As the Petraeus/Crocker hearing gets underway in the House, I thought I’d take a moment to note that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is still not going away quietly. Sen. Larry Craig filed papers Monday seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport sex sting, arguing that he entered the plea under stress caused by […]
Matt Stoller asks a question today that I’ve been pondering for a while: “[I]t really is a good question as to why the Beltway establishment isn’t pointing out that John McCain regularly says things that are, simply put, crazy.” Exhibit A, from McCain’s speech to the California Republican Party’s state convention on Saturday: “Today, the […]
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: * Ordinarily, I watch the presidential candidates’ debates (so you don’t have to), but I missed last night’s Democratic event in Miami, sponsored by Univision. As far as I can tell, there weren’t […]
Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman, arguably Bush’s most enthusiastic war cheerleaders, teamed up today to write a wildly unpersuasive op-ed in (where else?) the Wall Street Journal. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few errors of fact and logic in the piece. McCain and Lieberman attribute progress in Anbar to the surge. They cite […]
Given that we, in the political world, have been waiting for this week’s discussion on conditions in Iraq for months, it seems like this would be a good time for some broad, over-arching post about the entire dynamic — the troops, the White House, Gen. Petraeus, Amb. Crocker, congressional Dems, congressional Republicans, the media, everyone. […]
There are a handful of interesting new polls out this morning, most of which show Americans’ thoroughly unsatisfied with the status quo when it comes to Iraq. Perhaps the most interesting new survey isn’t the one that gauges public opinion in the U.S., but rather, in Iraq. Barely a quarter of Iraqis say their security […]
In talking to Robert Draper for his book “Dead Certain,” the president conceded that his goal was not to end the war or to bring U.S. troops home, but rather, to bide his time. “I’m playing for October-November,” Bush said. For nearly five years, every defense of the administration’s war policy has been just that, […]