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: * Barack Obama’s presidential campaign got some good news yesterday when some of John Kerry’s top fundraisiers announced they would begin supporting the Illinois Senator. As the NYT noted, “So far, at least, […]
What, exactly, is a ‘Civilian Reserve Corps’?
If the war on terror is the defining struggle of our time, the outcome of which will literally dictate the future of civilization, the president has called on Americans to do precious little about it. Bush has not called on Americans to sacrifice much of anything — aside from maybe “peace of mind” while watching […]
Fox News to broadcast ‘The Path to 9/11’ fiction
As you probably recall, ABC aired a fairly ridiculous docudrama on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks called “The Path to 9/11.” The film, written by a conservative partisan hoping to shift blame for the attacks to the Clinton administration, included a series of glaring inaccuracies, creating dialog that was never uttered, fabricating […]
Cheney helped block Phase II report on Iraq
We’ve been waiting for the Senate Intelligence Committee to report on the misuse of pre-war intelligence for so long, it’s easy to forget what a debacle the endeavor really is. Here’s a quick review. The Intelligence Committee began a comprehensive investigation towards the end of 2003. Initially, the committee was prepared to release one authoritative […]
Libby trial humiliating for Bush gang
For about a year, it’s seemed as if White House officials were irritated that chaos and bloodshed in Iraq dominated the news, and prevented them from garnering publicity for other stories they much preferred to talk about. When it comes to Scooter Libby’s criminal trial, I have a hunch the Bush gang is calling up […]
Thursday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Carl Bernstein, of Watergate fame, said yesterday that the American system “worked” with Nixon, because a corrupt president was driven from office, the same system has “failed tragically” when it comes to Bush. “Nixon and his men lied and abused the constitution to horrible effect, but they were stopped,” […]
Voting to end the minimum wage as we know it
We already know that Senate Republicans launched a filibuster rather than let the Senate approve the first increase to the minimum wage in 12 years. What went largely unnoticed, however, was an amendment from Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) that would have undermined the very idea of a federal minimum wage. The AFL-CIO’s blog had a […]
So much for that ‘majority rule’ talk
For the last few years, congressional Republicans would cry “obstructionism!” at the drop of a hat. Any effort to stand in the way of the president’s agenda in Congress was outrageous, offensive, and possibly even unconstitutional. What mattered, more than anything, was preserving the notion of majority rule. To filibuster was to be un-American. That […]
Hugh Hewitt’s ‘Pledge’
If you haven’t already seen it, the conservative side of the blogosphere is all atwitter with “The Pledge,” which was apparently crafted by Hugh Hewitt, in response to the growing Republican support for a non-binding congressional resolution in opposition to Bush’s latest escalation policy in Iraq. The Pledge is as follows: “If the United States […]
Rumsfeld’s still at the Pentagon?
The day after the November elections, the White House announced that Donald Rumsfeld was finally stepping down as Secretary of Defense. Soon after, we learned that Rumsfeld wasn’t vacating the premises immediately, because someone thought it would be cool if he became the longest serving Pentagon chief in U.S. history. That meant staying on through […]