I think it’s fair to say that Republicans are getting a little nervous about the stem-cell research bill pending in the Senate. GOP lawmakers seem all-too-aware that the public backs this bill, but Bush’s inflexibility makes it unlikely the legislation will become law. Some are looking ahead to the political consequences and wondering if kowtowing […]
The fact that Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman Ken Tomlinson hired an outside consultant to monitor PBS programs for alleged liberalism is odd. And the fact that he did so without consulting the CPB board of directors is disturbing. But even if we put all of that aside, the story doesn’t get really strange until […]
Bush, speaking in Morgantown, W.Va., this morning: “The history we celebrate today is a testament to the power of freedom to lift up a whole nation. On Independence Day, we remember the ideals of liberty that led men from 13 colonies to gather in Philadelphia and pen a declaration of self-truths. And we remember the […]
The Washington Post had an interesting item yesterday to honor the 4th by revisiting the Pledge of Allegiance. So few words, so many arguments. Yet the Pledge of Allegiance has never been static. On this July 4 weekend, Outlook offers 19 variations on the theme. Like John Cole, I think Christopher Buckley’s submission was by […]
Since Friday afternoon’s revelations that Karl Rove may very well have been of the White House staffers who leaked Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters, Robert Luskin, Rove’s attorney, has been working the phones furiously, insisting that his client has done absolutely nothing wrong. Some of Luskin’s denials have been surprisingly categorical, which gives them the […]
The unstated secret of abortion politics is that the right likes Roe v. Wade. They don’t like the ruling, of course, and they certainly don’t like the reproductive rights that the decision protects, but as a matter of politics, this ruling helps provide a foundation for conservative ideology, activism, fundraising, and recruiting. And, though it […]
There’s a new myth that seems to be on the GOP talking-points list that deserves to be quickly dismissed. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, yet she was overwhelmingly confirmed” during the Clinton administration, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said on ABC’s “This Week.” Ginsburg “wasn’t asked about her […]
The New York Times Sunday Magazine did a brief interview with Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) last week that ran over the weekend. In light of Hagel’s recent pronouncement that the Bush White House “is completely disconnected from reality. It’s like they’re just making it up as they go along” in Iraq, I thought it’d be […]
It figures. Just figures. Friday afternoon, in advance of the July 4th weekend, the same afternoon of the most important Supreme Court retirement in generations, and we learn that Karl Rove is up to his ears in a criminal scandal that could rock the White House. Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to […]
Guest Post by Morbo If you haven’t read Richard Cohen’s recent column on Edward Klein’s new Hillary Clinton-bashing book, The Truth About Hillary, get online immediately and take a look. It’s hysterical. Cohen argues that the fact that a book like this is flying off the shelves proves one thing beyond all doubts: Many right-wingers […]