On Sunday, Democratic presidential candidates were asked whether they’d let gay soldiers serve in the U.S. military. All eight said they would. Last night, Wolf Blitzer posed the same question to the GOP field. All 10 said they would not. The amusing part, however, was listening them try and explain why. Ron Paul, who claims […]
The good news from last night’s Republican debate in New Hampshire is that no one endorsed torture. The event lasted two hours, and the subject never came up. The bad news is these guys aren’t necessarily opposed to using nuclear weapons against Iran. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked, “If it came down to a preemptive U.S. […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I sure hope there’s some kind of coherent diplomatic strategy to back up Bush’s antagonistic attitude towards Russia: “President Bush risked further stoking a testy dispute with Russia over a new U.S. missile defense system on Tuesday, saying Moscow has ‘derailed’ once-promising democratic reforms.” Bush added that he’s seen […]
It’s a busy news day — Libby, Jefferson, a GOP presidential debate, the return of the Cold War — but let’s not forget that the U.S. Attorney scandal isn’t even close to being done yet. It’s been pushed off the front page, at least for now, but developments continue unabated. Right now, for example, the […]
In case you missed it, everything about this court ruling was encouraging — especially the judges’ rationale. If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts. That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when […]
Bush joined Czech President Klaus and Czech Prime Minister Topolanek for a media event this morning in Prague, where each read pleasant statements about friendly relationship between the Czech Republic and the United States. The assembled journalists seemed to be on the leaders’ minds. Topolanek, for example, mentioned that security, human rights, and peacekeeping missions […]
Following up on the item below on Scooter Libby’s 30-month prison sentence, Judge Reggie Walton also released nearly 400 pages of letters sent to the court by Libby’s backers, all of whom asked for leniency. It was quite a collection. Donald Rumsfeld talked about Libby’s “strong character and integrity,” John Bolton continued to suggest Libby […]
Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), indicted yesterday on 16 counts, including racketeering, soliciting bribes, and obstruction of justice, is under increasing pressure to resign from Congress. Yesterday, Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wis.) called on him to “consider resigning for the good of Congress and for the good of the nation.” Jefferson hasn’t agreed, but in the meantime, […]
In March, Scooter Libby, a top aide in the Bush White House, was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA covert agent Valerie Plame’s identity. Today, he was sentenced to 30 months behind bars. Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in […]
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: * Republican presidential hopefuls will gather tonight for their third debate, this one in New Hampshire on the same stage used by Dems on Sunday night. The debate will be aired on CNN, […]