Before we invaded Iraq, the CIA gave the White House unreliable intelligence that the country was an imminent threat with a burgeoning nuclear program, right? Who knew what at the CIA is a matter of some debate. The Central Intelligence Agency was told by an informant in the spring of 2001 that Iraq had abandoned […]
Earlier this year, Bush cautiously entered the fray on the issue of adoption by same-sex couples, saying, “Studies have shown that the ideal is where a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman.” This struck a number of people as very odd for a number of reasons. First, Bush […]
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: * MoveOn.org has become a target for intense Republican criticism, but that hasn’t stopped its political efforts in the slightest. MoveOn.org’s political action committee reported in its latest FEC filing that it raised […]
Part of the Dems’ problem with taking on John Roberts’ Supreme Court nomination is basic arithmetic. We have 45 seats, the Republicans have 55. Even if the Dem caucus was united in opposition (and it’s not) to Roberts, Dems would also need six Republicans to break party ranks. Since no reasonable person believes that’s possible, […]
It’s official. President Bush bypassed the Senate and appointed John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Monday over the protests of Senate Democrats who complained he was abusive and would hurt U.S. credibility. “This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. […]
The idea that Karl Rove learned about Valerie Plame from a journalist — which became part of the conservative spin two weeks ago — has never really made any sense. First, Rove has said repeatedly that he only didn’t leak Plame’s name; he didn’t even know her name. This new spin suggests he did know […]
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (R) probably wishes the pending stem-cell bill died in the House so he wouldn’t have to deal with it in the Senate. With the debate ongoing, the legislation has pushed him to the brink of incoherence. As a result of the stem-cell debate, for example, we’ve learned that Brownback is largely […]
I had a post recently about Bush’s falling poll numbers, which led a couple of commenters to express some frustration. One regular noted, “I’ve been hearing down, down, down for weeks, but somehow the numbers don’t seem to change that much, and he never seems to reach his lowest levels, at least in most polls.” […]
It was quite a week for Republican law-making. Apparently, upon realizing that they were about to head home to see constituents over their August recess, and they couldn’t point to any real legislative accomplishments since intervention in the Terri Schiavo tragedy, GOP lawmakers passed a flurry of conservative wish-list items. We saw: * an energy […]
Guest Post by Morbo The Carpetbagger has been all over “Rovegate” since it was called the Plame Game. I’ve refrained from writing about it, since the ‘Bagger’s commentary has been so thorough and insightful. (And I’m not just saying that to suck-up because he runs the blog. By the way, has anyone else noticed his […]