Well, that’s the practical effect of what this GOP pollster is saying in this memo to GOP Poohbah Ken Mehlman, urging Republicans not to distance themselves from Bush: To: Ken MehlmanFrom: Jan van LohuizenDate: March 3, 2006Re: Bush — Congressional Republicans Per our conversation, we took another look at the way voters, Republicans specifically, link President Bush and Republicans in … Read More
It’s Not A Democracy If We Meddle Into It
For all its talk about wanting to make Iraq a self-sufficient democracy, the Bush Administration sure likes to kibbitz and strongarm: Senior Shiite politicians said today that the American ambassador has told Shiite officials to inform the Iraqi prime minister that President Bush does not want him to remain the country’s leader in the next government. It is the first … Read More
SCOTUS Report: Rumsfeld v. Hamdan
To hear Lyle Denniston tell it, the government had a rough day in front of the Supreme Court justices today, and the "existing ‘military commission’ scheme may well fail". Good. And no, Scalia didn’t recuse himself, although he opined on the subject matter earlier this month. Denniston’s analysis: With Justice Antonin Scalia taking part — and, in fact, providing the … Read More
Lying To SCOTUS — Not A Good Idea
The full story is here; I’ll just give the funny bits. Today, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case of Rumsfled v. Hamdan. At issue in the case is whether a provision in last year’s Detainee Treatment Act ("DTA") effectively strips the Court of jurisdiction to hear Hamdan’s case. The Government contends that it does. In support of … Read More
Kaye Grogan: “Americans Vote Too …Ya Know!”
With immigration being so much in the news lately, and Kaye being a rampant xenophobe, we could have predicted the topic of her column this week — them damn fereners: Our government has become so transparent even a fake crystal ball gazer can read what their next step is going to be. "This, this is the same genuine, magic, authentic … Read More
Grape News From Iraq
Yup. I’ve been too negative about the way things are going in Iraq. Sure, I could write about the events of the past few days — like the 69 Iraqis killed in military blunders over the weekend, the U.S trained police acting as death squads, the string of kidnappings, or the fact that Iraq’s ruling parties are so pissed at … Read More
White House Infighting
The rumors are apparently true. Rove is cooperating with the Fitzgerald investigation, and pointing investigators to the Cheney office. It was Rove, reports say, who informed Fitzgerald about the "missing" emails from the VP’s office. From The Washington Note: According to several Pentagon sources close to Rove and others familiar with the inquiry, Bush’s senior adviser tipped off Special Prosecutor … Read More
Georgia Woman Gets Fined For “Bushit” Bumper Sticker
As reported here, a woman in Dekalb County was pulled over and given a $100 fine for having a bumper sticker that read "I’m Tired Of All The Bushit". Okay, it’s not a very funny bumper sticker, but it’s not obscene either. Rumor is that the police officer then went into the woods, where he started nailing citations to shittemwood … Read More
Rearranging Deck Chairs On The Titanic
The news that Andrew Card is resigning as Chief of Staff is not entirely unexpected, but it hardly represents a sea change in the way the White House will operate. His replacement is budget director and former deputy chief of staff Josh Bolton. It does not, as The New York Times notes, "represent an infusion of new blood." This is … Read More
Huge Iraq Screwup
The Left Coaster: A day after Iraqi Special Forces under the supervision of American advisors apparently shot up a Shia religious center in Moqtada al-Sadr’s stronghold, the Iraqi government itself is blaming us for the killings of possibly 40 worshippers, possibly execution-style. Government ministers are condemning the Americans for the killings, and Saddam’s former Number Two, a Sunni who has … Read More
Carter Blogs
Jimmy Carter responds to questions over at Daily Kos.
About Those Iraqi Schools
Bush supporters complain that the "good news" in Iraq isn’t being reported. They condemn the media for not talking about the number of schools open, and so on. Well, here’s some Iraqi school news: On Wednesday, armed insurgents burst into the classroom of Khidhir al-Mihallawi, an English teacher at Sajariyah High School, accused him of being an agent for the … Read More
Provoking A Confrontation
THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise — in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist — is that — I didn’t want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect — Q Everything — THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please. Q — everything I’ve heard … Read More
Scalia Recusal
According to Think Progress: Newsweek reports that in a controversial unpublicized March 8 speech, Scalia “dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions.” “War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts,” he says … Read More