We learned over the weekend that the pro-choice National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. reportedly hired Thompson to lobby the H.W. Bush White House in 1991. Specifically, the group paid Thompson quite a bit of money to push the White House to ease restrictions that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money. […]
This almost certainly sound like a minor campaign flap, but let’s take a moment to consider the bigger picture. About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Senator John McCain ducked off the Senate floor, entered the Republican cloakroom and took out his mobile phone. Just hours after accepting the resignation of his two top campaign aides, he was […]
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 International Association of Fire Fighters unveiled their video yesterday about Rudy Giuliani, called “Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend,” which hammers the former NYC mayor’s handling of the crisis on 9/11. It’s online […]
Last week, the WaPo’s David Ignatius wrote a vague column about the need for Americans to unify around a sense of unity when it comes to national security. I suggested that he might want to be a little more specific next time. I’m afraid today’s piece wasn’t much better. The Iraq debate in Washington this […]
For several years, all the talk from the White House about al Qaeda has been unwaveringly positive. We have the terrorists “on the run.” We’ve detained or killed “more than three quarters of al Queda’s key members and associates.” We’re winning; they’re losing. We’re getting stronger; they’re getting weaker. It all sounds very encouraging, except […]
Yesterday, Atrios offered a blunt-but-accurate assessment of the U.S. presence in Iraq: “When an occupying force is seen by a sufficient number of the people as an unwelcome occupier to be opposed, then there’s no way that occupier can be responsible for creating and maintaining order.” The NYT’s Nicholas Kristof fleshed this point out in […]
So, what did the Senate Judiciary Committee learn from former White House political director Sara Taylor yesterday? Ostensibly, the hearing was about the Bush gang’s role in the U.S. Attorney purge scandal. Taylor agreed to appear, despite the White House “directing” her not to cooperate, under a dubious claim of executive privilege. It led to […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * This afternoon, based on no law that anyone can recognize, the White House ordered former WH Counsel Harriet Miers to disobey a congressional subpoena. Unlike Sara Taylor, who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee but declined to answer some questions, Miers will not show up at all. Her successor, […]
About a month ago, Dennis Milligan, the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, sounded pretty excited about the prospect of domestic terrorism. “At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. […]
The president’s speech in Cleveland yesterday wasn’t just a bizarre defense for the status quo in Iraq; it managed to also include some bizarre ideas about healthcare. This gem, for example, won the coveted Clueless Quote of the Day from Dan Froomkin. “The immediate goal is to make sure there are more people on private […]