Of all the stories, many of them horrific, on the Bush administration abusing detainees, Canadian computer engineer Maher Arar’s is among the most disheartening. Today, Justin Rood notes that Arar is going to get a formal apology from the Canadian government, though that isn’t quite as appropriate as an apology from the United States. Canadian […]
I never intended to do more than one post on the bogus right-wing reports accusing Barack Obama of having attended a Madrassa, possibly a terrorist recruiting center, as a six year old. At this point, the story isn’t even about Obama, or even Hillary Clinton who was also smeared as part of the same lie; […]
One wants to assume the president is at least vaguely aware of the embarrassing comments that open him to such extensive ridicule, but if Bush realizes it, he doesn’t act like it. Back in April, after explaining that he “hears the voices,” the president said he would stick with Donald Rumsfeld as the Secretary of […]
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: * Barack Obama’s presidential campaign got some good news yesterday when some of John Kerry’s top fundraisiers announced they would begin supporting the Illinois Senator. As the NYT noted, “So far, at least, […]
If the war on terror is the defining struggle of our time, the outcome of which will literally dictate the future of civilization, the president has called on Americans to do precious little about it. Bush has not called on Americans to sacrifice much of anything — aside from maybe “peace of mind” while watching […]
As you probably recall, ABC aired a fairly ridiculous docudrama on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks called “The Path to 9/11.” The film, written by a conservative partisan hoping to shift blame for the attacks to the Clinton administration, included a series of glaring inaccuracies, creating dialog that was never uttered, fabricating […]
We’ve been waiting for the Senate Intelligence Committee to report on the misuse of pre-war intelligence for so long, it’s easy to forget what a debacle the endeavor really is. Here’s a quick review. The Intelligence Committee began a comprehensive investigation towards the end of 2003. Initially, the committee was prepared to release one authoritative […]
For about a year, it’s seemed as if White House officials were irritated that chaos and bloodshed in Iraq dominated the news, and prevented them from garnering publicity for other stories they much preferred to talk about. When it comes to Scooter Libby’s criminal trial, I have a hunch the Bush gang is calling up […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Carl Bernstein, of Watergate fame, said yesterday that the American system “worked” with Nixon, because a corrupt president was driven from office, the same system has “failed tragically” when it comes to Bush. “Nixon and his men lied and abused the constitution to horrible effect, but they were stopped,” […]
We already know that Senate Republicans launched a filibuster rather than let the Senate approve the first increase to the minimum wage in 12 years. What went largely unnoticed, however, was an amendment from Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) that would have undermined the very idea of a federal minimum wage. The AFL-CIO’s blog had a […]