Earlier this week, the AP ran a 1,200-word story, for no apparent reason, about Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather and great-great grandfathers having multiple wives. It was a cheap and unnecessary shot. On a related note, the Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune are reporting on Barack Obama’s ancestry in an inexplicable way. Many people know that Democratic […]
Prosecutor purge hits the big time
To say that the first major political scandal of 2007 is picking up steam is an understatement. Yesterday we learned that David Iglesias was fired as a U.S. Attorney after having been pressured by two members of Congress to speed up a probe of Democrats just before the November elections. Last night, we learned which […]
One step forward, two steps back
For a change, a Bush administration scandal seemed to be producing real results. Revelations about U.S. war veterans, recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, living in deplorable conditions and being ignored by a callous bureaucracy captured the political world’s attention. Usually, under these circumstances, the White House would stall for time, and wait for […]
Thursday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN reports, “The top general at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was fired Thursday, the military announced, following revelations of poor conditions in the building where troops who were wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq are treated. Maj. Gen. George Weightman’s firing was the first major military staff change after […]
Being ‘diplomatic’ is not being ‘soft’
Following up on an item from yesterday, the NYT ran a piece today about the Bush administration’s new-found respect for, well, doing the opposite of what it’s been doing for six years. In the span of just two weeks, the United States has agreed to hold high-level contacts with Iran and Syria, and to start […]
A new break-in at the Democrats’ HQ
Hearing about a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters tends to conjure up certain memories, but this time, it’s not in DC, it’s in New Hampshire. The break-in happened this past weekend, and initial press reporters were vague. The AP quoted Kathy Sullivan, the chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, saying, “Some things were taken, but […]
Comment trawling reaches the big time
Back in August, Kevin Drum came up with a sensible maxim: “If you’re forced to rely on random blog commenters to make a point about the prevalence of some form or another of disagreeable behavior, you’ve pretty much made exactly the opposite point.” It’s an easy-to-understand concept, which the right has chosen to ignore. Take […]
‘Why are we, as a country, protecting the companies?’
Long-time readers know that I have an odd sort of fascination with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Here’s a good example why. In 2005, when government scientists tested 60 soft, vinyl lunchboxes, they found that one in five contained amounts of lead that medical experts consider unsafe — and several had more than 10 times […]
Giving new meaning to the phrase ‘on the job training’
We learned this week that two Army combat brigades, which were supposed to have been trained for the war in Iraq at the Army’s premier training range in California, don’t have time anymore. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., had been “outfitted to simulate conditions in Iraq for units that are heading there […]
When troops’ lives are ‘wasted’
For a Republican frontrunner, [tag]John McCain[/tag] sure can be careless. Republican presidential contender John McCain, a staunch backer of the Iraq war but critic of how President Bush has waged it, said U.S. lives had been “wasted” in the four-year-old conflict. Democrats demand the Arizona senator apologize for the comment as Sen. Barack Obama did […]