PERRspectives: Bush Admin. Archives

Bush Admin. Archives

	Republicans Ask Americans to Remember Bush's Economic Disaster For months, Mitt Romney, John Boehner and other Republican leaders have falsely claimed that "President Obama made the economy worse." The same crowd which for years cried that George W. Bush "inherited a recession" accused Obama of blaming his predecessor for the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Now, the GOP has seized on President Obama's comment that "sometimes I forget" the magnitude of the calamity he faced on January 20, 2009. But while the Republican revisionists are intentionally... more Posted on May 11, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Infallible Bush Team Accuses Obama of Playing Bin Laden Blame Game Desperate to deny President Obama any credit for the daring Bin Laden operation in Pakistan that George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney were on record as having opposed, veterans of Dubya's administration and their right-wing water carriers are trying a new and similarly despicable tactic. Obama, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Romney stenographer Jennifer Rubin among others insist, was prepared to blame the U.S. military if the Bin Laden raid failed. That's more than a little ironic... more Posted on May 5, 2012 \| Comments (3)

	Republicans Wouldn't, Couldn't, Shouldn't Get Bin Laden Here are two helpful reminders for apoplectic conservatives. Until Barack Obama shows up on a U.S. aircraft carrier in a flight suit and an over-sized cod piece, no GOP loyalist can criticize him for boasting about the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. And no Republican can claim that "other presidents and candidates like myself" would have ordered that high-risk mission in Pakistan. After all, in 2008 John McCain said he wouldn't. Mitt Romney said we shouldn't. And despite his... more Posted on April 30, 2012 \| Comments (2)

	Introducing America's Second MBA President The Republican presidential nominee has an MBA from the prestigious Harvard Business School. He made millions in the private sector and earned notoriety for running a high-profile sports enterprise. The GOP's man is promising massive tax cuts which would deliver the lion's share of their benefits to the very richest Americans, himself and his family included. He nevertheless pledges to balance the budget even while boosting defense spending. And this latest scion of a proud Republican family would like to... more Posted on April 24, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Call Kettle Black While all eyes in the Beltway were focused on innocent dogs and stay-at-home moms, Republicans have been unveiling their strategy for the 2012 presidential race. President Obama, they claim, is responsible both for failed GOP policies and the unprecedented Republican obstructionism designed to prevent him from fixing them. The fall-out from the Bush recession, the right-wing's anti-immigrant xenophobia and even the GOP's record-setting filibustering are all Obama's fault. The Republicans are, in a nutshell, calling the kettle black. That conservative... more Posted on April 23, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Even After Bush Scandals, GOP Still Politicizing Civil Service This was a very bad week indeed for employees of the federal government. The shameful Secret Service prostitution scandal, the GSA's Vegas boondoggle and the grisly pictures from Afghanistan rightly brought bipartisan condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike. But you'd never know it reading the headlines from the AP, The Hill, the Washington Post and other media outlets. In them, Republican charges that the President's "elaborate vacations" (Mitt Romney), "poor management skills" (Sarah Palin) and lack of "managerial leadership" (Jeff... more Posted on April 22, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Four Years Later, Americans Still Back Obama on Taxes Looking back this week at his budget-busting windfall for the wealthy, George W. Bush lamented, "I wish they weren't called the Bush tax cuts." With good reason. After all, the first modern president to cut taxes during war-time, Bush's gravy train for the gilded-class helped double the national debt and produce record income inequality even as job growth flat-lined and family incomes stagnated. As it turns out, come November Mitt Romney and his Republican allies may come to regret the... more Posted on April 13, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Memo Exposes Condi Rice's Torture Problem For years, the Bush torture team and its ardent supporters have depended on what might be called the Seinfeld defense of its regime of detainee interrogation: it's not a lie, if you believe it. But with the release of this week Philip Zelikow's 2006 memo warning the Bush administration about its illegal detainee interrogation techniques, that fraud is now much more difficult to sustain. That may not matter much to those unpunished and unrepentant waterboarding enthusiasts George W. Bush and... more Posted on April 7, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	After Threatening Judges, GOP Accuses Obama of Judicial Intimidation On Monday, President Obama unsurprisingly expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would uphold the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Even less remarkable, Obama rightly reminded Americans that "conservative commentators" have for year said "the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint -- that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law." Nevertheless, Republicans quickly accused the President of "unprecedented" effort to "intimidate the Supreme Court." Of course, this... more Posted on April 4, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	GOP, Press Forget Lurita Doan Scandal at Bush GSA Three top officials of the General Services Administration (GSA) were ousted Monday in advance of an Inspector General's report documenting a lavish spending spree at a 2010 agency conference in Las Vegas. But while White House chief of staff Jacob Lew reported that President Obama was "outraged by the excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors, and disregard for taxpayer dollars," conservative media and Republicans like Darrell Issa claimed it was an "embarrassment" and "hypocritical" for the administration." Of course, when... more Posted on April 3, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Forget When George Loved Vladimir Following their mid-term landslide in late 2010, emboldened Senate Republicans led by leaders Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl almost scuttled the START treaty with Russia, a pact which enjoyed overwhelming support from the public and every living Republican secretary of state. So, when President Obama told his outgoing Russian counterpart that he would have more "flexibility" after the hotly contested November election, he was merely stating the obvious. That didn't stop Mitt Romney, whose slanderous statement in opposition to the... more Posted on March 30, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Rove's Failed Rewrite: Bush, Romney Opposed Bin Laden Strike This week, Karl Rove took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal in the feeble attempt to undermine of one of President Obama's signature achievements, the killing of Osama Bin Laden. "Mr. Obama did," Rove sniffed, "what virtually any commander in chief would have done in the same situation." Well, not quite every commander-in-chief. As it turns out, back in 2008 both President Bush and would-be President Romney ridiculed then candidate Obama's pledge that "that if Pakistan cannot or... more Posted on March 23, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Did Bush Jawbone Gas Prices Down? That's a Big No The President was getting hammered on gas prices. Under increasing pressure from the press and the other party, administration officials repeatedly insisted there is no "magic bullet" or "magic wand" to bring prices down at the pump. Making matters worse, the President was embarrassed during a White House press conference during which he shockingly admitted "I hadn't heard that" a gallon of gasoline would soon hit $4. More humiliating still, he had come into office boasting that he would "jawbone"... more Posted on March 12, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Remembering Bush's Broken Promise to Cut the Deficit in Half Among the predictable Republican reactions to the President's proposed 2013 budget is the refrain that "Obama has failed to keep a 2009 promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term." Just days after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told a CPAC audience that President Obama "said he'd cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term," ABC's Jake Tapper dutifully announced "Obama's broken deficit promise." And today, the RNC debuted a... more Posted on February 13, 2012 \| Comments (0)

	Conservatives Furious That Obama, Like Bush, Issued Kwanzaa Message Remember when conservatives raged after President George W. Bush issued messages marking the celebration of Kwanzaa each and every year he was in the White House? Neither do they. That's why the right-wing blogosphere is apoplectic that Barack Obama followed Bush's lead in recognizing a holiday many African-Americans celebrate each year. As he did in 2009 and 2010, Andrew Malcolm made sure his readers knew that President Obama and the First Lady issued an official White House statement marking Kwanzaa.... more Posted on December 26, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	The Epic Failure of Republican Trickle Down Economics When President Obama on Tuesday declared that decades of Republican trickle-down economics "never worked," conservatives were predictably apoplectic. But for all of their protests of "class warfare", "socialism" and worse, Obama was being kind to the Republican ideologues. After all, as the historical record shows, from economic growth and job creation to stock market performance and just about every other indicator of the health of American capitalism, the modern U.S. economy has almost always done better under Democratic presidents. Despite... more Posted on December 7, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Tell a Tale of Two Energy Scandals On Thursday, Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to subpoena all White House documents related to the lost $535 federal loan to the failed solar company Solyndra. But just one day earlier, the GOP majority on the House Natural Resources Committee blocked Democratic efforts to subpoena the CEOs of BP and the other firms involved in last year's massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Of course, on that point Republicans have been nothing if not consistent.... more Posted on November 3, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	GOP Debt Panelists: Cut Taxes to Raise Revenue! Among the predictable differences between the Democratic and Republican members of the so-called debt super committee is this: Democrats propose to increase revenue by raising taxes, while Republicans want to increase revenue by cutting taxes. You read that right. After Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt and George W. Bush doubled it again thanks in large part to supply-side tax cuts that gutted the U.S. Treasury, Congressional Republicans are once again peddling the GOP's biggest fraud that "you cut taxes... more Posted on October 28, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Republican Scandal Tips for the Obama Administration Back in May, Brendan Nyhan used historical and statistical analysis to presciently conclude that for the hitherto untainted Obama White House, "the first Obama scandal is likely to arrive sooner than most people think." Now, the dual imbroglios over the $535 million loan lost to bankrupt Solyndra and the ATF's ill-conceived "Fast and Furious" gun-walking operation have Republicans targeting the President and his Attorney General, Eric Holder. While the twin dust ups, each with roots in the Bush Administration, may... more Posted on October 9, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Whose Economy? GOP Pins the Tail on the Donkey This week, Vice President Joe Biden inadvertently turned the heat up on his boss - and warmed conservative hearts - when he declared it's "totally legitimate" for the 2012 presidential election to be "a referendum on Obama and Biden and the nature and state of the economy" because "we're in charge." His candor and willingness to take accountability is refreshing and even noble. After all, polling from CNN and CBS shows majorities of Americans still blame George W. Bush and... more Posted on October 1, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Cheney Was For Auto Bailout Before He Was Against It In December 2008, Vice President Dick Cheney delivered a stern warning to Senate Republicans opposed to President Bush's proposed bailout of the U.S. auto industry then teetering on collapse. "If we don't do this," Cheney cautioned his GOP colleagues behind closed doors, "we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever." Now in his new revisionist history In My Time, Cheney insists he was against aid to the automakers all along. As his reversals on Iran sanctions and... more Posted on August 31, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Right Denounces Sharia Law in Libyan, Not Iraqi, Constitution While much about the future of post-Qaddafi Libya remains murky, some things are already quite clear. For starters, Republican leaders and GOP White House hopefuls simply cannot bring themselves to credit President Obama in any way for the apparent success of the rebellion. Unsurprisingly, the same conservative echo chamber which cheered as the United States spent over $1 trillion and lost 4,500 killed and 30,000 wounded in Iraq is furious over the $900 million price tag for the operation in... more Posted on August 23, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Conservatives Insist Bush, Not Obama, is Like Abraham Lincoln At an event in Iowa Monday, President Obama explained that venomous political rhetoric is nothing new in American history, noting "Lincoln -- they used to talk about him almost as bad as they talk about me." Judging by the immediate and furious reaction from the conservative commentariat, right-wingers are none too happy about Obama's passing Lincoln analogy. After all, the comparison to Abraham Lincoln is one Republicans reserved for George W. Bush, and President Bush for himself. It was Byron... more Posted on August 16, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	After Wrongly Blaming Clinton, GOP Blames Obama for Blaming Bush on Economy Reveling in the political opportunity presented by America's economic woes, Republicans are taking President Obama to task for stating the simple truth, "much of it I inherited." While GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney charged, "It's just blame, blame, blame - It's a blame presidency," former Bush press secretary turned Fox News regular Dana Perino complained, "The blaming Bush stuff is kinda expected, kind of annoying." Of course, the Republicans' new line of attack has a few problems. For starters, new Commerce... more Posted on August 9, 2011 \| Comments (1)

	Why They Fight On Thursday, House Republicans will vote on John Boehner's debt plan. But whether they follow his order to "get your ass in line" or not (and 23 have already gone on record saying they won't), Republican hostage takers on Capitol Hill will continue to threaten the United States with default - and economic catastrophe - unless their demands for draconian spending cuts are met. But as this unnecessary crisis verges on panic, it's worth remembering why Republicans created it. It... more Posted on July 28, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Broke It. Will Democrats Own It? Appearing on Face the Nation Sunday, Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin warned House Speaker John Boehner about his paternity for the economic catastrophe resulting from a Republican failure to increase the U.S. debt ceiling. "If you break it," Durbin told Boehner, "you own it." But as the New York Times was just the latest to document, when it comes to the oceans of red ink hemorrhaging from the U.S. Treasury, Republicans already broke it. And as Senate Minority Mitch McConnell... more Posted on July 25, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	10 Things the GOP Doesn't Want You to Know About the Debt Just two weeks after he seconded Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's dire warnings about the August 2 deadline to raise the U.S debt ceiling, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor walked out of the budget talks aimed at reaching a bipartisan compromise over deficit reduction. Like Arizona GOP Senator Jon Kyl, Cantor shifted the burden to Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Mitch McConnell and President Obama to "get over this impasse on taxes." For his part, McConnell promised that no deal to... more Posted on June 23, 2011 \| Comments (7)

	10 Years, 10 Failures for the Bush Tax Cuts Today's 10th anniversary of the Bush tax cuts arrives at a particularly ironic time. Ironic, that is, because even as talk of deficits dominates the debate in Washington, that windfall for the wealthy was the single-biggest driver of U.S national debt over the past decade and, if made permanent, will be so for the next. And while Paul Ryan and John Boehner demand draining another $4 trillion from the U.S. Treasury for the "job creators" who created no jobs, White... more Posted on June 7, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	10 Inconvenient Truths About the Debt Ceiling Bolstered by new polls and fresh off their vote to bar an increase in the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, House Republicans swaggered into the White House for the latest negotiation to end their economic hostage taking. One, Rep. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, refused to attend and be "lectured to by a president whose failed policies have put our children and grandchildren in a huge burden of debt." Sadly for Rep. Landry, the nation's mounting debt is largely attributable to... more Posted on June 1, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	The Republican Job Creators Myth On Thursday, John Boehner and the House Republican leadership team unveiled their "Plan for America's Job Creators." As he repeatedly made clear before the Economic Club of New York and again on CBS Face the Nation, Boehner's "job creators" are the top two percent of income earners whose Bush tax cuts President Obama has proposed ending. And that presents a bit of problem for the Republicans. After all, George W. Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy sadly coincided with the... more Posted on May 27, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	White House Honored Convicted Felon The presence of Grammy-winning rapper Common at a White House poetry event last night brought frothing-at-the-mouth conservatives to brink of broken blood vessels. While Fox News ran special segments on "The Invitation," employee Sarah Palin complained, "It's just so lacking of class and decency and all that's good about America." Of course, the right-wing chattering class was predictably unconcerned about class and decency three years ago when a convicted felon was a special guest of the White House. And President... more Posted on May 12, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	The Return of the "Nobody Could Have Predicted" President In the least surprising political development in recent years, the leading lights of the Bush administration fanned out across Americans' TV screens to give their old boss credit for the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Ex-chief of staff Andy Card, who famously dressed up George W. Bush in a flight suit to announce "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq eight years ago, protested that President Obama "has pounded his chest a little too much." While Dick Cheney suggested that the Bush regime... more Posted on May 9, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	For GOP, It's Rice to the Rescue on Bin Laden As their massive mobilization in response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden shows, nobody circles the wagons like the Republican Party. And that goes double for Team Bush. Confronting President Obama's success where George W. Bush failed to deliver Bin Laden either dead or alive, torture architect John Yoo and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey quickly penned op-eds proclaiming "the waterboarding trail to Bin Laden." But with President Obama in the spotlight at Ground Zero on Thursday, Republicans turned... more Posted on May 6, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Bin Laden Killing Showcases Republicans' Magic Calendar In a nationally televised address to the American people on March 4, 1987, President Ronald Reagan admitted he had traded arms for hostages in the Iran-Contra scandal and declared, "This happened on my watch." Sadly, that may have been the last time a Republican leader took ownership of a disaster by simply acknowledging the calendar. After all, according to the Republicans' ever-malleable timelines, the Clinton economic boom came thanks to Ronald Reagan, President Bush inherited a recession and 9/11 from... more Posted on May 3, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Rush to Rewrite History of Bush and Bin Laden The only thing more predictable than Americans' jubilation over the killing of Osama Bin Laden is the Republican campaign to give George W. Bush credit for it. Sadly for the right-wing propaganda machine, as Stephen Colbert warned President Bush five years ago, "reality has a well-known liberal bias." Bush, after all, shrugged off Bin Laden's escape after the U.S. failure at Tora Bora by proclaiming, "I truly am not that concerned about him." And it was President Obama who as... more Posted on May 2, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	10 Epic Failures of the Bush Tax Cuts As Tax Day 2011 arrives, the distance between the tax debate and tax reality has perhaps never been larger. New data from the IRS revealed that over since the mid-1990's, the richest 400 taxpayers saw their incomes double and their tax rates halved. Overall, the gilded-class has seen its effective tax rates plummet. Meanwhile, prosecutions for tax evasion have begun to increase after years during which the Bush administration turned a blind eye to cheating by upper-income and corporate taxpayers.... more Posted on April 18, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	The Real Standard for Seriousness on the Debt Last week, the political chattering classes praised Republican Paul Ryan's "serious" budget proposal to slash $4.3 trillion in spending in order to fund yet another round of upper-income tax cuts. But over just the past few days, the New York Times' David Leonhardt, Slate's Annie Lowery and Ezra Klein of the Washington Post offered a much more effective if tongue-in-cheek approach to dramatically reducing U.S. deficits. Do nothing. Seriously. Serious, that is, because simply by letting the Bush tax cuts... more Posted on April 13, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Boehner's Double-Dealing on the Debt Ceiling When George W. Bush sat in the Oval Office, Republican majorities in Congress voted seven times to increase the U.S. debt ceiling. That recent history, combined with the inconvenient truth that the national debt tripled under Ronald Reagan and doubled again under Bush, may have prompted then Minority Leader John Boehner to warn his GOP colleagues in November that "We're going to have to deal with it as adults." But emboldened by his victory in Friday's budget showdown, Speaker Boehner... more Posted on April 11, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Meet the Republican Freedom of Information Frauds In October 2001, President Bush's Attorney General John Ashcroft reversed 35 years of White House practice regarding Freedom of Information Act requests. For the first time since the passage of the Act, disclosure became the exception to the rule. As Dick Cheney's secret energy task force, 22 million "missing" Bush administration emails and Karl Rove's refusal to testify before Congress all showed, the Bush White House became the place where the sunlight didn't shine. But now that President Obama... more Posted on March 25, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Right Fumes over "President of China," Forgets Bush's "Dictatorship" The conservative commentariat is predictably apoplectic this morning about a New York Times story on the Middle East which claimed "Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China." While the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol protested, "Unfortunately for him and us, Barack Obama is president of the United States," Republican stenographer Pajamas Media asked, "So, our president wants to be an even bigger bully than he already is?" Of course, the... more Posted on March 11, 2011 \| Comments (0)

	Introducing the Bipartisan War Tax Act of 2013 George W. Bush was the first modern president to cut taxes during wartime. Now, the unpaid $2 trillion bill for the wars he fought - and chose to fight - is long overdue. While President Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress jockey to position their budget cutting plans, it's time for both parties - and all Americans - to pay the price we claim liberty demands. Here, then, is the Bipartisan War Tax Act of 2013. 2013, that is,... more Posted on February 14, 2011 \| Comments (1)

	Egyptians' Approval of U.S. Tripled After Obama Became President While the Obama administration is grappling to find the right path forward in Egypt, Republicans are deeply divided. Fearful of the Muslim Brotherhood and fearful for Israel, some like John Bolton and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter have urged support for the authoritarian "devil we know." Others, like Bill Kristol and Max Boot, called for the President to "help usher Mubarak out." Regardless of their views, the members of the right-wing commentariat hold one belief in common: Whatever the way forward for... more Posted on January 31, 2011 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Takes Credit, Deflects Blame on Economy. Again. Two new surveys released today are just the latest signs the U.S. economic recovery is gaining steam. While a USA Today panel found "nine of 10 economists said they're more optimistic than three months ago," the National Association for Business Economics reported that "more firms expressing positive hiring plans than in over a decade." But to hear Republican leaders tell it, the good news is all thanks to the GOP. And if that transparently false claim sounds familiar, it should.... more Posted on January 24, 2011 \| Comments (1)

	No Surprise, Republicans to Break Promise on Spending Cuts In September, future House Speaker John Boehner unveiled the GOP Pledge to America, which among its other warmed-over Republican nostrums promised to save "at least $100 billion in the first year alone" from the federal budget. On the eve of the election (around the 1:50 mark of the video), Boehner doubled down, claiming the GOP Pledge would quickly lead to "saving taxpayers $100 billiion almost immediately." In December, incoming House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) repeated the GOP guarantee... more Posted on January 5, 2011 \| Comments (2)

	10 Epic Failures of the Bush Tax Cuts In a rare moment of candor last week, the third-ranking Republican in the House admitted the failure of the Bush tax cuts. "You know, I think it's fair to say, if the current tax rates were enough to create jobs and generate economic growth we'd have a growing economy," Mike Pence acknowledged, adding, "It's not working now." Given that the Bush years produced the worst economic growth in the past 50 years, Pence is sadly correct. But sadder still is... more Posted on November 22, 2010 \| Comments (8)

	"We Don't Negotiate with Ourselves" Everything you need to know about the difference between the governing style of Republicans and Democrats is on display in the battles over the passage and expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Despite large Congressional majorities and broad public support for ending as promised the budget-busting Bush windfall for the wealthy, President Obama and squeamish Democrats may be on the verge of buckling. But facing a divided Congress without a popular vote mandate for its tax cutting program, 10 years... more Posted on November 16, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Peter King the Latest Republican to Endorse Medal for Torture On Wednesday, New York Rep. Peter King became just the latest Republican to conclude there ought to be a prize for torture. Defending George W. Bush's admission this week that he authorized waterboarding of terror detainees, King insisted the former president "should get a medal." If that sounds familiar, it should. In 2007, Bush's failed Labor nominee and conservative columnist Linda Chavez said the same thing about the CIA's Jose Rodriguez, the man who ordered the destruction of 92 interrogation... more Posted on November 11, 2010 \| Comments (11)

	Bush: No WMDs in Iraq Sickening - and Funny Pushing his new memoir in an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer which aired Monday, George W. Bush addressed one of the defining episodes of his presidency. Finding no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Bush claimed, left him feeling "sickened." But in 2004, as you may recall, President Bush found his Iraqi WMD fiasco side-splittingly funny. In his NBC special, George W. Bush insisted that the absence of weapons of destruction from Saddam's arsenal stick induces feelings of nausea and... more Posted on November 9, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	George W. Bush, Unrepentant War Criminal The only thing worse than a war criminal is an unrepentant one. Sadly, that's the self-portrait George W. Bush will present this week with the release of his new memoir, Decision Points. As his new book apparently makes quite clear, Bush has no regrets about his regime of detainee torture that broke U.S. law, violated international treaty agreements, shamed the United States worldwide and provided a powerful propaganda victory for Al Qaeda. Even before his media blitz this week with... more Posted on November 7, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Being Dick Cheney Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry On Thursday, the Washington Post literally offered a blast from the past with its profile of vice presidential buckshot recipient Harry Whittington. As the Post reports, "Nearly five years on, he's still waiting for Dick Cheney to say he's sorry" for accidentally shooting him the face during a 2005 hunting trip. Whittington shouldn't hold his breath. As the history sadly shows, being Dick Cheney means never having to say you're sorry. Just ask Vermont Senator Pat Leahy. During an exchange... more Posted on October 14, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Rich Vote with Their Wallets to End Bush Tax Cuts. Again. Over a year before the GOP "Pledge to America" demanded permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans costing $700 billion over the next decade, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) fretted, "We're running out of rich people in this country." But as it turns out, anecdotes and polls alike reveal that the rich themselves support letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those families earning over $250,000. Of course, that should come as no surprise, given that they voted with their wallets... more Posted on September 27, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Americans' Incomes Sank After Bush Tax Cuts On Sunday, House Minority Leader John Boehner called Democrats' refusal to hold a pre-election vote on extending the Bush tax cut windfall for the wealthy the "most irresponsible thing that I have seen since I have been in Washington, D.C." And in one sense, he's right. After all, the national debt doubled during Bush's tenure. His was the worst eight-year economic record of any modern president. Worse still, by 2007 the U.S. reached levels of income inequality not since 1929.... more Posted on September 26, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	For GOP, Bush Recession Now "Over" Never Began After first considering the issue in April, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) today announced the Bush recession is officially over. But given persistently high levels of unemployment and poverty, more interesting than the NBER's conclusion that "a trough occurred in June 2009" is the parties' reactions to it. While President Obama and the Democrats continue to insist the economic downturn isn't over, Republicans in 2008 pretended it never began. As the data show, the Obama stimulus and other... more Posted on September 20, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Switches Sides in the Class War In perhaps the greatest comic moment of the 2010 campaign to date, John McCain last month complained, "I know how popular it is for the Eastern press to paint me as having changed positions. That's not true." Of course, his flip-flops are now so numerous that he long ago earned nicknames like "Jukebox John" and "McCain 5.0." But on no issue has McCain's reversal been more gymnastic - and pathetic - than on the Bush tax cuts. Nine years after... more Posted on September 5, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Palin Demands Honesty from Obama, Not Bush, on Iraq In her predictable Facebook pre-buttal to the President's primetime speech on Iraq, Sarah Palin demanded that Barack Obama "admit you were wrong about the surge." But in insisting that "the more honest you are about the past, the more likely it is you will gain the support of the American people," Palin exempted President Bush - and herself - from the lies that were used to sell and perpetuate the war in Iraq. After all, the Bush administration and its... more Posted on August 31, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	The Iraq War: Such a Bargain! "At that price," the shopper says, "even if you don't need it, it's a bargain." And so it is with the Iraq War, at least according to Fox News. Citing numbers from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), "the total cost of the eight-year war was less than the stimulus bill passed by the Democratic-led Congress in 2009." For a mere $709 billion, the United States fought an unnecessary war in Iraq that cost 4,400 American lives, wounded over 20,000 more,... more Posted on August 31, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	The Bush Tax Cuts in Pictures On Monday, New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman summed up Republicans wanting to make permanent the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. At a time of record income inequality and massive budget deficits, Republican "politicians are eager to cut checks averaging $3 million each to the richest 120,000 people in the country." While that single sentence encapsulates this latest $700 billion GOP windfall for the wealthy, the story of the Republicans' perpetual push for... more Posted on August 23, 2010 \| Comments (20)

	Vacation, All He Ever Wanted Among the latest claims of Republican mythmakers is that Barack Obama is not only a secret Muslim, but one who takes too many days off. Of course, the charge is hardly new. In May 2009, the Republican National Committee sneered, "Have a great Saturday evening - even if you're not jetting off somewhere at taxpayer expense." Seven months later, Republicans, despite President Bush's identical behavior after the December 2001 Shoe Bomber episode, decried Obama's refusal to cut short his Hawaii... more Posted on August 22, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Speechwriters Back Obama on Mosque Addressing Congress on September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush reminded the American people that in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, "We're in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them," adding, "No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith." So, it is only fitting that Michael Gerson and David Frum - the men who wrote those and other words for... more Posted on August 16, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	New Study Shows Bush Tax Cut Windfall for Wealthy Last year, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann summed up what would become the de facto Republican platform for the 2010 midterm elections when she fretted, "We're running out of rich people in this country." Now, as the GOP demands a $700 billion Treasury-draining tax cut for the wealthiest Americans even as it calls for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, a new study shows that the rich will win even if they lose. As the New York Times reported Wednesday,... more Posted on August 11, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	10 Republican Lies About the Bush Tax Cuts So it's come down to this. On Saturday, David Stockman, the legendary Reagan budget chief who presided over the Gipper's supply-side tax cuts, announced that the "debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts." The next day, the former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, who famously helped sell the 2001 Bush tax cuts to... more Posted on August 2, 2010 \| Comments (5)

