Most reporters haven’t shown interest in the story, but the president’s “signing statement” on Congress’ prohibition of torture is still something the White House just can’t spin. At yesterday’s press briefing, a reporter noted that Bush’s statement seemed to offer him some wiggle room around Congress’ ban, and asked Scott McClellan whether the president will […]
White House press secretary Scott McClellan brought this upon himself. He said he’d investigate what kind of access Jack Abramoff had to the White House. He said just last week that he wants to make sure he offers reporters “a thorough report…hopefully very soon.” And now he’s also the one who doesn’t want to talk […]
It’s been a fascinating month for CNN. After watching Bob Novak switch to Fox News, the once-proud network quickly hired two far-right political figures to replace him: best-selling compiler Bob Bennett and far-right radio host Glenn Beck. Actually, make that three. CNN has found a new conservative commentator: Former Republican congressman J.C. Watts Jr. “will […]
If we took foreign and defense policy out of the picture entirely, what’s Bush’s worst domestic policy initiative? The tax cuts were a disaster, the faith-based initiative was outrageous, No Child Left Behind ended up flopping, and there is no coherent energy policy to speak of. But for my money, Bush’s Medicare scheme tops ’em […]
Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, can be a little odd. Just a month ago, she published an item arguing against evolution by explaining that modern biology is literally unconstitutional because it suggests that “the Constitution was written by animals and for animals.” She did not appear to be kidding. This week, Schlafly managed […]
Last week, some friends of mine filed a lawsuit against a California school district that offered a “philosophy” course that taught intelligent-design creationism. The curriculum makes it pretty clear that the course was little more than a vehicle to promote ID, undermine modern biology, and tell local public school students that the Earth is “thousands […]
Some elements of the far-right have declared open season on Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), so much so that they’re questioning the medals Murtha earned in combat. James Webb, secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration and, like Murtha, a Marine who served in Vietnam, won’t stand for it. [I]n recent years extremist Republican operatives […]
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: * Former Rep. Bob McEwen (R-Ohio), who left Congress in 1993 in the wake of the House banking scandal, will announce today that he’s taking on Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) in a Republican […]
The ultra-conservative Washington Times ran an interesting item today on legal scholars’ take on Bush’s warrantless-search program. The piece, not surprisingly, gave pretty significant attention to the president’s defense, but did a pretty fair job highlighting GW’s Jonathan Turley’s perspective, including his belief that the controversy “is one of the most serious constitutional crises that […]
The good news is House GOP leaders have unveiled a proposal to reform the way Congress does business and, at least on the surface, curtail the influence of lobbyists. Reading over most of the coverage, the plan purports to do much of what one would expect in light of the Abramoff affair — limits on […]