Today’s edition of quick hits. * John McCain is still taking some heat for appearing at an event in Seattle tomorrow, co-sponsored by the Discovery Institute, the nation’s largest advocate of intelligent-design creationism. (For those who want some background on the group, I wrote a piece on the Discovery Institute in 2002.) * Remember Ahmed […]
At first, I thought the “Conservapedia” was some kind of joke. Billed as a conservative rival to Wikipedia, Conservapedia would be an ideologically pure, right-wing online collaborative encyclopedia. Except the site was so laughably right-wing, and so intentionally devoid of diversity of thought, it seemed obvious that this was some Onion-like parody. No such luck. […]
Shortly after the first Gulf War, then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney was a little sensitive to charges that he failed to “finish the job” against Iraq. More than a few hawks thought that Cheney and the other Bush administration dropped the ball when it had the opportunity to take out Saddam but chose not to. In […]
Of all the political issues that I cover here, I’ve always had a soft spot for the White House’s “bubble-boy” policies. It simply amazes me the extent to which the Bush gang will shield the president, not only from dissent, from anyone who might ask a question Bush is unwilling (unable?) to answer. It’s a […]
Following up on an issue we first discussed six months ago, [tag]Reading First[/tag] is not just another grant program in the [tag]Department of Education[/tag]. According to the cabinet agency’s website, it is “the academic cornerstone of the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act.” Reading First, the Department of Education has argued “is a prime example […]
During the recent semantics debate over whether to refer to Bush’s new Iraq policy as a “surge” or an “escalation,” part of the discussion focused on duration. As Spencer Ackerman explained, a surge is “a temporary infusion of troops.” This didn’t appear to be what the Bush plan had in store. With this in mind, […]
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: * As if there weren’t enough big states moving their presidential primaries up to early February, Pennsylvania lawmakers reportedly considering a plan to do the same thing. The likely date would be Feb. […]
As further proof that the entire 2008 presidential race is accelerating at a stunning pace, we’re poised to have our first major withdrawal. CNN, AP, and National Journal are all reporting that former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who was the first candidate to enter the race, will be the first candidate to leave the race. […]
John Murtha’s “readiness strategy,” which would insist that only troops with adequate training and equipment be sent to Iraq, seems to be losing favor with enough Democratic lawmakers that passage seems unlikely. House Democrats have pulled back from efforts to link additional funding for the war to strict troop-readiness standards after the proposal came under […]
I continue to be amazed at the extent to which high-profile conservatives rail against Americans. The latest is Glenn Beck. “You know, there’s a new poll out that Muslims, the higher educated Muslims in the Middle East are more likely to be extremists? More and more Muslims now hate us all across the world, and […]