Last Thursday, the president made some headlines by lashing out at Democrats with some unusually bitter rhetoric. “We know the enemy wants to attack us again,” Bush said, whereas Democrats “offer nothing but criticism and obstruction and endless second-guessing.” It was an odd time for the president to question Dems on national security — we […]
It’s hard to execute the rare flip-flop-flip, but House Majority Leader [tag]John Boehner[/tag] (R-Ohio), when discussing House Speaker [tag]Dennis Hastert[/tag] and the [tag]Mark Foley[/tag] scandal, seem anxious to pull it off. You may recall that Boehner, whom Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) spoke to directly about Foley’s emails to a 16-year-old page, initially said he spoke […]
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: * In Tennessee, the latest Rasmussen poll shows Rep. Harold Ford (D) surging against Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R), with the Dem now up by five, 48% to 43%. Ford has an edge […]
I haven’t the foggiest idea what Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was thinking when he suggested we stop trying to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, and start trying to legitimize them. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and urged support for […]
Yesterday, we talked about a meeting then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had, on July 10, 2001, with then-CIA Director George J. Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black. According to the CIA officials, Tenet and Black warned Rice that al Qaeda was planning an attack on American interests, possibly in the United States itself, […]
We’ve seen some odd responses to the Mark Foley sex scandal the last few days, but one of the most common is also the most bizarre. I believe it was Newt Gingrich who got the ball rolling on Sunday with this startling observation: “Well, you could have second thoughts about it, but I think had […]
The [tag]Washington Times[/tag] exists, by its own admission, to promote a conservative spin on the news. As far as objectivity is concerned, the Times is slightly to the right of Fox News — and it’s proud of it. And as of today, the paper’s far-right editorial believes House Speaker [tag]Dennis Hastert[/tag] needs to resign his […]
Let’s see, seven stand-alone posts in one day on the Foley scandal. How about some other, non-Foley stories that I didn’t get to today? * Wal-Mart: always awful business practices. Always. * Markos Moulitsas (you know, Kos) makes a compelling argument for “The Case for the Libertarian Democrat.” * I’m amazed reporters are still getting […]
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and his leadership team have been working through the weekend to deal with the Foley scandal The result was a brief speech to reporters this afternoon. Hastert, not surprisingly, did not respond to questions from reporters. Most of the comments were fairly predictable, but we are starting to see an […]
Josh Marshall takes a step back from the Foley scandal to consider the big picture, particularly as it relates to the House GOP leadership. [I]n the final weeks before an election it’s critical for each side’s leaders to work together seamlessly. And what do you think the Hastert-Reynolds relationship is like at the moment? Or […]