By now, everyone has probably heard that Democrat Paul Hackett came up just short in yesterday’s special election in Ohio’s 2nd congressional district, losing to Jean Schmidt (R) 52% to 48%. It’s worth taking a moment, however, to consider what an accomplishment this was. When Rob Portman was tapped to be Bush’s top representative, 12 […]
One of the several enduring questions of the Plame scandal is why, exactly, Bush has never bothered to ask any of his top aides, including Karl Rove, what happened with the Plame leak. The president has claimed to have an interest in who did the leaking — indeed, Scott McClellan has said no one wants […]
There were two seemingly disparate elements in this Knight Ridder story that are not only related, but help explain a great deal about how the president deals with the world. President Bush waded into the debate over evolution and “intelligent design” Monday, saying schools should teach both theories on the creation and complexity of life. […]
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: * I guess Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum’s new book hasn’t boosted his popularity in Pennsylvania. A new poll, from a Republican pollster, shows Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey (D) leading Santorum, 51% to […]
Generally speaking, the GOP’s religious-right base will go along with Republican agenda items, even when they have nothing to do with the movement’s theocratic agenda. The James Dobson crowd wants action on abortion and gays, but when asked to toe the line on Social Security privatization, the war in Iraq, and other major initiatives that […]
Robert Luskin, Karl Rove’s attorney, is fond of telling reporters that prosecutors in the Plame scandal told him that Rove is not a “target” of the inquiry. Regardless of the debate between the meanings of “target” and “subject” in the context of prosecutorial interest, Patrick Fitzgerald’s team sure does seem interested in Rove now. To […]
For many years, the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward has breathed rarified air among the media elite. (Bringing down a president will do that to a reporter’s stature.) But, on occasion, that air gets a little thin and Woodward gets confused. Over the weekend, Woodward appeared on the Chris Matthews Show when the issue of the […]
Last week we learned that the Secret Service, after a couple of months of investigating, had wrapped up its criminal probe in the controversy surrounding the Denver Three and decided not to press charges. What did the Secret Service find during the investigation? We don’t know; they won’t say. Why did the conduct fall short […]
I don’t usually deal with sports news, but there’s a political angle here. Bear with me. As baseball fans already know, Rafael Palmeiro has apparently violated the game’s steroid policy and will serve a 10-day suspension. Baltimore Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, who had defiantly denied using steroids during a congressional hearing on performance-enhancing drugs […]
Because it was a Bob Novak column that originally outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent, there have been a world of questions about what Novak knew, who his sources were, and what the CIA told him when he called to confirm the information he received from “two senior administration officials.” Novak, however, hasn’t said […]