Roll Call reports today that congressional Republicans, anxious to move away from the S-CHIP debate that hurts the party, are eager for a debate this week over FISA, wiretapping, and surveillance programs. As they see it, healthcare for poor kids plays to their weaknesses; domestic spying programs play to their strengths. [U]nlike Bush’s veto of […]
With the party taking a bit of a beating over its resistance to expanding access to healthcare for low-income children, Republicans on Capitol Hill apparently have a new idea: they’ll introduce a universal healthcare plan of their own. Under fierce attack by Democrats over the children’s health insurance plan, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner […]
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 exodus continues: Rep. David Hobson, a nine-term Republican from Ohio, announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of the term. Despite the GOP leadership’s desperate desire to keep retirements […]
As Drew Tilghman, an Iraq correspondent for Stars and Stripes, recently explained, al Qaeda in Iraq, as of a few months ago, included about 850 full-time fighters, comprising 2% to 5% of the Sunni insurgency. Tilghman quoted a 20-year intelligence veteran and Arabic speaker who has worked with military and intelligence units tracking al-Qaeda inside […]
There’s been talk for months, if not years, that the firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, might have survived if Rudy Giuliani had responded to concerns about the FDNY’s radio equipment. Of all the former mayor’s many 9/11-related failures, this has always been near the top. With this in mind, I found […]
It’s been an annoyingly silly campaign season, dominated by the media’s inexplicable interest in haircuts, cleavage, and madrassas, but the interest in John Edwards’ adultery “scandal” — which appears to have been made up out of whole cloth — is clearly a new low. Mickey Kaus, the in-house blogger for the Washington Post-owned Slate, began […]
About a month ago, during a nationally-televised address, the president touted a broad, multi-national force in Iraq. “To the international community: The success of a free Iraq matters to every civilized nation,” Bush said. “We thank the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq and the many others who are helping that […]
I saw the first few minutes of Fox News Sunday yesterday, and was struck by how angry the conservative Republicans were about Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize. These guys don’t just ignore the scientific evidence, they lash out wildly at Gore, the Nobel committee, the scientists, everyone who dares to think differently than […]
We learned on Friday that Army officials in Baghdad believe Blackwater guards at Nisoor Square not only weren’t under attack when they opened fire, the private security force actually opened fire on Iraqi civilians while the Iraqis were fleeing in the other direction. Said Lt. Col. Mike Tarsa, whose soldiers reached Nisoor Square 20 to […]
The NYT’s Carl Hulse reports today that Republicans on the Hill have a serious morale problem. The White House communications team invited some congressional counterparts to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue the other day, and was apparently disappointed to see their widespread depression. Said one of the senior Republican congressional aides who attended the […]