The LAT had a thorough and detailed report today on Gen. David Petraeus’ current thinking about troop duties in Iraq. Unfortunately, the Times piece really buried the lede. The thrust of the piece focused on Petraeus apparent belief that U.S. troops may soon be able to leave parts of Iraq where security conditions have improved. […]
Moving one step closer to a confrontation with Iran
It’s not just unusual for the United States to designate a branch of a foreign military a terrorist organization; it’s never happened. The Bush administration, however, is now poised to add Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — backed by Ahmadinejad, among others — to its terrorism list. The move, apparently, is intended to make it easier […]
Clinton blessed with inept enemies — redux
Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d say the Bush gang actually wants to help Hillary Clinton get elected. It’s good to have skills, it’s better to get lucky, but it’s the best when your enemies are hopelessly inept. This week, the Clinton campaign unveiled its first TV ad of the season, which hit the […]
Fred Barnes finds that it’s so hard to say goodbye
Practically every day for the last seven years, Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, has been the most shameless, unapologetic White House sycophant in DC. In most instances, it seemed as Barnes couldn’t speak while Karl Rove was drinking water. And while many of us have already had our fill of Rove retrospectives, […]
Tuesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Awful news out of Iraq from Reuters: “At least 175 people were killed when three suicide bombers driving fuel tankers attacked a town, home to an ancient minority sect, in northern Iraq on Tuesday in one of the worst single incidents in the four-year-old war. Iraqi army Captain Mohammad […]
Another foreign-policy flap for Obama
This seems to have become a weekly occurrence. Obama offers some commentary on U.S. foreign policy, the right pounces, and the facts show that Obama’s right and the GOP is wrong. The latest in the series came this afternoon. There’s what Obama said: “We’ve got to get the job done [in Afghanistan] and that requires […]
Stewart only anchor in the country to see through the nonsense
After the Michael O’Hanlon/Ken Pollack op-ed appeared in the NYT a couple of weeks ago, they did multiple media interviews, each of which characterized the Brookings’ scholars as war “critics” or war “skeptics.” The news outlets were, of course, wrong — O’Hanlon and Pollack both supported the war and endorsed the so-called surge. As Oliver […]
A tough flip-flop to pull off
When it comes to abortion rights, Rudy Giuliani can avoid the subject and talk about “strict constructionist” judges. When it comes to gay rights, he can try to find some wiggle room between his previous (read: genuine) beliefs and his new (read: pandering) beliefs. But when it comes to immigration, Giuliani might find the flip-flop […]
Petraeus and Gates
The NYT ran a couple of interesting companion pieces today, one on Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, and the other on Robert Gates, Bush’s Defense Secretary. The pieces offered some insights into how they both perceive their responsibilities right now, particularly with regards to Iraq policy. The pieces are worth reading, […]
Frum dissects Rove
It looks like the most talked-about media piece of the day is David Frum’s take on Karl Rove’s White House tenure. Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, argues, relatively persuasively, that Rove crafted a White House political strategy that was predicated on helping Republicans, instead of helping the country. That’s true, of course, but anyone who’s […]