It’s about time. The Associated Press sued the Pentagon and the Air Force on Tuesday, seeking access to all records of George W. Bush’s military service during the Vietnam War. Filed in federal court in New York, where The AP is headquartered, the lawsuit seeks access to a copy of Bush’s microfilmed personnel file from […]
I had always believed rumors that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) would use his high-profile leadership position to launch a bid for president in 2008. But in an interview late last week with the Christian Science Monitor, Frist sounded like a man planning to wrap up his career in politics, instead of planning to […]
I think the Washington Post buried its lede this morning in its story about the Plame Game. The Post noted that Glenn Kessler, the paper’s State Department reporter, offered tape-recorded testimony to the grand jury yesterday. That, in and of itself, is pretty interesting, because other journalists who’ve been called upon have resisted cooperating for […]
The White House, in one of its infamous “document dumps,” released hundreds of pages of documents relating to the administration torture policies yesterday afternoon. Like Kevin Drum, I quickly found reading all the various reports a terribly vertiginous experience. There is, however, one small point that jumped out at me. Two weeks ago, while the […]
If there’s one thing the U.S. government should do well, it’s manage Iraq’s oil revenues. For goodness sakes, our country is led by a president and vice president, both of whom are former oil executives. This should be the one area they excel in. Alas, the Financial Times has learned that an audit, sponsored by […]
The Supreme Court’s decision on patients suing HMOs in state courts was, to be sure, discouraging. But it does offer Dems, and John Kerry in particular, a terrific political opportunity. If an HMO refuses to treat something that ends up injuring the patient, most of us would like to see that person be able to […]
Michael Kinsley takes on the whole notion of “optimism” today as only Kinsley can. I wish I had something interesting to add to this, but I actually just wanted to recommend the column. Kinsley notes that “optimism” has not only been identified as Reagan’s best quality, but also as a characteristic that consultants insist is […]
I know this issue has been rehashed repeatedly, online and off, but I was nevertheless glad to see Senate Dems (led by New Jersey’s Frank Lautenberg) force the military coffin issue onto the Senate floor yesterday. It didn’t work out — the GOP majority stood with the Bush administration — but it’s a reminder about […]
For months, Illinois Senate candidate Jack Ryan (R) assured Republican leaders — in his home state and in DC — that his divorce files don’t contain information embarrassing enough to end his campaign. It’s a promise he may regret making. Just to be clear, I really don’t care about Ryan’s personal life. The recently-released documents […]
Remember all the fun we had with the story about Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) being offered $100,000 by GOP leaders in exchange for his vote on Bush’s Medicare bill? Those were good times. I wanted to mention that the scandal isn’t making a lot of headlines lately, but the investigation is still ongoing. In fact, […]