	Alberto Gonzales Plays the Victim. Again. For generations of political junkies yet unborn, Alberto Gonzales will be forever remembered as the man who declared "I do not recall" 55 times during a single day of Congressional testimony. But to his legacy of blessing detainee torture, authorizing the illegal domestic surveillance of Americans, presiding over a political purge of U.S. prosecutors, making a bedside visit to strong-arm his gravely ill predecessor and repeatedly lying to Congress, the former Bush Attorney General had added a new title: victim.... more Posted on July 24, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Lawyers Escape Justice. Again. From the moment he entered the White House, President Obama's attitude towards the crime, corruption and politicization of the Bush Justice Department has been to "look forward and not backwards." As we've for the third time in just the last several days, that's working out just fine for the Bush lawyers. On Wednesday, prosecutor Nora Dannehy announced she would bring no charges against Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, Monica Goodling or any of the key players behind the purge... more Posted on July 22, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Senator Whitehouse Blames Deficit on GOP "Debt Orgy" In one of the most disingenuous claims yet by the Republican born-again deficit virgins, House Minority Leader John Boehner claimed two weeks ago that the Bush tax cuts were not to blame for the massive deficits now plaguing the federal government. On Wednesday, Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse set the record straight. The U.S. would not be hemorrhaging red ink, Whitehouse insisted, "if it hadn't been for the Republican debt orgy." Which is exactly right. After all, the national... more Posted on June 23, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Greenspan Fears Deficits - with a Democrat in the White House On Friday, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan penned dueling op-eds on the federal budget deficit. While Greenspan warned that the "urgency to rein in budget deficits" is "none too soon," Krugman countered "many self-described deficit hawks are hypocrites, pure and simple." Which is exactly right. Only now, nine years after he endorsed George W. Bush's budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, Alan Greenspan is finally worried about the gusher of red ink he helped... more Posted on June 18, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Boehner Lies About Bush Tax Cuts and Deficits "Reagan," Dick Cheney famously said in 2002, "proved deficits don't matter." Until, that is, a Democrat is in the White House. And it so was on Friday, when House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) insisted the Bush tax cuts did not help produce a hemorrhage of red ink from the U.S. Treasury. Of course, the national debt didn't just double during Bush's tenure. As it turns out, the Bush tax cut windfall for the wealthy accounted for almost half the... more Posted on June 12, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Last Laugh Somewhere in a gated community in Dallas, a former President of the United States is laughing very hard right now. A new ABC/Washington Post poll gives the Obama administration even lower marks for its response to the BP oil spill than to George W. Bush's calamitous bungling of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. And so it is that the man who led a government of the oil men, by the oil men and for the oil men is getting the last... more Posted on June 8, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Liz Cheney Acknowledges Bush's Catastrophe in Gaza On Sunday, Liz Cheney took a brief hiatus from her preposterous charge that "President Obama is contributing to the isolation of Israel, and sending a clear signal to the Turkish-Syrian-Iranian axis that their methods for ostracizing Israel will succeed." In a rare moment of candor, Cheney temporarily withdrew her fangs to acknowledge her father's boss was largely responsible for Hamas' domination of Gaza. Which is exactly right. After all, before Bush's failed covert action in support of Fatah led to... more Posted on June 6, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Obama Resurrects DOJ's Civil Rights Division In December 2009, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lamented not that President Bush had politicized the Justice Department, but that he didn't politicize it enough. But with its purge of U.S. attorneys, complicity in rubber-stamping detainee torture and blessing illegal domestic surveillance, the Bush administration's gutting of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division and the perversion of its mission often passed unnoticed. Mercifully, under President Obama the agency is rising from the ashes. As the Washington Post detailed Friday, the devastation... more Posted on June 5, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Follows Cheney in Admitting War Crimes Perhaps the only thing worse than a war criminal is an unrepentant one. And so it with Barack Obama's predecessor. Just months after former Vice President Dick Cheney boasted, "I was a big supporter of waterboarding," George W. Bush joined him by announcing, "I'd do it again." President Bush's endorsement of the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorism suspects came during an appearance before a business audience in Grand... more Posted on June 3, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Like Bush, Obama Subpoenas New York Times Reporter In early 2008, the Bush Justice Department subpoenaed New York Times reporter James Risen over his book, State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration. Now, just two weeks after taking action against an NSA whistle-blower who leaked information about contract corruption to the Baltimore Sun, the Obama DOJ is continuing its predecessor's push to compel Risen to divulge his confidential sources. Risen and his Times' colleague Eric Lichtblau have long been targets of conservative... more Posted on April 29, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Echoed Obama's Words, Not Actions, on Nuclear Terrorism "The biggest threat facing this country," President Bush declared on September 30 2004, is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist network." But in the wake of the successful Nuclear Security Summit this week, Bush's conservative water carriers are blasting President Obama for the substantial progress made towards stopping the dangerous black market in nuclear material. Apparently, Obama's sins are double. He's not just a Democrat talking about nuclear terrorism; he's actually doing something about it. Which,... more Posted on April 17, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Biden Fails to Top Cheney's Vice Presidential F-Bomb Fox News, the broadcast arm of the Republican Party, is breathlessly reporting on today's vice presidential F-bomb. During the White House signing event for the health care legislation passed Sunday, Vice President Biden turned to President Obama and mumbled, "this is a big fking deal." But while the microphones barely picked up Biden's offhand, off-color to the President, in 2004 there was no mistaking Dick Cheney's "go fk yourself" to Pat Leahy on the floor of the United States Senate.... more Posted on March 23, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Republicans Blasted U.S. Allies Over Iraq War While the U.S. continues its pushback against Israel's humiliating settlements announcement last week, Republicans in Congress predictably rushed to defend the Netanyahu government. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor branded the Obama administration "irresponsible" and claimed its treatment of the special relationship with Israel "jeopardizes America's national security." Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) parroted Likud Party talking points about American interference in a "zoning decision in its capital city." And for his part, John McCain blasted the "public disparagement" of Israel and... more Posted on March 16, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	The Bizarro World of the Bush Torture Apologists With each passing day, the apologists for the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture resemble more and more characters from an episode of Seinfeld. After narrowly escaping a recommendation of disbarment last month, its legal architect John Yoo offered what might be deemed the George Costanza defense: it's not a war crime if you believe it. Now, conservatives on both sides of the Liz Cheney "Al Qaeda 7" smear of the Obama Justice Department have entered Seinfeld's Bizarro World where... more Posted on March 13, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Rove Book: No Pushback on Iraq WMD My Bad Next week, Karl Rove's memoir Courage and Consequence hits the bookshelves. But as the previews make clear, you won't have to wait until March 9th to appreciate Rove's gift for fiction. According to the AP, his revisionist history claims that "many of the controversies that weakened his presidency were falsehoods perpetuated by political opponents," including the disastrous Hurricane Katrina response he laid at the feet of Democrats Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco. But in one area, the absence of weapons... more Posted on March 3, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	National Shame Yoo's "Gift to the Obama Presidency" As the Scooter Libby affair showed, no one circles the wagons like the Republican Party and its conservative allies. Now that Bush torture architects John Yoo and Jay Bybee barely escaped disbarment in the final version of the report from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, the right-wing counterattack and near orgasmic celebration is well underway. Leading the clarion call is none other than John Yoo himself, who in his Wall Street Journal op-ed today proclaimed his legacy of... more Posted on February 24, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Crushed Testicles, Civilian Massacres, Nuclear Blasts and Yoo The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility final conclusion that Bush torture team lawyers should not face misconduct penalties has triggered triumphant celebrations in right-wing circles. The Wall Street Journal rejoiced in "Vindicating John Yoo" that the "Bush lawyers are found to have acted ethically, unlike their accusers." In the National Review, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino of all people claimed "partisan politics are alive and well at the Justice Department." For his part, Glenn Greenwald demolished their arguments... more Posted on February 23, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	The Bush 400 For Democrats wavering in their resolve to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, shocking new data from the IRS should hopefully stiffen their backbones. Between 2001 and 2007, the 400 richest taxpayers doubled their annual incomes to an average of $345 million, while their effective tax rate plummeted to only 16.6% from 29.4% in 1993. Following recent analyses confirming that income inequality in the United States has reached record levels, noted tax journalist David Cay Johnston summed... more Posted on February 19, 2010 \| Comments (6)

	White House Press Corps Slams Gibbs' Palin Joke In case you missed the reaction to Robert Gibbs' lighthearted mockery of Sarah Palin's "telepalmter", the White House press corps has a new rule. NBC's Chuck Todd, who previously defended Palin by declaring, "We've all done notes," protested Wednesday "I was surprised by the stunt myself." In her report, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux groused, "so much for changing the tone." Apparently, for this Democratic White House to jokingly respond to bitter attacks from former (or wannabee) Republican vice presidents is undignified... more Posted on February 10, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Obama, Bush and Presidential Infallibility Barack Obama's first State of the Union address last night was a needed reminder that Americans elect presidents and not popes. Throughout a speech which was well received by viewers for both style and substance, Obama acknowledged his failures. But if his language about "so much disappointment" and "deserved" political "setbacks" seemed unusual coming from the President of the United States, that's because it is. After eight years of George W. Bush's pretense of infallibility, Americans simply aren't used to... more Posted on January 28, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Remembering Bush's Disaster Response Success - in Florida Mindful of George W. Bush's record of catastrophic failure when it came to disaster response, some commenters (for example, here and here) are questioning President Obama's decision (one I support) to ask Bush to join Bill Clinton in heading up the fundraising effort for Haiti. But while he initially stumbled in response to the 2004 Asian tsunami, failed utterly after Hurricane Katrina and went AWOL after the 2008 Burmese cyclone, in his first term George W. Bush was very successful... more Posted on January 16, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	On Terror, GOP Goes from Oprah to Donald Trump Witnessing the Republican reaction to the Obama administration's handling of the failed Christmas bombing is like watching reruns of The Apprentice. Like Donald Trump, each conservative talking head proclaims "You're Fired!" to members of the Obama team. Of course, when President Bush presided over the 9/11 catastrophe, Osama Bin Laden's escape from Tora Bora, the baseless claims about Saddam's WMD, the disastrous invasion of Iraq and myriad other intelligence and national security debacles, Republicans instead played the role of Oprah.... more Posted on January 8, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	10 Moments in GOP Terrorism Accountability On Tuesday, President Obama described the failed Christmas airliner attack as a "potentially disastrous" failure of the system, one "that's not acceptable, and I will not tolerate it." Unsurprisingly, the usual mouthpieces of the right like Peter King and Ron Christie have fanned out to demand "someone will have to go" and that Obama "fire those staff members who have failed their president and failed their nation." Even more predictable, of course, is that those same Republican voices were silent... more Posted on January 6, 2010 \| Comments (5)

	Shoes vs. Underwear: The GOP's Terror Distinction The similarities between failed airplane bombers Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are striking. Each Al Qaeda convert was radicalized in London. Reid and Abdulmutallab were each subdued by fellow passengers after their explosive devices failed to detonate. The two men struck just as the President of the United States was starting his vacation for the Christmas holiday. In each case, the President spoke publicly about the incident only days later. And the Nigerian, just like Reid before him, will... more Posted on December 30, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	For GOP, Short Memories on Terror Plots and Presidential Vacations That Republicans would try to politicize the failed Christmas terror attack was about as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Even less surprising is the utter falsehood and sheer hypocrisy of their ham-handed charges. For example, on Sunday Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) blasted the administration for not "connecting dots" despite having placed a hold on President Obama's TSA nominee and joining other Republicans in blocking new TSA funding. That came after Michigan Rep.... more Posted on December 28, 2009 \| Comments (18)

	McConnell and Friends Whitewash GOP Medicare Drug Plan Hypocrisy Only after both chambers of Congress had already voted on the health care reform bills which will cut the deficit, AP on Saturday belatedly looked back at the deeply flawed and unfunded Medicare prescription drug program Republicans jammed through Congress in 2003. 24 hours later, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on ABC's This Week to add his to the chorus of Republican voices protesting that was then and this is now. As Reagan Treasury official Bruce Bartlett told the AP,... more Posted on December 28, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	IRS Audits Finally Reversing GOP Bias for Wealthy Score one for working Americans. After enduring both the worst economic downtown and steepest income inequality since the Great Depression, new data from the Internal Revenue Service revealed that lower and middle class taxpayers are being audited at lower rates than the wealthy. And that may finally signal a roll back of the kid gloves treatment for the rich which followed the successful Republican war on the IRS in the 1990's. As the AP reported, in its efforts to recover... more Posted on December 23, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Bipartisanship's Willing Executioners Republicans win, even when they lose. That appears to be the conventional wisdom after the Democrats' crucial victory in the Senate health care vote this weekend. In its wake, media outlets gave credence to John McCain's assertion that thanks to President Obama, Washington is "more partisan" and "more bitterly divided than it's been." That followed the pronouncement of CNN's supposedly moderate Republican analyst David Gergen, who proclaimed the party line vote "a tragedy" since it did not garner a "super... more Posted on December 22, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Alan Greenspan, Born-Again Deficit Hawk In October 2008, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan famously admitted during testimony before Congress that he was wrong about regulation of the U.S. financial system. Asked by Henry Waxman (D-CA) if "your ideology was not right, it was not working?" a humbled Greenspan lamented: "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms." Now,... more Posted on December 17, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Perino Forgets Bush Called His War Rhetoric a Mistake As she makes clear with alarming frequency, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino knows very little and seems to remember even less. In 2007, Perino admitted her ignorance of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then three weeks ago, she swept the bloodbath of 9/11 under the rug when she proclaimed, "we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term." Now in response to Barack Obama's 60 Minutes interview Sunday, Perino claimed that Obama's suggestion that "President... more Posted on December 16, 2009 \| Comments (7)

	Alberto Gonzales: Bush DOJ Was Not Political Enough For most people, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a national embarrassment, a pimple on the ass of American history. But to hear him tell it, the man George W. Bush called "Fredo" is a victim of partisan warfare. And the lesson he apparently learned in Washington is not that he politicized the Bush Justice Department, but that he didn't politicize it enough. Those are among the head-shaking takeaways in a brief but revealing interview in Esquire titled, "Alberto Gonzales:... more Posted on December 13, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	McChrystal vs. Bush on Bin Laden Ever since the leaking of his confidential Afghanistan report in August, conservatives have used General Stanley McChrystal as a bludgeon against President Obama. Conveniently ignoring President Bush's repeated refusals to "listen to the commanders on the ground," GOP leaders in Congress continue to blast Obama for "dithering" in response to McChrystal's request for more troops. But lost in the predictable Beltway narrative about Obama and the generals in the wake of last week's escalation was a stern rebuke of Bush's... more Posted on December 11, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Obama Hopes to Fulfill Bush's Broken Promise on CO2 Emissions As the world's nations meet at the international climate summit in Copenhagen, it is worth remembering the President's promise to curb greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide: "As we promote electricity and renewable energy, we will work to make our air cleaner. With the help of Congress, environmental groups and industry, we will require all power plants to meet clean air standards in order to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide within a reasonable period... more Posted on December 9, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	In Which Sarah Palin Learns About War Taxes Among the qualities that uniquely define Sarah Palin is that she doesn't know what she doesn't know. But as her confusion about the First Amendment or Alaska's energy production showed, Palin's ignorance of a subject is no barrier to her speaking out with great conviction about it. So it is once again with talk of potential tax increases to fund the escalating war in Afghanistan. War time taxes are never necessary, Sarah Palin seemed to suggest this week, because during... more Posted on December 9, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	When George Met Jack at the White House When it comes to social events at the White House, the only thing worse for a President than self-serving gate crashers is when the miscreant has an invitation. And so while conservatives gloat over the Secret Service failure that allowed climbers Michaele and Tareq Salahi to crash the state dinner for the Indian prime minister, it's worth remembering that when Republican uber lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff roamed the Bush White House, he was an honored guest. For his... more Posted on November 28, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Republicans Give Thanks for Short Memories Former Bush press secretary Dana Perino's jaw-dropping statement Wednesday that "we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term" didn't merely serve to confirm President Obama's terrible judgment in appointing her to the Broadcasting Board of Governors. As it turns out, Perino's clumsy whitewashing of the 9/11 attacks is just the latest (if most pathetic) installment of the ongoing GOP project to selectively erase history. From their disaster in Iraq and neglect of Afghanistan to... more Posted on November 26, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Embraces Medicare Official Bush Tried to Fire Politics, especially Republican politics, makes for strange bedfellows. With the AARP by their side, President Bush and his GOP allies in 2003 pushed for their unfunded and deeply flawed Medicare prescription drug plan. Now in their scorched earth campaign to block health care reform backed by the seniors' organization, the right-wing has declared war on the AARP. And the Republican partner swapping doesn't end there. Six years before Republicans hailed chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster this weekend for questioning the... more Posted on November 16, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Born Again Deficit Virgins Everything you need to know about the descent of the conservative movement into a hypocritical caricature is illustrated by two of its proudest constituencies: Republican deficit hawks and so-called "born again virgins." Having already violated the moral strictures they claim to hold dearest, each now asks the American people to join them in pretending their sin never happened. But unlike a generation of Republican leaders who built a mountain of national debt for the United States, the secondary virgins only... more Posted on November 15, 2009 \| Comments (12)

	Cheney Turns to Sgt. Schultz Defense in Plame Case During the controversy over the Bush administration's prosecutor purge in 2007, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales raised selective amnesia to an art form. In one single day of Congressional testimony, Gonzales uttered some variant of "I don't recall" 64 times, including the comical, "Senator, that I don't recall remembering." Now with the release of the notes from his 2004 interview with the FBI in the Scooter Libby case, it turns out Dick Cheney's memory is even worse. Like Gonzales, Vice... more Posted on November 3, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Iron Law of Bin Laden Still Holds Like a broken clock, even George W. Bush can be right twice a day. And so it was with his pronouncement on the fate of Obama Bin Laden before a weekend conference of business leaders in New Delhi, "I guess he is not dead." But the 43rd president wasn't merely stating the obvious regarding the Al Qaeda chieftain who escaped his under-resourced effort in Afghanistan. As it turns out, Dubya even out of office is following the same playbook he... more Posted on November 2, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Jeb Bush's Brother and the GOP Attack on U.S. Capitalism On Wednesday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush doubtless pleased his audience at the U.S Chamber of Commerce when he declared, "I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism." But in his knee-jerk assault on his brother's successor, Governor Bush conveniently omitted that George W. Bush compiled the worst economic record of any president since Herbert Hoover. Of course, when it comes to GDP, employment, the stock market or just about any other measure... more Posted on November 1, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Bush to "Replenish the Ol' Coffers" as Motivational Speaker Back in September 2007, George W. Bush revealed his plans for life after the White House. First, Mr. Bush said, "I'll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol' coffers." The following July, Kathryn Jean Lopez, one of his bath water drinkers at the National Review, suggested, "Wouldn't George W. Bush make an awesome high-school government teacher?" Now, as it turns out, President Bush, a man Lopez deemed "a likable guy in love with his country with some history and... more Posted on October 21, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	KrongardGate II Among the most comically disturbing moments in the ongoing national embarrassment surrounding the mercenary firm Blackwater was the November 2007 revelation that the brother of the State Department Inspector General overseeing the company was on its board. Now, Howard "Cookie" Krongard and his hermano Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard are involved in another conflict of interest, this time in Afghanistan. As CBS reported Tuesday, the dubious dealings of the brothers Krongard may be at the heart of a coverup regarding ArmorGroup, the... more Posted on September 30, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Will GOP Call for Prosecution of McChrystal Report Leaker? One day after the Washington Post's Bob Woodward published the confidential McChrystal report on Afghanistan, the Politico asked, "Who leaked and why?" But while the article speculates on the identity and motivation of the leaker, one issue - the punishment of Woodward's source for revealing national security documents -remains off the table. Which is a far cry from the 2005 revelations regarding President Bush's illicit program of NSA domestic surveillance, publication of which prompted leading conservatives to call for the... more Posted on September 22, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	The Republicans' Zombie Myth of 9/11 and Iraq Among the most disturbing legacies of the horrific Al Qaeda attacks on the United States 8 years ago has been the appropriation of September 11 by Republicans as just another arrow in their quiver of partisan warfare. Former New York Governor George Pataki used the anniversary to attack the Justice Department's limited probe of CIA detainee abuse by warning, "It jeopardizes our ability to continue to effectively protect our country against those who hate us and want to attack us... more Posted on September 11, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Health Care Fight: No Echoes of Bush Social Security Debacle On Monday, the AP portrayed President Obama's struggle to pass health care reform as the second coming of George W. Bush's unpopular and ultimately disastrous attempt to privatize Social Security. But while man each left the bill crafting to Congress and faced a growing backlash from frightened American seniors, the parallels end there. Democratic health care proposals, including the public option centerpiece, have maintained broad popular support while voters never trusted Bush or his party when it came to Social... more Posted on September 7, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Hurricane Katrina and the "Nobody Could've Predicted" President "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees," President George W. Bush protested on September 1, 2005. Ultimately, Bush's feeble - and false - excuse for his tragic failure in the wake of the drowning of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina four years ago today defined his presidency. As it turns out, from 9/11 and sectarian conflict in Iraq to the election of Hamas and the Bush recession, the leading lights of the Bush administration claimed they never... more Posted on August 29, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	In New Book, Tom Ridge Decries Politicized Bush Terror Alerts "In his new book, former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge confirms what most long suspected: the Bush administration manipulated the terror threat level for the President's political advantage. But while his long overdue admission is welcome, his suggestion that he resigned over the matter is laughable. As ThinkProgress and others have passed along, US News reported that: Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was "blindsided"... more Posted on August 20, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Press Prostitutes and the Bush Prosecutors Purge The Bush White House was notoriously famous for its purchases of positive press coverage. While columnists Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher pocketed $240,000 and $41,500 to push the Bush line on education and marriage initiatives, paid-for Pentagon pundits took to the airwaves to back the administration on Iraq. But as new documents from the U.S. attorneys purge show, not all friendly coverage came from whores for George W. Bush. As it turns out, Washington Times editor John Solomon and National... more Posted on August 12, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	John Yoo, the Right Man for the Job Among the least surprising revelations in the shocking Inspectors General report on President Bush's domestic surveillance programs are those concerning John Yoo. As it turns out, in justifying the NSA's warrantless wiretapping of Americans beginning in 2001 the Bush administration relied solely on the same legal architect behnid the President's regime of detainee torture. And in Yoo, the White House found the one man willing to claim publicly that the FISA law governing such electronic surveillance was an unconstitutional infringement... more Posted on July 11, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	DOJ Confirms Cheney's Key Role in CIA Leak Case The Obama administration again this week moved to protect former Vice President Dick Cheney's 2004 interview with the FBI over the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. But in so doing, the Justice Department's court filing only served to confirm Cheney's central role in guiding the Bush White House response to - and retaliation against - Plame's husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. As the Washington Post reported, a list of what Cheney discussed with prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is documented in... more Posted on July 3, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Fleischer Declares Reform Movement Bush's Gift to Iran Freedom, George W. Bush repeatedly insisted, "is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." Now with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets of Tehran, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer declared the reform movement is his boss' gift to Iran. In an email last Friday on the eve of the Iranian vote, Fleischer wasn't content to give his boss credit for the defeat of the Hezbollah coalition in the Lebanese elections a week... more Posted on June 15, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	The Obama Effect in Lebanon, the Bush Defect in Gaza In the wake of the surprisingly strong showing by the pro-Western coalition in Sunday's elections in Lebanon, the debate is raging as whether President Obama can take any credit for it. McClatchy, Newsweek, Politico, the AP and a host of others pondered whether the President's dazzling speech in Cairo and recent diplomatic efforts in Beirut amounted to an "Obama Effect" which helped blunt Hezbollah and its allies, or instead played little role in the face of competing Christian factions, Saudi... more Posted on June 9, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Powerline's Hinderaker Reminds Us of Bush's Genius That President Obama had a very good week seems beyond dispute. His groundbreaking speech in Cairo Thursday was praised worldwide. Meanwhile, NBC's Brian Williams aired a fawning two-hour look inside the Obama White House that the Daily Show rightly compared to an episode of MTV's Real World. But when Newsweek's Evan Thomas described Obama's stratospheric global standing as "sort of God," that was more deification than 2004 Blog of the Year Powerline could stomach. Of course, John Hinderaker's nausea could... more Posted on June 6, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney: "Never Any Evidence" for 9/11-Iraq Link We Made Repeatedly Former Vice President Dick Cheney's acknowledgement yesterday that there was "never any evidence" that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks on the United States was doubly surprising. The first shock was that for one of the few times during his legacy reclamation project, Cheney told the truth. And second, the leading members of Team Bush, including the President and Cheney himself, have continued to propagate the myth of the bogus Saddam-9/11 link they first introduced in 2002. Appearing on... more Posted on June 3, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Obama NYC Date Night Highlights Bush Vacation Record That Republicans are apoplectic about President Obama's "date night" in New York is pathetically predictable. That the GOP and its conservative water carriers remain silent about George W. Bush's record-breaking presidential vacation time is less surprising still. To be sure, some will quibble with Obama's decision to fulfill his pledge to his wife that they would attend a Broadway show after the campaign. Few would question Obama's work ethic while confronting the myriad, simultaneous challenges bequeathed to him by President... more Posted on May 31, 2009 \| Comments (7)

