Based on the White House’s description of the president’s “new way forward,” the bulk of the initiative is dependent on Iraqi officials following through on Bush’s policy agenda. The New York Times had a good item today highlighting a small flaw in the plan: Iraqi officials don’t seem to care for Bush’s policy agenda at […]
Kudos to McClatchy’s Mark Seibel for writing a terrific piece about exaggerations and omissions that continue to plague the White House’s case for an escalation. As Seibel explained today, “President Bush and his aides, explaining their reasons for sending more American troops to Iraq, are offering an incomplete, oversimplified and possibly untrue version of events […]
Sure, the president can dissemble his way through an interview with 60 Minutes while only embarrassing himself a couple of times, but the truth is, as a professional deceiver and demagogue, Bush’s skills are limited. He doesn’t sound credible; at times he barely seems to believe what he’s saying. To see a real pro at […]
As part of his new public-relations offensive, the president was on 60 Minutes last night, making his best possible case that he still knows what he’s talking about. The interview, to hear Bush tell it, was to give the nation a lesson. “[S]ometimes you’re the commander-in-chief, sometimes you’re the educator-in-chief, and a lot of times […]
It’s exceedingly rare for me to cheer on a Republican senator on one of the Sunday morning talk shows, but Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) response to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) this morning on Meet the Press was truly entertaining. Tim Russert had just finished asking Lieberman about the inherent difficulties in fighting a war without […]
Radar magazine’s Jebediah Reed noted this week that the New York Times’ David Brooks had a fascinating item not too long ago about the inherent benefits of a meritocracy. It is “a way of life that emphasizes … perpetual improvement, and permanent exertion,” he effused. Brooks went on to describe a meritocracy as being essential […]
I disagree with him on almost every political issue I can think of, but Rep. Walter Jones Jr. (R-N.C.) seems to have learned a great deal over the last few years, particularly when it comes to the war in Iraq. Jones, you may recall, came up with the idea of changing the name of “french […]
Because I recently suggested that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) might be trying to move away from the escalation policy he used to embrace, I thought it only fair to note that we can still call the 20,000 troop increase the McCain Doctrine. Sen. John McCain defended President Bush’s Iraq plan on Friday as a difficult […]
Following up on yesterday’s thoroughly annoying news about Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) allegedly insulting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, I regret to note that the story is now in its second day. In a truly shameless move, the White House has decided to jump on this nonsense, perhaps in the hopes of scoring a few […]
It was a busy week for God-related news, let’s get right to it. First up from the God Machine is a news item from Federal Way, Washington, where a Seattle suburban school board has banned Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” because of complaints from a local religious activist. “Condoms don’t belong in school, and neither […]