Silly me, I’ve suggested on more than one occasion that the Bush administration doesn’t take global warming seriously and has no feasible plan to address the crisis. How wrong I was. Brad Plumer notes this fascinating item from the Guardian about a low-profile strategy that was crafted behind the scenes. The US government wants the […]
Just last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told Roger Simon that he’d consider a kind of redeploy-to-perimeter strategy in Iraq if the latest escalation fails. While acknowledging that “there are no good options,” McCain said one scenario would “to withdraw to the borders (of Iraq) to try to keep other countries from interfering. Maintaining our […]
Barack Obama did a good job yesterday of bringing attention to an issue that seems to have been largely forgotten: post-Katrina recovery in New Orleans. If only Republicans had bothered to listen to what Obama had to say. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama blasted the Bush administration Monday for the slow pace of Hurricane Katrina […]
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: * Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) found a clever, and apparently, legal way to collect more than the legal limit for presidential candidates’ campaign donors. Right now, the most an individual can […]
One of the more common remarks made by the political establishment is that a president — any president — cannot expect to execute a war without the support of the public. There’s rarely any substantive follow-up on this point, however. It’s just understood — the backing of the electorate is simply necessary to continue fighting […]
As Kevin Drum noted, the Iraqi military faced off against the previously obscure “Soldiers of Heaven” in a fiece battle in Najaf over the weekend. It didn’t go well. Iraqi forces were surprised and nearly overwhelmed by the ferocity of an obscure renegade militia in a weekend battle near the holy city of Najaf and […]
Apparently, corporate lobbyists and the GOP’s wealthy corporate donors don’t have nearly enough influence over federal regulations already, so the president has decided to give them a hand. President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public […]
Scooter Libby told a grand jury that he first learned about Valerie Plame on July 10, 2003, during a chat with NBC’s Tim Russert. Ari Fleischer yesterday made it quite clear that Libby was lying. Ari Fleischer may turn out to be a stronger — and more credible — witness than he was a White […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * If you haven’t already, be sure to check out The Real McCain, a new website created by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films to highlight the Arizona senator’s flip-flops, equivocations, and general lack of principles. My good friend Cliff Schecter will even be hosting a blog at the site, […]
David Kurtz suggested over the weekend that it’s “time to shine some light” on the Office of the Vice President. TPM Muckraker seems to have taken it as a direct challenge. Step one: figure out who works for Dick Cheney. They may be public employees, being paid by the public treasury, but finding out who […]