	Israel Again Cites Secret Bush Agreement to Expand Settlements Despite encountering a wall of opposition from both the Obama administration and Congress during his recent visit to Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted he would nevertheless expand existing settlements in the West Bank to account for "natural growth." But as the Israelis again made clear, they are relying on a secret 2004 agreement with President Bush which, contradicting his administration's public statements, gave a greenlight to new settlement activity. To be sure, the line from Washington has been... more Posted on May 24, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Did Alberto Gonzales Lie to Congress over Torture? "Senator, that I don't recall remembering." With those six words uttered during the furor over his purge of U.S. prosecutors, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales likely etched his epitaph. But as it turns out, "hypothetical" may be the most important word Gonzales ever spoke to Congress. New revelations this week suggest that in the spring of 2002 then-White House Counsel Gonzales personally approved the use of waterboarding, months before the Justice Department's infamous Bybee memo blessed the practice. By labeling... more Posted on May 23, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Obama Repudiates Bush Doctrine in Annapolis Speech On Friday, President Obama addressed the graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy. In promising to "maintain America's military dominance," Obama also signaled a clear break with his predecessor's Manichean worldview and the Bush doctrine of preemptive war. As it turns out, George W. Bush debuted those discredited concepts seven years ago during a service academy commencement address of his own, his speech to the West Point class of 2002. Obama's repudiation of Bush's aggressive unilateralism was evident in a pledge... more Posted on May 22, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Finally Greeted as Liberator In the run-up to the war in Iraq, Dick Cheney infamously predicted, "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted in liberators." Just days later John McCain too declared, "There's no doubt in my mind" that "we will be welcomed as liberators." Now six years later, George W. Bush is finally doing some liberating, not in Baghdad but in New Mexico. Speaking to graduating high school students in Artesia, the ex-President revealed it was he himself who had been... more Posted on May 22, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	GOP in 2007: CIA "Misleading" and an "Anti-Bush Cabal" That House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has badly bungled the imbroglio over what she knew and when about the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture is hard to dispute. Seemingly snatching PR defeat from the jaws of victory, Pelosi should have instead simply called the Republicans' bluff and insisted on investigations of torture architects, perpetrators and "accomplices" alike, letting the bipartisan chips fall where they may. But by savaging Pelosi for her statement that the CIA "misled" Congress, Bush's Republican water... more Posted on May 20, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	An End to Bush's "Big No" on Energy Conservation President Obama today announced plans to dramatically cut vehicle emissions while substantially increasing fuel efficiency by 2016. In so doing, the President didn't merely set the first national standards for gas mileage standards and curbing the production of greenhouse gases. Obama's move also represents a complete repudiation of the George W. Bush approach to energy conservation Ari Fleischer once summed up in four words: "that's a big no." As the Washington Post noted, President Obama plans to put an end... more Posted on May 19, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Lindsey Graham: Waterboarding Illegal, But It Works During his spirited defense today of the Bush administration's so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tortured logic itself. Graham not only cited former CIA agent John Kiriakou's discredited account of waterboarding's success, he went on to claim "one of the reasons these techniques have survived for about 500 years is apparently they work." During the same hearings, he dropped jaws by concluding that the Bush White House "saw the law as a nicety we could not afford." As... more Posted on May 13, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney's MAD Dick Cheney's MAD, just not in the way you think. As Time, the AP and virtually every pundit across the political spectrum debate the meaning of Cheney's ubiquity on your television screen, it may be an old Cold War theory which best explains his strategy. The former vice president isn't merely trying to rewrite history or work the jury with his repeated claims that torture "saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives" and that "nothing devious or deceitful or... more Posted on May 13, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Liz Cheney Wrongly Claims Dad Following Gore's Example In rejecting George W. Bush's insistence that the new occupant of the White House "deserves my silence," Liz Cheney Tuesday defended what she deemed her father's "obligation to speak out." But by likening former vice president Dick Cheney to his predecessor Al Gore, daughter Liz made her dad's critics' point for them. Despite his warnings on global climate change and later criticism of Bush over Iraq and torture, throughout Dubya's first year Al Gore showed public respect and vocal support... more Posted on May 12, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Bush was Laughing at You, Not with You That the right-wing blogosphere panned Barack Obama's attempts last night at presidential humor as "lame" and "mean-spirited" comes as no surprise. That conservatives were apoplectic when Wanda Sykes crossed the line in lampooning the Palin family's method failures and likened Rush Limbaugh to a terrorist was even less so. But to conclude that Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner proved "class made an exit with the Bush Administration" is to blissfully ignore President Bush's eight-years of joking at the expense of... more Posted on May 10, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Will Jay Bybee Be Disbarred...Like Bill Clinton? As the controversy over the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture continues to fester, the fate of appeals court Judge Jay Bybee hangs in the balance. Even as the torture memo author lobbied his Nevada Congressional delegation to come to his defense, New York Republican Peter King declared, "Judge Bybee should be given a medal for what he did." And while many are calling for his impeachment and prosecution, a draft of an internal Justice Department report purportedly recommends that... more Posted on May 9, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	20 Years After Iran-Contra, Cheney Defends Torture's "Little Guys" Announcing his Christmas 1992 pardons of Caspar Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra figures, President George H.W. Bush introduced a time honored Republican scandal evasion by decrying "the criminalization of policy differences." Now 22 years after his own role in a Congressional minority report which blasted the allegations of Reagan administration abuses of power as "hysterical," Dick Cheney is back to defend the "little guys" now at the center of the Bush 43 administration's regime of detainee torture. In an interview... more Posted on May 6, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Mormons Engulfed by Marriage, Baptism, Torture Controversies While President Obama's looming commencement address at Notre Dame sadly remains controversial among a vocal minority of Catholics, it is one of America's fastest growing faiths which is at the center of three political storms this week. On Tuesday, ABC confirmed AmericaBlog's reporting that a Provo LDS member posthumously baptized Obama's late mother. Continuing his church's active role in opposing marriage equality, a Utah Congressman moved to block Washington DC's plans to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. And... more Posted on May 6, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Obama's Cinco, Bush's Dieciséis As his unfortunate joke to Jay Leno about his meager bowling skills revealed, impromptu humor is not Barack Obama's strong suit. On Monday, to laughter from attendees and the press alike, President Obama flubbed his day-early White House celebration of Cinco de Mayo by proclaiming it, "Cinco de cuatro." And that, the right-wing blogosphere insists, demonstrates that "our genius president" is the beneficiary of a fawning media that would have savaged President Bush for the same slip-up. Unlike George W.... more Posted on May 5, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Condi Rice Butchers American History. Again. Much has been made of Condoleezza Rice's use Monday of the bogus Nixon tautology in defense of torture. Falling back on Tricky Dick's infamous statement that "when the President does it, that means it's not illegal," Rice told a group of students that "by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture." But perhaps overlooked in Rice's banality of evil is her latest misuse of history. Having previously appropriated... more Posted on May 1, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	AP Blames Obama for Deficit, Ignores Bush Tax Cuts Last month, I examined how Liz Sidoti, Ron Fournier and other of the Republican bath water drinkers at the Associated Press present conservative opinion pieces to readers using headlines which wrongly begin with the word, "Analysis." Now in an another broadside deceptively titled "Fact Check," the AP pins blame for the federal budget deficit on President-then-Senator Obama and Congressional Democrats. Sadly for the myth making machine that is the AP, long before last fall's bipartisan economic bailout it was President... more Posted on April 29, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Conservatives Politicizing Crime. Again. Dating back to at least the presidency of George H.W. Bush, conservative defenders of the Republican faith have turned to the "criminalizing politics" evasion when confronted with the lawlessness and wrong-doing of their leaders. And so it is once again with the fierce debate regarding the potential prosecution of the architects of the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture. Now, after deploying the criminalization of politics defense for everything from Iran-Contra and the U.S. attorneys purge to the Scooter Libby... more Posted on April 23, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Team Peddles 9/11-Iraq Link Torture Failed to Produce Coming just days after the Obama administration released the OLC memos which justified the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture, a 200 page Senate Armed Services Committee report is producing a new wave of shocking revelations. As it turns out, intelligence and military officials were preparing the brutal interrogation program eight months before its approval by the Bush Justice Department. And in trying to sell the invasion of Iraq, the Bush torture team ordered the abuse of detainees to manufacture... more Posted on April 22, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans Fume as Obama Fails to Sense Chavez' Soul That Republicans would be outraged over President Obama's handshake with the buffoonish Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was predictable in much the same way one can forecast the daily setting of the sun. But while Obama brushed off the significance of the brief encounter at the Summit of the Americas, Nevada Senator John Ensign deemed "irresponsible" what New Gingrich blasted as bolstering the "enemies of America." Apparently, President Obama failed, as George W. Bush did with Vladimir Putin, to first look... more Posted on April 20, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Mukasey Defends Bush's "Hypothetical" Torture As the latest from the Wall Street Journal and Politico reveal, the apologists for George W. Bush's regime of detainee torture are circling the wagons. While one anonymous Bush official claimed the Obama's release of the torture memos "laid it all out for our enemies," former Attorney General Michael Mukasey in an op-ed written with his CIA counterpart Michael Hayden proclaimed, "The President has tied his own hand on terror." Of course, in his 1700 word screed, Mukasey never acknowledges... more Posted on April 17, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Obama Adopts GOP's "Criminalizing Politics" Defense on Torture During his confirmation hearings in January, Attorney General Eric Holder declared "waterboarding is torture." But in language eerily reminiscent of the administration Barack Obama was to replace, Holder assured Republican advocates of torture, "we don't want to criminalize policy differences that might exist" with the outgoing Bush White House. Now with word that the Justice Department will not prosecute CIA personnel who used the brutal interrogation techniques he immediately banned upon taking office, President Obama is sounding like the man... more Posted on April 16, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	NSA Surveillance Illegally Targets Americans. Again. Back in February 2006, Texas Senator John Cornyn led Congressional Republicans with his famous defense of President Bush's regime of illicit NSA domestic surveillance, "None of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead." Now, as the New York Times revealed today, one of those illegal targeted was apparently one of Cornyn's Capitol Hill colleagues. And as it turns out, this is the second time in six months the National Security Agency's lawless fishing expeditions have come to light. As... more Posted on April 16, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Before 9/11, Rumsfeld Almost Gutted the U.S. Military Despite the Obama administration's 4% increase in the Pentagon budget, Republican leaders and their conservative echo chamber are predictably issuing dire warnings about draconian cuts in defense spending and "disarming America." Of course, critics of Secretary Gates' strategic shift of resources to boost the nation's ability to fight current wars and future counterinsurgencies neglect to mention the Department's proposed budget (excluding funds for Iraq and Afghanistan) jumps next year to $534 billion, a $21 billion increase. And as it turns... more Posted on April 8, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	GOP "Death Tax" Fraud Back from the Grave In 2001, President Bush waged a largely successful campaign to curb the estate tax. But eight years after denouncing that scourge of the ultra-rich, Republicans have resurrected their "death tax" talking point, complete with its repeatedly debunked claims about the impact of estate levies on small businesses and family farms. Even as they decry the deficit spending the Bush recession has required, Congressional Republicans aided and abetted by some Democrats are pushing an estate tax windfall for the wealthiest Americans... more Posted on April 2, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Right Denounces Online Tactics It Uses Every Day Across the right-wing blogosphere, red meat reactionary Andrew Breitbart is being hailed as a visionary hero for his call to arms, "online activists on the right, unite!" In his jeremiad, Breitbart warns that a "digital war has broken out, and the conservative movement is losing" and insists the right's "embrace of Judeo-Christian ideals" has prevented it from adopting its opponent's "propaganda techniques that were perfected in godless communist and socialist regimes." Of course, from astroturfing and paid blog commenters to... more Posted on March 30, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Growing Blowback for Bush Torture Team The past 48 hours have not been kind to the architects of the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture. In the UK, British police are investigating whether its MI5 intelligence service was complicit in the torture of former Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Mohammed. Meanhile, a Spanish court is poised to launch a criminal probe of Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo and four other Bush administration officials over their roles in crafting the legal framework condoning U.S. torture. And in a devastating piece... more Posted on March 29, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Cocaine Use Back in the News Tabloid rumors are now making the rounds that a supposed friend of vice presidential daughter Ashley Biden is shopping a video alleged to show her using cocaine. But while any gossip (no matter how dubious) regarding the first and second families gone wild is always sure to make the news, this imbroglio is certain to refresh memories of George W. Bush's purported predilection for the white powder. After all, as former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan suggested in his book... more Posted on March 29, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Answer to Chuck Todd: Go Shopping During President Obama's press conference Tuesday, NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd demonstrated once again why he ought to return to his previous role as a political analyst. Even as Americans are losing their jobs, homes and retirement savings, Todd asked the President "why haven't you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?" Of course, Todd only needed to look to Obama's predecessor for another presidential model of sacrifice. Whether the... more Posted on March 25, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Judd Gregg and the GOP's Triple-Double on National Debt Timing, they say, is everything. On the very night President Obama suggested Republican critics of his $3.6 trillion budget plan have a "short memory" when it comes to the sea of red ink he inherited, PBS' Frontline offered a stinging reminder in a documentary titled "Ten Trillion and Counting." Featured prominently among the Republican amnesiacs was Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), who just one day earlier slammed Obama's "banana republic" budget. Absent, of course, from Gregg's recollection for PBS was the... more Posted on March 25, 2009 \| Comments (31)

	When Presidential Humor Attacks The right-wing blogosphere is predictably abuzz in the wake of President Obama's shockingly insensitive off-the-cuff joke comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics. Following as it did Joe Biden's request at a rally last year that a wheelchair bound man "stand up," Obama's unfortunate appearance with Jay Leno isn't going to help matters for the new White House. Of course, when it comes to thoughtless presidential humor, George W. Bush was the master. As his teasing of children, the blind,... more Posted on March 20, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Rice Denies Bush Pushed Bogus Saddam - 9/11 Link On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war, Condoleezza Rice joined the long list of Bush White House figures taking to the airwaves to rewrite their boss' tragic legacy. "No one," she told Charlie Rose last night, "was arguing that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11." Of course, Rice was just one of many Bush administration officials making that claim before and after the invasion. And as it turns out, Ari Fleischer and George... more Posted on March 19, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Cheney Ignores Bush Pledge That Obama "Deserves My Silence" During his first post-presidential appearance yesterday in Canada, George W. Bush said he would refrain from criticizing his successor, insisting President Obama "deserves my silence." Apparently, Dick Cheney did not read the memo. In a blistering attack on Obama just two days earlier, Cheney ignored Bush's Golden Rule. And as I noted Sunday, Dick Cheney has also rejected Vice President Al Gore's precedent of respect and restraint towards a new administration. For his part, President Bush in Calgary gave a... more Posted on March 18, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	O Canada: Bush Wins over Prime Minister Poutine As part of his effort to earn "ridiculous" amounts of money and "replenish the ol' coffers," George W. Bush Tuesday headed to Calgary for his first post-presidential speech. But while lawyers and shoe throwers gathered to protest the man many north of the border now view as a war criminal, most Americans have largely forgotten that in 2000 candidate Bush scored what he thought was one his first major endorsements from fictitious Canadian Prime Minister Jean Poutine. During the 2000... more Posted on March 17, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney Rejects Gore's Model for Ex-VP Decorum One day after Dick Cheney claimed President Obama is making the nation less safe, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs joked that CNN invited the former vice president only because "Rush Limbaugh was busy" and Cheney was "the next most popular member of the Republican cabal" available. But when CBS' Chip Reid protested the "sarcastic" tone towards the ex-VP, he apparently forgot that as vice president Dick Cheney told a sitting United States Senator to "go f**k yourself" on the... more Posted on March 16, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney's "Stuff Happens" Defense of Republican Failure Just days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pooh-poohed the escalating chaos in the streets of Baghdad, saying with a shrug, "stuff happens." Now six years later, former Vice President Dick Cheney has elevated Rumsfeld's flip response to the level of theory in defending the Bush administration's eight-year record of failure. Of course, whether it was 9/11, sectarian conflict in Iraq, the rise of Hamas, the Bush recession or Hurricane Katrina, Cheney and the leading lights... more Posted on March 15, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Myths Claim Bush, Not Obama, Inherited a Recession Two days after Americans learned that U.S. household wealth plummeted by a staggering $11 trillion (an 18% drop) in 2008, the Washington Post featured a critique of President Obama's rhetoric attributing the recession to George W. Bush. But while Obama's statement that "by any measure, my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster" is inescapably true, his Republican opponents continue to stand truth on its head. It was George W. Bush and not Barack Obama, they falsely maintain, who inherited a... more Posted on March 14, 2009 \| Comments (17)

	Fleischer and Bush Still Peddling 9/11 - Saddam Link On the very day Politico detailed the concerted effort by former Bush aides to resuscitate their boss' moribund legacy, his one-time press secretary Ari Fleischer battled MSNBC's Chris Matthews on the subject of the Iraq war. But while a newly tenacious Matthews turned on a Bush White House he once praised as "good guys," Fleischer at least was consistent. Six years after the invasion of Iraq, Fleischer like President Bush continues to falsely link Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks.... more Posted on March 12, 2009 \| Comments (9)

	The Distracted President: Bush, Stem Cells and 9/11 Within minutes of President Obama's reversal of George W. Bush's strict limits on federal support for embryonic stem cell research, the Republican noise machine was reliably regurgitating its "distracted president" talking point. But while House Minority Whip Eric Cantor's sound bite was faithfully repeated by Time's Mark Halperin, apparently lost in the phony debate which followed was history's most recent - and tragic - example of presidential distraction. That is, while George W. Bush was single-mindedly focused on stem cells... more Posted on March 9, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Will McCain Back Obama on Bush Signing Statements? As the New York Times revealed Monday, President Obama has instructed administration officials not to rely on the hundreds of signing statements issued by his predecessor. That move should please John McCain. After all, the Republican presidential candidate not only pledged "never to issue a signing statement." Back in 2005, McCain was doubled-crossed when President Bush issued a signing statement effectively negating the Detainee Treatment Act he authored. In his Times piece, Charlie Savage (who earlier won a Pulitzer Prize... more Posted on March 9, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Republicans, Science and Manufacturing Uncertainty On Monday, President Obama as promised reversed George W. Bush's draconian restrictions on federal support for stem cell research in the United States. But just as important as that key step was its larger message that this White House rejects the politicization of science which has dominated Republican strategy for a generation. And at the heart of that cynical subservience to business interests and social conservatives alike has been one of the Republican Party's most destructive tactics, manufacturing uncertainty. After... more Posted on March 9, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Bush to Face International Criminal Court He Opposed? The week in war crimes was a busy one. As the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing about creating a truth commission to probe the wrongdoing of the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department released the first set of secret Bush DOJ memos which effectively eradicated constitutional and other legal protections for American citizens and suspected terrorists alike. And while the CIA revealed it had destroyed 92 videotapes of detainee interrogations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant... more Posted on March 7, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	For Holtz-Eakin, Bush Budget Lies Equal the Truth During the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain's chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin took more positions on the federal budget deficit than Newt Gingrich has had wives. Within a matter of weeks last year, Holtz-Eakin alternately claimed John McCain would balance the budget by either 2013 or 2017, all before announcing in April, "I would like the next president not to talk about deficit reduction." It is that comical record which makes Holtz-Eakin's criticism of Barack Obama's pledge to halve the... more Posted on February 24, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Obama vs. Bush on Halving the Deficit As word of President Obama's proposed first budget leaked this weekend, his pledge to halve the federal budget deficit by 2013 quickly became the headline. Even after ending President Bush's practice of cooking the books to understate the red ink, Obama is targeting to slash the $1.3 trillion deficit he inherited to $533 billion by the end of his first term. For their part, conservative mouthpieces like Commentary immediately proclaimed Obama's commitment "hocus pocus." Of course, Republicans in theory should... more Posted on February 22, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	The Republicans' Next $2.7 Trillion Lie As the New York Times detailed this week, the Obama administration will end George W. Bush's fuzzy math when it comes to the federal budget and budget deficit. But by accurately reflecting the true costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Medicare reimbursements, disaster responses and the AMT, the Obama White House is now projecting an extra $2.7 trillion increase in debt over the next decade. Which means that the groundwork has been laid for the Republicans' next lie.... more Posted on February 21, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	AP Perpetuates Myth of GOP Fiscal Discipline In the wake of Congressional Republicans' unified rejection of President Obama's just signed $787 billion economic recovery program, the AP's Liz Sidoti wrote Tuesday that "GOP tries to restore image of fiscal discipline." Sadly, that image is now as ever a myth. Far from the deficit hawks of Republican legend, the modern Republican party from Reagan forward devastated the U.S. treasury, leaving mounting debt and hemorrhaging red ink for as far as the eye can see: As the chart below... more Posted on February 17, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Cheney, Pardoned Abrams Furious Libby Wasn't Even in its last throes, the Bush administration remained an irony producing machine when it came to the PlameGate conviction of Scooter Libby. As the Daily News reported, Vice President Dick Cheney furiously lobbied President Bush to pardon his former chief of staff even hours before Barack Obama's inauguration. But for sheer humor value, Cheney's outrage over Libby's fate was exceeded by Eliot Abrams. Abrams, after all, was himself pardoned by George H.W. Bush over his Iran-Contra role. Of course,... more Posted on February 17, 2009 \| Comments (4)

	Canada Fitting Choice for First Bush Speech Back in 2007, President Bush described his future after the White House. "I'll give some speeches," he said, "just to replenish the ol' coffers." As the Dallas Morning News revealed Thursday, Bush will collect his first speaking fees on March 17 at an invitation-only event in Calgary, Alberta. As it turns out, it is altogether fitting that Bush travel to Canada for his first post-presidential address. After all, in March 2000 then-Governor Bush accepted the glowing endorsement - albeit fictitious... more Posted on February 13, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	"Unless Otherwise Directed" in Iraq Plugging his new book The Gamble on the Iraq surge, the Washington Post's Thomas Ricks offers a jaw-dropping account of the critical decision to pay off Sunni insurgents. Contrary to George W. Bush's "decider" myth, it was David Petraeus who simply informed the President of that defining change in tactics the General implemented on his own in 2006. As it turns out, from Paul Bremer's catastrophic disbanding of the Iraqi army in 2003 to key elements of the surge itself,... more Posted on February 11, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Rove Lies About Leak-Proof Bush White House As recounted in the Los Angeles Times today, Karl Rove last week laughably claimed of the Bush White House, "we didn't leak." Of course, Valerie Plame, the covert CIA operative outed by the administration over its bogus claim that Iraq sought yellowcake in Niger, can attest to Rove's lie. As it turns out, Team Bush and its allies leaked classified national security information all the time, almost always for partisan political advantage. And while the conservative echo chamber sought medals... more Posted on February 10, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Hoekstra Just Latest Republican to Leak Security Secrets As CQ Politics first reported yesterday, former House Intelligence Committee chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) leaked word of his delegation's secret trip to Iraq. Hoekstra, who in 2006 decried "unauthorized disclosures of classified information [which] only help terrorists and our enemies - and put American lives at risk," used Twitter to inadvertently announce the presence of high-ranking American officials in Baghdad. As it turns out, Pete Hoekstra is just the latest Republican politician to reveal classified national security information in recent... more Posted on February 7, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Remember When: Congress Passes $1.4 Trillion Economic Package As President Obama finally starts to fight for his economic stimulus bill, roadblock Republicans in the Senate continue to decry the price tag. While John Thune (R-SD) described how many times $1 trillion worth of $100 bills would circle the earth, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proclaimed "Americans can't afford a trillion-dollar mistake." Of course, back in 2001, the GOP had no qualms (along with some invertebrate Democrats) in passing George W. Bush's much larger $1.4 trillion tax cut package.... more Posted on February 6, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Obama Admits Own, Bush's Mistakes There can be little doubt that yesterday was the worst day of the fledgling Obama presidency. In a matter of hours, the President saw two key nominees undone by their tax woes. The surprising implosion of Tom Daschle then proceeded to consume an Obama media offensive originally intended to pressure obstructionist Senate Republicans blocking the urgently needed stimulus bill. But even as he wrestled with problems largely of his own making, Barack Obama reminded Americans why they voted for him... more Posted on February 4, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Remembering Bush-Style Bipartisanship on the Economy With Senate Republicans threatening a filibuster over the President economic stimulus package, the Washington Post on Monday offered its assessment that "as Obama talks of bipartisanship, definitions vary." For the likes of Rush Limbaugh, that definition is George W. Bush. As Bush showed in 2001, bipartisanship on the economy meant jamming his catastrophic $1.4 trillion tax cut package down the throats of Congress largely unchanged, backed by many pliable Democrats. For the Republican leadership and their newly anointed spokesman Rush... more Posted on February 3, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	2001 Flashback: Dems Vote for $1.35 Trillion Bush Tax Cut For those keeping score, Wednesday's final was Immovable Object 1, Irresistible Force 0. For all of his unprecedented outreach to Republican leaders on his economic stimulus package passed by the House yesterday - the poetry of post-partisanship, larding the bill with business tax provisions he opposed, meeting three times with GOP leaders, a rare presidential trip to Capitol Hill - Barack Obama was rewarded with no Republican votes. And if Mark Halperin is to be believed, Obama's shutout yesterday is... more Posted on January 29, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Latest GOPer to Show Democrats Better for the Economy On Friday, the New York Times provided a jaw-dropping analysis of the dismal state of the economy under George W. Bush. Just days after the Washington Post documented that Bush presided over the worst eight-year economic performance in the modern American presidency, the Times charted his historic failure in expanding GDP, producing jobs and fueling stock market growth. As it turns out, Bush is just the latest Republican to confirm the maxim that Wall Street and the economy overall almost... more Posted on January 24, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney Should Smile as Obama Tells GOP , "I Won" Staying true to his commitment of bipartisanship, President Obama today hosted Congressional Republican leaders to discuss his proposed $825 billion economic recovery package. But while Obama listened to the GOP team air both its grievances and its alternative proposals, the President also gently reminded his Republican guests, "I won." And as Congress considers the Obama stimulus program, that's a message the Republicans should remember well from Dick Cheney eight years ago. As Politico detailed, Obama summed up the economic crisis... more Posted on January 23, 2009 \| Comments (8)

