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: * Elizabeth Edwards caused a surprisingly big stir yesterday, when Salon ran a long interview with John Edwards’ wife about the campaign. Elizabeth raised eyebrows with her comments explaining why her husband would […]
A couple of days ago, Greg Sargent came up with a description for those Republican senators who express deep, heartfelt reservations about the president’s Iraq policy, only to vote against every possible measure intended to change that policy: WINOs — Waverers in Name Only. It’s hard not to like it; the description clearly fits Sens. […]
Yesterday, White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend held a press briefing, ostensibly to tell reporters about the new National Intelligence Estimate, but more accurately, to put the Bush gang’s spin on the devastating report. There was one exchange that was particularly important (TPM has a clip). CNN’s Ed Henry, to his credit, pointed out […]
By all indications, the White House released the declassified National Intelligence Estimate report yesterday for political gain. The Bush gang swears the timing was coincidental, but there’s no reason to give the president the benefit of the doubt — the White House could have released the report at any time. Team Bush decided to wait […]
Well, how’d things go in the Senate’s overnight debate? As far as I can tell, the unusual debate was largely successful. Reports about procedural hurdles that would short-circuit the debate proved to be false, and lawmakers got down to business. Democrats rolled out cots and ordered pizzas as they settled in for a marathon Senate […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Amazing. Just as the debate begins in earnest over Iraq policy in the Senate, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wants everyone to know that Iraq is finally on track for success. “What I’m hearing right now is a sea change that’s taken place in […]
Wow. During the July 17 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America, co-anchor Diane Sawyer falsely claimed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “vows to filibuster, talking all night to close out all topics besides a vote on Iraqi troop withdrawals.” […] Additionally, on the July 16 edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Brit […]
JetBlue is helping sponsor the YearlyKos conference this year, which apparently was enough to send Bill O’Reilly over the edge. If you haven’t seen the clip, it’s certainly worth watching, if only as a textbook example of modern “journalism” at its most pernicious. Here’s some of the transcript: “What do you think of someone who […]
It’s a busy news day, but I wanted to take a moment to share something I found amusing. Dick Cheney offered The Weekly Standard’s Stephen F. Hayes enormous access for his new love letter book, “Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President,” and TNR has been chronicling some entertaining excerpts. […]
The administration published this afternoon a newly released, and surprisingly short, declassified summary of the key judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate on al Qaeda. The document is online for all to see. The startling new revelations are … far and few between. The terrorist network is rebuilding, its leadership is located largely in tribal […]