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 rumors are true: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has won the support of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), which as the WaPo noted, is among the most “politically active and […]
I’ve watched with some amazement the radicalization of the modern Republican Party that started in earnest with Gingrich, continued through DeLay, was made more severe by Cheney, and continues on today through some odd sense of ideological inertia. The consequences of this radicalization for the political landscape have been sweeping (and devastating), but it’s also […]
The AP noted this morning, “On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, anger over the stalled rebuilding was palpable Wednesday throughout the city where the mourning for the dead and feeling of loss doesn’t seem to subside.” How could anyone feel anything but anger? For all the rhetoric from the administration, exactly two years after […]
At a press conference last month, the president said Congress has one, and only one, role to play in shaping war policy: handing over big bags of money, with no questions asked and no strings attached. “Let me make sure you understand what I’m saying,” Bush said. “Congress has all the right in the world […]
When a high-profile Republican runs into serious trouble, as Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) clearly has, he or she inevitably turns to a few reliable rejoinders that are supposed to help make things better. The first is “9/11 changed everything.” That probably won’t work in this case. The second is “Tempest in a teapot.” When an […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Roll Call reported this afternoon that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) regrets his guilty plea, and may yet have an opportunity to reverse his decision: “Under Minnesota law, the Senator could file a motion requesting the withdrawal of the guilty plea. According to University of Minnesota Law School professor Steve […]
He got caught, pled guilty, and saw his career start to slip away, but this afternoon, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) decided to roll the dice and deny everything. Under fire from leaders of his own party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday said the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after […]
In 2002 and 2003, in making the case for a war with Iraq, the president and his team would frequently tell Americans that we couldn’t wait for actual proof to justify an invasion, because the “smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud.” In 2007, in describing a possible confrontation with Iran, Bush has decided to […]
Remember Jeff Gannon (James Guckert), the alleged gay prostitute who inexplicably was invited to the White House 200 times? Who got a daily press pass using a pseudonym? Sure you do — he’s the one who would ask ridiculously-slanted, groan-inducing softball questions for the White House, and would then publish “news” items that lifted Republican […]
Jamie Kirchick published an email this morning he received from an “internationally-renowned journalist” whose parents endured World War II, and who suspects we — Americans, the British — aren’t tough enough now. After detailing the incredible challenges faced by her family in 1940, even after a German bomb destroyed their home, Kirchick’s emailer explained that […]