In case you missed it, please check out the stunning report in Salon yesterday about the Office of Special Plans, the agency the Pentagon created to give the administration the intelligence information it wanted to justify a war with Iraq. The OSP is not a new story, of course. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman […]
I have to admit, when he has to read a well-written speech, Bush isn’t half-bad on the stump. It’s when he has to speak off-the-cuff when he runs into trouble. From a speech the president delivered earlier this week: “The march to war affected the people’s confidence. It’s hard to make investment. See, if you’re […]
As if his campaign needed another controversy to doom his chances, Blair Hull, the millionaire businessman running for the Senate in Illinois, admitted yesterday to having used cocaine and sought treatment for alcohol abuse in the 1980s. With the primary just five days away, whatever was left of Hull’s chances will probably evaporate. Just a […]
I used to fall for the hype surrounding the Bush White House’s political operation. These guys are evil geniuses, I thought, always one step ahead with a brilliant strategy in mind. As if this notion needed further debunking, consider the fact that Bush was prepared to pick a “manufacturing czar” who laid off U.S. workers […]
I have some company from out of town, so I won’t be able to post today. Check back tomorrow. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: the Moral Majority were neither moral nor in the majority. Discuss.
Just to update an earlier post, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) announced this afternoon that he will not run for the Senate (via the Political Wire). This makes some sense. Owens, despite some family troubles of late, has presidential aspirations for 2008. He probably concluded, accurately, that it would be easier to mount a White […]
If you’re John Kerry, and you’re considering how best to criticize the Bush presidency, it’s easy to consider your rival’s record a “target-rich environment.” In fact, it’s a little too easy. Part of a successful campaign is a focused message. If Kerry is going to critique Bush’s job performance, he can’t very well “swing for […]
The presidential race will continue to dominate the political world in the coming months, but there are plenty of great congressional races that warrant attention as well. For right now, here are some updates on three of my favorites, all open-seat Senate campaigns created by a Republican retirement. In Colorado, last week’s retirement announcement from […]
Murray Waas, in The American Prospect, moves the Plame Game ball forward a bit with a closer look at Karl Rove’s testimony to the FBI last fall. There aren’t any major breakthrough details, but it’s a helpful review and it confirms several widespread beliefs. President Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove, told the FBI in […]
I still have some mixed feelings about John Edwards on the Dem ticket, but it’s interesting to see that a number of Senate Dems are stepping up to boost his prospects. As The Hill reported today: “Why not John Edwards?” asked Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), when asked about the party’s vice presidential nominee. “He’s done […]