At a joint press conference at Constitution Hall in Bratislava, Slovakia yesterday, Bush and Putin did something they rarely do at home — answer reporters’ questions. One stood out. Andrey Kolesnikov, a correspondent for the Russian business newspaper Kommersant, effectively argued that Bush and Putin “have nothing to disagree about” because neither take democracy and […]
I admit it; I have no idea what the mainstream media needs to find a scandal interesting enough to cover. I, for example, foolishly thought the Plame Game scandal would be a dominating political story — we had a vindictive White House illegally leaking word about a political enemy’s wife, we had dishonest spin from […]
Last month I argued that the practice of discharging highly-trained military linguists, responsible for translating intercepts that may include terrorist plots, because of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is a classic wedge issue. Most Americans, I believe, would never support the policy as it relates to linguists. Even the most ardent right-wing lunatic would […]
Jonathan Chait offers another terrific column today, this time on the tendency of those who betray the president to mysteriously reverse course. The odd thing, though, is that I’m afraid Chait, whom I agree with 99% of the time, is mistaken. Most presidents have to face betrayal sooner or later. (See John Dean revealing Nixon’s […]
The administration just can’t seem to help itself. After having been caught abusing non-partisan government agencies for political purposes — HHS, Education, Treasury, among others — the Bush gang, one might think, would be hesitant about misusing the Social Security Administration. Instead, it turns out the SSA is being abused even more. We learned several […]
My friend Darrell wrote in yesterday to note that Dems, should they consider re-redistricting in retaliation for GOP schemes in Texas and Georgia, need not limit themselves to Illinois and New Mexico, as seems to be the plan. It’s a good point. As I see it, in order for Dems to even consider the move […]
If there’s a more blatant example of government abuse of women’s privacy rights than this, I can’t think of it. The Kansas attorney general, as part of a criminal investigation into child rape and late-term abortions, is demanding that two health centers hand over the medical records of about 90 female patients, including minors. The […]
The other day, Josh Marshall noted, accurately, that Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum, the Senate’s most aggressive advocate for Social Security privatization, “ain’t hiding.” He may be getting his head handed to him this week in Pennsylvania. But he’s out there making his case to some pretty unfriendly crowds. True. To his credit, Santorum is […]
I see this morning that there’s a new Zogby poll (not yet online), conducted for a Democratic firm called WhatsNext Communications, on how Dem voters feel about prospective presidential candidates in 2008. The results were fairly unexpected considering the names included in the mix: Hillary Clinton led the field with 32% support, trailed by John […]
It’s been exactly a month since Harry Reid unveiled his Prevention First Act and NARAL began asking anti-abortion activists to join them in an effort to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Let’s see how it’s gone so far. First, on the Hill, Reid’s proposal has generated considerable interest, and to date, has picked up 22 co-sponsors. Alas, […]