Today’s edition of quick hits. * Good news from the House floor: “The House approved the first increase in federal automobile fuel efficiency requirements in three decades Thursday as part of an energy bill that also repeals billions of dollars oil company tax breaks and encourages use of renewable fuels. The bill, passed by a […]
Last week was fairly devastating for Rudy Giuliani, at least as far as revelations go, when we learned over the span of several days that he charged NYC taxpayers for romantic rendezvous weekends with his mistress, his mistress’ security detail, and his mistress’ chores (NYPD walked her dog), and then hid the costs in obscure […]
As the estimable David Kurtz put it, this is “too much Freud from a guy named Dick.” Most striking were his virtually taunting remarks of two men he described as friends from his own days in the House: Democratic Reps. John Dingell (Mich.) and John P. Murtha (Pa.). In a 40-minute interview with Politico, he […]
One of the principal benefits of Mike Huckabee’s campaign is that he’s managed to reach the top tier of the Republican field with almost no scrutiny at all. The media has largely treated him as an afterthought, giving the bigger-name candidates more attention; and the bigger-name candidates have been directing more of their energies into […]
The problem with Bush’s fairly transparent lies about the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran isn’t just that they’re obvious; it’s that they’re clumsy. Asked when he learned about Iran’s halted nuclear-weapons program, the president said it was “last week.” White House officials then conceded it was actually in August. Asked about the August briefing, the […]
In an earlier post, I tackled Mitt Romney’s speech on religion and the political implications, but I also wanted to take a moment to consider some of the substantive flaws in his criticism of church-state separation. For example, Romney sees some nefarious forces working to undermine religion. “They seek to remove from the public domain […]
Former Gov. Mitt Romney — or, more accurately, his capable speech writers — was given a fairly daunting task. With his position in the polls faltering, and much of the Republican base unwilling to support a Mormon candidate, Romney apparently decided it was time for “The Religion Speech,” which purportedly would settle anti-Mormon anxieties. For […]
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 WaPo/ABC poll of New Hampshire Dems shows the race in the Granite State closer than ever. At this point, Hillary Clinton leads with 35%, followed by Barack Obama with 29%, and […]
In October 2004, as the administration’s Iraq policy was failing on all fronts, Dick Cheney bragged that Iraq was “a remarkable success story.” In June 2005, in this midst of devastating violence in Iraq, Cheney bragged that Iraq “will be an enormous success story.” And now, in December 2007, Cheney is convinced that Iraq “will […]
The Wayne Dumond controversy has clearly thrown Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign for a loop — given the seriousness of Huckabee’s role in Dumond’s release, the story has the potential to permanently undermine his campaign. In response, the former Arkansas governor has come up with a two-prong defense: 1) Huckabee claims not to have been involved; […]