“NewsHour” may not be quite as high-profile as “60 Minutes,” but the president’s interview with Jim Lehrer today was at least as interesting as Sunday’s appearance on CBS, if not more so. LEHRER: Mr. President, do you have a feeling of personal failure about Iraq right now? BUSH: I’m frustrated at times about Iraq because […]
Following up on an item from Monday, James Dobson, head of the Focus on the Family empire, indicated that he wouldn’t vote for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008 “under any circumstances.” Dobson added that he prayed “we won’t get stuck with him.” How did McCain, whose desperation has caused him to reach out to […]
The Senate is poised to consider a non-binding resolution criticizing the president’s new escalation strategy in Iraq, and for a symbolic measure that has no force of law, the White House seems unusually nervous about it. They even pulled out an old rhetorical line to help characterize the criticism as akin to bringing aid and […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who’s done nothing but impress everyone in recent months, has been tapped to deliver the Democratic response to Bush’s State of the Union address next week. It will be Webb’s first national platform, and in an unusual development for Democrats, no one is complaining today […]
The Washington Post ran a front-page piece today on a White House budget strategy that’s characterized as somehow being clever. Maybe I’m missing the punch line because the story doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. When he takes the House rostrum next week for the State of the Union address, President Bush will […]
Reuters ran an odd report late yesterday, telling readers that former Vice President Al Gore had told an audience in Japan that “he would not run in the next presidential race.” Reuters added that Gore was asked about his campaign plans, but “Gore ruled it out.” It was odd for a few reasons. One, as […]
Republicans are divided on Iraq. And domestic policy. And political strategies. But even more dramatically, they’re really divided over the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. The week after the Republicans were handed a series of devastating election defeats, the White House announced that Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) would take over as RNC chair. The […]
As the keeper of the John McCain flip-flop list, I wanted to report on a great find from my friend Cliff Schecter, who found this quote from McCain from August 1990. The context is a discussion about using U.S. troops in the first Gulf War. “If you get involved in a major ground war in […]
We can add several hundred U.S. troops to the growing list of opponents of the president’s policy in Iraq. Vocal opposition to President’s Bush’s strategy of sending more than 20,000 additional troops to help secure Iraq has grown to include some of the troops themselves. A group of more than 50 active-duty military officers will […]
It was a little frustrating in the immediate aftermath of the 2006 elections to hear the media characterize many of the new incoming Democrats as being center-right on the ideological spectrum. There was, however, a silver lining to an otherwise misleading spin: the “center” was on the move for the first time in a while. […]