	Obama Reverses Bush Course on Reproductive Rights When it comes to Americans' reproductive rights, it's amazing what a difference one week - and one new president - makes. On Sunday, President Bush offered a final parting gift to anti-abortion extremists in the form of "National Sanctity of Human Life Day." But by Thursday, President Barack Obama marked the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade by declaring "I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose." And on Friday, Obama will reverse... more Posted on January 23, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Boehner Recycles GOP's "Club Gitmo" Talking Point On the very day President Obama signed an executive order calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center within one year, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) regurgitated one of the GOP's tried and untrue talking points in its defense. Claiming the facility "has more comforts than a lot of Americans get," Boehner is just the latest Republican to present that blight on America's international standing as "Club Gitmo." At a press conference today, Boehner rejected the notion... more Posted on January 22, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Blocking Holder Cornyn's Latest Defense of Bush Crimes Less than a week into the Obama presidency, Texas Senator John Cornyn has emerged as the new face of the obstructionist Republican Party in Congress. Rejecting President Obama's calls for a new spirit of cooperation, Cornyn on Tuesday delayed the inevitable confirmation of Secretary of State Clinton. The next day, Cornyn pushed back the confirmation of Eric Holder as Attorney General by at least a week out in hopes of a extorting a pledge not to pursue torture prosecutions against... more Posted on January 22, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Bookends Presidency with Jesus, Life Day Proclamations When he famously proclaimed Christ his favorite philosopher ("because he changed my heart") during a 1999 Republican debate, George W. Bush was signaling the outsized role the religious right would play in his presidency. Now as his disastrous tenure in the White House draws to a close, President Bush has offered Christian conservatives a final parting gift in the form of "National Sanctity of Human Life Day." As it turns out, that January 18, 2009 goodbye kiss to anti-abortion extremists... more Posted on January 19, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Farewell Conflation of 9/11 and Iraq In his predictably self-absorbed farewell address to the nation, President George W. Bush grudgingly acknowledged, "There are things I would do differently if given the chance." But as he demonstrated last night, rejecting his repeated linkage of the 9/11 attacks to his war on Iraq is not among them. Even as Bush and Vice President Cheney prepare to slink off into the sunset, their duplicitous conflation of Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein is destined to outlive their... more Posted on January 16, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Mocking Obama, Right Lauds Bush as Abraham Lincoln With Barack Obama's inauguration just days away, the conservative commentariat is outraged about comparisons between the 44th president and the 16th, Abraham Lincoln. The true successor to the Great Emancipator, the right-wing noise machine continues to insist, is George W. Bush. And as it turns out, no one has made that comical analogy more frequently - or forcefully - than Bush himself. Over at CQ, guest columnist Richard Connor is just the latest to echo the right-wing line that "history... more Posted on January 15, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Still Peddling Myth He Inherited a Recession During a final press conference characterized by his trademark petulance, George W. Bush repeated the myth that opened his presidency. Defending his failed stewardship of the economy, President Bush falsely claimed Monday, "I inherited a recession." Sadly for the first MBA president, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the same NEBR which declared the current Bush recession began in December 2007, concluded his first started in March 2001. Of course, that didn't stop the double-dipping President Bush from pretending otherwise.... more Posted on January 13, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	George W. Bush, the "Nobody Could've Predicted" President In an interview Thursday with the AP, Vice President Cheney neatly summarized the failed Bush presidency. Comparing the financial meltdown and implosion of the American economy with the 9/11 attacks, Cheney insisted, "I don't think anybody saw it coming." As it turns out, from 9/11, sectarian conflict in Iraq and the election of Hamas to the Bush recession and the drowning of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, the leading lights of the Bush administration claimed they never saw it coming.... more Posted on January 12, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	Bush May Struggle to "Replenish the Ol' Coffers" As he prepares to slink into the sunset, George W. Bush is like a giddy child when it comes to his future presidential library. While acknowledging this week that the institution won't be a "George Bush is a wonderful person center", he said, "It will be cool-looking." But when it comes to his plans for a post-presidential windfall from giving speeches and writing a memoir, it appears the historically unpopular Bush may struggle to "replenish the 'ol' coffers." That objective,... more Posted on January 11, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Cheney's Lesson for Obama on the Economy His inauguration just days away, President-elect Barack Obama is facing friendly fire over his economic stimulus plan. With today's grim news that unemployment skyrocketed to 7.2% in December came rumblings of discontent from economist Paul Krugman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bevy of Democratic Senators worried that Obama's proposed recovery package is too timid given both the scope of the crisis and his overwhelming mandate from the American people. But in addition to heeding the words of his allies,... more Posted on January 9, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	DOJ to Prosecute New York Times over NSA Story? In a Newsweek exclusive three week ago, former Justice Department official Thomas Tamm revealed his role in helping the New York Times make public President Bush's program of illegal domestic surveillance. Now Salon's Glenn Greenwald has details on the DOJ's efforts to punish the whistleblower. And as it turns out (and as I suggested back in 2007), the Bush administration's ultimate target may be the New York Times itself. As Greenwald spells out today, the Justice Department investigation is not... more Posted on January 7, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Yoo, Bolton and Saltsman Lead GOP Irony Machine Beaten and battered, the Republican Party long ago was reduced to an irony-producing machine. But for sheer productivity, Monday's hypocrisy generation by leading lights of the conservative movement was impressive. In the span of 24 hours, would-be RNC chairman and distributor of "Barack the Magic Negro" Chip Saltsman announced his party needed to improve its outreach to minority communities. Meanwhile, John Yoo and John Bolton, two men who helped gut the Geneva Conventions, called for Congress to uphold its role... more Posted on January 6, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Laura Bush Memoir Tops List of Upcoming GOP Books On Monday, the Scribner division of publishing giant Simon & Schuster announced it had signed a book deal with First Lady Laura Bush. While her husband and his former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have each so far failed to secure publishers for their respective memoirs, Laura Bush's "intimate account" of her eight years in the White House is scheduled for release in 2010. As it turns out, the First Lady's memoir is just the first of a torrent of books... more Posted on January 5, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Loyal Bushie O'Beirne Protests Obama Changes at the Pentagon 10 days ago, the Obama transition team notified about 90 of the Pentagon's 250 Bush political appointees that their services would no longer be needed after Inauguration Day. But despite DoD spokesman Geoff Morrell's declaration that holdover Republican Defense Secretary Robert Gates was "absolutely satisfied" with way the transition was being handled, one loyal Bushie at the Pentagon was anything but. Jim O'Beirne - the same Jim O'Beirne who famously populated the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad with Republican campaign... more Posted on January 1, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	"I Don't Recall Remembering" - The Alberto Gonzales Story During April 2007 Senate testimony about his role in the purge of U.S. attorneys, Alberto Gonzales famously explained, "that I don't recall remembering." Now comes word that the former Attorney General is writing a tell-nothing memoir designed to salvage his irreparably damaged reputation. Judging from his interview today in the Wall Street Journal, Gonzales has rediscovered his memory, if not the truth. Gonzales' self-serving historical revisionism when it comes to rubber-stamping President Bush's illegal NSA domestic surveillance, authorizing the torture... more Posted on December 31, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	Bush Administration Slashed Probes of Stock Fraud As the fallout from the meltdown of the American financial system continues to poison the U.S. economy, the laissez-faire dogma and deregulatory zeal of the Bush administration rank high among the usual suspects responsible for it. Just days after the New York Times and the White House exchanged shots over the President's key role in the cascading calamity, a new study from Syracuse University revealed that investigations for stock fraud by the Bush SEC and Justice Department have virtually disappeared.... more Posted on December 28, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Gaza Tensions Highlight Bush's Broken Peace Promise In January, George W. Bush famously predicted he would broker a Middle East peace by the end of his presidency. Now with Israel and Hamas on the brink of another confrontation in Gaza, Bush's pledge of a two-state solution is just the latest failure of his disastrous tenure in the White House. Tensions between Israeli and Hamas forces have been escalating since the expiration last week of a six-month truce negotiated by Egypt. The retaliatory tit-for-tat has included Israeli strikes... more Posted on December 26, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Begging Libby's Pardon When President Bush issued holiday pardons for 19 miscreants past and present on Tuesday, former Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby wasn't among them. But with the two year campaign by right-wing pundits, GOP politicos and even Republican White House hopefuls now reaching a crescendo, Libby may yet get his slate wiped clean by the outgoing President. And to be sure, nothing in George W. Bush's past statements would suggest the Plamegate felon won't get the same Weinberger treatment the President's father... more Posted on December 24, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	The Heart and Soul of George W. Bush Even before entering the White House, George W. Bush used "heart and soul" as his measure of the man. In 1999, then-candidate Bush famously proclaimed Christ to be his favorite philosopher, "because he changed my heart." Last week, Bush tried to bookend his disastrous presidency by declaring, "I didn't compromise my soul." But as repeatedly revealed by his ringing endorsements of criminals and con men, tyrants and thugs, the unethical and the incompetent, Bush's ability to know hearts and sense... more Posted on December 21, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Award Winner Colson on Watergate Source Mark Felt The death today of Mark Felt, the Washington Post's legendary "Deep Throat" source during the Watergate scandal, capped two weeks which spurred inevitable comparisons between the lawbreaking of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. Felt's passing followed days after Newsweek identified former DOJ official Thomas Tamm as the whistleblower who brought President Bush's illegal NSA domestic surveillance to the light of day. As it turns out, that revelation came less than a week after Bush bestowed the Presidential Citizens Medal... more Posted on December 19, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	The Next 10 Bush Midnight Regulations As the clock ticks down on his failed presidency, George W. Bush has issued a torrent of midnight regulations. Whether the topic is curbing consumer safety and product liability lawsuits, mining on public lands, mountain-top removal, endangered species, clean water or power plant emissions, Bush will try to saddle Barack Obama with last-minute rule changes invariably favoring business interests over health and environmental concerns. With other difficult-to-undo policy pronouncements, faith-based charities receiving federal funds now have Bush's blessing to discriminate... more Posted on December 17, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The "So What?" President In a final effort to rehabilitate his irredeemably sullied reputation, President Bush made surprise visits this weekend to Iraq and Afghanistan. But far from being his valedictory tour as commander-in-chief, a 24 hour span only cemented his legacy of failure. During a press conference in Baghdad Sunday, an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at Bush, the same signal of disdain directed at Saddam Hussein five years earlier. And in an interview on ABC Monday, George W. Bush encapsulated his fiasco... more Posted on December 16, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	NSA Domestic Surveillance Whistleblower Comes Forward Three years after the New York Times first revealed the Bush administration's program of illegal domestic surveillance by the NSA, whistleblower Thomas Tamm has acknowledged his role in making public the President's lawbreaking. In its expose Sunday, Newsweek details how the former Justice Department official came to discover the White House's violations of the FISA law and reluctantly decided to turn to the Times. Whether or not Tamm is ultimately arrested for his revelations, the same voices in President Bush's... more Posted on December 14, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Final Double Standard on Religious Discrimination In the last throes of his failed presidency, George W. Bush has been nothing if not consistent with his flurry of midnight regulations. Whether the topic is mining on public lands, mountain-top removal, endangered species, clean water or power plant emissions, Bush will try to saddle Barack Obama with last-minute rule changes invariably favoring business interests over health or environmental concerns. But in one area, President Bush is cementing a glaring if predictable double-standard. While faith-based charities receiving federal funds... more Posted on December 13, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Obama Recycles Bush's "Ongoing Investigation" Talking Point Over the past eight years, perhaps no two words came to encapsulate the ethical failings and rampant lawlessness of President Bush than "ongoing investigation." From the Valerie Plame affair and the U.S. attorneys purge to countless other scandals, Bush administration officials deployed the "ongoing investigation" dodge as a shield against charges of criminality reaching the highest levels of the White House. Which is why hearing Bush's tried and untrue sound bite coming from President-Elect Obama in response to the Blagojevich... more Posted on December 10, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bagging Blagojevich or How the Right Learned to Love Patrick Fitzgerald News this morning that U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has indicted Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich predictably brought cheers from the conservative chattering classes. Blagojevich's arrest over the "pay for play" Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama and myriad other jaw-dropping corruption schemes Fitzgerald simply deemed "staggering" led the right-wing Hot Air blog among others to proclaim "Fitzmas arrives early this year." Of course, when the crime was obstruction and perjury over the outing covert CIA operative Valerie Plame as political... more Posted on December 9, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush and the "Lovable Loser" Effect While George W. Bush's ham-handed legacy project got off to a bumpy start last week, the lamest of lame duck presidents got some good news from Gallup. In an analysis published Wednesday, Gallup revealed that lame duck presidents usually see their approval ratings rise in the weeks between their successor's election and inauguration. Noting that the President has experienced a small bump in his approval ratings since Election Day, the Los Angeles Times led the way in proclaiming, "Americans start... more Posted on December 8, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Defends Use of Bogus Saddam Link to 9/11 In the waning days of his failed presidency, George W. Bush has launched a quixotic reclamation project to salvage his irreparably tarnished reputation. Sadly, that effort stumbled out of the gate earlier this week when the President and Karl Rove couldn't get their stories straight as to whether Bush would have launched his war on Iraq had he known with certainty that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. But when it comes to his repeated use of... more Posted on December 5, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Next for Bush: Fight AIDS or Fill the Coffers? During the first of what promises to be many attempts to resurrect his moribund reputation, President Bush in an interview with ABC's Charles Gibson offered a tantalizing glimpse of his life after the White House. Bush spoke glowingly of being able to "go help people deal with malaria or AIDS" before quickly adding, "I'm not suggesting that's what I'm going to do." Of course, his hesitation at doing good should come as no surprise. After all, in September 2007, George... more Posted on December 4, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Rove Get Stories Crossed on WMD and Iraq From part-time CNN analyst and full-time Dick Cheney hagiographer Stephen Hayes comes word that Karl Rove is spearheading a "Bush legacy project." If so, Rove and Bush might start with getting their stories straight on the Iraq war and whether it was the right course for the United States in the absence of weapons of mass destruction. On Tuesday, Rove did his part in the resurrection of his former client's moribund reputation. As the Huffington Post detailed, Rove during a... more Posted on December 3, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	New WMD Report Echoes 2001 Panel's Warnings on Terrorism Even as Barack Obama was introducing his national security team to the nation Monday, Americans learned of a chilling new report detailing the scope of the global threat of weapons of mass destruction. Dramatically titled "World at Risk," the study led by former Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO) predicted a better than even chance that the world would experience a WMD attack within the next five years. As if President-Elect Obama didn't already have enough to worry... more Posted on December 2, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Sweeping Bush Rule to Limit Abortion, Birth Control Access During a discussion of abortion in the final presidential debate, Republican John McCain shocked millions of Americans with his sneering remarks and derisive air quotes when it came to the "health of the mother." Now as he prepares to leave office, President George W. Bush is making that condescension towards American women the law of the land. His eleventh hour so-called "right of conscience" regulation would allow health care workers of all stripes to refuse to provide abortion services, artificial... more Posted on December 2, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Economic Crisis and the Myth of the Clinton Recession It's official. According to a statement from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the United States has been in a recession since December 2007. But while that conclusion from the non-governmental NEBR differs from the traditional definition of two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction, by any accounting the Bush recession will be well underway by the end of this year. And by either measure, the conservative talking point of a Clinton recession "inherited by George W. Bush" remains a myth.... more Posted on December 2, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Five More Signs of the Deepening Bush Recession On Wednesday, President-Elect Obama and President Bush provided a study in contrasts in their respective responses to the American economic crisis. In Chicago, Obama unveiled a new economic recovery advisory board to be led by former Fed chairman Paul Volcker. Back in Washington, George W. Bush pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey. But as the lame duck poses with a turkey at the White House, a cascade of foul economic indicators provided five more signs of the deepening Bush recession. The bad... more Posted on November 26, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Recession, Not Jawbone, Drives Down Oil Prices In the pantheon of his presidential failures, the utter inability of former Texas oilman George W. Bush to influence OPEC and the price of oil stands out among the most predictable - and ironic. While gas has dipped below $2 a gallon and a barrel of oil has plummeted almost $100 since its record high in July, those developments owe nothing to George W. Bush's famous 1999 boast that he would "jawbone" his friends in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia into... more Posted on November 25, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Decline and Fall of the First MBA President If nothing else, George W. Bush is an irony-producing machine. After all, the collapse of the American economy, perhaps the enduring legacy of Bush's tenure in the White House, was presided over by the man many once lauded as the nation's "first MBA President." Now with the Bush recession deepening into a crisis of historic proportions, "MBA President" has joined expressions like "mission to Mars", "weapons of mass destruction" and "we do not torture" among the cruel jokes of the... more Posted on November 23, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Grim New GDP Forecasts Show Deepening Bush Recession In his sober column today decrying President Bush's lame-duck abdication of leadership, Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman fretted, "The prospects for the economy look much grimmer now than they did as little as a week or two ago." Make that 24 hours. Just one day after I compiled the dismal numbers for the mushrooming Bush recession, startling new forecasts for gross domestic product (GDP) show the economic crisis will be even longer and deeper than initially feared. U.S. GDP... more Posted on November 21, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Measuring the Bush Recession As the American economy plunges deeper into crisis, the conservative chattering classes are hoping for a replay of their 2001 blame game. Having successfully perpetuated the myth that President Bush "inherited a recession" from Bill Clinton, right-wing mouthpieces from Rush Limbaugh to Fred Barnes began blaming Barack Obama for the Bush recession literally within hours of his election. But as a quick glance at the data shows, across virtually economic indicator from GDP, unemployment and consumer confidence to home prices,... more Posted on November 20, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	The National Review's Nazi Self-Parody As Georgia Congressman Paul Broun learned last week, politicians and pundits of all stripes should resist the temptation to compare their opponents to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Apparently, the staunch conservatives at the National Review didn't get the memo. Facing both conservative calamity at the polls and defections in its own ranks, the Review's Deroy Murdock suggested that a 1930's Nazi-style purge is just what the doctor ordered for the Republican Party. As the New York Times detailed Monday,... more Posted on November 17, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Palin, Like Bush, Slanders Democrats on Terrorism With each passing day, Sarah Palin resembles more and more "George Bush in lipstick." Two days ago, she like George W. Bush in 2000 was duped by Canadian pranksters posing as foreign leaders. And today, Palin like President Bush in 2006 essentially accused her Democratic opponents of being terrorist sympathizers. Palin's slander came during a speech in Missouri. Claiming that Democrats want to slash defense spending, John McCain's running mate picked up his earlier treason charge and amplified it: "What... more Posted on November 3, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Palin, Like Bush in 2000, Duped by Canadian Pranksters Given her Neanderthal social views and staggering ignorance of foreign affairs, it's no surprise that many have dubbed Sarah Palin "George Bush in Lipstick." Now, eight years after a Canadian comic duped then-Governor Bush into accepting the endorsement of a mythical prime minister in Ottawa, John McCain's running mate has suffered a similar fate. In even more spectacularly embarrassing fashion, as it turns out, Sarah Palin was punked by a prank call from a Montreal radio host posing as French... more Posted on November 1, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Final Campaign '08 Disappearing Act Zero and 26. Those two numbers tell the tale when it comes to the toxic effects of President Bush on the candidacies of John McCain and his Republican colleagues. Zero is the number of public appearances Bush has made on behalf of GOP candidates this election cycle. 26 is the number of seconds George W. Bush and John McCain have been seen together in public since McCain earned the President's endorsement in March. And as the New York Times and... more Posted on November 1, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	In Final Days, Bush Bypasses Laws on Privacy and Hiring Discrimination Even in its last throes, the Bush administration continues its uninterrupted lawlessness. As two recent stories by Charlie Savage of the New York Times revealed, President Bush ignored Congressional statutes requiring privacy disclosures by his Department of Homeland Security and non-discrimination in hiring by faith-based groups receiving federal funds. In twice turning his back on the rule of law, Bush again resorted to his favorite executive power-grabbing tools, the signing statement and "interpretation" by the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.... more Posted on October 29, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Attacks Bush for Economic Policies They Share One day after proclaiming on Meet the Press that he and George W. Bush share a common philosophy, John McCain took to a stage in Cleveland Monday to attack the President's economic policies. As it turns out, of course, when it comes to ideology and policy on the economy, John McCain and George W. Bush are virtually indistinguishable. The feebleness of McCain's effort to distance himself from Bush was revealed in its brevity. Despite the AP's headline that "McCain says... more Posted on October 27, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Remembering George W. Bush at the Al Smith Dinner On Thursday, candidates John McCain and Barack Obama took a break from the down and dirty battles of the election to poke fun at each other during the annual Al Smith dinner in New York. But if McCain and Obama's night of graciousness and good-natured ribbing was a welcome break from the highly-charged campaign, it also served as a reminder of George W. Bush's all-too-revealing remarks at the same event eight years earlier. As he showed then, Bush's attempts at... more Posted on October 17, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	"Comeback McCain" Recycles 2004 Convention Speech for Bush After a weekend of rampant speculation that Monday would produce yet another incarnation of John McCain, the only comeback from his campaign appears to be the text of his 2004 speech to the Republican National Convention. McCain's latest transformation - after McCain the Goldwater disciple, the Reagan footsoldier, the Maverick, the neocon, the experienced one, the change agent, Maverick II and, most recently, the race-baiting smear merchant - is once again that of "the fighter." And if you think you've... more Posted on October 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	ABC Exposes GOP's "Give Me Death" Defense of NSA Spying Back in December 2005, Texas Senator John Cornyn pioneered what became the Republican Party's "give me death" defense of President Bush's program of illegal NSA domestic surveillance. "None of your civil liberties matter much," Cornyn announced, "after you're dead." As ABC revealed in its shocking expose of NSA personnel monitoring the private phone calls of Americans abroad, your civil liberties don't matter much while you're living, either. Despite President Bush's repeated assurances that "I'm mindful of your civil liberties," NSA... more Posted on October 9, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain Echoes Bush on the Joys of Dictatorship From the beginning of the general election race, the central challenge facing John McCain has been to distance himself from the wildly unpopular occupant of the White House. In June, McCain whined that "you will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy." The previous month, McCain water carrier Lindsey Graham threw down the gauntlet for his man, "good luck making him George Bush." Sadly, McCain yesterday shot himself in the foot once again, this time by... more Posted on October 1, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Palin Adopts Bush's "Ongoing Investigation" Plamegate Dodge With each passing day, Sarah Palin's handling of TrooperGate grows more and more reminiscent of George W. Bush's management of the PlameGate affair. President Bush, after all, in October 2003 proclaimed "I want to know the truth" about who outed covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and promised to fire anyone in his administration responsible. Now, after pledging in July that voters should "hold me accountable" in the dubious firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, Sarah Palin like Bush... more Posted on September 24, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Bush Doctrine for Dummies, Sarah Palin Edition No safe havens for terrorists. Preventive war. Democracy expansion. Those are the three central tenets of the Bush Doctrine, the guiding theory of unilateral American foreign and national security policy since 9/11. And today, on the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin revealed she never heard of it. Emerging Thursday from her undisclosed location for her first encounter with the press, John McCain's stealth running mate displayed a shocking... more Posted on September 11, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	9/11 and Bush's Law of Bin Laden With the anniversary of the September 11 attacks once again upon us, Bush's Law of Bin Laden is also again on display. That is, in the Bush playbook, the threat posed by Osama Bin Laden is directly proportional to the threat to the President's own political standing. At the White House on Wednesday, press secretary Dana Perino played down the Bin Laden danger to her lame-duck boss' flatline political standing, if not to the American people: Q: But Osama bin... more Posted on September 11, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Eight Years Ago: Bush at the Republican Convention Across the right-wing blogosphere and conservative commentariat, the water carriers of the Republican Party can hardly contain their glee that Hurricane Gustav has washed out an appearance by the wildly unpopular President Bush at their Minnesota conclave. Over at the Weekly Standard, "gets Bush out of St. Paul" tops their list of benefits that the national disaster of Gustav brings the GOP. In the everything-is-good-news-for-McCain department, the Politico reports that "for many delegates gathering here, that's not a bad thing"... more Posted on September 1, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain Camp Joins Bush and Delay: There Are No Uninsured As I've noted previously, what passes for John McCain's health care plan is virtually identical to the stillborn scheme from George W. Bush. Now, the McCain campaign has joined President Bush and indicted former House Majority Leader Tom Delay in offering a novel solution - denial - to the problem of America's 46 million uninsured. As it turns out, they simply don't exist. That's the word from the architect of John McCain's health care proposals, John Goodman. No one in... more Posted on August 28, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Bush, McCain, Rice and Romney Fail 21st Century History Test No doubt, history will not be kind to George W Bush. And to be sure, Bush is already returning the favor. Apparently stunned by the Russian assault on Georgia, President Bush forgot his invasion of "sovereign" Iraq and declared, "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century". As it turns out, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice and Mitt Romney all failed the same test on 21st century history. While unwilling to acknowledge that he had misread Vladimir Putin's soul back... more Posted on August 24, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Rice Missing Again as "Putin Determined to Strike in Georgia" One of the most enduring moments of the 9/11 Commission hearings came when Condoleezza Rice casually recalled the now infamous August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief (PDB). "I believe," she said, "the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" Now almost exactly seven years later, Secretary of State Rice seems to have missed the warning signs once again. Having sent mixed messages to Tbilisi in July and on vacation as Russian armor poured into the country,... more Posted on August 13, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Eight Years Ago Today: Bush's Broken Promise Eights years ago today, George W. Bush uttered the now broken promise that has come to define his failed presidency. Accepting his party's nomination, Governor Bush promised to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House. But as events continue to show, a more accurate - and ironic - mantra for the lawless Bush White House would be "no controlling legal authority." At the time it was delivered, Bush's acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia was... more Posted on August 3, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Exploding Deficit Blows Up Bush's Budget Promises On Monday, the White House announced that President Bush will leave his successor an estimated $482 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year. But that sea of red ink isn't only an indelible mark on Bush's legacy going forward. It's a reminder of one of George W. Bush most cynical ploys - and broken promises. That, of course, is his bogus 2004 pledge to halve the federal budget deficit by 2009. As he faced reelection in 2004, George W.... more Posted on July 29, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Brooks Blasts Obama But Praised Bush for "Remaking the World" That the Republican water carrier and New York Times columnist David Brooks would blast Barack Obama's Berlin speech was utterly predictable. (Kevin Drum even predicted the title of the piece, "Playing Innocent Abroad.") To be sure, by slandering Obama's call to "remake the world" with epithets including "saccharine," "treacle," and "Disney," Brooks did not disappoint. Of course, even less surprising is that back in 2005, David Brooks had only glowing praise for President Bush's democratization agenda and its audacious vision... more Posted on July 25, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	This Week in War Crimes It's been a very busy week for war crimes and war criminals. In some good news for the cause of justice and the upholding of international law, Bosnian Serb mass murder Radavan Karadzic was finally captured in Belgrade, just days after the International Criminal Court charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity in Darfur. But for Americans, those positive developments were offset by news that the Bush administration's own war crimes trials - and potential pre-emptive pardons -... more Posted on July 23, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	"All Roads Lead to Rove" - A Conversation with Don Siegelman Dominating the discussion at this weekend's Netroots Nation conference in Austin was the urgent need to restore the rule of law now under withering assault by the Bush administration. From the suspension of habeas corpus and detainee torture to warrantless wiretapping and the politicization of the Justice Department, session after session detailed the unaccountable lawlessness of the Bush White House. And to be sure, no speaker made that case more personally than former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Siegelman, sentenced to... more Posted on July 22, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Agrees with McCain High Gas Prices "Psychological" Two days ago South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford admitted "I'm drawing a blank" when asked if there are "significant economic differences" between his man John McCain and President Bush. In a White House press conference today, Bush himself offered yet another compelling argument why John McCain is his natural successor. As it turns out, both Bush and McCain now support offshore oil drilling, have a shared believe it will have not an impact for years, and are convinced... more Posted on July 15, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Mimics Bush with Iran Jokes, Bin Laden Boasts Just one month after airing an ad declaring "only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," John McCain once again joked about creating carnage in Iran. On the stump Tuesday, McCain added killing Iranians with cigarette addiction to last year's musing about "bomb bomb Iran." Whether he's yukking it up over conflict with Tehran, following Osama Bin Laden to the "gates of hell" or just being the "worst nightmare" of Al Qaeda and Hamas, John McCain... more Posted on July 9, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Bush's Future Civics Lesson: "Replenish the Ol' Coffers" Over at the National Review on Saturday, Kathryn Jean Lopez suggested a novel future for George W. Bush after he completes his disastrous tenure in the White House. The most unpopular President in modern times, Lopez insists, would "make an awesome high-school government teacher." But leaving aside for the moment his obvious aversion to academic study and the English language (as well as the U.S. Constitution), Bush has already made up his mind about his "post-service service." Upon leaving office,... more Posted on July 6, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Jesse Helms and the Partisan Eulogies of George W. Bush Eulogies often tell us more about the living than the deceased. With his glowing words Friday about the late Jesse Helms, George W. Bush offered a case in point. Lauding the legendary North Carolina segregationist just as he did Helms' fellow traveler Strom Thurmond only five years earlier, Bush boosted his Republican allies even in death. But as a quick comparison to his meager 2002 statement about Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone shows, President Bush is the master of the partisan... more Posted on July 4, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	This Just In From Afghanistan: Bush Doctrine Still Dead. The steady stream of bad news about Afghanistan this week served to highlight two inescapable truths regarding the conflict against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. First, Barack Obama was right that the ongoing commitment of American forces in Iraq is preventing the United States from successfully pursuing Al Qaeda along the Pakistan frontier. Second, the Bush Doctrine - with its tenet of no safe havens for terrorists - is still dead. In Washington, President Bush acknowledged that June, which saw... more Posted on July 4, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	CBS Shows GOP "Emergency Room" Health Care Plan in Action In a disturbing report on Wednesday, CBS News offered Americans a glimpse of their health care future under President Bush, John McCain and their Republican allies. Detailing two cases of patients dying untreated and unnoticed in New York and Los Angeles emergency rooms, the story shows the exceptions that may increasingly become the rule. Call it the Republicans' "Emergency Room" health care plan. During a July 2007 visit to Cleveland, President Bush unveiled his emergency room cure for the ills... more Posted on July 3, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	"Stupidest Guy" Feith Defends Rice's "Mushroom Cloud" Back in 2003, General Tommy Franks called Bush Iraq intelligence fabulist Douglas Feith "the f**king stupidest guy on the face of the earth." Two years later, Colin Powell's one-time aide Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson said of Feith "seldom in my life have I met a dumber man." Defending Condoleezza Rice's - and by extension, President Bush's - pre-war "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" Iraq talking point, Douglas Feith today once again justified his critics' low opinion of him. Writing at the National Review,... more Posted on June 23, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Scott McClellan and Bush's Soprano Family Values On Friday, Scott McClellan learned the hard way that the Bush White House is a lot like the Soprano family. As HBO's legendary Jersey mobster Tony Soprano once put it, "Once you're into this family, there's no getting out." Judging by McClellan's treatment at the hands of George W. Bush's foot soldiers on the House Judiciary Committee, today's Republican Party shares the Soprano family values. Testifying about the Plamegate affair, the former White House press secretary turned tell-all author found... more Posted on June 22, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Gonzales Sacked Levin, Lied to Senate Over Torture Policies ABC News Thursday provided a new twist on Alberto Gonzales' role in the converging Bush administration torture and prosecutor purge scandals. According to ABC, the new Attorney General Gonzales in early 2005 sacked top administration lawyer Daniel Levin over his December 2004 memo declaring "torture is abhorrent," only to promise him a U.S. attorney slot to placate him. But lost in ABC's account is the fact just before he carried out his retribution against Levin, Alberto Gonzales lied to the... more Posted on June 20, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Studies Refute McCain's 30 Gitmo Recidivists Talking Point In the wake of the Supreme Court's restoration of habeas corpus rights in its Boumediene decision Friday, John McCain and his allies on the right have predictably forecast an American bloodbath at the hands of terrorists unleashed from Guantanamo. While Justice Antonin Scalia claimed the ruling would "almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed," Newt Gingrich contended the Supreme Court "could cost us a city." As for McCain, he simply regurgitated a soon-to-be familiar GOP talking point, "30 of... more Posted on June 16, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain to Swim to the Gates of Hell to Catch Bin Laden During a town hall meeting in New Jersey on Friday, Republican presidential nominee John McCain reiterated his pledge to "get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice." Amazingly, McCain was able to make his promise without his signature line about following Bin Laden to "the gates of hell." Even more amazing, McCain cited swimming as the skill American intelligence operatives will need to help him do it. McCain promised his Garden State audience that he, unlike George W. Bush,... more Posted on June 15, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain's Sins of Military Commission On the stump in New Jersey today, John McCain launched a thundering two-pronged assault on yesterday's Supreme Court decision on habeas corpus rights for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Again raising the specter of "unaccountable judges," McCain picked up on his earlier, right-wing handbook assault against so-called judicial activism. Then turning to fear-mongering, McCain proclaimed "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country" will lead to more attacks against the American people. But lost in McCain's red-faced... more Posted on June 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Jon Stewart Gives Ralph Reed a Pass on Abramoff Ties On Tuesday, Jon Stewart welcomed former Christian Coalition wunderkind and Jack Abramoff scandal figure Ralph Reed to the Daily Show to pitch his new book, Dark Horse. But while the two discussed Reed's joining Scooter Libby, Bill O'Reilly and Lynne Cheney among the ranks of racy right-wing novelists, Stewart gave the disgraced lobbyist and failed Georgia Republican pol a free ride when it came to Reed's own close association with Abramoff. Ironically, Reed's Daily Show appearance came just one day... more Posted on June 11, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Lindsey Graham Decides McCain is Bush After All South Carolina Senator and John McCain water carrier Lindsey Graham did his man no favors on the Sunday talk shows. Just five days after McCain pleaded with voters during his disastrous "green screen" speech not to believe that he represents a third term for George W. Bush, Graham agreed that "John McCain is calling for an extension or maybe enhancement of the Bush policies." Amazingly, Graham's pronouncement came just one month after he dared the media and voters to equate... more Posted on June 9, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Gas Hits $4 a Gallon; Bush "Hadn't Heard That" Just a little over three months ago, President Bush declared he "hadn't heard" that gasoline would soon reach $4 a gallon. Today, the milestone anticipated by all save the President of the United States came to pass: "Drivers are paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time. AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $4.005 overnight from $3.988. But consumers in... more Posted on June 8, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	McCain Proclaims Himself a Fool in New Ad Just three days after his calamitous "green screen" speech, John McCain today released his first general election ad, one which may prove similarly damaging. Declaring "only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," McCain invited Americans to revisit his still-jaw dropping "bomb bomb Iran" joke during an April 2007 town hall meeting. As you'll remember, McCain in April 2007 famously responded to a question about when America would "send an air mail message to Tehran." Singing... more Posted on June 6, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Phase 2 Report Ends Roberts' Iraq Intel Stonewall Four years after Kansas Senator Pat Roberts triumphantly cleared the Bush administration of misusing pre-war Iraq intelligence, the Phase 2 report of the Senate Intelligence Committee he once chaired today reached a much different conclusion. After Roberts successfully stonewalled past the 2004 and 2006 elections the studies examining White House statements on the Iraqi threat and the role of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, his successor Jay Rockefeller today concluded: "The president and his advisers undertook a relentless public... more Posted on June 5, 2008 \| Comments (9)

