Peggy Noonan, who seemed to effectively give up on Bush’s presidency six weeks ago, during the immigration debate, wrote one of her less-annoying columns today. In fact, she raises a good point about the president’s demeanor. As I watched the news conference, it occurred to me that one of the things that might leave people […]
Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) sex scandal has grown increasingly lurid in the days since he admitted using the services of the DC Madam. It wasn’t a one-time mistake for Vitter, he took Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s calls during roll-call votes in Congress, and he apparently paid for sex quite a bit back in Louisiana. All the […]
In one of those Fox News broadcasts that was almost too bizarre to believe, Bill O’Reilly devoted a segment this week to a San Diego Padres baseball game. Apparently, the team hosted a gay-pride night and a children’s hat giveaway promotion during the same game, causing O’Reilly to go berserk. He called it “insane” to […]
What did we learn about John McCain’s presidential campaign this week? Well, he’s just about out of money. And his national campaign staff is just about gone. As is his Iowa campaign staff. More top aides are on their way out, and one of his top backers in Florida was arrested this week, charged with […]
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 conversation between John Edwards and Hillary Clinton was accidentally picked up by a live microphone, and the two were overheard discussing excluding long-shot Democratic candidates from future events. In Detroit, the […]
Look out, everyone, the White House has a new catch-phrase. “Stay the course” didn’t work out too well, and “they stand up, we stand down” was a policy flop, but now the vaunted White House communications team has a new one. “The interim report is the beginning of a new kind of surge and it’s […]
As has been well established by now, the president started lying about al Qaeda’s role in Iraq earlier this year as part of a cynical approach to bolstering support for the war. While that was hardly unexpected, the more noticeable problem was that the media started playing along with the White House’s scheme, and began […]
The U.S. House and Senate both open each day with an official prayer — which no one attends. Each chamber has an official chaplain, but guest religious leaders are frequently invited to deliver the invocation. At least 99% of the time, no one notices or cares. But there are exceptions. Back in September 2000, I […]
I finally got around to reading the White House’s Initial Benchmark Assessment Report (.pdf) last night, so I could learn all about the “progress” that the president is so encouraged by. It’s worth checking out, if for no other reason, than to see just how desperate the situation really is and to see just how […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Dick Durbin’s efforts to de-fund Dick Cheney’s office is running into some serious resistance from the Senate GOP: “Though Vice President Cheney’s contention that he is not part of the executive branch has provided endless fodder for late-night comedians, Senate Republicans are not going to be shy about defending […]