For months, something has been driving rumors about NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg running for president as an independent, but to hear Bloomberg tell it, he’s not responsible. On the record, he tells anyone and everyone that he’s not running and he plans to enter philanthropy once term-limits force him from office in 2009. But signs […]
Tuesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * John Rizzo, Bush’s nominee to become the CIA’s general counsel, appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee for a confirmation hearing. Rizzo, who had signed on the infamous Bybee memo in 2002 that cleared the way for torture in U.S. interrogations, did not back away from his previous policy positions […]
Gravel questions constitutional law
I appreciate the fact that some people find former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) charming. He has a no-nonsense way about him, he’s really opposed to the war in Iraq, he’s beholden to no one, and every audience knows that Gravel is going to say exactly what he believes, whether it’s politic or not. But it’s […]
Giuliani pushes back on ISG scoop
Following up on an earlier item, Newsday reports today that Rudy Giuliani was a member of the Iraq Study Group, but he blew off the panel — and was ultimately forced to resign — because he apparently preferred to spend more time delivering lucrative private speeches. After Giuliani skipped a series of important ISG meetings, […]
Santorum goes Hollywood
If your household is anything like mine, you sometimes check what’s playing at the local movie theater and ask, “Why aren’t there more movies being made by Rick Santorum?” Well, we’re in luck. The former senator is going Hollywood. Rick Santorum is in early talks on a movie project with Hollywood producer Stephen McEveety. Rumors […]
Scalia asks, ‘Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?’
It’s surprisingly disappointing just how little progress we’ve made on certain basic questions about torture. (via Andrew Sullivan) Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadian judge’s passing remark – “Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe […]
White House Budget Director Portman resigns
Just yesterday, Bob Novak reported that the White House was about to go on a veto frenzy, rejecting spending bills left and right, as part of a new initiative to reverse six years of Bush spending freely. Novak identified the man behind this project. It is an offensive pressed on Bush by congressional GOP leaders […]
The scope of the signing statements
Following up on an item from yesterday, the GAO reported that in a sampling of the president’s signing statements, “the Bush Administration failed to execute the law as instructed in over 30 percent of the cases.” We probably shouldn’t breeze by this point too quickly — Congress passed a bill, Bush signed the bill into […]
Giuliani had better things to do
When the Iraq Study Group was initially formed, Bush tapped Rudy Giuliani for one of the Republican seats. Two months later, the former NYC mayor quit the ISG. What happened there? Apparently, Giuliani had some money to make. Rudolph Giuliani’s membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after […]
Tuesday’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: * The Brownback-Romney brouhaha, caused by a Brownback staffer who went after Romney’s faith, seems to have ended well. Brownback called Romney personally to apologize yesterday, and Romney accepted it. For what it’s […]