Anytime a post begins, “Conservative blogs are all excited about…” you know you might as well reach for the Maalox. On Monday, as everyone now knows, MoveOn.org took out a full-page ad in the NYT with a provocative headline: “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” According to one report, the group paid about $65,000 to […]
At a Capitol Hill press conference yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed his disappointment with the ineffectiveness of the president’s “surge” policy. “This week’s testimony confirmed that the Bush Administration is continuing to pursue its flawed strategy even as every objective assessment of the surge reports that it has failed to bring the Iraqi […]
It seems paradoxical — of the top five Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton is probably the most “hawkish.” Among Democratic primary voters, ending the war is the top priority. And somehow, the same voters who are staunchly opposed to the war are also backing Clinton over her Democratic rivals who seem to be more in […]
The next legislative fight over funding the war was supposed to follow a predictable pattern that we’ve seen before. The House will pass a funding bill with a withdrawal timeline, the Senate will have the votes to pass a similar bill, but it will draw a Republican filibuster (on the Hill) or a Republican veto […]
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: * The president will offer a prime-time address tonight on Iraq and troop deployments, but John Edwards’ campaign has a clever way of responding: it’s purchased two minutes of advertising time on MSNBC […]
There’s rumored to be an ancient Chinese curse that says, “May you live in interesting times.” In a great piece the other day, Ed Kilgore notes just how interesting the times have been over the last decade. (via Yglesias) Think about it. Since 1998, we’ve witnessed the first presidential impeachment since the 1860s, the first […]
Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who still wants to salvage his career and public standing after his infamous bathroom arrest, is clearly running out of time. He’s working on the criminal charges in Minneapolis, he’s petitioning the Senate Ethics Committee, but if Craig is serious about keeping his seat and serving the rest of his term, […]
Democratic hopes of expanding its majority in the U.S. Senate got a boost this morning, when former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) announced in a web video that he will run to succeed retiring Sen. John Warner (R-no relation). Warner’s campaign website is now online, though at this early date, it’s rather sparse. Watching the […]
This week, Amb. Ryan Crocker pointed to progress on Iraqi oil-revenue sharing as a sign of increasing political stability and progress. Alas, this success story has failed, too. A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq’s rich oil fields, agreed to in February after months of arduous talks among Iraqi political groups, appears […]
On Monday, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on recent changes to the FISA law, which the Bush administration has insisted were necessary to keep Americans safe. In defending the law, McConnell seems to have lied to the Senate. Badly. Joe Lieberman asked whether the […]