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: * Mitt Romney may have slipped into second in Iowa, but he’s still running strong in New Hampshire. A new WaPo/ABC poll in the Granite State shows the former Massachusetts governor leading the […]
Way back in January, Mike Huckabee appeared on Meet the Press and was asked about Wayne Dumond. In 1996, Dumond, a convicted rapist who attacked a 17-year-old girl, was up for parole, but the Arkansas parole board was poised to deny his request. Huckabee intervened and announced he would commute Dumond’s sentence, causing the parole […]
Obviously, anyone watching events in Iraq has to be pleased with the military progress. In recent months, there’s been a decline in the number of fatalities, casualties, and bombings, all of which have offered a glimmer of hope after nearly five years of failure, incompetence, and disaster. But the talk in most conservative circles that […]
This week’s revelations from the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran have shaken policy circles around the world dramatically. It’s had a sweeping impact on politics, diplomacy, foreign policy, and national security, and news about Iran’s nuclear weapons program shutting down in 2003 has been everywhere. And yet, somehow, Mike Huckabee hasn’t the foggiest idea what […]
Ordinarily, Democratic presidential candidate debates are a pretty big deal, aired on national television for a fairly big audience. Yesterday in Iowa, however, the Dems got together for an NPR debate, without podiums, cameras, audiences, and as it turns out, rhetorical fireworks. The New York Daily News noted that this was the first face-off since […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The U.S. intelligence community is convinced, but Israeli intelligence officials are not: “Israeli officials, who’ve been warning that Iran would soon pose a nuclear threat to the world, reacted angrily Tuesday to a new U.S. intelligence finding that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 and to […]
As a rule, retirement ceremonies for largely unknown U.S. ambassadors are low-key, dull, and not even remotely newsworthy. There are, however, exceptions. In 2001, Bush named Michael Guest to be the U.S. Ambassador to Romania. Because Guest is an openly-gay man, the nomination was noteworthy, particularly in this administration. The Senate confirmed Guest without incident, […]
It’s hard to say exactly what’s caused the Democratic presidential race to tighten in recent weeks. Some of the fluctuation, I’d argue, is to be expected at this stage of the process — undecideds start to break, supporters start having second-thoughts, etc. That said, it’s also fair to say that John Edwards and Barack Obama […]
It was hard not to be appalled by the news last month out of Saudi Arabia. A young woman had been gang raped — and then charged as a criminal for being in the car of a man who was not a relative. On November 16, a Saudi court sentenced the rape victim to six […]
Love him, hate him, or ignore him, Ron Paul is at least unique. He presents a libertarian agenda that’s clearly at odds with today’s Republican mainstream; he’s an ardent opponent of the party’s neo-conservative foreign policy; and he’s generally seemed more intent on expressing his ideas than winning a presidential election, whether those ideas are […]