The presidents of the three major TV network news divisions (ABC, CBS, NBC) got together this week for a joint forum on their role in American journalism. It is, to be sure, a conversation worth having. More specifically, however, it was encouraging to hear the news heads admit a dramatic mistake. On Iraq, the three […]
It’s probably a little soon before we know who’s going to take on Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum in Pennsylvania’s Senate race in 2006, but this seems like an issue that’s likely to come up. A suburban Pittsburgh school district is reviewing whether it should be paying for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s children to use […]
Because a few of you have written in to ask about this, and because Dan Froomkin included it in his column today, let’s put Bush’s changes to his cabinet in historical terms. At this point, six cabinet members have resigned. Two more — Ridge at DHS and Mineta at Transportation — are rumored to be […]
As I’ve mentioned on a few occasions, Tom DeLay may ultimately be indicted in one of his many scandals. Because House rules prohibit lawmakers under indictment from serving in congressional leadership positions, Republicans have a difficult decision to make. Choose a new House leader? No, of course not. The choice is whether or not to […]
Not that I’m in a position of any authority, but I’d love to see a new rule: If you’re running for president, stop pretending you’re not unless you have a really good reason. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, for example, is just being annoying. He’s retiring from the Senate in ’06 and everyone knows he’s […]
Just to echo Kos’ post from yesterday afternoon, I think we all need to remind centrists, as often as possible, that they’re not only shunned by the GOP base, but that they’re actually being encouraged to join the Dems. The Dallas Morning News reported over the weekend: “If they can’t agree and support the president […]
It may seem hard to believe, but as awful as Condoleezza Rice was as Bush’s national security advisory, her replacement, Stephen Hadley, may be worse. Perhaps most troubling about Hadley’s record from Bush’s first term was a little scandal briefly called Niger-gate. As you no doubt recall, Bush told the world — in the State […]
In the real world, awful national security advisors who get everything wrong get fired. In Bush’s world of Twilight Zone politics, they get promoted to Secretary of State. On the two big national security crises of Bush’s first term — the attacks of 9/11 and the war in Iraq — Rice had everything backwards. Before […]
I’ve long felt sorry for Colin Powell. It has to be tough to be asked to serve as Secretary of State only to have a president who rejects and/or ignores all of your advice about foreign policy. There are round-ups of Powell’s tenure everywhere, but a few things jumped out at me. First was this […]
Since Election Day, there has been no shortage of explanations to rationalize the Dems’ defeat. The least persuasive, and most annoying, is the myth that Dems have become an excessively secular party, either indifferent or hostile to religion. The charge is utterly ridiculous. Summarizing the attack today is Richard Viguerie and David Franke in an […]