Bush’s hollow Energy promises — Part II

Less than a day after the president vowed in his State of the Union address to reduce America’s dependence on oil from the Middle East, Bush’s secretary and national economic adviser said the president didn’t really mean it. And as if that weren’t enough, when Bush said in the same speech that he’s committed to […]

Those pesky missing emails

When it comes to those missing emails from Dick Cheney’s office, this is exactly the kind of Plame-related conversation, on CNN no less, that the White House doesn’t want to hear. Wolf Blitzer: [W]hen I hear a story like this, it hearkens back, I remember, of course, some of those missing tapes during Watergate and […]

House Majority Leader John Boehner

Before we talk about the results, this is hilarious. House Republicans are taking a mulligan on the first ballot for Majority Leader. The first count showed more votes cast than Republicans present at the Conference meeting. Republicans can’t even run their own elections in a fair and reliable way. No word on whether Katherine Harris […]

Truth in advertising

While the House was cutting spending yesterday for programs that benefit the poor, elderly, and students, the Senate was completing its work on a package of tax cuts and extension of expiring tax cuts that could cost up to $60 billion over five years. Today, a Dem senator thought of a clever name for all […]

Justice Dept. on NSA documents: ‘I don’t think they’re coming out’

About a month ago, Bush shifted gears on congressional hearings over his warrantless-search program. After the White House had resisted the very idea of hearings for about a month, Bush said he welcomed congressional oversight and said hearings would be “good for democracy.” There was, of course, a catch. “Just so long as the hearings, […]

Oil execs to Senate: Don’t call us; we’ll call you

The last time the CEOs of the major oil companies were on the Hill for a Senate hearing, it didn’t go well. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing over escalating energy prices, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) asked the five CEOs if their company, or any of its representatives, participated in Vice President Cheney’s energy task […]

They don’t seem happy

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was thoroughly impressed with the president’s State of the Union, insisting that Bush was “at the top of his game,” and delivered “a very powerful speech.” Apparently, he got the wrong talking points — the rest of the leading conservative voices in the media aren’t happy at all. Fox News’ Bob Novak: […]

Thursday’s political round-up

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: * For some reason, Condoleezza Rice’s non-existent presidential ambitions continue to be a matter of great interest. In an interview yesterday, Bush was peppered with questions about Rice’s plans, prompting the president to […]

Rumsfeld identifies his main problem

It was only a matter of time before Donald Rumsfeld figured out the real source behind all of his problems. Poor planning? Rampant incompetence? Corruption? Nice try. Apparently, it’s the media’s fault. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday the Pentagon had not done a good job in the information war against enemies like al […]

The other half of the budget bill

Congressional Republicans were oh-so-clever in how they approached the federal budget this year. As we’ve talked about before, the GOP split the budget bill in half — tax cuts in one part, spending cuts in the other, and call the whole thing a “deficit reduction” package that just so happens to increase the deficit. The […]