Since the outset of the war in Iraq, Bush and his administration have enjoyed almost unfettered control over policy. Everything the president has asked for, the president has received. Of course, more than four years after Bush launched the war, we now know that every decision the administration has made falls into one of three […]
William Kristol bills himself as a serious, credible person, and is routinely rewarded by the DC establishment. As Kevin Drum recently put it, “The Bill Kristol phenomenon is a stellar example of what a nice suit and a sober tone of voice can do for you.” But one need not look too far below the […]
The article is not explicit, but an underlying theme of the Washington Post’s profile on Dick Cheney is that his unprecedented power is only possible because Bush is anxious to get out of the way. Waxing or waning, Cheney holds his purchase on an unrivaled portfolio across the executive branch. Bush works most naturally, close […]
In 2001, shortly after his inauguration, Dick Cheney met with Dan Quayle, who had of course served in the same position eight years earlier. Quayle wanted to offer some advice, one vice president to another. “Dick, you know, you’re going to be doing a lot of this international traveling, you’re going to be doing all […]
In Washington, I think this is what one might call a “winning argument.” Washington, D.C. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel issued the following statement regarding his amendment to cut funding for the Office of the Vice President from the bill that funds the executive branch. The legislation — the Financial Services and General Government […]
Matt Yglesias had an amusing item this morning, mocking Jonah Goldberg for arguing that the media steered clear of embarrassing FDR photos “because the press almost unanimously agreed that — despite the huge news value — depicting FDR as a cripple would be bad for the war effort.” Since Roosevelt had polio when he took […]
Time’s David Von Drehle asked a highly relevant question in his latest piece: “How many alleged criminals can a law-and-order candidate be associated with before it starts to hurt?” Von Drehle posed the question after Thomas Ravenel, the chairman of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign in South Carolina, was indicted on cocaine distribution charges, which, of […]
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. William Mercer, the Acting Associate Attorney General, resigned on June 22, 2007. Michael Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, resigned on June 15, 2007. Monica Goodling, Gonzales’ White House liaison, resigned on April 6, 2007. And what do all of these dates have in common? […]
Bill O’Reilly was the featured speaker at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) conference yesterday, where he, I kid you not, complained about opinionated news dissemination. O’Reilly contended that many newspapers are losing circulation because they’ve allowed the “liberal” ideology of their editorial pages to “bleed into news coverage” — despite, he said, there […]
For a White House that has offered a bountiful stream of substantive scandals for six years, the latest dust-up might be the most bizarre. The background details are surprisingly straightforward. In 1995, the Clinton White House issued an executive order establishing uniform rules for protecting classified information. In 2003, the Bush White House revised it. […]