	Olmert Deals Bush Double Defeats on Syria, Settlements On Wednesday, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and lame duck American President George W. Bush will meet in Washington in a gathering of the walking wounded. Bush's fading hopes to secure a Middle East peace agreement before leaving office have dimmed further as scandal enveloped his Israeli counterpart. Worse still, by moving ahead with peace talks with Syria and the expansion of West Bank settlements over just the past two weks, Olmert has already dealt President Bush a double-blow.... more Posted on June 3, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McClellan Knew About, Defended Bush Leak of Iraq NIE As FireDogLake, Huffington Post and others detail, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan revealed that it was President Bush himself who authorized the selective leaking of the 2002 Iraq National Intelligence Estimate. As he disclosed both in his book and during interviews today, McClellan says Bush admitted declassifying portions of the NIE to allow Scooter Libby to attack Joe Wilson and other administration critics in July 2003. Getting less attention, though, is McClellan's own critical role in defending President... more Posted on May 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	A Look Back at Scott McClellan's Greatest Hits The response from the Bush administration and its amen corner to the blistering charges in former press secretary Scott McClellan's new book has been quick, brutal and predictable. While his predecessor Ari Fleischer proclaimed himself "heartbroken" over McClellan's revelations, his eventual successor Dana Perino branded him "disgruntled." Even as Karl Rove likened the man who once lied for him to a "left-wing blogger," former Bush homeland security adviser Frances Townsend trashed McClellan as "self-serving" and "disingenuous." As for President Bush... more Posted on May 28, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	White Lies: McClellan Then and Now on Bush's Cocaine Use Among the more fascinating if less significant revelations in Scott McClellan's new book is his discussion of George W. Bush's past use of cocaine. Bush, McClellan now claims, told him he couldn't remember whether or not he used coke. That, of course, is a far cry from the response of Governor Bush offered Americans during the 2000 campaign. And as it turns out, McClellan, too, was telling the public white lies. This morning, ABC News offered McClellan's recollection of his... more Posted on May 28, 2008 \| Comments (54)

	Bush's Jawbone Fails Again For the second time in two months, President Bush's efforts to "jawbone" his Saudi friends over the cost of oil fell on deaf ears. On Friday, oil surged to a record $127 after Bush's meeting with King Abdullah failed to secure a production increase beyond the meager 300,000 barrels the Saudis previously committed to on May 10th. In all, it was just the latest dismal failure for the jawbone of the Texas oilman who campaigned on his powers of persuasion... more Posted on May 18, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	President Bush Sacrifices Golf to Aid War Effort Last year, First Lady Laura Bush said of the costs of the Iraq war for the American people, "no one suffers more than their President and I do." Now we know why. While U.S. troops were sacrificing life and limb in the battlefields of Baghdad, President Bush sacrificed...golf. In an interview today, George W. Bush made it clear that avoiding the links now was the least he could do after avoiding combat 40 years ago. As the Politico reported, the... more Posted on May 13, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Repeats Promise of Mideast Peace by January As he heads off to Israel to commemorate that nation's 60th anniversary, George W. Bush is nothing if not optimistic about the prospects for Middle East peace. Even as his negotiating partners are incapacitated by scandal and internal conflict, the lame duck President reiterated his January promise to produce an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the time he leaves office eight months from now. Earlier this year during his first visit to the region, Bush assured the world that his better-late-than-never... more Posted on May 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Bush Wedding Everyone Missed While all eyes this weekend were on the Crawford, Texas wedding of first daughter Jenna Bush, another Bush marriage this year has gone largely unnoticed in the press. After a stormy eight year courtship, George W. Bush and John McCain tied the knot at a March ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. During the well attended but little understood nuptials, John McCain finally promised to love, honor and obey his new partner. Committing themselves to be together "us richer... more Posted on May 12, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Mothers' Day, Global Warming and McCain's Character Campaign What do Mothers' Day and global warming have in common? Both, as it turns out, are essential ingredients in John McCain's "character" campaign for the White House. That is, given the staggering unpopularity of his party's platform and president, John McCain is now running away from both. From here on out, the McCain campaign will be about the character of the man. And on Mothers' Day this Sunday, that includes a portrait of John McCain as the good son. Appearing... more Posted on May 10, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Laura Bush Replaces Husband at Burma Cyclone Press Briefing On Monday, a nation led by a ruler with dictatorial tendencies was devastated by a storm of biblical proportions for which its government was woefully unprepared. Which may explain why the White House trotted out First Lady Laura Bush rather than her husband the president to answer questions at a press conference yesterday about the disastrous cyclone in Myanmar. Given his own cataclysmic handling of Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans, President Bush no doubt preferred to stay... more Posted on May 6, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Take the Lindsey Graham Challenge: "Good Luck Making McCain George Bush" The record of politicians issuing challenges to the press is not a happy one. Just before his Donna Rice scandal broke in 1987, Democratic frontrunner Gary Hart dared the media to "follow me around." The rest, as they say, is history. Now, South Carolina Senator and John McCain water carrier Lindsey Graham has issued a challenge of his own. Claiming on CNN McCain "is his own guy," Graham then threw down the gauntlet, "Good luck making him George Bush." Challenge... more Posted on May 5, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	GOP: Baghdad Still Safer Than U.S. Cities From the outset of the Iraq war, Republican leaders and their amen corner in the right-wing media have sought to calm squeamish Americans by favorably comparing the violence there to life in U.S. cities. Now, John March, a developer planning (believe it or not) a "Disneyland-style" theme park in Baghdad, says the carnage in the Iraqi capital is no different than the "drive-bys" in Southern California. But while grotesque, the analogy is not novel: it has already been repeatedly deployed... more Posted on May 5, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Townsend Joins Snow on Conservative News Network (CNN) Politico is reporting that President Bush's former homeland security adviser and current intelligence advisory board member Fran Townsend is joining CNN as a contributor. Joining former White House press secretary Tony Snow as the second Bush sycophant to join the network in the last two weeks, Townsend's addition is apparently designed to help make CNN the "right choice" during its election '08 coverage. While George W. Bush may be most disliked President in modern American history, his one-time mouthpieces are... more Posted on May 4, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	McCain, Bush Staffs Coordinate on W Separation Strategy John McCain's presidential campaign has apparently found help to battle its extreme case of Bush separation anxiety. Desperate to distance the Republican nominee from the most unpopular president in modern American history, the McCain camp is closely coordinating with the White House to create the facade of separation between John McCain and George W. Bush. As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, senior McCain advisor and GOP lobbyist extraordinaire Charlie Black detailed a close working relationship with President Bush's staff. Acknowledging that George... more Posted on May 3, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Jawbones Congress, Not OPEC, Over Oil Prices One day after the price of oil hit a record of $119 a barrel, President Bush predictably pointed the finger of blame at Congress. During his often bizarre press conference Tuesday, Bush lambasted Capitol Hill for the skyrocketing oil prices which have more than tripled during his tenure. But while the President dredged up proposals from his first term, one Bush promise was notably absent from his blame game. Yesterday, George W. Bush's campaign 2000 boast that he would "jawbone"... more Posted on April 30, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Gave Green Light for Israeli Settlements in Secret '04 Letter A hallmark of the Bush presidency has been the public disavowal of actions already taken in secret. In just the latest episode of Bush White House duplicity, the Washington Post revealed today that President Bush in 2004 secretly approved the expansion of existing Israeli settlements on the West Bank despite his stated policy to the contrary dating back to the start of his first term. As the Post details, the letter George W. Bush personally delivered to then Israeli Prime... more Posted on April 24, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Two Cheers for Jenna Bush With her presidential wedding just weeks away, First Daughter Jenna Bush will once again be the subject of celebrity and political gossip alike. Just a few years ago, the bar-hopping the Bush twin seemed destined to follow in her father's footsteps as a Republican Party Animal. As it turns out, on abstinence policy and the election of John McCain - two issues near and dear to her GOP father's heart - Jenna Bush may not be much of a Republican... more Posted on April 24, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Two New Reports Slam Bush on Iraq, Afghanistan Two new reports released Thursday offer a devastating assessment of President Bush's leadership as commander-in-chief. First, the GAO concluded that "al-Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven in Pakistan's border area." Then just hours later, a study from the National Defense University proclaimed the Iraq war "a major debacle" whose outcome was "in doubt." Together, they paint a damning portrait of Bush's failures in the global war on terror.... more Posted on April 18, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Approval, Consumer Confidence Hit New Lows Three new surveys released today document the steep descent of President Bush, and with him, the American economy. While Bush's approval rating reached a new low of 28% in the AP poll, three quarters of economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal believe that the United States is in a recession that has yet to hit bottom. So it comes as no surprise that American consumer confidence spiraled down to its lowest level in 26 years. Of course, there was... more Posted on April 11, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Bush League Economy in a Picture Once in a rare while, a single image tells you everything to know about the American economy. On Wednesday, the New York Times featured a simple chart showing that President Bush has presided over the first post-World War II economic expansion in which Americans' median family income declined. If the American Dream is defined in part as each generation doing better than the one before, then the Bush League Economy can officially be declared a nightmare. David Leonhardt's devastating piece... more Posted on April 10, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Right Assails Diversity Staging at Obama Event Over at the Weekly Standard, Michael Goldfarb takes the Obama campaign to task for deploying the "diversity police" during an appearance by Michelle Obama today at Carnegie Mellon University. But while the campaign staff's efforts to produce a multi-racial backdrop may have been ham-handed, they pale in comparison to the comic Republican attempts to create the illusion of any minority support at all. As the university's student paper described it: While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the... more Posted on April 9, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Five Questions for Petraeus and Crocker In their testimony before Congress today, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker began painting a picture of American progress in Iraq. But even as the United States faces a diminishing threat from Al Qaeda thanks in part to former Sunni insurgents the U.S. has largely co-opted, American forces find themselves increasingly engaged in an intra-sectarian Shiite conflict in which Iran is seemingly backing all sides. And with General Petraeus calling for an indefinite pause in the drawdown of U.S.... more Posted on April 8, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Alphonso Jackson, We Hardly Knew Ye Among the least surprising political developments this week is the looming resignation of Bush Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson. That news comes in the wake of calls from Democratic Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) for Jackson to step down over charges of cronyism in public housing deals in Philadelphia. But as I first detailed back in May 2006, Jackson was already in hot water for past admissions that political loyalty was an essential (and,... more Posted on March 31, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Iran Brokers Basra Deal Events on the ground in Iraq continue to defy the Bush's administration's ongoing misrepresentation of the Iranian threat there. Just one day after Republican Senator Lindsay Graham wrongly claimed Iran was backing just one of the three Shiite forces in Basra comes word that Tehran brokered a deal aimed at halting the carnage there. As McClatchy, USA Today, the New York Times and others are reporting, Iraqi lawmakers traveled to Qom where a general of the Iranian Qods force helped... more Posted on March 31, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush, Cheney Embrace Iranian-Backed Hakim in Iraq On Sunday, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) showed once again that President Bush, John McCain and their conservative amen corner can't tell the players in Iraq even with a scorecard. Even as Graham proclaimed of the fighting in Basra, "the militias that we are fighting are backed by Iran," President Bush and Vice President Bush continue to embrace the largest Iranian-backed political force in Iraq, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. Just days after John McCain erroneously... more Posted on March 30, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Carville Announces Clinton Loyalty Oath In the Washington Post today ("Disloyalty That Merits An Insult"), Clinton adviser James Carville gave his best Dana Perino impersonation. Defend his hyperbolic denunciation of surprise Obama endorser Bill Richardson, Carville mirrored Perino's famous "once a Bushie, always a Bushie" code of political ethics. By proclaiming loyalty a cardinal virtue above all others, James Carville sounded like a member of the very Bush administration his candidate - and her party - are trying to replace. A week ago, Carville reacted... more Posted on March 29, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Bush's Premature Iraq Elation George W. Bush is suffering from another severe case of premature Iraq elation. That's the inescapable diagnosis after a week which featured sunny statements from the President even as Baghdad and Basra descended into chaos. On last week's fifth anniversary of his invasion of Iraq, President Bush was blissfully unaware of the tumultuous three-way Shiite conflict just days in the offing. Now, Bush is portraying setbacks as proof of success and escalating violence as a sign of a healthy democracy.... more Posted on March 28, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	NYT's Lichtblau Details White House Effort to Block NSA Story In December 2005, New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau broke the shocking story of the Bush administration's program of illegal domestic surveillance by the NSA. Now, in a new book due out next week, Lichtblau details the White House's 13-month effort to block the Times' revelations of its lawlessness. And to be sure, that deceitful stonewalling and the threats of retribution that followed show a Bush administration determined to conceal its criminality at any cost. In excerpts... more Posted on March 28, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Moqtada Al-Sadr Answers the Wall Street Journal In another unfortunate case of premature Iraq elation, the Wall Street Journal last week celebrated the decline and fall of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr. Echoing the "bring 'em on" taunt of their former boss, ex-Bush advisers Dan Senor and Roman Martinez triumphantly asked "Whatever Happened to Moqtada?" But as the renewed turmoil in Baghdad and violent chaos in Basra suggest, the answer may be, "he's back." The cease fire declared last summer by Sadr's Mahdi army militia has been... more Posted on March 25, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	White House Scrubs Web Site on the Economy What a difference a week makes, especially when it comes to the rollercoaster American economy. No where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush's glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House's economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system. A cached version... more Posted on March 20, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Abraham Lincoln Bush Over the course of its five-year fiasco in Iraq, the Bush administration in vain has tried to sell this conflict by referencing glorious American wars past. Its revisionist history has included failed parallels to the American Revolution, World War II, Korea, the Cold War and even Vietnam. Today, Vice President Cheney joined the conservative chorus comparing the calamity in Iraq to the U.S. Civil War. And in that ever-growing White House tall tale, of course, George W. Bush is Abraham... more Posted on March 19, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Wrong Again: McCain Proclaims Al Qaeda-Iran Alliance As I documented just two day ago, John McCain has been wrong from the start about virtually every aspect of the Iraq war. From Ahmed Chalabi and Saddam's WMD to the prospects of Americans troops being greeting as liberators and the certainty of a "rapid" U.S. victory in "three weeks," John McCain had it wrong at every turn. Today in Jordan, the Republican presidential nominee made a much fundamental - and shocking - mistake. Would-be commander-in-chief John McCain literally doesn't... more Posted on March 18, 2008 \| Comments (6)

	Cheney in Iraq: Back and Wronger Than Ever! Just one day after John McCain's drive-by photo op in Baghdad, Vice President Cheney too made a surprise visit to Iraq. Announcing "it's good to be back," Cheney no doubt reminded Americans that John McCain represents the third term Bush agenda on Iraq. And to be sure, Dick Cheney's latest pronouncements reminded Iraqis on one of their own, former Saddam Minister of Information Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, also known as Baghdad Bob. Wrong at almost every turn in the past, the... more Posted on March 17, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Forever Wrong: Five Years of John McCain on Iraq Just in time for the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain made an unannounced visit to Iraq. While McCain deemed the visit a "fact-finding" mission, his secret visit to Baghdad is just part of an extended photo opportunity in the Middle East and Europe designed to highlight his national security credentials. Unfortunately for McCain, his excellent Baghdad adventure could well produce the opposite effect. After all, this week's looming anniversary highlights that at almost... more Posted on March 16, 2008 \| Comments (12)

	Bush Laughs At Us, Not With Us. Again. On Saturday night, George W. Bush showed once again that his sense of humor, and not his dull eyes, provides a window into his soul. It provides Americans with rare, fleeting glimpses into the dark and twisted character of a man who views with disdain the citizens he was elected to serve. If Presidents Kennedy and Reagan turned to self-deprecating humor to charm the press and disarm critics, in Bush's hands the joke is both a weapon to attack enemies... more Posted on March 14, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Fails to "Jawbone" the Dollar Just one week after his latest dismal failure to "jawbone" OPEC into boosting oil production, President Bush yesterday tried his hand at talking up the plummeting U.S. dollar. Sadly, just 24 hours later, the greenback plunged to record lows against the euro and the Japanese yen. Bush's Reverse Midas Touch, it seems, has now infected both the oil and currency exchanges. Sounding more like an Econ 101 drop-out than a Harvard MBA, Bush on Wednesday declared he "absolutely" favored a... more Posted on March 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Three Iraq Stories, More Conservative Exploding Heads The life of the American conservative is a perpetual crisis of cognitive dissonance, especially when it comes to the run-up to the Iraq war. So three new stories this week are certain to cause right-wing minds to explode, or at least to seek the safe harbor of denial. First came word of a new book from Rumsfeld aide Douglas Feith revealing that President Bush declared "war is inevitable" in December 2002, months before UN weapons inspectors produced their report on... more Posted on March 11, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain to Bush in 2000: "Take Your Hands Off Me" In his eternal quest for the White House, John McCain has demonstrated repeatedly that no indignity suffered at the hands of George W. Bush is too great to be forgiven. To appease conservative GOP primary voters, McCain reversed many of his long-held positions in order to appropriate the third term Bush agenda. And yesterday, McCain accepted Bush's Rose Garden endorsement as coming from" a man who I have a great admiration, respect and affection" for. But while John McCain now... more Posted on March 6, 2008 \| Comments (6)

	Jawbone of an Ass: Bush's Utter Failure with OPEC In the pantheon of his presidential failures, the utter inability of former Texas oilman George W. Bush to influence OPEC and the price of oil stands out as the most predictable - and ironic. Just one day after OPEC members rejected President Bush's call to boost crude production, oil jumped to the stratospheric level of $105 a barrel. This latest indignity caps seven years without results for the man who once boasted he would "jawbone" his friends in Kuwait and... more Posted on March 6, 2008 \| Comments (27)

