As a rule, Laura Bush’s policy opinions are irrelevant. It’s not personal, it’s just that she’s not an elected official, she has no obvious power to speak of, and her comments are rarely of any consequence. But that doesn’t stop her from popping off quite a bit. Take her appearance on Larry King’s show last […]
The Vice President was unhurt but nevertheless targeted by a Taliban suicide bomber. A suicide bomber killed at least 14 people and wounded about a dozen more outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The United Nations has heard the Bush administration’s evidence against a Middle Eastern foe, and finds it unpersuasive. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s happened twice — now and four years ago. * TP: “When Senate leaders first announced their intention to revoke the 2002 Iraq war authorization, […]
There’s a terrific cover story in the new issue of New York magazine on Rudy Giuliani, but like Michael Crowley, I thought this anecdote stood out. From a recent campaign event in New Hampshire: Up on the dais, it’s Rudy’s turn to raise the subject of the terror attacks. September 11 is proving to be […]
In describing Joe Lieberman’s op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal today on the war in Iraq, Glenn Greenwald said, “When historians endeavor to understand how America embarked on this dark and disastrous period in our history — how we not only collectively made our worst strategic mistake by invading Iraq on multiple false pretenses, […]
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll out today shows Dems with a big lead among Americans on who the nation trusts on the issues. On the war in Iraq, it isn’t even close — 54% trust Democrats to get the war right, while 34% trust Bush. The lead was bigger in mid-January, but the numbers […]
I admit that I’m not an expert in international diplomacy, but this struck me as extremely odd. U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney insisted [Australian] Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd be sworn to secrecy about the details of their meeting before their talks in Sydney on Friday. According to senior Labor sources, Mr Cheney would not meet Mr […]
I received a surprising amount of feedback over the weekend about a post from Saturday, so it’s probably worth fleshing the story out a bit. For those just joining us, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a struggling Republican presidential hopeful, named South Carolinian Henry Jordan one of his campaign co-chairmen late last week. Duncan called Jordan, […]
The New York Times reports today that the Bush White House has decided that it’s finally time to get tough with Pakistan when it comes to terrorism. That’s probably a good idea — last week we learned that senior leaders of al Qaeda are operating from Pakistan, have rebuilt training camps, and have “re-established significant […]
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: * At a recent meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club of right-wing heavyweights (Dobson, Norquist, Falwell, et al), there was widespread discontent over the leading GOP frontrunners for the […]