Almost a month ago, the White House announced that Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute had agreed to join Bush’s team as the “war czar,” despite ambiguities about what the job entailed. In some ways, it was a surprising choice — Lute voiced opposition to the president’s surge policy. In other words, the general Bush […]
‘He looks like a guy who would have been a great hunter’
Most of the time, I’m absolutely convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, that it’s literally impossible for Rudy Giuliani to get the Republican nomination. It simply defies comprehension. He supports abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control. He claims to be an expert on national security matters, but knows nothing about the issue. His […]
What is Mitt Romney talking about?
Yesterday, we talked a bit about Mitt Romney’s bizarre belief, articulated during Tuesday’s debate, that Saddam Hussein refused to open Iraq up to IAEA inspectors, despite reality. As it turns out, Romney’s answer was actually worse than I originally suggested. Let’s take another look at the transcript. Romney was asked whether it was “a mistake […]
Bush’s Surgeon General nominee starts to look even worse
Following up on an item from last week, Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., Bush’s nominee for Surgeon General, has a record of activism that suggests a strong anti-gay bias. Opposition to his nomination has been growing, but it’s been unclear whether there was enough information available to sink his chances. Maybe this will do the […]
Broder believes candidates lack ‘a real-world clue’
Oh dear. Another post criticizing David Broder? I’m afraid so. Today’s column is particularly egregious. Both parties are blessed with a multitude of contenders with attractive personalities and impressive resumes — people it’s easy to imagine in the Oval Office. But the dynamic on both sides is trending toward extreme positions that would open the […]
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: * The upcoming GOP Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, was set to be a critically important early test for the Republican presidential field, possibly even knocking some of the bottom-tier guys out of […]
‘We Need Alan Keyes’
Watching the recent Republican presidential candidates debate, we’ve seen plenty of nonsense, dissembling, errors of fact and judgment, but we haven’t seen any true lunacy. The candidates are too busy trying to appear presidential to unleash the real crazy. And where’s the fun in that? Clearly, what we need is Alan Keyes. An organization calling […]
About those conservatives who denied Plame was covert…
Newsweek reported about a week ago what most of us have known for years: Valerie Plame was really, truly a covert agent at the CIA when the White House decided to expose her identity. Summarizing what most of us were thinking, Kevin Drum noted, “So that settles that. I hope the wingosphere can finally stop […]
‘Mr. Young responded with an obscene gesture’
In the annals of Republican corruption in Congress, this one is slightly more entertaining than most. It is no secret that campaign contributions sometimes lead to lucrative official favors. Rarely, though, are the tradeoffs quite as obvious as in the twisted case of Coconut Road. The road, a stretch of pavement near Fort Myers, Fla., […]
There’s nothing ‘bipartisan’ about it
In light of Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) indictment, we’ve been hearing quite a bit, particularly from far-right bloggers and Fox News personalities, about the culture of corruption now having infected both parties equally. The Washington Post’s Jeffrey Birnbaum, a quality journalist for many years, really ought to know better. On the June 4 edition of […]