	Failed Bush Covert Action Fueled Hamas in Gaza Even as Israel began withdrawing its troops following its latest clashes with Hamas forces in Gaza, Vanity Fair published a shocking account of how the Bush administration bungling fueled the crisis there. Covert U.S. backing of armed Fatah units helped spark the bloody civil war that left Hamas in control of Gaza. But given that Condoleeza Rice's official State Department Middle East Peace Process timeline doesn't even mention Hamas, the disastrous Bush intervention seems much less surprising. Today's Vanity Fair... more Posted on March 3, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Gaza Violence Puts Bush Peace Promise in Peril 324. That's the number of days left for George W. Bush to deliver on his January pledge of a signed Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. But what seemed like Bush's cockeyed optimism just weeks ago now verges on fantasy. With Israeli forces and Hamas fighters battling in Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday announced the suspension of peace talks. As a result, President Bush's better-late-than-never engagement seems certain to be added to his eve-growing list of foreign policy failures. Bush's boast... more Posted on March 2, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Joins Bush in War on "Democrat Party" With each passing day, John McCain seemingly deepens his commitment to a third term Bush agenda. As the GOP primaries approached, McCain experienced just-in-time reversals on making the Bush tax cuts permanent and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Like President Bush, McCain butchers history in comparing a 100-year presence in Iraq to the U.S. defense of allies like South Korea. And now, John McCain is even mimicking the adolescent petulance of George W. Bush in using the "Democrat Party"... more Posted on February 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Relives 2000, Proclaims Ignorance of Medvedev In a rare moment of humility, President Bush during this morning's press conference acknowledged that he knew little about Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Responding to NBC reporter David Greg's dubious assertion that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama seemed to know much about Medvedev, Bush owned up to his own ignorance, "I don't know much about Medvedev, either." President Bush's sheepishness is justified. After all, in the run-up to his 2000 election, then candidate George W.... more Posted on February 28, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	WaPo Praises McCain on Signing Statements, Ignores Bush Betrayal Today's Washington Post praised John McCain's "ironclad refusal to issue signing statements." While his Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton defended using "signing statements in very rare instances," the Post lauded McCain's "sharp break" from the unprecedented practice of the Bush administration. But what the Washington Post neglected to mention was why John McCain has such a visceral dislike for presidential signing statements. The answer, as it turns out, dates back to December 30, 2005, when President Bush betrayed... more Posted on February 25, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McConnell, Mukasey Confirm Bush Domestic Surveillance Was Illegal Exactly two years ago, I dissected the Bush administration's dubious legal justification for its illicit program of NSA domestic surveillance. Then, I argued that the President's twin claims that his constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief and the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) allowed Bush to operate outside the legal mandate of FISA were specious. As it turns out, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey apparently agree. In "The Republicans' Constitutional Crisis," I... more Posted on February 23, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Bungling on Kosovo Fueled Belgrade Riots Just yesterday, I documented George W. Bush's hilarious - and pathetic - history when it comes to Kosovo. Now with Serbian rioters storming the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, Bush's dubious grasp of the implications of an independent Kosovo doesn't seem so funny any more. That the United States would come to grief in the Balkans under Bush's leadership was foreseeable back in 1999. Bush at first refused to back President Clinton's air war against the Milosevic regime's campaign of terror... more Posted on February 21, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Now Less Popular Than Ebola Virus On more than one occasion (for example, here and here), I've joked that President Bush is slightly more popular than the Ebola virus. As it turns out, I may have been giving this lamest of lame ducks too much credit. A new poll from the American Research Group shows that President Bush's approval rating has plummeted to 19%. Fully 77% of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing as President. And when it comes to the sputtering U.S. economy,... more Posted on February 20, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Dazed and Confused: Bush's Hilarious History on Kosovo Generations yet unborn will speak of the intellectual confusion of George W. Bush. But no issue may be more emblematic of President Bush's ongoing cognitive crises than Kosovo and the 1999 American intervention to end ethnic cleansing there. Speaking yesterday at, of all places, the Rwanda genocide museum, President Bush defended American inaction in Darfur, declaring that "outside forces" are "unbelievably counterproductive." Yet just 24 hours earlier, Bush announced his support for the independence of Kosovo and proclaimed Bill Clinton's... more Posted on February 20, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's AIDS Politics On his five nation swing through Africa, President Bush once again revealed the two inescapable truths of his AIDS diplomacy. First, as I noted last May, Bush never hesitates to use AIDS funding to provide air cover in his failing struggle to sway global opinion. And second, even thousands of miles from home, George W. Bush will kowtow to the religious right back in the United States. Greeted in Africa by banners proclaiming "Thank you for helping fight malaria and... more Posted on February 18, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	The Coming Right-Wing Blog Boom In the span of just six weeks, conservative angst over the comparatively feeble state of the right-wing blogosphere has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. After first trumpeting the supposed decline in traffic at liberal blogs, conservative heads nodded in agreement as Red State's Erick Erickson blamed abortion and capitalism for the abysmal state of the right's online presence. But for all of its hand-wringing, the right-wing blogosphere may be on the verge of a boom. After all, as... more Posted on February 17, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain Backs Bush on Torture Despite '05 Betrayal With his "no" vote yesterday on the Senate bill to ban waterboarding by the CIA, John McCain caved in the face of yet another betrayal by George W. Bush. President Bush, after all, stabbed McCain in the back with a 2005 signing statement that defanged the Detainee Treatment Act the now-presumptive GOP presidential nominee championed in the Senate. But in his never-ending quest to appease his party's conservative base, McCain revealed that no humiliation at the hands of George Bush... more Posted on February 14, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	The Abominable Ted Olson on "Clinton v. Obama" In case there was any remaining uncertainty, Ted Olson reminded Americans today why he must never be on the Supreme Court. The former Bush Solicitor General and 2000 Florida recount mastermind took the pages of the Wall Street Journal to crow about the ultra-tight Democratic nominating process which he prays ends up in the courts. Hoping to add insult to injury, Olson looks forward to seeing Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton use the excreable Bush v. Gore decision to undo... more Posted on February 11, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Renews His War on the "Democrat Party" On Sunday, President Bush left his self-proclaimed "bubble" in the White House for a little Democrat bashing over at his Fox News safe haven. Comically daring Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to attack him during the 2008 campaign, President Bush returned to his childish mispronunciation of their party's name. Yes, a year after acknowledging his infantile gambit, President Bush has renewed his war against the "Democrat Party." A staple of Republican taunting since at least the time of Reagan,... more Posted on February 10, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Breaks 2004 Promise to Halve Budget Deficit On Monday, President Bush will unveil a fiscal 2009 budget proposal that breaks yet another promise he made to the American people. The nation's first ever $3 trillion dollar budget will produce a $400 billion mountain of red ink. And with it, Bush's bogus 2004 promise to halve to the federal budget deficit by 2009 will rightly end up in the dustbin of history. As he faced reelection five year ago, George W. Bush famously committed to cut the deficit... more Posted on February 3, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	New York Times Reporter Subpoenaed Over Sources That cheering sound you may have heard this morning was conservatives' applauding the news that New York Times reporter James Risen has been subpoenaed in an effort to force him to reveal his confidential sources. But while Republican rage may be temporarily muted over the inquiry into Risen's 2006 book, many on the right won't be satisfied until Risen goes to jail for his cardinal offense, revealing President Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program. The subpoena James Risen received from a... more Posted on February 1, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Hijacks Pell Grants for School Vouchers In his last State of the Union address, President Bush fired one final salvo his war against public education in signature fashion. Not to content to endorse yet another conservative school voucher scheme, President Bush appropriated the name of the very popular Pell Grant program to market it. And by targeting African-Americans with his "Pell Grants for Kids," Bush zeroed in on the one Democratic constituency conservatives believe might support it. Back in 2006, Democrats steamrolled to a majority in... more Posted on January 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Budget Deficit and the End of the Rosy Scenario In case panicked financial markets, rising unemployment, surging inflation and a credit crunch weren't enough cause for worry, Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orzag today added the mushrooming federal budget deficit to the mix. Coming as President Bush and Congressional leaders are conferring on a massive new economic stimulus package, the CBO estimated a $250 billion gap in 2008, up from $163 billion the previous year. Now Bush's budgetary sleight of hand, it would appear, is about to fall victim... more Posted on January 23, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	Tales of the Tape Two breaking stories on Wednesday once again highlighted the Bush administration's unprecedented cloak of secrecy and its perpetual quest for plausible deniability. First, the White House acknowledged that it haphazardly recycled computer backup tapes, likely ensuring that crucial emails before October 2003 are lost forever. Then, Americans learned that the retiring CIA station chief in Thailand asked for and received permission in 2005 to destroy videotapes of Al Qaeda detainee interrogations. Together, these latest episodes of disappearing data might be... more Posted on January 16, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	George W. Bush's Gambling Problem While George W. Bush may be a recovering drinker, he apparently has now developed a gambling problem. Just 10 days into 2008, the Bush White House has placed big bets on everything from a Middle East peace treaty to the prospects for a U.S. recession, even his own popularity and legacy. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against him - and us. Bush's most unlikely roll of the dice came during his just completed visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.... more Posted on January 11, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Romney Follows Bush's Iron Law of Bin Laden As the New Hampshire primary approaches, a desperate Mitt Romney has emerged as a vocal defender of the foreign policy of George W. Bush. On Sunday, Romney developed a full-blown case of Bush envy, echoing the President's 2001 spaghetti western threat by saying, "I want to get Osama bin Laden dead or alive." To be sure, by alternately downplaying or emphasizing the importance of capturing Bin Laden as political circumstances require, Romney has indeed taken a page straight from the... more Posted on January 7, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	WSJ Extends GOP "Criminalizing Politics" Defense to CIA Tapes It was only a matter of time before the conservative chattering classes extended the Republicans' perpetual "criminalization of politics" defense to the exploding CIA tapes scandal. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal obliged, claiming the Justice Department's probe into the spy agency's destruction of detainee interrogation videos was the equivalent of "criminalizing the CIA." Following the script from the Tom Delay, Valerie Plame outing, U.S. attorneys purge and other Republicans scandals, the Journal's contortion is just the latest right-wing effort... more Posted on January 6, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Stonewalled 9/11 Commission from the Beginning In a devastating New York Times op-ed today, 9/11 Commission leaders Tom Keane and Lee Hamilton accused the CIA of stonewalling their panel. The chairman and co-chairman alleged that those in the Bush administration who knew about videotapes of CIA detainee interrogations but failed to inform the 9/11 panel "obstructed our investigation." But lost in their historical record is one other inconvenient truth: President Bush tried to stonewall the 9/11 Commission from the very beginning. In their op-ed, Keane and... more Posted on January 2, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Huckabee Echoes Bush in Killer Ad Lost in the pundits' pondering over Mike Huckabee's scam to show - and then not air - an attack ad against Mitt Romney is the former Arkansas Governor's apparent bloodlust. As Steve Benen and Michael Crowley note, Huckabee's spot takes Romney to task for a record in Massachusetts that included "no executions." In extolling the joys of the death penalty, Huckabee is following in the proud tradition of George W. Bush. George W. Bush's willingness to flip the switch is... more Posted on January 1, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Bush a Block Off the Old S-CHIP On Saturday, President Bush scored a triple victory when he quietly signed a bill extending the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) through March 2009. First, the President teed up "socialized medicine" as the definitive 2008 GOP talking point in response to any new health care initiatives coming from the Democratic Party. Second, he added another win for the GOP campaign of obstructionism, blocking Democratic successes at any cost in the hope of painting Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as... more Posted on December 29, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Medals of Dishonor: How the Right Rewards Cover Ups & Payback On Friday, right-wing mouthpiece and failed Bush Labor nominee Linda Chavez demonstrated the Iron Law of Republican scandal management. Claiming the CIA official purportedly responsible for destroying detainee interrogation tapes "deserves a medal," Chavez showed the conservative commitment to rewarding those who conceal White House wrong-doing. The corollary, of course, is the GOP Payback Principle: those exposing Bush administration criminality should be prosecuted. In her Friday column titled "Destroying CIA Tapes Deserves a Thank You," Chavez argued that the 2005... more Posted on December 23, 2007 \| Comments (21)

	Putin, Bush and Post-Presidential Riches The similarities between President Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, it would appear, are seemingly endless. On Wednesday. Putin followed in Bush's footsteps as the 2007 recipient of the Time Man of the Year. And now, Putin too has grand plans to reap a financial windfall upon leaving office. As it turns out, though, the scope and scale of Putin's post-presidential avarice puts George W. Bush to shame. As we learned from Bush biographer Robert Draper back in September,... more Posted on December 22, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Groundhog Day for Bush on CIA Tapes, Iran NIE Americans watching President Bush on Thursday could be forgiven for confusing his press conference with the movie Groundhog Day. In the 1993 film, Bill Murray wakes each morning only to realize he's reliving the previous day. Discussing the mushrooming CIA tapes scandal yesterday, President Bush claimed he had no recollection of knowing about the tapes' destruction in 2005 until briefed by CIA director Michael Hayden last month. Of course, that's virtually the same line he offered regarding the controversial Iran... more Posted on December 21, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Putin Succeeds "Good Friend" Bush as Time Man of the Year This morning Time named Russian President Vladmir Putin its 2007 Man of the Year. It is altogether fitting that Time selected Putin as a successor to two-time winner George W. Bush. Like his friend the American president, Putin for good or ill (mostly ill) has made his nation a major force in global affairs. And as Time notes, he did so "at significant cost to the principles that free nations prize." In its tribute "A Tsar is Born," Time details... more Posted on December 19, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush to Add Veto to Torture Signing Statement When it comes to the debate over Congressional legislation to ban waterboarding of detainees by the CIA, President Bush is proving Marx's dictum that historical events occur twice, the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. After all, while the White House is threatening to veto the new interrogation restrictions passed this week by the House, President Bush happily issued a signing statement to the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act letting him alone judge what constitutes "cruel, inhuman,... more Posted on December 16, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Gonzales Stripped of ABA Lawyer of the Year Title The indignities never seem to end for former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. On Wednesday, I reported that the Journal of the American Bar Association had named Gonzales its 2007 "Lawyer of the Year". Now, just two days later, the ABA has bowed to the public outcry and announced it would strip Gonzales of his title. Instead, the ABA is bestowing a Miss Congeniality prize on him, relabeling Gonzales the "Newsmaker of the Year." Apparently, the ABA was too smart by... more Posted on December 15, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Plays Dumb on Mitchell Report, Own MLB Steroid Role In Washington today, President Bush predictably decried the conclusion of the Mitchell report, proclaiming "steroids have sullied the game." Even less surprising is Bush's call to put the steroid scandal "behind us." George W. Bush, after all, was the managing partner of the major league baseball's Texas Rangers, a team that featured many prominent abusers of performance-enhancing drugs, including his good friend Rafael Palmeiro. Speaking at the White House Rose Garden this morning, President Bush told reporters: "Like many fans,... more Posted on December 14, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Perino, Bush and the Unlearned Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis On Saturday, White House press secretary Dana Perino confessed her ignorance regarding the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs fiasco the previous year. Of course, it should come as no surprise that the chief spokesperson for President Bush would confuse John F. Kennedy's signature national security triumph with his greatest foreign policy failure. After all, President Bush is not merely ignorant of the history, but determined that JFK's two lessons from the Bay of Pigs - taking... more Posted on December 11, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Text of Bush Letter to Kim Jong-Il Released In a dramatic reversal of policy, President George W. Bush this week sent a personal letter directly to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. According to the text of the letter obtained by the AP and other media outlets, Bush urged Kim to come forward with the details of his nuclear plan. "I want to emphasize," Bush wrote, "that the declaration must be complete and accurate if we are to continue our progress." But according to anonymous sources within the White... more Posted on December 8, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Dishonors the Legacy of Pearl Harbor The anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor gives us an opportunity to remember our tragic loss that day, and reflect on the almost unimaginable sacrifices that generation of Americans made to protect the liberty of all who followed. But as I first suggested in 2005, our observance now includes a new ritual. With each passing year President Bush dishonors the memory of Pearl Harbor, misappropriating its meaning and lessons to support his partisan political purposes and his war in... more Posted on December 7, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Right Claims Iran NIE a CIA Plot Against Bush President Bush's amen corner in the conservative commentariat is apoplectic over the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran. After all, the report's conclusion that Tehran suspended its nuclear weapons program inn 2003 knocked the legs out from their "World War III" rhetoric. And as you'd expect, the same people who helped bring you the war in Iraq are now quick to claim CIA incompetence and conspiracies are behind the new assessment. At the head of the list of the... more Posted on December 4, 2007 \| Comments (9)

	Bush's M.C. Escher Strategy for Iraq More and more, President Bush's strategy in Iraq resembles an M.C. Escher illustration. Like the hands drawing each other or the elegant depiction of stairways that cannot possibly meet, the military progress of the U.S. surge is producing an image of a future Iraq that, while glorious to behold, can never be built. The very American alliances with Sunni tribal leaders that are reducing sectarian violence and the threat from Al Qaeda also threaten to undermine the Shiite majority government... more Posted on November 30, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	White House: Bush Never Resentful The visit of Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore to the Bush White House Monday constituted one of the more surreal moments in recent Washington memory. While Gore was quick to praise his campaign 2000 opponent ("He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation"), Bush press secretary Dana Perino made it clear the President harbored no ill-will towards the Oscar and Nobel-winning Vice President. "I know that this president does... more Posted on November 27, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	On Eve of Summit, State Dept Rewrites Middle East History As Condoleezza Rice prepares to host the Middle East summit in Annapolis this week, her State Department has issued an updated historical timeline of American efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The timeline is a fascinating document both for what it reveals and what it leaves out. The rise of Hamas and its election victories are mentioned nowhere. That might just be because President Bush's hands-off policy of malign neglect is in part responsible for it. The State Department's "Middle... more Posted on November 26, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	McCain, Betrayed by Bush, Rejects Signing Statements This week, Republican White House hopeful John McCain denounced George W. Bush's unprecedented use of presidential signing statements. As well he should. After all, it was President Bush's December 30, 2005 signing statement on McCain's amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act that made waterboarding and other acts of torture the continuing policy of the United States. On Monday, McCain announced that as President, he would reject signing statements altogether: "I would never issue a signing statement. It is wrong, and... more Posted on November 23, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Massive New Citizenship Backlog the Latest Voter Suppression? A Washington Post report that the Bush administration is facing a massive backlog of hundreds of thousands of applications for U.S. citizenship is sadly unsurprising. After all, as the Katrina disaster and new passport fiasco demonstrated, incompetence is the hallmark of President Bush's Department of Homeland Security. But with the news that hundreds of thousands of immigrants - many of them Hispanic - may be unable to vote in the 2008 elections, Americans can be forgiven for suspecting something more... more Posted on November 22, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	NY Daily News: Bush Furious with Rove Over Plame Leak in 2003 Just one day after excerpts from the upcoming Scott McClellan tell all book suggested President Bush lied about the roles of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in the Plamegate affair, the publisher is now back-tracking on the explosive claim. But despite a spokesman's assertion that McClellan "did not intend to suggest Bush lied to him," a seemingly forgotten 2005 story from the New York Daily News suggests otherwise. As Perrspectives, Talking Points Memo, the Washington Note and other blogs noted... more Posted on November 21, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	NYT Yielded to White House, Sat on Pakistan Nuclear Security Story The New York Times' recent report that the United States has been secretly helping Pakistan secure its nuclear arsenal contained another revelation. As with its 2005 expose of the Bush administration's illegal NSA domestic surveillance program, the Times sat on the Pakistan story at the request of the White House. Contrary to the repeated claims of President Bush and his amen corner, the New York Times has been more than deferential in letting the White House determine "all the news... more Posted on November 21, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	McClellan Book Confirms Bush's October 2003 Plamegate Lie On October 7th, 2003, President Bush famously declared of the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, "I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official." Now we have more insight as to Bush's misplaced confidence that the truth would remain hidden. In his new tell-all book, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan claims President Bush himself played an instrumental role in the failed cover up. In his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush... more Posted on November 20, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Bush Pardons Thanksgiving Turkey "Scooter" On Tuesday, November 20th, President Bush will reveal the identity of the National Thanksgiving Turkey, which in keeping with the annual White House tradition, will receive a presidential pardon. But according to well placed White House sources, the jailbird this year was selected months ago and is known internally by his code-name "Scooter." "Scooter" was convicted on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice for his part in covering up the effort to reveal the identity of covert CIA... more Posted on November 19, 2007 \| Comments (9)

	Break the War Funding Deadlock: The Iraq Apology Amendment One day after the House approved an Iraq war funding bill mandating American troop withdrawals, Republicans blocked a similar measure in the Senate. With GOP intransigence and a certain veto from President Bush leading to a high-stakes showdown they seem destined to lose, Democrats need a different strategy - at least for now. One way forward is to give President Bush the money for his fiasco in Iraq with no strings attached save one: he must apologize for it. Call... more Posted on November 16, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	FISA, Yahoo and the GOP Double-Standard on Telecom Immunity As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to debate the renewal of FISA revisions made in August, President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress are endorsing a unique double-standard when it comes to immunity for telecommunications firms. Within the United States, they argue, service providers such as AT&T and Verizon must cooperate with U.S. government demands for access to Americans' electronic communications and should be immune from citizens' lawsuits. But in China and elsewhere, as Republican reaction to this week's... more Posted on November 14, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Georgia Governor Perdue and the Top 10 Republican Prayers As a devastating drought continues to parch the Southeast, Republican Governors in Georgia and Alabama are turning to divine intervention to help replenish their dwindling water supplies. In Atlanta, Governor Sonny Perdue held a public vigil at the state house Tuesday to "pray up a storm." His plea follows on the heels on Alabama Governor Bob Riley's week-long "Days of Prayer for Rain" in June. As then-Governor George W. Bush showed with his 2000 proclamation of "Jesus Day," prayer is... more Posted on November 13, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Party of Hate In Washington, House Minority Leader John Boehner is struggling to rebrand a downtrodden and disheartened Republican Party in time for the 2008 elections. It's no wonder. Its agenda stymied and burdened by an unpopular war and an even less popular President, the GOP is being pulverized in the polls. And with its evangelical base splintered and big business supporters jumping ship, the only message seemingly uniting Republicans is disdain - of immigrants, of blacks, of gay Americans and above all,... more Posted on November 12, 2007 \| Comments (43)

	Hillary's Planted Questions and George W. Bush, Master of Political Theater The conservative commentariat and right-wing bloggers are apoplectic at revelations that Hillary Clinton fielded questions planted by her staffers during recent campaign appearances. Confirming the worst stereotypes of the ever-calculating, risk-averse Clinton, Bush sycophant Michelle Malkin labeled Hillary a "crapweasel." And she should know. After all, from planted reporters and purchased pundits to invitation-only events in front of friends-only audiences, it is George W. Bush who perfected the art of the stage managed appearance designed to "catapult the propaganda." From... more Posted on November 10, 2007 \| Comments (22)

