Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Vice President had a minor health scare today. Doctors found a blood clot in Cheney’s left leg Monday, but the doctors prescribed blood thinners to treat it and allowed him to return to work. * The Supreme Court ruled this morning against Colorado Republicans who sought to overturn […]
‘Those Days Are Gone’
Digby caught an item on 60 Minutes last night about David Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, that deserves a little more attention. From CBS: [Walker]calls it a fiscal wake up tour, and he is telling civic groups, university forums and newspaper editorial boards that the U.S. has spent, promised, and borrowed itself […]
Has the ‘Age of Ann’ passed?
I’m hesitant to return to the subject of Ann Coulter and her latest outrageous circus act — I said my piece over the weekend — but The American Mind’s Sean Hackbarth has published an interesting “open letter” to the Conservative Political Action Conference’s organizers. It’s been picked up and republished by a variety of other […]
The right settles on a response to the Walter Reed scandal
There’s no reason for the Walter Reed scandal to be a partisan affair, but over the last couple of weeks, it has been. Seriously wounded troops have been badly mistreated. The country hasn’t been serving them as well as they served us. It’s a national disgrace in desperate need of an immediate remedy. But the […]
Why I don’t watch television news
The Walter Reed scandal has been a major news story for two weeks, but Friday was especially important. Maj. Gen. George Weightman, the head of Walter Reed since August, had just been relieved of his command. The House Oversight and Government Reform started issuing subpoenas. Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey because […]
Lowering the bar
Following up on Friday’s item about the Denver Three, we learned some important details late in the day. To briefly recap, two years ago, three law-abiding citizens were escorted out of a public event, dealing with a public policy issue, on public property, featuring public officials, because someone didn’t like their bumper sticker. The Bush […]
Monday’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: * Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama “locked arms with civil rights icons Sunday and marched through thousands of well-wishers, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge to cap the 42nd anniversary Right to […]
‘Plan B was to make Plan A work’
Over the weekend, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) relayed a recent conversation he had with Gen. David Petraeus, the new top military commander in Iraq, about the president’s latest escalation policy. Petraeus reportedly told Smith that the new “surge” has only a one in four chance of succeeding. With those odds, and with the general in […]
‘It Is Just Not Walter Reed’
For two weeks, revelations about U.S. war veterans, recuperating at [tag]Walter Reed[/tag] Army Medical Center, living in deplorable conditions and being ignored by a callous bureaucracy, have shocked Americans, cost some Pentagon officials their jobs, and generated a significant scandal. But we continue to learn more and more all the time. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) […]
Alberto Gonzales too busy to worry about accountability
Following on the previous post for a moment, there are a variety of unanswered questions about the prosecutor purge, many of which deal directly with the Justice Department. Certainly, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who has said many times that he’s anxious to “cooperate” with Congress, would want to answer any questions lawmakers may have about […]