It’s hard to blame Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) for feeling a little bitter. Up until fairly recently, the freshman House member looked like a rising star for the Dems — a progressive from Houston, popular in a moderate congressional district, and telegenic enough to have a successful broadcast career before entering politics. That was before […]
The non-existent connection between Saddam Hussein and al Queda is obviously Dick Cheney’s favorite lie — he keeps repeating it. Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Saddam Hussein had “long-established ties” with al Qaida, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers. The vice president offered no details backing […]
This story just keeps getting better. Two weeks ago, Time magazine obtained an internal Pentagon email that said “action” on Halliburton’s no-bid, multibillion-dollar contract was “coordinated” with Cheney’s office. Dems, of course, went apoplectic. The White House response was fairly simple. An administration official told CNN, for example, that given the subject, the email was […]
If a comedian has to explain why a punch line is funny, the joke isn’t any good. And if a president has to explain why his signature domestic policy achievement really isn’t a disaster, that president has a problem. Case in point: Bush and Medicare. Bush will travel to Liberty, Mo., in a key battleground […]
I’ve noticed in all three of Ralph Nader’s presidential campaigns that the candidate appears to enjoy his role. It’s not just that Nader likes being a spoiler, though this much is obviously true, but also that Nader gets to be a candidate for president without a lot of questions. Whereas the real candidates are constantly […]
This campaign is all about contrasts, and there are few better than the one between “Swiftboat Veterans for Truth” and “Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change.” One is real; the other isn’t. The Swiftboat Vets made a splash early last month with a couple of high-profile media events in which the veterans attacked John Kerry […]
I’ve restrained myself on countless occasions over the last week on Reagan-related myths — it could easily become a full-time job — but one caught my eye over the weekend that deserves to be debunked. As Atrios noted the other day, Tim Russert was on with Larry King last week when the Meet the Press […]
The Supreme Court is leaving “under God” in the Pledge, but the circumstances are a little tricky. Oddly enough, I think this is probably the best outcome I could have hoped for. The Supreme Court at least temporarily preserved the phrase “one nation, under God,” in the Pledge of Allegiance Monday, ruling that a California […]
Surely you remember our friend Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin. He’s the one who raised more than a few eyebrows last year when it was discovered that he’s an anti-Muslim religious zealot tapped by the Bush administration to coordinate our military intelligence in the war on terror. Among Boykin’s more colorful remarks: * A […]
Colin Powell was on Meet the Press again yesterday, and this time, no “over eager” aides tried to cut off the interview prematurely. Nevertheless, there were a couple of unintentionally amusing moments. First, I had to laugh when Powell tried to defend the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “Even though we haven’t […]