	Yahoo, Communist China and Bush's America In Washington Tuesday, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee savaged Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan for the company's involvement in the 2005 jailing of a Chinese dissident. But if their bipartisan criticism of Yahoo's behavior - cooperating with a Chinese government "subpoena-like document" to supply information about journalist accused of the "illegal provision of state secrets" - sounds disingenuous, it should. After all, those are trademark tactics of the Bush administration and its Republican amen... more Posted on November 7, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Waterboarding the Constitution: Mukasey and Bush's 2005 Signing Statement As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to send the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey to the full Senate for confirmation as Attorney General. As the AP reports, Democrats Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) provided the decisive votes after accepting "his assurance to enforce any law Congress might enact against waterboarding." Sadly for Schumer, Feinstein and the American people, Congress in 2005 already passed a law express forbidding waterboarding and other interrogation techniques amounting to torture. And... more Posted on November 6, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Pakistan Irony Watch No doubt, these have been among the darkest days in the global war on terror. The president of one of the key powers in the fight against Al Qaeda terrorism has in essence suspended his nation's constitution and rendered its democratic institutions unrecognizable. Its citizens can be detained and held indefinitely without habeas corpus protections. Their electronic communications are now subject to interception without warrants. Suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members can be denied access to the protections of the... more Posted on November 4, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Edited ABC Iraq Story Latest White House PR Fraud Just days after revelations of fake FEMA press conferences and the altering of a CDC report to Congress, the Bush disinformation machine is at it again. As ThinkProgress reports, the White House redistributed to reporters an edited version of an ABC story in the hopes of painting a picture of unvarnished progress in Iraq. Apparently, deleting damaging references to the stillborn political process in Iraq is all in a day's work for a White House committed to helping President Bush... more Posted on November 2, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Avenging Angel Smites Bush Consumer Safety Chief After a brief hiatus, the Avenging Angel, punisher of right-wing miscreants, resumed delivery of conservative smitings. The retribution begins in Washington with Nancy Nord, the head of the Bush Consumer Products Safety Commission. First Nord demanded that Congress not increase the staffing and budget for her woefully under-funded agency in the face of massive Chinese product recalls. Just days later, the Washington Post revealed that she and her predecessor Hal Stratton received up to 30 paid trips from companies they... more Posted on November 2, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush, Putin Supporters Push for Third Terms With each passing day, the similarities between George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin grow more striking. Early on in his presidency, Bush "looked the man in the eye" and "was able to get a sense of his soul." He found that the former KGB chief shares Bush's professed fondness for dictatorship and preference for a compliant media that can help him "catapult the propaganda." And now, both Bush and Putin have supporters pushing for third terms for... more Posted on November 1, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Madrid Bombing Case to Fuel Bush Fears of Terror Trials For supporters of the Bush administration's crusade against civil liberties in its war on terror, today's rulings in the 2004 Madrid bombing case will no doubt provide more justification for detainee torture, the suspension of habeas corpus, military commissions and other clearly extra-constitutional measures. In Madrid today as in so many terrorism prosecution trials in the U.S., sometimes the suspects are not found guilty. In Spain, the rule of law would appear to be alive and well. 21 of 28... more Posted on October 31, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Mukasey and Gonzales: Discussions of Torture "Hypothetical" A little over a week ago, I documented the disturbing parallels between the confirmation testimonies of Attorney General nominees Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales. To the dismay of many members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mukasey like Gonzales decried the 2002 Bybee memo authorizing detainee torture, while withholding judgment on the legality of specific techniques such as waterboarding on the grounds that such as discussions are purely "hypothetical." Now, given the chance to clarify for the Senate, Mukasey dug his... more Posted on October 30, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Laura Bush: Policy Maker, Not Stereotype On Sunday, First Lady Laura Bush revealed a new side of her persona to the American people: policymaker. Describing herself "involved for a long time in policy," Mrs. Bush decried the Stepfordesque stereotype she claimed is applied to her. But given her past public statements and policy roles to date, Americans should be forgiven for chuckling in response. The still popular First Lady made her comments during an attempt to defend the indefensible, her husband's veto of the expansion of... more Posted on October 30, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	FEMA PR Fraud Philbin Loses Promotion at DNI As it turns out, the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. The force of gravity still applies on planet Earth. And for at least this one day, a minimal standard of punishment for ethical wrongdoing applies to the Bush administration. Just one day after I proclaimed that no official would pay a price for the despicable and shocking fake FEMA news conference on the California wildfires, the imbroglio has cost John Philbin, the agency's director of... more Posted on October 29, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Bush to Stay "Relevant" with Holsinger Recess Appointment? ThinkProgress speculates this morning that President Bush will give a recess appointment to James Holsinger, his bizarre and wildly homophobic nominee for Surgeon General. For the White House, Holsinger's quackery and desire to "cure gays" not only makes him a very attractive successor to the disagreeable Richard Carmona. More importantly, a recess appointment in the face of overwhelming opposition from the Senate Health Committee helps President Bush "ensure that I am relevant." It's just another part of George W. Bush's... more Posted on October 29, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Never a Firing Offense: FEMA PR Frauds Move On and Up One of the hallmarks of Bush administration has been its steadfast commitment to rewarding its own incompetence, fraud and even criminality. While Katrina fall-guy Michael Brown was quietly edged out, the leading architects of the fiasco in Iraq including George Tenet, Tommy Franks and Paul Bremer received Presidential Medals of Freedom. Now in the latest example of President Bush's mantra that "nothing succeeds like failure," Harvey Johnson has escaped punishment for his bogus FEMA press conference on Thursday, while his... more Posted on October 28, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Five Years Ago: Bush's Despicable Eulogy for Paul Wellstone Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Minnesota Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone. But while much of the liberal blogosphere has remembered Wellstone's fighting spirit, grassroots populism and prescient courage in opposing the war in Iraq, little attention has been paid to President Bush's despicable eulogy of Wellstone on that sad day. As we learned five years ago, this president's smallness and partisanship even extend to the dead. Commenting on the tragic death of the popular Democratic Senator Paul... more Posted on October 27, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	FEMA, CDC and Bush's Potemkin Presidency Two stories this week once again highlighted for Americans the Potemkin Presidency of George W. Bush. Confronting Stephen Colbert's maxim that "reality has a well-known liberal bias," the Bush administration tried to pull the wool over the eyes of Congress and the media. On Wednesday, the White House acknowledged it "eviscerated" the testimony of CDC Julie Gerberding on the health impacts of global warming. And on Thursday, Bush's FEMA director Harvey Johnson staged a faux news conference about the California... more Posted on October 26, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Ups the Ante on Cuba In Washington today, George W. Bush reinvigorated his counterproductive and anachronistic crusade against the Castro regime in Cuba. As the New York Times reports, President Bush used an address to an invitation-only audience of Cuban exiles to proclaim "the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power changes from one Castro brother to another." But while Bush's increasingly hard line may please his brother and the monolithically Republican Cuban community in Florida, his dangerously myopic... more Posted on October 24, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Deja Vu: Mukasey Channels Gonzales' 2005 Testimony By most accounts, Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey is not the intellectually stunted, duplicitous partisan hatchet man and unabashed Bush loyalist that was his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales. But in his testimony this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, Mukasey followed almost the same script on Bush administration torture policy as Gonzales during his own confirmation hearings in January 2005. As it turns out, both men disavowed the infamous 2002 Bybee memo and brushed aside questions about ongoing torture... more Posted on October 21, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Who's Counting? Bush and Giuliani on the Next World War President Bush's disturbingly flip comment Wednesday about Iran and World War III not only revealed his apparent comfort when discussing global conflagration. Bush's gaffe also showed the common vision between himself, the man most likely to succeed him as head of the Republican Party and those who advise them both. For George Bush, Rudy Giuliani and the likes of Norman Podhoretz, the only dispute about "world war" is whether we're already fighting it and what number we're on. For President... more Posted on October 18, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney's Law and the Constitutionality of FISA Last night's airing of the PBS Frontline documentary "Cheney's Law" could not have come at a more fitting time. As Congress begins debate on a new FISA bill and the issue of immunity for telecommunications firms, Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey begins confirmation hearings in the Senate. But as Frontline reminded us last night, the architects of the Bush administration's NSA domestic surveillance program believe FISA itself is unconstitutional. First, a little background. Cheney's Law describes the Vice President's decades-long... more Posted on October 17, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Snow Job: Bush's "Democrat Party" Taunt When former White House press secretary Tony Snow announced his resignation in August, he claimed his departure was motivated by his need for "dough." Appearing on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart Monday night, it turns out Snow is content to shill for President Bush for free. Rejecting the assertion that Bush was far from the self-proclaimed "uniter" of GOP lore, Snow pooh-poohed Stewart's example that a petulant, mean-spirited President intentionally taunted his Democratic opponents by calling theirs the "Democrat... more Posted on October 16, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Bush's Catch-22 on Al Qaeda in Iraq In a double-edged sword for the Bush administration, Monday's Washington Post reports that the Pentagon believes it has dealt "devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months." But with the good news surrounding Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), responsible for only a small fraction of the attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqi civilians, comes the Catch-22 for President Bush: the very dissipation of the Al Qaeda threat in Iraq removes his primary rationale for extending the... more Posted on October 15, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Rice, Bush Split on Dictatorship One day after Vladimir Putin scolded Secretary of State Condi Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates over the administration's plans for a European missile defense system, Rice fired back at the Russian president. But before lecturing Putin on his return to authoritarianism in Russia, Rice should have first checked with her boss President Bush about his own long-held views on dictatorship. Given the White House's penchant for torture, illegal surveillance of its own citizens, suspension of habeas corpus and the... more Posted on October 14, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush and Gore on the Prize Money The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore on Friday predictably produced flashbacks to the 2000 election fiasco, complete with the usual conservative venom and liberal wistfulness. But seemingly lost in the tales of the parallel lives of George W. Bush and Al Gore are their sharply contrasting views towards their respective legacies. Just follow the money. At his press conference yesterday, Gore announced he would donate his $750,000 Nobel Prize award to the Alliance for Climate Protection:... more Posted on October 13, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Payback Time: CIA Director Investigates His Inspector General Just one week after the New York Times revealed the existence of secret Bush administration memos condoning an uninterrupted policy of detainee torture by the CIA, it appears to be payback time. In a highly unusual move, CIA Director Michael Hayden has ordered an investigation into the agency's watchdog office itself, led by Inspector General John L. Helgerson. According to the New York Times, Hayden and Helgerson have clashed over a number of issues, including the IG's scathing assessment of... more Posted on October 12, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	The Price of Bush's Military Transformation Over just the past 24 hours, a flurry of stories have highlighted the growing and evolving burden facing the overstretched United States military. In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed the need to transform the American military to address the "fundamentally political nature" of its current and future conflicts. While the Marine Corps has proposed shifting its forces from Iraq to take over frontline duties in Afghanistan, the Army is offering bonuses of up to $35,000 to retain specialists from... more Posted on October 11, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Right-Wing Blogs Downplay Bin Laden Tape Damage, Probe Just one day after revelations by the private security firm SITE Institute that a U.S. government leak of its clandestinely obtained Osama Bin Laden video compromised its penetration of Al Qaeda's global computing network, U.S. intelligence officials announced a probe of the damaging episode. But in the Animal Farm world of the right-wing blogosphere where some national security leaks are more equal than others, the Bush administration's latest fear-mongering or perhaps just potential incompetence is hardly cause for concern. No... more Posted on October 10, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Leaked Bin Laden Tape Shows GOP Double Standard Today's revelations in the Washington Post regarding the Bush administration's September 7th leaking of an Osama Bin Laden videotape served to once again highlight the hypocritical Republican double-standard when it comes to the publication of classified national security information. As the CIA black sites and illegal NSA domestic surveillance stories all show, the President and his amen corner are quick to call for the prosecution of those who reveal White House criminality. But when Bush and his GOP allies through... more Posted on October 9, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Equal Opportunity Executioner Bush Finds Mexican Exception If there is any area of public policy where George W. Bush has been consistently "dead certain," it is almost certainly in the application of the death penalty. As Texas Governor and later as President, Bush showed himself to be an equal opportunity executioner, content to condemn the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, racist thugs and even born-again Christians alike. But today we learned even George W. Bush's apparent bloodlust has its limits, especially when it conflicts with his ongoing... more Posted on October 8, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Laughing at Torture The revelations last week concerning secret memos authorizing an uninterrupted policy of detainee torture by the Bush administration added a new chapter to the President's book of unchecked power, unbridled lawlessness and deceit. But even from national disgrace can come humor. Don Davis over at Satirical Political Report shows even torture can be laughed at. The Torture Advice Column by Devil's Advocate cheerfully helps guide would-be Gitmo interrogators and fans of the unitary executive up to the fine line of... more Posted on October 8, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Chris Matthews: Bush White House "Good Guys" Won't Silence Me At a party last night celebrating the 10th anniversary of his MSNBC show Hardball, Chris Matthews lashed out at the Bush administration for its efforts to control his editorial content. But if his claims that "they will not silence me" ring a little hollow, they should. After all, Chris Matthews has spent the last several years telling us that President Bush, his White House and the Republican leadership team are "good guys." Matthews' tough talk didn't end there. Without mentioning... more Posted on October 5, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Bush Signing Statement, Gonzales Perjury Concealed Torture Policy Thursday's devastating New York Times expose of the Bush administration's secret endorsement of torture by the CIA only served to confirm the worst what most Americans already suspected. First, Alberto Gonzales lied to Congress regarding the administration's policy on torture of detainees during his 2005 confirmation hearings. Second, President Bush's December 2005 signing statement accompanying the Detainee Treatment Act was expressly designed to exempt the lawbreaking he had already approved. As Perrspectives has detailed here and here, former White House... more Posted on October 4, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Hat Trick with S-CHIP Veto As White House press secretary Dana Perino promised Tuesday, President Bush on Wednesday "quietly" and "without ceremony" vetoed the expansion of the State Childrens Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Making good on his threat to block the additional $35 billion in funding over five years to boost the number of children covered under S-CHIP from 6.6 million to 10 million, Bush achieved three objectives - the proverbial hat trick - in one stroke of his veto pen. First, the President teed... more Posted on October 3, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	The Meaning of Blackwater In Washington today, all eyes are on the Blackwater hearings. But the relentless focus on potential atrocities committed by unaccountable, grotesquely overpaid private security firms in Iraq and Afghanistan obscures the larger issue for the United States. That is, mercenary forces simply should have no place in the national security structure of an American democracy. No doubt, mounting allegations of inappropriate use of force by Blackwater in Iraq justify the inquiry by Chairman Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and... more Posted on October 2, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Childrens Do Learn and the 4 Types of Bush Gaffes President Bush's hilarious and disturbing "childrens do learn" gaffe at an education event last week was just his latest in a long series of losing battles with his mother tongue. But while some scholars may seek to indict George W. Bush for his crimes against the English language, a generation of graduate students should thank the President for offering them the perfect thesis topic. While early analyses and collections of Bush malapropisms provide some insight into the rhetorical incontinence of... more Posted on October 1, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Hooked on Phonics at UN Early in his presidency, George W. Bush was an enthusiastic proponent of "Hooked on Phonics" for educating America's children. Now we know that his ringing endorsement came from personal experience. At the United Nations today, President Bush addressed the General Assembly using a crib sheet of phonetic pronunciations for those difficult country names and leaders sure to trip up any leader of the Free World. Much to the dismay of a White House which only yesterday deemed Barack Obama "intellectually... more Posted on September 25, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Ahmadinejad and Bush: Parallels and Second Comings The third visit to New York by the bombastic Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is producing predictable howls of protest. While Columbia students protested his upcoming address there and Mitt Romney called for his indictment for genocide charges when he appears before the UN, CBS 60 Minutes host Scott Pelle lectured Ahmadinejad on the supposedly laudable religiosity of his arch-foe, President Bush. But largely lost in the build-up of the Ahmadinejad-Bush confrontation are the striking - and disturbing - similarities between... more Posted on September 24, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Blackwater, Habeas Corpus and the Global Muslim Backlash Seldom do disparate breakings news stories converge to paint a larger picture. Even as news of atrocities by American military contractor Blackwater rocked Baghdad, Republicans in the Senate blocked the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act, ensuring that the most draconian features of the Bush administration's detainee policies remain in place. Meanwhile, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) lamented the presence of "too many mosques in this country." It's no wonder a recent Pew Research Center poll revealed plummeting approval ratings for the United... more Posted on September 19, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	New Jersey Fights Bush Over S-CHIP Cutbacks In August, the Bush administration fired a shot across the bow of those advocating the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Last week, New Jersey Governor John Corzine fired back. First, a little background. Last month, the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed separate packages adding an additional 3.3 million children to the 6.6 million already insured under the program covering low income families. The White House, hoping to block the expansion of the popular S-CHIP program, retaliated... more Posted on September 17, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	"Return on Success" Added to Official GOP Iraq Talking Points In his speech to the nation Thursday night, President Bush unveiled the latest official White House talking point on Iraq. Destined for regurgitation from reliable Republican mouthpieces is "Return on Success." That business sounding jargon from our first - and failed - MBA president is designed to reassure the American people that after our troops fight them there, they can come home here: The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is "return on success." The more successful... more Posted on September 14, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Ted Olson and Bush's Maximum Confrontation Strategy Today's New York Times reports that former Solicitor General Ted Olson has emerged as President Bush's leading choice to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. That Bush might tap the controversial Olson, a key player in the 1990's Arkansas project targeting Bill Clinton and the man who helped win the 2000 Florida recount at the Supreme Court, should come as no surprise. It's just another part of George W. Bush's strategy of "maximum confrontation" guiding the remainder of his presidency.... more Posted on September 12, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	9/11, the Politics of Fear and the Culture of Grief On this sixth anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 9/11 has come to symbolize two uniquely American political failings. First, in ritualistic observances around the nation, Americans will come together not in common resolve for shared sacrifice, but to perpetuate a culture of grief. Worse still, secure in his Pakistani safe haven, Osama Bin Laden even at large continues to serve the political purposes of the current and prospective occupants of the... more Posted on September 11, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Required Reading for Petraeus, Crocker Testimony With the long-awaited surge progress report from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker due beginning today, Perrspectives has updated its Iraq Document Center. The repository includes the latest news, statistics, key reports and other essential materials surrounding the Iraq war and its run-up. For more background to assess the Petraeus and Crocker testimony, the Iraq Document Center includes several recent reports concerning progress in Iraq, the state of the Iraqi security forces, and the stability of the Al Maliki... more Posted on September 10, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	"Virtually Impotent": Bin Laden or Bush? In the wake of the newest video from Osama Bin Laden, Bush homeland security adviser Fran Townsend feebly attempted to discount the importance of the still at-large Al Qaeda leader. Trapped in his mountain redoubt, she said, Bin Laden is "virtually impotent." But with the man he wanted "dead or alive" securely ensconced in his Pakistani safe haven and directing a reconstituted Al Qaeda network, it is President Bush who is looking impotent indeed. To be sure, the American intelligence... more Posted on September 9, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Bremer Letters Show Bush OK'd Disbanding Iraqi Army On Sunday, I detailed Bush biographer Robert Draper's stunning portrait of the President asleep at the switch as the disastrous May 2003 decision to dissolve the Iraqi army moved forward. As the New York Times relayed, a nonchalant Bush told Draper "The policy was to keep the army intact; didn't happen" and " Yeah, I can't remember, I'm sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?'" As Tuesday's New York Times now suggests, Coalition Provisional Authority viceroy L. Paul... more Posted on September 4, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	NYT: Bush Slept as Iraqi Army was Disbanded As I wrote this morning, today's New York Times offered a dismaying portrait of President Bush obsessed with his legacy - and potential financial windfall - after leaving office. But even more disturbing was the discussion of the Iraq war and the administration's calamitous 2003 move to disband the Iraqi army. When it came to perhaps the pivotal decision of the war, America's first MBA President simply acted like an absentee landlord. The American project in Iraq may well have... more Posted on September 2, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Replenish the Ol' Coffers: Bush on Life After the White House Some ex-Presidents grow in stature after their departure from the White House. Others are diminished by it. In a disturbing New York Times profile Sunday, President George W. Bush left little doubt which will be his destiny after exiting the Oval Office. In a series of interviews with author Robert Draper, Bush confirmed that the banality - and venality - that defined his presidency will characterize his post-presidency as well: First, Mr. Bush said, "I'll give some speeches, just to... more Posted on September 2, 2007 \| Comments (13)

	Tony Snow's Greatest Hits On Friday, White House press secretary Tony Snow announced he would be leaving his post on September 14. Snow attributed his departure neither to his cancer battle nor the implosion of the Bush presidency. Instead, the highest paid staffer in the Bush White House at $168,000 a year, Snow cited that most Republican of motives as fueling his resignation: money. But while Snow may need "the dough," he may need redemption even more. Asked about his future plans, Snow responded,... more Posted on September 1, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	White House: Bush Deserves "Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations" on Iraq Discussing "accountability" for education results in New Orleans yesterday, President Bush reiterated one of his favorite sound bites, "It's what I call challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations." Alas, not when it comes to the President himself and certainly not when the subject is progress in Iraq. A plea to extend the soft bigotry of low expectations to the President is exactly what the Bush White House requested today in response to the devastating assessment of Iraq progress detailed... more Posted on August 30, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	GAO Dispels Bush's Iraq "Making Progress" Myth Back in July, President Bush in his interim Iraq surge status report claimed progress that even some of his most fervent supporters viewed as pure fantasy. Now, just two weeks before General David Petraeus delivers his White House authored report to Congress, a new analysis from the GAO confirms the assessments of Bush's July delusion. The draft report from the Government Accountability Office paints a much darker picture of the situation in Iraq. On July 12, President Bush again trumpeted... more Posted on August 30, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Katrina: Four Stories of Bush Failure With the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Americans can expect an onslaught of grim retrospectives and even gloomier forecasts for the Gulf Coast. Stories recalling the destruction of New Orleans, the calamitous response of the Bush White House, rampant corruption in the storm's wake and the proposals of the 2008 presidential candidates will flood the web, the airwaves and the printed page. Perrspectives, too, is here to offer its look back on the Katrina disaster and the death of New... more Posted on August 29, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Alberto Gonzales' Greatest Hits Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have his announced his resignation, but his wrongdoing - and his words - live on. Alternately comically feeble and hilariously ham-handed, Gonzales' pathetic attempts to deceive, dissemble and literally forget his way out of the U.S. attorneys scandal, the NSA domestic surveillance imbroglio, the White House war on habeas corpus and even the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame approached Bush-level rhetorical incontinence. Here, then, are the greatest hits of Alberto Gonzales: "Mr. Comey's... more Posted on August 27, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Gonzo But Not Forgotten: The Crimes of Alberto Gonzales The welcome resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may be long overdue, but it is hardly the end of the story of his wrong-doing at the Bush White House and the Department of Justice. From illegal NSA domestic surveillance, condoning torture and the unprecedented expansion of presidential powers to undermining minority voting rights, the political purge of U.S. prosecutors and lying under oath to Congress, Gonzales' deception, misdeeds and blatant criminality extend well beyond Bush's beloved Fredo. The rumors emanating... more Posted on August 27, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Repeats His Texas War on Children's Health Insurance In Washington this week, the White House renewed George W. Bush's war against children's health care that dates back to his days as Governor of Texas. Just two weeks after the House and Senate each approved major expansions of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), the Bush administration announced draconian new eligibility rules that would trim thousands of low income children from the rolls. But unlike his Texas two-step when he claimed credit for a program he fought tooth... more Posted on August 23, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush, Giuliani Agree on Iraq-Vietnam Parallels In his address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars today, President Bush offered Americans what can only be called the "premature withdrawal" defense for his endless fiasco in Iraq. Claiming to predict Iraq's future by looking back to Vietnam's past, Bush declared the United States on the brink of victory pulled out too soon and condemned millions of Southeast Asians to the slaughter that ensued. But Bush's desperate act of revisionist history only served to confirm two basic truths. First,... more Posted on August 22, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Rove, Cheney and the Death of the Bush Doctrine Among the more tragi-comic aspects of the departure of Karl Rove is the media's renewed interest in the Bush Doctrine and its three tenets of no safe havens for terrorists, preventive war and democracy promotion. Last Monday, Rove claimed that the Bush Doctrine would live on and be the President's legacy. And this morning, the Washington Post described a frustrated President Bush stymied by what it portrayed as bureaucratic stonewalling of his ailing global democracy project. Lost in this flurry... more Posted on August 20, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Hurricane Dean: Texas Gets Bush's "Florida Treatment" As the category 4 Hurricane Dean barrels towards his home state of Texas, President Bush is trying to "get out front" of the storm's potentially devastating impact. Their state already declared a disaster area, the Lone Star State will not only benefit from the lessons of Katrina; it looks like Texans may get the "Florida treatment." The feverish preparations in Texas show the Bush administration is at least capable of learning some lessons from its 2005 Katrina calamity. Under new... more Posted on August 19, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	White House to Author "Fill Right" Iraq Report for Petraeus Among today's least surprising and most disturbing developments is the revelation from the Los Angeles Times that the Bush White House will author the much anticipated September 15 surge progress report for General David Petraeus. Despite President Bush's frequent claims along the lines of "I'm going to wait for David to come back - David Petraeus to come back and give us the report on what he sees," the assessment will actually be written the White House. As for the... more Posted on August 15, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Base Politics of Karl Rove In the wake of the resignation of Karl Rove, most media post-mortems of the architect of the Bush presidency describe his legacy as one of ultimate failure. That is, in the end Karl Rove fell short of his goal to secure a permanent Republican majority monopolizing all three branches of government for the next generation. Instead, he leaves behind a Democratic Congress and an unpopular, enfeebled President Bush. But those accounts fail to capture the enduring dark cloud that Karl... more Posted on August 14, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Flashback: The Karl Rove Whack-a-Mole Contest This morning, the Wall Street Journal delivered the happy news that Karl Rove is resigning effective the end of August. Whether his surprising departure signals he no longer has the stomach to sell President Bush's surge in September or to face endless Congressional investigations over his role in the political purge of U.S. attorneys remains to be seen. Regardless, the departure of one of the great uber fiends in modern American political history can't come a moment too soon. Across... more Posted on August 13, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Bush, Bonds Extend Dubious Records This week, two of the least trusted men in America extended their dubious records of accomplishment. Last night in San Francisco, the steroids-scandal tainted Barry Bonds added to his record home run total by swatting his 757th round-tripper. And this morning in Washington, George W. Bush held a rare press conference before commencing his annual August vacation, a recess which will pad his dismal presidential record for most days off. As the AP reported, after Bush's latest losing battle with... more Posted on August 9, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Democrats Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory on FISA With their shocking surrender over President Bush's draconian new FISA law this weekend, Congressional Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. They not only had the votes to safeguard American civil liberties and prevent the legalization of past Bush White House criminality. On FISA as we knew it before August 5, 2007, Democrats had the law - and public opinion - on their side. Until President Bush signed the so-called Protect America Act, his regime of warrantless NSA domestic... more Posted on August 7, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Blogs Left and Right Pursue NSA Leak Figure Within hours of Newsweek's revelation that the FBI had raided the home of former DOJ official Thomas M. Tamm in connection with the 2005 NSA domestic surveillance leak, both ends of the blogosphere have begun a feverish search to learn more about man at the center of the story. On the left, Tamm is portrayed as a not-too-mysterious whistle-blower who posted at sites likes Media Matters and perhaps more clandestinely at TPM Muckraker. And on the right, Tamm is being... more Posted on August 6, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Is the New York Times the Next NSA Leak Target? Just one day after learning the FBI raided the home of former DOJ attorney Thomas M. Tamm in connection with the December 2005 leak of President Bush's illicit NSA domestic surveillance program, conservatives are beginning to clamor for action against another target: The New York Times. Writing in Commentary, editor Gabriel Schoenfeld is renewing his call for the indictment of the New York Times for its December 16, 2005 publication of the NSA story. Perhaps sensing a momentum shift with... more Posted on August 6, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Payback Time: FBI Raids Home of Suspected NSA Leaker This past week, the Bush administration added insult to injury over its illegal program of NSA domestic surveillance. During the very time Congress was debating codifying President Bush's lawbreaking by revising the FISA law many of his allies had been afraid to publicly challenge as unconstitutional, Alberto Gonzales' DOJ was raiding the home of a former Justice official to identify the person who first brought the illicit program to light. As Michael Isikoff details in Newsweek, a team of FBI... more Posted on August 5, 2007 \| Comments (31)

