Giuliani pretends to be a foreign-policy expert

When it comes to foreign policy, former NYC Mayor [tag]Rudy Giuliani[/tag] recently told a supportive audience, “It’s something that I think I know, I think I know as well as anybody else who’s running for president, probably better than a lot.” Yesterday, Giuliani was even more confident in his background. Rudy Giuliani said yesterday that […]

Again with Michael Ware?

Goodness, gracious, these guys just don’t know to quit while they’re behind. The right is still trying to take on CNN’s Michael Ware for his already-debunked hijinks at a recent Baghdad press conference. A little background for those just joining us. After John McCain claimed last week that parts of Baghdad were safe for Americans […]

Wednesday’s political round-up

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: * I hardly thought it was possible, but Barack Obama raised $25 million in the first quarter of 2007, just shy of Hillary Clinton’s record-setting $26 million quarter. More than a third of […]

Conservative apoplexy over Pelosi’s head scarf

Following the White House’s lead, far-right blogs have been slamming Speaker [tag]Pelosi[/tag]’s visit to Syria with some over-the-top harangues. But the real problem, apparently, is what the House Speaker chose to wear while visiting the country. Wearing a flowered [tag]head scarf[/tag] and a black abaya robe, Pelosi visited the 8th-century Omayyad Mosque, shaking hands with […]

Chertoff concerned about ‘clean skin’ terrorists

I try not to be overly sensitive about these issues, but these comments struck me as immediately problematic. The United States fears that the next September 11-style attack on America could be launched by Muslims from Britain or Europe who feel “second-class citizens” and alienated by a “colonial legacy”, according to the US Homeland Security […]

‘The base isn’t interested in Iraq; the base is for Bush’

This quote was making the rounds a bit yesterday, but I think it’s an important bit of insight into conservative ideology right now. Tapped’s Garance Franke-Ruta, who’s obviously quite a trooper, stopped by by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.’s book party on Monday, celebrating the launch of Tyrrell’s latest anti-Clinton screed. Garance chatted with Grover Norquist […]

White House’s Pelosi criticism still doesn’t make sense

The [tag]Bush[/tag] gang’s criticism of Speaker [tag]Pelosi[/tag] for leading a congressional delegation to [tag]Syria[/tag] was exposed several days ago as being misguided and hypocritical. I’d hoped that reality would deter the White House from any additional nonsense on the subject. I should have known better. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Syria on Tuesday for […]

Tuesday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * I wrote a piece for The American Prospect on John McCain and the media. Some of the content may be vaguely familiar to regular readers, but everyone should go take a look anyway. * It’s hard not to enjoy the irony of Bush criticizing Congress for taking a week-long […]

Giuliani’s brand of authoritarianism

Rudy Giuliani’s record when it comes to being … what’s the appropriate phrase … a “power-hungry egomaniac” is pretty well established. But as his presidential campaign unfolds, we’re getting a much more detailed sense of how Giuliani believes an executive can and should wield power. In his case, that’s not at all encouraging. Over the […]

How to respond to Bush’s veto threat

Following up on the last post, one of the benefits of today’s presidential press conference was it offered an opportunity to hear Bush’s pitch. The [tag]House[/tag] and [tag]Senate[/tag] have both approved measures that fund the war that include [tag]withdrawal[/tag] [tag]timeline[/tag]s, and we know it’s going to draw a [tag]veto[/tag]. Today, the [tag]president[/tag] laid his cards […]