Well, I don’t imagine the White House is going to be pleased. A deeply divided House approved its latest version of terrorist surveillance legislation today, rebuffing President Bush’s demand for a bill that would grant telecommunications firms retroactive immunity for cooperation in past warrantless wiretapping and deepening the impasse on a fundamental national security issue. […]
John McCain is worried about violence in Iraq, but not just for the obvious reason. Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him. McCain, at a town hall meeting in this […]
Samantha Power said something intemperate, so she was forced to resign. Geraldine Ferraro said something racially offensive, so she was forced to resign. A member of Obama’s LGBT leadership council, Maxim Thorne, said something rude about Clinton sex scandals, so she was forced to resign. Clinton officials in Iowa sent around the Obama email smear, […]
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: * Won’t someone please stop the madness: “Two more Democratic presidential debates were announced on Thursday, the first to take place in Philadelphia on April 16, and the second in North Carolina on […]
I really wish the president wouldn’t say things like this. In a videoconference, Bush heard from U.S. military and civilian personnel [in Afghanistan] about the challenges ranging from fighting local government and police corruption to persuading farmers to abandon a lucrative poppy drug trade for other crops. […] “I must say, I’m a little envious,” […]
Before we get too caught up in choosing the next president, it’s probably worth keeping in mind that the current president continues to make startlingly bad decisions that affect us all. The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to […]
The National Republican Congressional Committee’s accounting scandal has been percolating for a couple of weeks, but given the scope of the controversy, it’s now front-page news. What started as an embarrassing criminal controversy involving one staffer has become something of an election-year crisis for the GOP’s House campaign committee. The former treasurer for the National […]
It hasn’t been a good week for conservative hosts of unwatchable cable talk shows with poor ratings. Earlier this week, MSNBC yanked Tucker Carlson off the air. The next day, Fox News gave up on notorious blowhard John Gibson. Fox News Channel, tinkering for the first time in eight years with its popular early evening […]
I thought it had become clear in recent weeks that the Clinton campaign is much better off when Mark Penn, Clinton’s pollster and campaign strategist, isn’t talking to reporters. Indeed, over the last week or so, I’ve noticed that Penn’s name seems to be showing up in print quite a bit less. But, alas, Penn […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Bloodshed in Baghdad: “An explosion killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens on Thursday after a car bomb detonated in a commercial district of central Baghdad, adding to a recent upsurge in Iraq’s violence. Explosives in the parked car went off just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. […]