Late yesterday, Josh Marshall noted, “Now that Hillary’s fired Mark Penn, can she now fire Lanny Davis? Please? Or ask that he be put under some sort of house arrest?” It’s not an uncommon sentiment, though the Clinton campaign can’t fire Davis; he’s not actually on staff. He’s just a very vocal campaign advocate with […]
‘Deferred prosecutions’ clears the way for corporate crimes
The Bush administration not only has trouble following the law, it also doesn’t seem especially fond of enforcing the law, either. Through something called “deferred prosecutions,” the administration is neglecting to prosecute corporate crimes that that would have resulted in indictments in previous administrations. In a major shift of policy, the Justice Department, once known […]
‘History will not judge this kindly’
Describing the Bush administration’s affinity for torture, Michael Stickings noted this morning, “[I]t’s not all about John Yoo. The U.S. didn’t just start torturing its detainees because a government lawyer said it was okay, or because some executive-branch extremist like David Addington determined that anything and everything was permissible in a time of war, or […]
Wednesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Speaker Pelosi flexes her muscles a bit on trade: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that she’ll use a rare procedural option to block fast-track consideration of the Colombia free-trade agreement, a draconian step that counters President Bush’s push to get Congress to vote on the controversial deal this […]
Vice President Biden?
I certainly won’t claim to be the most well-connected blogger on this side of the ‘sphere, but over the last couple of weeks, I’ve chatted with a few DC politicos, all of whom mentioned they’ve been hearing a lot of “VP buzz” about Joe Biden, most notably if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. This […]
The United States is not occupying Alabama
The argument for maintaining a decades-long presence for U.S. troops in Iraq invariably leads conservatives to draw a comparison to post-World War II Germany and Japan. It’s a fundamentally flawed argument, but it tends to dominate the discourse. At least Germany and Japan, though, are foreign countries. RedState, a prominent conservative blog, has been pushing […]
The self-parodying Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week kicks off — again
Josh Marshall highlighted the good news: the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week from last October has spawned a sequel. Let the mockery begin. It seems like only a few months ago we were celebrating David Horowitz’s Islamofascism Awareness Week with heavily subsidized and poorly attended events on campuses around the country. But the October’s IAW was such […]
A ‘coordinated effort to conceal’ at ICE
“It’s not the crime; it’s the cover-up.” It’s an old adage, but people always seem to forget it. Last Halloween, Julie Myers, the assistant secretary of homeland security for immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) did something very dumb at an agency costume contest. A white lawyer dressed in dark make-up, fake dreadlocks, and prison garb […]
The problem with comparing Obama to Tiger Woods
At a pro-war rally in DC yesterday, hosted by a conservative group called Vets for Freedom, John McCain received an interesting introduction from one of the group’s founders. The key quote, of course, was David Bellavia saying, “Rest assured that people like Senator McCain will be the goal and the men that my two young […]
Wednesday’s campaign round-up
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * In keeping with the recent trend, the polls in Pennsylvania are all over the place. The latest from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, shows Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama by three, […]