Dick Stevenson had an item yesterday in the New York Times about the Plame scandal and its impact on the president. Frankly, the principal reason I like these stories is because they put Bush and the criminal investigation in the same breath — instead of just Rove and Libby — but this one touched on […]
For nearly four years, the conventional wisdom has told us that the war against terrorism is a “different” kind of war. When it comes to a sense of sacrifice, that’s absolutely true. The Bush administration’s rallying call that America is a nation at war is increasingly ringing hollow to men and women in uniform, who […]
I’ve written enough press releases to know that coming up with new quotes and phrases can be challenging, but this is embarrassing on a couple of levels. The U.S. military on Sunday said it was looking into how virtually identical quotations ended up in two of its news releases about different insurgent attacks. Following a […]
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: * Slowly but surely, Lt. Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) has expanded his support in Virginia’s gubernatorial race. With only about three months before voters elect a new governor, a new Mason-Dixon poll shows […]
Over the weekend, Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) embarrassed himself — again — when dealing with protection of classified materials. This time, the subject was Valerie Plame’s status as an undercover agent. “There’s a five-year period, OK? And whether or not that five-year period had been reached or not is still questionable. […]
We learned last week that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, told prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from Tim Russert about Valerie Plame’s identity. This never really made any sense. Apparently, Fitzgerald doesn’t think so either. A deal that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald cut last year for NBC […]
I realized that political parties buy consumer lists and information to better tailor targeted messages, but even I was surprised to see the scope and breadth of the Republican information-gathering machine. The GOP’s mastery of data is changing the very nature of campaigning. Rather than concentrating on building the widest possible support, the Republican Party […]
About two months ago, Andrew Sullivan noted on The Chris Matthews Show that the ACLU had won a lawsuit over Abu Ghraib photos that had not yet been seen, but were, as he put it, “horrifying beyond belief.” Late Friday, however, Rumsfeld’s Pentagon announced it was not complying with the court order that was supposed […]
Yesterday, the New York Times’ Frank Rich reminded a lot of the political world that there was lengthy gap between when the Plame investigation began and when the White House started preserving documents related to the probe. My concern, however, is that the gap is even worse than Rich made it out to be. As […]
Let’s face it, the White House scandal over the Bush gang’s leaking the identity of an undercover CIA agent needs a good name. I’ve been calling it the “Plame Game” for a long while, but only because I like bad puns. All the great political scandals have simple, straightforward, easy-to-remember names. Watergate, Iran-Contra, Teapot Dome, […]