As he is inclined to do, the president assembled a group of sycophantic media guests to boost his ego at the White House yesterday, the latest in a series of gatherings between Bush and like-minded allies who enjoy telling him exactly what he wants to hear — and agrees with every word he says. At […]
Conservative San Diego mayor reverses course, endorses gay marriage
San Diego’s Republican mayor, Jerry Sanders, got elected after promising voters in 2005 that he would oppose same-sex marriage. Sanders, the city’s former police chief, said he would use his veto power if the San Diego City Council took steps to go beyond civil unions. So, when council members voted 5 to 3 recently on […]
Bush perceives himself as a ‘strong asset’ to GOP
Today’s White House press conference didn’t include too much talk about politics — except for the president’s condemnation of MoveOn.org, which he said launched an “attack…on the U.S. military” — but Cox Newspaper’s Ken Herman threw the president an entertaining softball. BUSH: Herman, have you got a question? Q Yes, sir, thank you. BUSH: You’re […]
At press conference, Bush revels in anti-intellectualism
Early on in this morning’s White House press conference, a reporter asked the president whether he believes there’s a risk of a recession. Bush replied, “You know, you need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible […]
Broder describes Gingrich as a ‘visionary’
At some point, it’s not entirely clear when, the DC establishment decided that Newt Gingrich is an intellectual. He gained a reputation as a “big thinker.” He’s someone whose ideas are “outside the box.” All of this is rather silly. The former Speaker can bloviate with the best of them, and he has opinions on […]
Senate condemns MoveOn ad — but not all attacks on the troops
Senate Republicans decided this week that they would not allow votes on substantive bills relating to Bush’s Iraq policy, but they will push a resolution condemning MoveOn.org for questioning the credibility of a general executing Bush’s Iraq policy. As of a few minutes ago, the gambit worked. For procedural reasons, the Senate GOP was able […]
Thursday’s political 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: * John Edwards suffered a minor campaign setback yesterday when the SEIU said it would not offer any presidential endorsement, at least right now. Apparently, it looked like Edwards had the support to […]
Ahmadinejad denied access to Ground Zero
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who will be in New York next week for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, requested permission to visit Ground Zero to lay a wreath at the former site of the World Trade Center. After initially balking at the request, NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday that officials […]
The religious right’s candidate
The religious right has been looking ahead to 2008 with some trepidation. 2006 clearly didn’t work out well for the religio-political movement, and things have only worsened in 2007, with the deaths of some religious right powerhouses and waning influence in DC. The short-term task for the religious right is picking a credible GOP presidential […]
Perceived slights vs. actual slights
The contrast couldn’t be more illustrative. Yesterday afternoon, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) rejected a measure to give U.S. troops as much time at home as they spend in combat. Shortly thereafter, Cornyn introduced a resolution to condemn MoveOn.org, as a way of demonstrating his support for the troops. As Congress considers a series of bills […]