The ACLU, MoveOn.org, and a variety of other civil liberties groups have made today a “Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice” on Capitol Hill. The goal is straightforward: convince Congress to “restore the right of habeas corpus.” Coinciding with this important effort is an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal from James Taranto […]
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: * Rudy Giuliani lost his South Carolina campaign chairman, Thomas Ravenel, last week to federal cocaine-distribution charges. Yesterday, Giuliani picked a replacement, Ravenel’s father, Arthur. The new chairman is perhaps best known for […]
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to Sally Quinn’s WaPo columns. Her reputation for being the social director of the Georgetown cocktail circuit is well deserved; Quinn’s columns tend to let readers know what Republican socialites in DC are chatting about. Hardly the stuff of Pulitzers. But today’s Quinn piece is a little startling […]
We learned last week that of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic. I suggested that perhaps the State Department could address the problem by reaching out to some of the dozens of well-trained Arabic linguists the Pentagon threw out of the military for […]
The White House has had almost a week to come up with some semblance of a rationale for Dick Cheney arguing that he’s not part of the executive branch. There are some clever spin doctors in the vaunted White House communications office and some creative lawyers in the WH counsel’s office; surely someone will come […]
For quite a while, much of the DC establishment has wondered whether a respected “elder statesman” in the Republican Party would step up to challenge the president’s war policy in a forceful way. Apparently, Chuck Hagel doesn’t count, because he broke with the party line years ago, and Gordon Smith doesn’t count, because his criticism […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * If the Justice Department is telling the truth, it is still weighing a decision on whether Dick Cheney is part of the executive branch. Today, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should step aside from the Justice Department’s internal debates on the matter. “It’s clear […]
A lot of people forget this, but in 2005, the Center for American Progress was way ahead of the curve on shaping a responsible Iraq policy. They mapped out something called “Strategic Redeployment,” through which U.S. forces would begin a phased withdrawal, keeping forces on the periphery, while redirecting the focus of a smaller special-operations […]
The far-right Washington Times noted the ongoing hostility between the White House and congressional Republicans over immigration policy today, and touched on a point that I haven’t seen elsewhere. Conservative leaders among House Republicans say that President Bush’s upcoming showdown with them on immigration could threaten support for the Iraq war as well as for […]
I know I’ve been picking on David Broder quite a bit — perhaps too much — the past several months, but part of me singles him out because I expect better from him. I could pick on Sean Hannity, but what would be the point? Hannity commands no respect and isn’t taken seriously; Broder is […]