Today’s edition of quick hits. * Huge news out of Detroit: Thousands of United Auto Workers walked off the job at General Motors plants around the country Monday in the first nationwide strike against the U.S. auto industry since 1976. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said that job security was the top unresolved issue, adding that […]
With the Iowa caucuses less than four months away, I had more or less assumed Newt Gingrich’s time had come and gone. He’d signal that he’s getting in, then he’d do the opposite. He’d encourage supporters to create a groundswell, and then he’d tell them not to bother. With nine Republicans already in the race […]
Putting aside the question of whether Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be able to visit Ground Zero, the other controversy of the week involved whether Ahmadinejad should be a guest at Columbia University in New York. The right has argued, vociferously, that the university is misguided for providing a platform to a dangerous nut. His […]
Working with a Republican Congress for six years, the Bush White House has written federal budgets that grew at a rate of 7% per year — double the rate of growth under Clinton. According the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, both conservative think tanks, even nonmilitary discretionary spending has blossomed under Bush, far more […]
Rudy Giuliani recently argued that U.S. military generals, by virtue of their service, necessarily have more credibility than practically anyone else. With that in mind, I wonder what Giuliani and others who share his approach to foreign policy have to say in response to the 20 generals who have defied tradition and rejected the Bush […]
Shortly before the 2004 presidential election, the Rev. George F. Regas, the former rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, told his congregation about his perspective on the president and the war in Iraq. Regas imagined Jesus participating in a political debate with Bush and Kerry and said that “good people of profound faith” […]
I can certainly understand that the Bush White House is going to have less than kind words for Barack Obama. The Illinois senator is running for president, vowing to undo Bush’s mistakes. But of all the possible criticisms for the president’s team to make, this might be the single most ridiculous. As for Obama, a […]
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: * NYT reports from the Sunshine State: “The Florida Democratic Party announced Sunday that it would move ahead with its plan to hold its presidential primary on Jan. 29 despite the national party’s […]
Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) extra-curricular activities recently got him into a little trouble — he’s conceded making use of a prostitution service — but he apparently has a plan to keep himself in the religious right’s good graces. Vitter has decided to throw some pork-barrel spending at a bizarre Louisiana creationist group. Sen. David Vitter, […]
As a presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani signature campaign issues are counter-terrorism and national security. His pitch consists of two main prongs — his performance on 9/11, and his expertise on what he describes as “Islamic terrorism.” Combined, Giuliani says that he, and he alone, understands the threats against the United States. He’s used this con […]