For a political operation that is supposed to stand with some of history’s best, Bush’s machine has had a rough couple of months. Just this year, they’ve crafted a State of the Union address that’s been widely panned, they’ve chosen a manufacturing czar who’s laid off workers and built factories in China, and they’ve rolled […]
My recent list of scandals that prompted formal investigations of Republicans sparked some interest, but an even longer list would include GOP scandals that haven’t been investigated but should be. And near the top of the list would have to be Tom DeLay’s tax-exempt charity, Celebrations for Children. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s low, even […]
In this year’s State of the Union, Bush was still willing to talk about his Medicare plan (at the time, it wasn’t engrossed in scandal). To hear him tell it, some of the provisions would offer cost-saving benefits for seniors. Meeting these goals requires bipartisan effort, and two months ago, you showed the way. By […]
Richard Clarke has been making the rounds quite a bit since Sunday’s 60 Minutes, but since I’m partial to print interviews, I found his discussion with Salon’s Joe Conason particularly helpful. The interview touches on all the major areas of controversy, as you’d expect. But the one thing that jumped out at me was just […]
For years, the very idea of gay soldiers serving their country in the U.S. military was an insane suggestion to conservatives. It’s bad for morale, we were told. It undermines discipline, they said. It damages unit cohesiveness, it was argued. But when push comes to shove, and the military is desperate for volunteers, suddenly those […]
Josh Marshall noted that James Woolsey, the former director of the CIA and an enthusiastic supporter of Bush’s alleged anti-terrorism efforts, was on CNN last night sharing some highly unusual (read: false) ideas. Marshall hadn’t seen the transcript, so I checked it out for myself. Not surprisingly, it’s just as bad as advertised. Keep in […]
Without getting into the merit of the Israeli attacks on Hamas this week, I wanted to note that President Bush seems a little confused — again — about the administration’s line. After some initial hesitation, the Bush administration criticized Israel’s action as counterproductive towards establishing a lasting peace in the region. “We’re deeply troubled by […]
It’s hard to know if one should be happy it’s over or sad that it dragged on interminably for a full decade. Yesterday, a full 10 years after getting started, the most expensive waste of time in U.S. history — the Independent Counsel’s Office investigation into Whitewater — officially ended operations. I consider myself fairly […]
In light of the Supreme Court case about the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be heard today, I have a question. Yes, it’s a smart-alecky question. As most of you know, our parents and grandparents didn’t recite the same Pledge as we do today. It used to be entirely secular, and somehow patriotism and religiosity […]
Michael Kinsley is one of those writers whose columns are so good, you actually miss them when he’s on hiatus. He hasn’t had a Slate column for the last six weeks, but fortunately, he’s back and in fine form. Today Kinsley takes on the myth that John Kerry voted for higher taxes 350 times in […]