On Meet the Press yesterday, two pretty good reporters made the same point, using almost the same words, about what Bush “must” do in the coming months regarding the Plame scandal. I agreed with their sentiment, but think both are probably off-base. First, NBC White House correspondent David Gregory explained why he believes the president […]
I know I’m probably one of about six people who cares about this, but it’s important to me and I’m hoping to bump the overall number to maybe eight or nine. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page today offered a spirited defense of Ellen Sauerbrey, President Bush’s choice to be Assistant Secretary of State for […]
I can only hope this didn’t sound as bad in person as it does in print. At one point, [Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] even exhibited a map of his country, which is larger than the continental United States. “Wow! Brazil is big,” [Celso Amorim, the Brazilian foreign minister] quoted the American president […]
Given the Harriet Miers fiasco, the Mike Brown tragedy, and the White House’s general embrace of a “hackocracy” in which political hacks are given key government posts, it’s tempting to think the Bush gang will be more cautious in appointing ideological allies to high office. And yet, it keeps happening. The New Republic noted one […]
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 its election-eve poll in New Jersey, Quinnipiac shows Sen. Jon Corzine (D) leading Doug Forrester 52% to 45% among likely Garden State voters. The election, of course, is tomorrow. * In […]
Ever the loyalist, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried to defend Bush’s plummeting national support last week by comparing his boss to another president who suffered in the polls. “President Harry Truman,” Rumsfeld said at a press briefing, “now remembered as a fine president, would leave office in 1953 with an approval rating of about 25 […]
In February 2000, Sen. John McCain took one of the bolder steps any Republican presidential candidate had taken in a very long time. In the midst of a fierce competition with then-Gov. George W. Bush, McCain traveled to Virginia Beach, home of Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, in advance of Virginia’s GOP primary, to take […]
The White House counsel’s office told presidential aides on Friday afternoon (when else?) that they’ll be getting a little “refresher” course on government ethics. President Bush has ordered White House staff to attend mandatory briefings beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material after the indictment last week of a senior […]
These Republican doctors-turned-lawmakers sure do know some interesting tricks. Bill Frist, for example, can use an hour of family videotapes to challenge the diagnosis of doctors who have examined a severely brain-damaged patient in person. Tom Coburn, meanwhile, can use his medical training to tell if someone is lying, just by looking at them. Coburn […]
At times, complaints about the Patriot Act can sound vaguely hysterical. Critics go so far as to suggest that the law empowers the FBI to obtain secret information about you — including phone calls, internet visits, even credit ratings — whether you’re suspected of wrongdoing or not. The probing of your personal information can be […]