After extensive wrangling and behind-the-scenes positioning, the Senate is poised to vote on a revised FISA bill, which, at this point, includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with Bush’s warrantless-surveillance scheme. The White House has made its position clear. Two months ago, President Bush made a strong argument for updating a law which […]
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: * Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), one of Congress’ most right-wing members, endorsed Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign. It gives Thompson a much-needed boost in Iowa, where he’s been running fourth. (Apparently, there was some […]
On the one hand, I realize that American college professors, in general, are featured prominently on the list of conservative boogeymen. They’re all a bunch of ivory-tower eggheads, we’re told, who were drug-addled hippies in the 1960s. Worse, they’re poisoning the minds of our youths, the argument goes, by teaching college students a bunch of […]
Criticisms of Barack Obama from Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been pretty tough the past several weeks — up to and including discussion of his teenaged drug use — but neither Clinton nor any of her associates have been willing to take on the bogus Muslim email myth. When two Iowa officials were caught disseminating the […]
One of the more common laments of conservative Republicans is that the economy has been great under Bush, but the president just doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Despite steady growth, ungrateful Americans consistently say they disapprove of Bush’s handling of the economy, and add that they perceive these “boom” days as sluggish and challenging. […]
Slowly but surely, former Bush speechwriter David Frum has been working to restore his credibility. After his White House stint — he is often credited for coining the “axis of evil” phrase — Frum remained a loyal Bushie in the conservative media for quite a while, until a few months ago, when ht started to […]
Marc Ambinder and Mike Allen are both reporting this afternoon that Joe Lieberman will appear in New Hampshire to endorse John McCain’s presidential campaign. A source familiar with the endorsement said that the two will appear of NBC’s Today Show tomorrow morning and at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire. The endorsement could help […]
It’s hardly a secret that the Republican presidential field is surprisingly weak and unimpressive, which has contributed to a GOP malaise. Poll after poll has shown Democratic voters enthusiastic about their choices, while Republican voters generally feel the opposite. But it’s worth pausing, from time to time, to realize just how feeble this field really […]
After a series of humiliating incidents, Mike Huckabee has earned his reputation for knowing less about foreign policy than any credible candidate in either party. To help address his obvious deficiency, Huckabee wrote (or, more likely, someone on his staff wrote) a piece for the upcoming issue of Foreign Affairs, in which he criticizes the […]
When it comes to kicking Americans out of the military because they’re gay, the occasional defense — offered by conservatives who know the policy is absurd — is that the Pentagon is merely following the law. If Congress wants able-bodied, patriotic, American volunteers to join the Armed Forces, regardless of sexual orientation, lawmakers should change […]