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: * A conversation between John Edwards and Hillary Clinton was accidentally picked up by a live microphone, and the two were overheard discussing excluding long-shot Democratic candidates from future events. In Detroit, the […]
A ‘surge of facts’
Look out, everyone, the White House has a new catch-phrase. “Stay the course” didn’t work out too well, and “they stand up, we stand down” was a policy flop, but now the vaunted White House communications team has a new one. “The interim report is the beginning of a new kind of surge and it’s […]
Bush’s al Qaeda rhetoric is ‘greatly oversimplified’
As has been well established by now, the president started lying about al Qaeda’s role in Iraq earlier this year as part of a cynical approach to bolstering support for the war. While that was hardly unexpected, the more noticeable problem was that the media started playing along with the White House’s scheme, and began […]
So much for religion in the public square
The U.S. House and Senate both open each day with an official prayer — which no one attends. Each chamber has an official chaplain, but guest religious leaders are frequently invited to deliver the invocation. At least 99% of the time, no one notices or cares. But there are exceptions. Back in September 2000, I […]
About those areas of ‘progress’…
I finally got around to reading the White House’s Initial Benchmark Assessment Report (.pdf) last night, so I could learn all about the “progress” that the president is so encouraged by. It’s worth checking out, if for no other reason, than to see just how desperate the situation really is and to see just how […]
Thursday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Dick Durbin’s efforts to de-fund Dick Cheney’s office is running into some serious resistance from the Senate GOP: “Though Vice President Cheney’s contention that he is not part of the executive branch has provided endless fodder for late-night comedians, Senate Republicans are not going to be shy about defending […]
Who are we fighting again?
I’ll have more tomorrow morning on the Iraq Benchmark Report after I have a chance to read it in more detail overnight, but in the meantime, I think this portion of James Joyner’s summary is just about right. So, essentially, despite [al Qaeda in Iraq] comprising something like five percent of the insurgency, we have […]
If you can’t find a partner find a wooden chair
As expected, former White House counsel Harriet Miers ignored a congressional subpoena today, after her former colleagues told her she didn’t have to follow the law. The House Judiciary Committee had set up a chair for Miers’, which sat empty when the hearing was called to order. As expected, former White House counsel Harriet Miers […]
Bush speaks — al Qaeda
In looking at Bush’s press conference today, Part 1 looked at the president’s remarks on Iraq, and Part 2 looked at Scooter Libby, so now let’s look at Bush and al Qaeda. It’s worth noting from the outset that Bush mentioned al Qaeda by name 31 times during today’s hour-long press conference. That’s … what’s […]
Bush speaks — Libby
In part one of the review of Bush’s press conference, we talked about Iraq. Now let’s look at the only exchange from the hour-long event that didn’t deal with the Middle East. Q: You spoke very soberly and seriously in your statement about how you weighed different legal questions in coming to your decision on […]