It’s not unusual for Republicans to maintain a certain swagger, even when a fairly serious controversy arises. We’re talking about a group of people who take the strategy of “never let ’em see you sweat” very seriously. And yet, there’s something about the leak scandal that has them rattled. The predictable swagger is gone. Bloomberg […]
Republicans in Washington have found themselves in quite a mess. The war in Iraq, corruption, deficits, discouraging polls, criminal investigations, the works. The party can’t pass a budget, can’t agree on immigration, and can’t put together a coherent legislative agenda. What are the [tag]Republican[/tag]s to do? What else? Cut [tag]taxes[/tag]. Burdened by an unpopular war […]
I suspect that a lot of people, upon hearing about the possibility of a preemptive strike in Iran, dimissed the possibility. It’s just too reckless, even for Bush. There are certain decisions that are so dangerous, so beyond-the-pale, that it’s hard to imagine any president agreeing to them. But [tag]Paul Krugman[/tag] makes a compelling case […]
Sen. [tag]Joe Lieberman[/tag]’s (D-Conn.) willingness to break party ranks on a variety of key issues, including his inexplicable support for Bush’s handling of the war, led businessman [tag]Ned Lamont[/tag] to launch a primary challenge this year, which apparently is causing considerable consternation at Lieberman campaign HQ. In fact, Lieberman is so concerned about his future, […]
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 York’s Republican gubernatorial primary got a little thinner over the weekend when long-shot candidate, Randy Daniels, New York’s former Secretary of State, announced that he was withdrawing from the race and […]
One side note to the [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] resignation story that didn’t get much attention last week was the fact that [tag]DeLay[/tag] was poised to step down for quite a while, but had to pretend to be interested in keeping his seat, in part for financial reasons. An additional impetus for putting off the resignation until […]
Just a couple of weeks ago, retired Army Major General Paul D. [tag]Eaton[/tag], the military official in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, said Defense Secretary Donald [tag]Rumsfeld[/tag] has created “a climate of groupthink” that has led him to “put the Pentagon at the mercy of his ego.” He insisted that […]
The good news is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen [tag]Specter[/tag] (R-Pa.) is taking a firm stand and arguing that it’s incumbent upon the president and vice president to explain the circumstances surrounding their classified leaks. The bad news is it’s [tag]Arlen Specter[/tag], who has a history of talking tough at the beginning of a story […]
Every once in a great while, when Patrick [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag]’s criminal investigation becomes a little too embarrassing for the [tag]White House[/tag], some of [tag]Bush[/tag]’s media allies will roll out a half-hearted attack on Fitzgerald’s credibility. It never works, and the criticisms are usually pretty pathetic, but it appears some conservatives feel the need to go through […]
It’s been a few days since the Scooter [tag]Libby[/tag] bombshell revealed that the president himself authorized the [tag]leak[/tag] of [tag]classified[/tag] information as part of a political pushback. It was easy to tell that this was a difficult scandal for the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]White House[/tag] because they struggled to come up with a coherent explanation for the […]