in 2005 that he would oppose same-sex marriage. Sanders, the city’s former police chief, said he would use his veto power if the San Diego City Council took steps to go beyond civil unions. So, when council members voted 5 to 3 recently on […]
Today’s White House press conference didn’t include too much talk about politics — except for the president’s condemnation of MoveOn.org, which he said launched an “attack…on the U.S. military” — but Cox Newspaper’s Ken Herman threw the president an entertaining softball. BUSH: Herman, have you got a question? Q Yes, sir, thank you. BUSH: You’re […]
Early on in this morning’s White House press conference, a reporter asked the president whether he believes there’s a risk of a recession. Bush replied, “You know, you need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible […]
At some point, it’s not entirely clear when, the DC establishment decided that Newt Gingrich is an intellectual. He gained a reputation as a “big thinker.” He’s someone whose ideas are “outside the box.” All of this is rather silly. The former Speaker can bloviate with the best of them, and he has opinions on […]
Senate Republicans decided this week that they would not allow votes on substantive bills relating to Bush’s Iraq policy, but they will push a resolution condemning MoveOn.org for questioning the credibility of a general executing Bush’s Iraq policy. As of a few minutes ago, the gambit worked. For procedural reasons, the Senate GOP was able […]
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: * John Edwards suffered a minor campaign setback yesterday when the SEIU said it would not offer any presidential endorsement, at least right now. Apparently, it looked like Edwards had the support to […]