Guest Post by Morbo Last week, I wrote about deluded NRA members who actually argue that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to arm the citizenry in case it becomes necessary to overthrow the U.S. government. Some who responded to that post noted that a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., recently struck down […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * More purge-related documents are expected this afternoon. I’ll have a full report in the morning. * Reuters: “The White House on Friday said no decision had been made on whether to let top political strategist Karl Rove testify to Congress in the flap over U.S. prosecutor firings that is […]
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearing with Valerie Plame Wilson produced plenty of fascinating insights, but my personal favorite was the grilling Dr. James Knodell, Director of the Office of Security in the White House, took from Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). First, a little background. There’s a […]
In January 2005, Kyle Sampson, soon to become the attorney general’s chief of staff, was following up on an idea he’d already discussed with Alberto Gonzales, and which Karl Rove had chatted with the White House counsel’s office about: purging prosecutors. In the email, which has the subject line “Re: Question from Karl Rove,” Sampson, […]
When ABC News reported late yesterday that it was Karl Rove’s idea to fire U.S. Attorneys, it was interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it demonstrated a level of Rove involvement that the White House had previously denied. And second, the White House had argued that the idea originated from Harriet Miers, not Rove. […]
The LA Times’ [tag]Ron Brownstein[/tag] suggests today that [tag]Fox News[/tag] may be the most successful company in the history of capitalism to make triumph “with just a wink and a nod.” Brownstein then poses what has become Question #1 in the Democrats’ media conundrum: ignore the network or reach out to its viewers? Fox cloaks […]
The Plame scandal has always been a tough one for the right to defend. The White House exposed the identity of an undercover [tag]CIA[/tag] agent, on purpose, during a time of war. Any way you slice it, that’s a pretty wretched thing to do, especially for a group of people who claim the high ground […]
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: * New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), a presidential hopeful, is poised to sign a bill that will allow the use of medical marijuana. He’s reportedly not concerned about the impact on his […]
Earlier this week, after the big purge-related document dump, there was one facet to the story that I largely overlooked. Given all the scandalous details, it seemed like a bit of a tangent. Here’s the original mention from the WaPo story: E-mails released yesterday show that White House deputy political director J. Scott Jennings communicated […]
Right around the time Senate Republicans were voicing their support for an open-ended commitment to the war in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus was preparing to ask for an even bigger escalation than had been previously advertised. The top US commander in Iraq has requested another Army brigade, in addition to five already on the way, […]