When it comes to fundraising pitches, the rhetoric is supposed to be accurate but exaggerated. Reasoned, sensible requests tend not to raise money; donors have to be shocked into reaching for their checkbook. The Republican National Committee tends to take this idea to the extreme with pretty loathsome fundraising appeals. Indeed, the RNC has developed […]
Last week, a declassified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq said there has been “measurable but uneven improvements in Iraq’s security situation,” in the midst of what was otherwise a gloomy and depressing report. Indeed, the NIE added that, despite some security improvements, severe violence in Iraq was likely to continue over the next six to […]
As political theater goes, the Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) story is hard to resist. A conservative Republican senator, who touts “family values” and champions anti-gay legislation, is caught (literally) with his pants down. It’s a scandal with sex, lies, and police reports. There’s an angle for hypocrisy, and another for the intersection of the Republican […]
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: * Top Republican officials, including Karl Rove, pushed hard to get Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy to leave the Dems and join the GOP, and yesterday, he did. The plan is apparently to have […]
When it comes to sex scandals, the past year has been less than kind to conservatives. There’s no reason to go into too many prurient details, but the list isn’t getting any smaller: former Rep. Mark Foley (engaged in explicit IM chats with congressional pages), megachurch evangelist Ted Haggard (lied about being gay), Republican Sen. […]
When Gen. David Petraeus was tasked with training and equipping Iraqi forces in 2004, he made it clear that he had little patience for bureaucracy. He wanted to get Iraqis prepared and ready to work independently, and getting lost in paperwork and accounting would only get in the way of more important goals. There was […]
Well, we’ve learned quite a bit about Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) arrest since late yesterday afternoon, and all of it suggests the senator is in a very unfortunate place. For example, Craig was not only charged with soliciting sex in an airport men’s room; he pleaded guilty. Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, was […]
Two major dailies — the LAT and the NYT — both offer an odd, half-glass-full take on Bush’s presidency, now that his scandalous Attorney General has finally agreed to step down. While the obvious angle is to note that Bush is a lame-duck who’s lost all of his loyal friends, the NYT’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The latest on Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) being arrested for lewd conduct in an airport men’s room. * Politico: “The abrupt departure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales won’t stop congressional Democrats from pursuing investigations into his tenure at the Justice Department.” * For quite a while this afternoon, CNN.com […]
There have been rumors swirling for years about Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) personal life, subcription-only Roll Call reports this afternoon that the rumors might very well be true. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according […]