Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Walter Reed scandal is going to stay on the front-burner, especially in Congress. The House Oversight and Government Reform sent subpoenas today to Major General George W. Weightman, former Commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The first hearing is scheduled for Monday. * NYT: “A majority of […]
Walter Reed scandal claims another victim
Yesterday, Army Secretary Francis Harvey fired Maj. Gen. George Weightman as the head of Walter Reed, but inexplicably replaced him with Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, who was ultimately responsible for most of the scandal in the first place. So today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey. Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly […]
White House caught lying about Denver Three
Two years ago, asked why three law-abiding ticket holders were forcibly removed from a presidential event because of their bumper sticker, then-White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said a “volunteer” was responsible. A few weeks later, after McClellan had a chance to glean more information about the incident, he added, “Now, in terms of this […]
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Debate’
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently, asking him to reconsider the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The policy “makes absolutely no sense and undermines the fight against terrorism,” Wyden said in a statement. As ABC reported, Wyden’s office “noted that dozens of service members with critically needed skills like […]
Obama asks working-class Clevelanders for five bucks
National Journal’s Hotline blog posted a YouTube clip of [tag]Barack Obama[/tag] today that, at first blush, might appear embarrassing for the senator. Indeed, the blog referred to it as “oppo,” suggesting that it could be damaging. Thinking it through, however, the Hotline may not appreciate the larger dynamic here. In the video, Obama is shown […]
‘Rightosphere Temperature Check’
John Hawkins at Right Wing News, a leading far-right blog, emailed more than 240 “right-of-center bloggers” with an eight-question survey. A total of 63 responded, including many of the sites I read daily for my other gig (Atlas Shrugs, Cold Fury, Hot Air, IMAO, Iowa Voice, Outside The Beltway, Poliblog, PoliPundit, Sister Toldjah, Stop The […]
A bigger escalation than advertised
When the White House unveiled the president’s escalation strategy for Iraq, officials told reporters that the so-called “surge” would include 21,500 combat troops. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the actual size of the deployment would have to be considerably larger because combat troops will need to be backed up by support troops. Don’t worry, […]
Bush tells Katrina victims, ‘You exist’
After leaving Gulf Coast, post-Katrina, recovery out of the State of the Union altogether this year, the president was in New Orleans yesterday for a series of photo-ops. His remarks to a local charter school were especially enlightening. “I thank you all for giving me a chance to come. There’s nothing more illustrative of the […]
Friday’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: * Remember Henry “Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims” Jordan that I’ve been talking about? Late last week, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) welcomed Jordan onto his presidential campaign team. Yesterday, Jordan resigned […]
‘Rudy McRomney’
As the presidential campaign process unfolds, let’s not lose sight of the capacity of Republicans to tear each other apart. Leading conservatives yesterday attacked the Republican party as big-government, free-spending coddlers of illegal immigrants and said the country’s conservatives should withhold support from the GOP’s current slate of presidential nominees to force them to the […]