When Republicans attack — each other

A former official in Bush’s West Wing believes conservative activists are making a mistake opposing Harriet Miers’ Supreme Court nomination. “They’re crazy to take [Bush] on this frontally,” the official said. “Not many people have done that with George Bush and lived to tell about it.” Aside from the fact that, once again, the Bush […]

Jerry Kilgore and Godwin’s law

As I understand it, “Godwin’s Law” (aka “Godwin’s rule of Nazi analogies”) basically says the first side that brings up Hitler in a political debate loses. With this in mind, I think Virginia gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore (R) has a problem. After leading the race for months, Kilgore saw the polls tightening considerably in recent […]

Those anti-Roe assurances had a basis in fact

On the day Harriet Miers’ Supreme Court nomination was announced, two surrogates — Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court and Ed Kinkeade, a Dallas-based federal district court judge — assured James Dobson and a dozen other leading conservative leaders that Miers would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Questions remained, however, about whether the […]

Tuesday’s political round-up

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: * The reports of Roy Moore’s popularity in Alabama may have been exaggerated. A new poll conducted by the Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama shows incumbent Gov. Gov. Bob Riley […]

Miers was for privacy rights before she was against them

The gang that can’t shoot straight strikes again. Harriet Miers has had a couple of weeks to get a crash course in how to be a Supreme Court nominee, but she hasn’t been prepped well enough to know how to deal with a simple question about a basic constitutional right. Miers spent much of Monday […]

Miers’ nomination is now officially embarrassing

When reporters got a hold of Harriet Miers’ official correspondence from Texas, it was comical to see what a fawning sycophant our Supreme Court nominee has been towards the president. Documents surfaced showing Miers showering Bush with the kind of praise generally seen from a child who adores a parent. Miers told Bush he’s “the […]

The Plame Game civil suit

Way back in July, I wrote a bit about the possibility of a civil suit in the Plame scandal. It seems to be an idea that’s catching on. In an interview yesterday, [Joseph] Wilson said that once the criminal questions are settled, he and his wife may file a civil lawsuit against Bush, Cheney and […]

Earle offered DeLay a way out

For weeks, all we’ve heard from Tom DeLay and his allies is that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is on some kind of partisan vendetta. Earle wanted to force DeLay from his leadership post, we’ve been told. Earle wants to see DeLay in jail, the right has argued. Except none of these claims seem […]

Fitzgerald’s office speaks

Everyone is desperate to know what’s on Patrick Fitzgerald’s mind. Time quoted a lawyer with ties to the White House saying, “If he played his cards any closer to the vest, they’d be in his underwear.” Sounds about right. With this in mind, we’re left interpreting (over-analyzing?) every little announcement as a key clue as […]

Once again, Cheney’s office facing scrutiny

When it comes to Dick Cheney and the Plame scandal, the hits just keep on coming. Two weeks ago, it was George Stephanopoulos reporting that Cheney was “actually involved in some of these discussions” regarding smearing Joseph Wilson. Yesterday, it was Bloomberg reporting that Patrick Fitzgerald is focusing on whether Cheney played a role in […]