As part of my ongoing fascination with Bush’s weakened position with south Florida’s Cuban-American community — and how his faltering support could end up costing him the election — there have been a few interesting developments this week. First, the St. Petersburg Times picked up on the “backlash” angle, noting that the Bush administration’s harsh […]
His timing couldn’t be worse. Just as the Republican National Convention is about to kick off in New York City — which isn’t exactly a GOP stronghold to begin with — House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has managed to seriously offend his party’s host city. The controversy kicked off on Wednesday when the conservative New […]
In advance of the Republican convention, Bush is raising his media profile, doing some interviews with a few national papers today. A discussion with the New York Times produced several interesting tidbits, but two in particular stood out. First, Bush came awfully close to admitting that he was sorta, kinda, almost wrong about post-war Iraq. […]
My friend Tom Schaller raised a point yesterday that should be emphasized far and wide. It happened this week almost without notice: The number of Americans killed in Iraq during 2004 now exceeds the number killed in 2003. More remarkably, the 488 killed thus far this year died in just 239 days (2.04 daily average), […]
No wonder the White House was so anxious to hide the data; the results are a national disgrace. Census data released today show that the number and percentage of Americans living below the poverty line increased for the third consecutive year in 2003, and the number and percentage of people without health insurance also climbed […]
Bush, to USA Today yesterday: “I am not going to come in second.” Doesn’t he mean, he doesn’t plan on coming in second again?
So we’ve already established that the Bush campaign won’t talk to voters unless they’re pre-screened Republican sycophants and that the president doesn’t like to talk to reporters because they occasionally ask him questions that are, you know, difficult. Yesterday we learned that the campaign’s proclivity for avoiding any form of dissent has extended to radio […]
I’m afraid it’s one of my exceedingly rare days off. I have a deadline pending on a freelance piece and I have a nasty head cold that’s clouding my thinking anyway. I’ll be back tomorrow with plenty of long-winded tirades for your reading pleasure.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Census Bureau will release government data on the poverty rate tomorrow. Not surprisingly, after years of progress on moving American families out of poverty in the 1990s, the Bureau’s data is expected to show another increase under Bush. That’s the predictable part. The suspicious part has […]
This train of thought has been bouncing around right-wing circles for a week or so, but leave it to Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum to summarize it perfectly. “Kerry brought this upon himself by making the convention all about his military service,” said Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). “He stuck his jaw out on this one […]