	The Secret to Bush's Success? The Angry Man Theory A new study from a Yale scholar tries to explain why the image of a tough Hillary Clinton may not resonate with voters. But the findings, which suggest angry men are rewarded in American leadership roles while angry women are penalized, may do more to explain the unlikely rise of George W. Bush. The study by Victoria Brescoll, "When Can Angry Women Get Ahead," found that Americans will assign greater status - and salary - to angry men, while punishing... more Posted on August 3, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The 7th Anniversary of Bush's Broken Promise Seven years ago Friday George W. Bush uttered the now broken promise that has come to define his failed presidency. Accepting his party's nomination, Governor Bush promised to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House. But as events continue to show, a more accurate - and ironic - mantra for the lawless Bush White House would be "no controlling legal authority." At the time it was delivered, Bush's acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia was... more Posted on August 2, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	CNN to Add Bush Adviser Laura Ingraham? The disturbing descent of CNN into schizophrenia added a new chapter this week. The network asked Laura Ingraham to temporarily fill in for the outgoing Paula Zahn. As you'll recall, the right-wing radio host's resume includes her 2006 Democratic phone jamming operation. And most recently, as Oliver Willis now informs us, Ingraham served as informal adviser to President Bush. The addition of Ingraham is just the latest example of CNN's intermittent Fox envy. It comes just weeks after giving its... more Posted on August 2, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Giuliani Recycles Bush Health Care Plan While the field of 2008 GOP White House hopefuls continues to distance itself from President Bush, Rudy Giuliani today endorsed the moribund Bush health care plan lock, stock and barrel. And speaking on the eve of the President's looming veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) expansion, Giuliani made it clear he shares the same blighted market-driven philosophy as Bush. In New Hampshire today, Giuliani like Bush made a $15,000 family health care tax deduction to purchase private... more Posted on July 31, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Evangelical Civil War Over a Palestinian State? Sunday's New York Times reports a new fissure within the American evangelical movement. Already increasingly at loggerheads over global warming, evangelicals may be witnessing a new schism over the issue of a Palestinian state. And that means Pastor John Hagee and his end-of-times friends at Christians United for Israel (CUFI) are not happy. On Friday, a group of 30 evangelical leaders sent a letter to President Bush calling for a greater U.S. role in the creation of a Palestinian state.... more Posted on July 29, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Suppressing Votes - and Science Two stories this weekend presented different faces on the unwavering - and perhaps criminal - zeal of the Bush White House to acquire and maintain power. On Friday, PBS Now reported how a massive Republican "vote caging" scheme targeted minority (read Democratic) voters in key 2004 battleground states. And today, the Washington Post revealed that Bush HHS appointee William R. Steiger blocked the release of Surgeon General Richard Carmona's 2006 global health report for purely political reasons. Suppressing votes and... more Posted on July 29, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	UPDATED: The Bush/GOP Scandal Documents The Perrspectives Bush-GOP Scandal Document Library has been expanded to include the latest news, key reports, document releases and other essential materials surrounding Bush administration and GOP wrong-doing. From the U.S. attorneys purge, illegal NSA domestic surveillance and the Iraq war to PlameGate, torture scandals and the ongoing Jack Abramoff fall-out, it's all there: U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center NSA Domestic Surveillance Scandal Center Iraq Intelligence and WMD Document Center Plamegate CIA Leak Resources Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff Scandal... more Posted on July 29, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Fragging Rights The ever more disturbing Pat Tillman saga is predictably stirring rage across the blogosphere. Most just want to know the truth about a seeming White House cover-up that may include the horrible possibility that Tillman was "fragged," that is, purposely killed by his fellow troops in Afghanistan. But while the Tillman affair is spawning conspiracy theories on all sides, it is once again drawing attention to some conservatives' apparent comfort with fragging itself. Over at ThinkProgress, Iraq veteran and VoteVets... more Posted on July 28, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Specter's Latest Hamlet Act This week, Senator Arlen Specter offered his latest performance as Hamlet in the unfolding Alberto Gonzales drama. Just one day after essentially accusing Gonzales of perjury before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Specter once again backed away from taking action against the Bush administration and instead criticized his Democratic colleagues for "playing politics." As I've written before ("Specter's Failure to Launch"), Specter like Shakespeare's Danish prince simply can't bring himself to avenge the crimes of his king. Something certainly is rotten... more Posted on July 27, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Simpsons Explain the Bush Presidency As The Simpsons movie opens this weekend, President Bush is under a withering assault from all sides. White House aides face contempt of Congress charges and Senate Judiciary Committee members call for a special counsel to probe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales while the President's position on the Iraq war grows more untenable.. Which is altogether fitting. As I explained back in April, a 2000 episode of The Simpsons perhaps best explains how the Bush presidency survives because of - and... more Posted on July 26, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Stephen Hayes: Cheney's Favorite Iraq-9/11 Fabulist Now Biographer Predictably, mainstream media discussion of Stephen Hayes' new biography of Vice President Dick Cheney has focused on his "unprecedented access" and salacious details. But while the Beltway is a abuzz about Cheney's decision to take the "cruddy job" of Vice President and Hayes' fanciful tale about a seemingly homophobic Cheney telling Senator Pat Leahy to "f**k yourself", little attention has been paid to Hayes himself. Which is too bad. Because as the history shows, whether the issue is non-existent Saddam-9/11... more Posted on July 24, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Admits Failure of "No Safe Havens" Policy Three weeks ago, news of an aborted 2005 U.S. raid against Al Qaeda targets in Pakistan confirmed the failure of a key tenet of the Bush Doctrine, "no safe havens for terrorists." Now, it would appear, President Bush himself agrees with that assessment. In his Saturday radio address, President Bush tried to spin the new National Intelligence Estimate and its warnings regarding a dangerously resurgent Al Qaeda in Pakistan. But buried among cherry-picked quotes about successes against Bin Laden's organization... more Posted on July 23, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Up or Down Vote: Death of a GOP Talking Point On Thursday morning, July 19th, the beloved GOP talking point "up or down vote" was officially declared dead. Its demise was little noticed in the aftermath of the Senate Republicans' successful all-night filibuster to block the Reed-Levin bill seeking to begin U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq. "Up or down vote" was killed by a desperate Republican Party trying to obstruct Democratic accomplishments at any cost in advance of the 2008 elections. And so far, the GOP seems to be getting... more Posted on July 22, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Bush to Iraq Amputee: "We're Gonna Get Him Some New Legs" Just 10 days ago, President Bush's bizarre sense of humor seemingly reached a new low when he made a 13 year old girl cry during an event in Cleveland. Today, the compassionate conservative returned to one of his favorite past-times, making light of the disabled. This time, the victim of President Bush's childlike callousness was an Iraq veteran - and double-amputee. Surrounding by servicemen during a speech today, Bush recalled his conversation with an Iraq soldier who lost both legs... more Posted on July 20, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	S-CHIP On Bush's Shoulder With his vocal opposition to the expansion of the S-CHIP program to provide health care coverage for more of America's children, President Bush is returning to the same tried and true formula he first pioneered in Texas. That is, Bush initially fought the legislation on ideological grounds before caving to popular pressure and grudgingly accepting some version of the bill. Then, as with the Texas S-CHIP program, the Texas Patients Bill of Right and the 2003 Medicare prescription drug benefit,... more Posted on July 19, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Petraeus and Bush's Coming Iraq Blame Game In the Washington Post today, Dan Froomkin offered readers a preview of the fate that awaits General David Petraeus at the hands of President Bush. Petraeus should prepare for his designated role as Bush's Iraq fall-guy come September because, as Froomkin noted, "he has a tendency to celebrate his generals when they're providing him political cover -- then stick a knife in their backs when they're no longer of any use to him." And as I wrote last December, outsourcing... more Posted on July 16, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Republicans Quiet on Iraqi - and Bush - Vacations Just one day after the Iraqi government received failing marks in President Bush's surge interim progress report, Americans learned that the Iraqi parliament is proceeding with its plans to take off the month of August. But while the American people may be up in arms, President Bush's amen corner is predictably silent. After all, given Bush's own record-setting penchant for vacationing during crises here at home, Republicans are understandably reticent to criticize the absentee government in Baghdad. Judging by the... more Posted on July 14, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	"We're Making Progress" - Bush's History of Iraq In Washington yesterday, George W. Bush encountered what might be deemed the "reverse Chicken Little moment" of his presidency. That is, Americans have simply stopped believing his perpetual claims of sunny skies to come in Iraq. As the President delivered the interim progress report on his Iraq surge, he was greeted with dropped jaws and incredulous stares across the political spectrum. It wasn't just anti-war stalwart Jack Murtha calling Bush "delusional." On Friday, Bill O'Reilly told his former Fox News... more Posted on July 13, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Nixon Presidential Library Fraud Ends As Bush's Begins With each day, the Bush presidency more and more resembles the disgraced tenure of Richard Nixon. This past week alone brought dubious assertions of executive privilege, new revelations of domestic surveillance and civil rights violations, similarly dismal poll ratings and even a presidential pardon. And now, it seems, the disturbing Nixon-Bush parallels extend to their presidential libraries. As the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and others reported today, federal archivists officially took control of the Nixon Presidential Library in... more Posted on July 11, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	CIA: Resurgent Al Qaeda Now at Pre-9/11 Capability On Saturday, Americans learned that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2005 cancelled a major U.S. raid into Pakistan designed to decapitate much of Al Qaeda's senior leadership. Now, a new CIA assessment details the steep price the U.S. is paying for President Bush's failure to enforce his mantra of "no safe havens." U.S. intelligence analysts, the AP reports, have concluded Al Qaeda has "rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the 2001 terrorist attacks." This... more Posted on July 11, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Politics and Crime at the FDA On the same day that former Surgeon General Richard Carmona told Congress about the politicization of his office by the White House, a bizarre story from China served as a reminder of other past Bush wrong-doing at the FDA. The Beijing government punished the former head of the Chinese Food and Drug Administration for approving bogus medicine in exchange for cash. Which sounds like President Bush's former FDA chief, Dr. Lester Crawford. As you may recall, Crawford mysteriously resigned in... more Posted on July 10, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Iraq Surge Wins Rave Reviews For the Bush administration, the marketing of the "surge" in Iraq more and more looks like an ad for a Hollywood flop. In this case, the box office numbers are in and the film is a dismal failure. And yet a small but reliable group of friendly critics continues to offer rave reviews for "Iraq: The Surge." No doubt, the tidal wave of bad news this week confirms Bush's Iraq escalation has achieved Ishtar-level disaster status. A mandated interim progress... more Posted on July 10, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Like Father, Like Son Karl Marx famously remarked that historical events occur twice, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. In the case of President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence, Marx had it half-right. Americans are reliving George H.W. Bush's 1992 Iran-Contra pardons, with the same tragic consequences for the rule of law in the United States. All that's missing in 2007 is the convenient death of one of the principal conspirators. As Digby, Jane Hamsher and Kagro X... more Posted on July 8, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Pakistan Raid: So Much for "No Safe Havens" Sunday's New York Times offers an explosive story of an aborted 2005 U.S. raid into Pakistan, a special forces operation designed to "snatch and grab" Ayman Al Zawahiri and other senior Al Qaeda leaders. The story, following July 2006 revelations that the CIA had previously disbanded its Bin Laden unit, gives lie to one of the central tenets of the so-called Bush Doctrine: no safe havens for terrorists. The Times piece details Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld running roughshod over then... more Posted on July 7, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	UPDATED: The Bush-GOP Scandal Document Center The Perrspectives Bush-GOP Scandal Document Library has been expanded to include the latest news, key reports, document releases and other essential materials surrounding Bush administration and GOP wrong-doing. From Plamegate and the Scooter Libby commutation, the U.S. attorneys purge and illegal NSA domestic surveillance to Iraq intelligence manipulation, torture scandals and the ongoing Jack Abramoff fall-out, it's all there: Plamegate CIA Leak Resources U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center Iraq Intelligence and WMD Document Center NSA Domestic Surveillance Scandal Center Tom... more Posted on July 7, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Fred Thompson, Nixon Watergate Mole Back in May, I contrasted the Watergate legend of Fred Thompson with his current role as a fundraiser and spokesman for the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Fund. As a Republican counsel to the Senate Watergate committee, Thompson famously asked Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield if there were listening devices in the White House. In 2007, he asked President Bush to pardon Libby, a convicted felon and former Cheney chief-of-staff. As it turns out, Thompson's staunch defense of Plamegate mole Scooter Libby... more Posted on July 5, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	The Consistent Inconsistency of George W. Bush Enough has been made by this (and virtually every other center-left) blog about President Bush's outrageous endorsement of his administration's law-breaking and ongoing obstruction of justice with the Libby commutation. But it is worth remembering that this is merely Bush being Bush, consistent in his own inconsistency. That is, a gleeful vengeance towards criminals occupies a high place in George W. Bush's pantheon of values. Just not as high, as we all should long have since known, as rewarding personal... more Posted on July 4, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Libby and the GOP's Criminalization of Politics Defense As Scooter Libby awoke this morning to find God in his heaven and all right with the world, his apologists were fast at work in regurgitating the trusty Republican "criminalization of politics defense" to fend off criticism of President Bush's shocking endorsement of law-breaking. Of course, that's what the conservative movement has been reduced to. Whether the scandal involves the outing of Valerie Plame, the misdeeds of Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff, or the U.S. attorneys purge, we can always... more Posted on July 3, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Neither Right Nor Legal: Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence As expected, President Bush chose loyalty over the rule of law and commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby. While Vice President Cheney's former chief-of-staff still must face a two year probation and a $250,000 fine, the President sent a clear but cowardly message that breaking the law in the service of his agenda is the expectation in the Bush White House: "I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.... more Posted on July 2, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	DOJ Wins Mississippi White Voter Suppression Case In May 2006, Perrspectives detailed the one of the few efforts by the Bush Department of Justice to fight election bias. In a tragi-comic inversion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the DOJ argued that the African-American Democratic Executive Committee chairman in Noxubee County Ike Brown led an effort to suppress the vote of white residents. As it turns out, on Friday a federal judge agreed that white voters were subjected to discrimination based upon their race. Given the... more Posted on June 30, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Ashcroft Contradicts Gonzales' Testimony on NSA Program Last week, Perrspectives detailed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lying under oath regarding the Bush administration's internal debate over the legality of its NSA domestic surveillance program. Now, former Attorney General John Ashcroft in closed door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee confirmed that Gonzales once again lied to Congress. House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) summarized Ashcroft's description today of the discord within the Bush administration: "It is very apparent to us that there was robust and enormous debate... more Posted on June 21, 2007 \| Comments (9)

	Red States Opposing Employee Free Choice Act Need It Most In Washington this week, the Senate will take up the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Passed by the House 241-185 in March, EFCA would make it much easier for unions to organize. Predictably, red state Republican Senators backed by an alliance of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will likely prevent the measure from coming to a vote. Which is too bad. After all, from wages and benefits to job opportunities and collective bargaining rights, it is... more Posted on June 20, 2007 \| Comments (8)

	EXPANDED: The Bush-GOP Scandal Document Center The Perrspectives Bush-GOP Scandal Document Library has been expanded to include the latest news, key reports, document releases and other essential materials surrounding Bush administration and GOP wrong-doing. From the U.S. attorneys purge, Plamegate, and illegal NSA domestic surveillance to Iraq intelligence manipulation, torture scandals and the ongoing Jack Abramoff fall-out, it's all there: U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center Iraq Intelligence and WMD Document Center Plamegate CIA Leak Resources NSA Domestic Surveillance Scandal Center Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff Scandal... more Posted on June 19, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	The Death of the Bush Doctrine That wheezing sound you may have heard this week amid the chaos in Gaza, the carnage in Baghdad and the conflict in Lebanon was the final gasps of the Bush Doctrine in its death throes. Just two years after the President and his neo-conservative allies basked in the glow of their self-proclaimed moment of triumph, the Bush Doctrine of no safe havens for terrorists, American preventive war and democracy promotion is discredited, discarded - and dead. The ruins of the... more Posted on June 16, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Gonzales Lies to Congress. Again. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has lied to Congress - again. Raw Story is reporting that despite Congress' passage of the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007, Gonzales has once again used the interim hiring authority for U.S. attorneys rescinded by that bill. Sadly, this is precisely what Gonzales promised Congress - under oath - he would never do. During his January 18th testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, misled the Senate about the critical importance of a hitherto... more Posted on June 14, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Steals Clinton's Applause in Albania In Albania this weekend, President Bush learned that there is at least one place on earth where he is still welcome. Massive crowds and adoring throngs in the primarily Muslim nation came out to greet the President in Tirana to thank Bush for his support of independence for their ethnic brethren in Kosovo. But in this as in so many other areas, George W. Bush is only to happy to accept applause intended for Bill Clinton. Sadly, back in 1999... more Posted on June 11, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	How to Make the Stem Cell Bill Veto-Proof Just two days after the third anniversary of the death of Ronald Reagan, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill easing restrictions on stem cell research favored by his family. But with President Bush promising to once again veto what he called "a recycled old bill," Democrats will need a new strategy to win one for the Gipper. As I wrote back in April, all the stem cell bill needs is a name change - and a little help... more Posted on June 8, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Libby Sentence: Burning Questions For one day at least, God is in his heaven and all is right with the world. In Washington, Judge Reggie Walton sentenced former Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby to serve 30 months in prison and pay a $250,000 fine for his perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame affair. But while that issue of meting out justice to one of the perpetrators of the outing of a covert CIA operative and the selling of the Iraq war was... more Posted on June 5, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Misreading History: Bush, Korea and Endless War in Iraq Once again, President Bush confirmed he is no reader of the history books. Just days after a scathing report from the Senate Intelligence Committee detailed how the Bush administration ignored the CIA's dire warnings of sectarian strife and civil war in post-Saddam Iraq, the White House pointed to South Korea as a model for the American military presence in Iraq. The prospect of a multi-generational commitment of U.S. forces to support the government in Baghdad not only raised the specter... more Posted on June 3, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	UPDATED: Bush-GOP Scandal Document Center The Perrspectives Document Library has been expanded to include the latest news, key reports, document releases and other essential materials surrounding Bush administration and GOP wrong-doing. From the U.S. attorneys purge, Plamegate, and illegal NSA domestic surveillance to Iraq intelligence manipulation, torture scandals and the ongoing Jack Abramoff fall-out, it's all there. Some of the latest developments and additions to the Perrspectives Document Library: U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center Despite Alberto Gonzales' vow to "sprint to the finish line," the... more Posted on June 3, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's AIDS PR Scam On Wednesday, President Bush once again turned to AIDS for air cover in the battle for global opinion. Facing the prospect of universal condemnation by the international community for a wildly unpopular American policy, President Bush tried to change the topic and buy some global goodwill by announcing massive new U.S. AIDS funding. This time, Bush is trying to deflect criticism of American global warming policy in advance of next week's G8 summit. In 2003, of course, his problem was... more Posted on May 31, 2007 \| Comments (11)

	Richardson, Hispanic Organizations Fail the Gonzales Test It's no surprise that the ongoing controversy over Alberto Gonzales' role in the purging of U.S. prosecutors has revealed the limitless intent of the Bush administration to convert the Department of Justice into an appendage of the Republican Party. What is more surprising - and deeply disappointing - is the unwillingness of leading Hispanic figures and organizations to take on one of their own. With his hesitation to call on Attorney General Gonzales to resign, Democratic presidential hopeful Governor Bill... more Posted on May 29, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Fred Thompson: Watergate Hero Turned Plamegate Villain As Republicans await with baited breadth the signal that former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is jumping into the 2008 presidential race, more ironic revelations concerning the politician-turned-actor continue to surface. As it turns out, the Watergate hero who helped reveal Richard Nixon's Watergate cover-up is now helping Scooter Libby facilitate his Plamegate smoke-screen. To follow Thompson's evolution from nonpartisan truth seeker to Republican shill, take a trip back to the Senate Watergate hearings of 1973 and 1974. As I rediscovered... more Posted on May 25, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Politicizing Crime Among the least surprising developments arising from Monica Goodling's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee was the reflexive use of the "criminalization of politics" defense. Not by the witness, that is, but by Republican members of the committee themselves. That is to be expected. After all, whether the scandal involves Tom Delay, the outing of Valerie Plame, Jack Abramoff, or the U.S. attorneys purge, we can always count on the GOP to recast its rampant criminality as mere political disagreement.... more Posted on May 24, 2007 \| Comments (8)

	Monica Goodling's Immaculate Conception In her testimony today before the House Judiciary Committee, former DOJ White House liaison Monica Goodling joined Alberto Gonzales, Kyle Sampson and Paul McNulty in disclaiming any role in the creation of the infamous list of U.S. attorneys to be fired. It should comes as no surprise that the graduate of Regent University law school would have us believe the list so central to the prosecutors purge appeared magically, untouched by the hands of man. Call it Immaculate Conception. Goodling... more Posted on May 23, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	UPDATED: U.S. Attorney Scandal Resource Center With Monica Goodling's testimony underway, the Perrspectives U.S. Attorney Scandal Resource Center has been updated. For all the latest news, document dumps, email archives, hearing transcripts and other essential materials in the political motivated firings of U.S. attorneys, see "The U.S. Attorney Resource Center."... more Posted on May 23, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	When Bush Comes to Shove: Specter's Saga On Sunday, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter repeated his familiar pattern of feigned independence from the Bush White House. Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Specter announced his expectation that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would resign in the face of a looming no-confidence vote in the Senate. But as I wrote in February, whether the issue concerns the political firings of U.S. attorneys, the illegal NSA domestic surveillance program, presidential statements or the Valerie Plame leak, Arlen Specter's initial outrage... more Posted on May 21, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Armageddon as Foreign Policy: Dobson, Bush and Iran While Jerry Falwell has passed from the scene, many of his fellow End-of-Times evangelical allies still enjoy unfettered access to and dangerous influence over President Bush, especially when it comes to Iran. As Focus on the Family head James Dobson reported on his radio show on Monday, he and a group of evangelical leaders met with Bush at the White House to discuss policies towards Tehran that keep all options on the table. As I wrote last year, that includes... more Posted on May 16, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	The Bedside Manners of Alberto Gonzales and Newt Gingrich While likely GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in April called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign over his "mishandling" of the U.S. prosecutors purge, it turns out the two men have a lot in common. As we learned on Tuesday, when it comes to pressuring the gravely ill, Gonzales and Gingrich share the same bedside manners. During his testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey detailed then White House Counsel Gonzales' visit to... more Posted on May 16, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Encore Performance! Gonzales as Sgt. Schultz For those who missed Alberto Gonzales' act of self-immolation before Senate Judiciary Committee on April 19, the Attorney General is set to offer an encore performance during Thursday's hearing about the purged prosecutors before the House Judiciary Committee. As MSNBC, Politico and TPM Muckraker are all reporting, Gonzales will offer the House virtually the same disastrous prepared statement he offered the Senate last month. In addition to the tomorrow's expected endless repetition of "I don't recall," the hapless Attorney General... more Posted on May 9, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	No GOP Plan B for Iraq By now, Americans should have grown accustomed to the Bush administration's opposition to Plan B. But as it turns out, the ideologues of the Republican Party not only oppose Plan B for American women. They oppose Plan B for American troops mired in the civil war in Iraq That's the message from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). On Sunday, Boehner stood by President Bush's surge strategy, proclaiming "We don't even have all of the 30,000 additional troops in Iraq... more Posted on May 7, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Iraq Mad Libs Watching President Bush deliver his promised veto of the Iraq supplemental funding bill yesterday was akin to a bad game of Mad Libs. The President predictably demonstrated his resolve by filling-in the blanks in his speech by resorting to his repertoire of worn-out Iraq talking points, such as "surrender date" and "handcuffing the generals." Now you can play Bush Iraq Mad Libs at home. Laugh for hours with family and friends as you construct your own after-the-fact bogus war rationale,... more Posted on May 2, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Iraq Benchmarks and Bush's Double-Standard on Accountability For an administration that claims to place so value on "accountability," the Bush White House once again exempted itself and its allies. On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice announced that President Bush would reject any Iraq funding bill that included benchmarks for the Al Maliki in government in Baghdad. As it turns out, that free pass for Al Maliki not only flies in the face the President's own words from January, but contradicts the "accountability" talking point comically present... more Posted on May 1, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Mission Accomplished: 4 Years of GOP Iraq Talking Points On Tuesday May 1st, the United States will mark the fourth anniversary of President Bush's declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. But as the carnage continues and the war funding debate rages, President Bush and allies in the conservative amen corners can only offer the American people new and recycled talking points to sell his catastrophically ill-conceived war without end. Here, then, is a look back at four years of wartime marketing gone bad. What follows below is by no... more Posted on April 29, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Surviving All Scandals: President Bush as Mr. Burns With each passing day, the scandal-plagued Bush White House more and more resembles a 2000 episode of The Simpsons. During a check up, the nuclear power tycoon Mr. Burns is informed by his doctor that "you are the sickest man in the United States. You have everything." (See a video clip here.) But the doctor reassures Burns that the news isn't all bad and that he will survive because "all of your diseases are in perfect balance." And so it... more Posted on April 26, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	The Suffering of Laura Bush & Bubble Boy Among the more enduring mysteries of the current American political scene is the continued popularity of First Lady Laura Bush. For the third time in just under a year, Mrs. Bush insulted our troops and their families. Appearing on the Today Show, the First Lady offered the American people this shining nugget of detachment and tone-deafness: "No one suffers more than their President and I do." Laura Bush's shocking callousness today is hardly her first offense. As Perrspectives reported back... more Posted on April 25, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Gonzales and Bush's "What is Right" Ethical Standard Among today's least surprising developments is President Bush's latest expression of support for his embattled Attorney General. Despite Alberto Gonzales' near-death experience before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, the President proclaimed that his long-time friend "increased my confidence." What is even less surprising, of course, is that George W. Bush continues to make a mockery of his cynical campaign 2000 pledge to ask "not only what is legal but what is right." As you'll recall, candidate Bush presented himself... more Posted on April 23, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	President Bush, Confidence Man With the exploding scandals at the Justice Department and the World Bank enveloping his administration, President Bush voiced "full confidence" in Alberto Gonzales and Paul Wolfowitz this week. But as history has shown, there is no more certain confirmation of the criminality, ethical-wrong doing or imminent departure of a Bush team player than the President's expression of confidence in him. By that standard, the prospects are not bright for Attorney General Gonzales and World Bank president Wolfowitz. On April 19,... more Posted on April 21, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Gonzales' Sgt. Schultz Defense In his testimony regarding the U.S. attorneys scandal before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again offered his Sgt. Schultz defense. Like the bumbling German guard in Hogan's Heroes, Gonzales essentially claimed "I know nothing, nothing!" Sadly, his own recent statements show that while Gonzales may be similarly stupid, he is not ignorant. The Attorney General's recent op-eds show his dilemma. While claiming to have played no role in the evaluation of the fired attorneys,... more Posted on April 19, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	The GOP War on the Doctor-Patient Relationship From the moment he entered the White House, President Bush proclaimed the "doctor-patient relationship" the centerpiece of his policies when it comes to Americans' health care. Just not, as it turns out, for American women. As today's Supreme Court decision upholding the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act shows, President Bush and his Republican allies don't care much at all about the doctor-patient relationship when it comes to women's reproductive health and safety. A quick look back shows that "protecting... more Posted on April 18, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Gonzales' Dueling Op-Eds In anticipation of his make-or-break testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday regarding his role in the partisan purge of U.S. attorneys, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took to the pages of the Washington Post to save his neck. But by contradicting his own March 6th USA Today op-ed, Gonzales may have simply tightened the noose. In his April 15 Washington Post piece ("Nothing Improper"), Gonzales resorts to the dual defenses of revisionist history and hazy memory. President Bush's... more Posted on April 15, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Key Role Revealed in Iglesias Firing On Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal published an explosive article detailing the critical roles of President Bush, Karl Rove and New Mexico Senator Pete in the sacking of U.S. attorney David Iglesias. Alberto Gonzales' apparent opposition to Iglesias' ouster and the timeline of events leading up to it suggest President Bush was being less than truthful about his own role in the prosecutor purge. Back on March 13, President Bush brushed aside questions about the exploding scandal and the possibility of... more Posted on April 15, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	U.S. Attorneys and the Visible Hand of the Federalist Society Among the revelations contained in the latest DOJ document dump is the central role of the Federalist Society in entrenching the permanent Republican majority among the ranks of the U.S. attorneys. As FireDogLake, ThinkProgress and others have reported, membership in the Federalist Society was crucial to a favorable ranking by the Gonzales team entrusted with purging the USAs ranks of those not "loyal Bushies." But as Perrspectives detailed back in the spring of 2005, the conservative Federalist Society is the... more Posted on April 13, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	How to Override the Bush Stem Cell Veto With Harry Reid's stem cell research bill headed to a Senate vote this week, Congressional Democrats and President Bush are on the brink of yet another confrontation. But while the White House is promising to repeat its 2006 veto, the ending can be different this time. All the Reid legislation needs is a name change - and a little help from Ronald Reagan. The failure to override President Bush's veto in 2006 shows that broad bipartisan backing in Congress, aggressive... more Posted on April 10, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Tommy Thompson and the Bush Kiss of Death On Wednesday, former Wisconsin Governor and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson joined the increasingly crowded field in the 2008 Republican presidential race. But thanks to his enabling role in President Bush's Medicare prescription fiasco, Thompson's White House prospects were already dim even before last week's announcement. Like Michigan's John Engler and New Jersey's Christie Todd Whitman before him, Thompson is yet another new wave Republican Governor of the 1990's whose rising star was snuffed out by the reverse... more Posted on April 8, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Michael Chertoff on Clean Skin and Homegrown Terrorism Among the loyal hacks who permeate the Bush administration, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been one of the most reliably banal. So when Chertoff described the threat to the United States from so-called "clean skin" terrorists, most liberal bloggers understandably assumed this was just the latest example of that brand of casual conservative racism that brought us the "tar baby" slur from Tony Snow, Mitt Romney and John McCain. But, for once, Chertoff might deserve slightly more credit than... more Posted on April 4, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Gonzales, Doan and the Republican Diversity Defense "Diversity" is one word that is rarely associated with the conservative movement in general and the Republican Party in particular. From immigration and affirmative action to redistricting and minority voting rights, the lily-white GOP and its amen corner advocate a monotone, melanin-free vision for America. But when it comes to efforts by Republicans Alberto Gonzales and Lurita Doan to convert their federal agencies into entrenched partisan redoubts of the GOP, the right has been very quick indeed to turn to... more Posted on April 1, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Keith Ellison, Syria and the Coming Conservative Smear Today's announcement that a Congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet with Syrian President Bashir Al-Assad during a four nation Middle East swing was sure to raise the ire of the White House. But because the bipartisan group includes the Muslim Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, the predictable conservative catcalls of treason are also almost sure to follow. During the visit, the delegation will visit Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Israel, where Speaker Pelosi will address the Knesset.... more Posted on March 30, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	NBC's Williams Nails Gonzales on His Catch-22 In a surreal interview today with Alberto Gonzales, NBC's Pete Williams highlighted the shifting sands underneath the Attorney General's increasing untenable position. With a single question, Williams revealed Gonzales' Catch-22 in the firings of U.S. attorneys: he cannot claim to both have played no role in the evaluations of the fired attorneys and know that their sackings were the result of performance issues: Williams: To put this question another way - if you didn't review their performance during this process,... more Posted on March 26, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Cornyn Threatens Judges, Protects Gonzales When it comes to defending the criminal wrong-doing of the Bush administration, few Republicans in Congress circle the wagons better than Texas Senator John Cornyn. With the exploding scandal over the firings of U.S. attorneys threatening the White House, Cornyn has come to the assistance of fellow former Texas Supreme Court justice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. How ironic then that the same John Cornyn who defends "the Judge" now was the same man who two years ago excused violence against... more Posted on March 25, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Specter's Failure to Launch Watching Republican Senator Arlen Specter challenge Bush administration wrong-doing is like witnessing a failed rocket launch. After the initial furious explosion of hot air, Specter almost immediately loses momentum and never breaks the dark gravitational pull of planet Bush. Specter's performance Thursday during the Senate Judiciary Committee's debate over issuing White House subpoenas in the firing of U.S. attorneys was certainly no exception. After the testimony two weeks ago of six of the fired prosecutors, Specter joined the bipartisan chorus... more Posted on March 23, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	The "Sentence Scooter" Contest Winners Perrspectives is pleased to announce the winners of the "Sentence Scooter Contest." Two weeks ago, we asked readers to provide a fitting sentence for Mr. Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff convicted on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. And what could be more fitting than to mete out metaphorical punishment to one of the architects of the Iraq war during this week, the fourth anniversary of the invasion.... more Posted on March 21, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Iraq Irony Watch: "A Clean Bill Without Strings" At this point in his dismal tenure, virtually any statement emanating from President Bush is dripping with irony. Today's speech marking the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is no exception. For even as the President lambasted Congressional Democrats about the need for "clean" Iraq war funding bill "without strings" attached, it is the Bush White House which continues to rely on such hidden provisos in its political purge of prosecutors and manipulation of the federal budget. In his... more Posted on March 19, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, "Mistakes Were Made" Edition The Bushboard List of Top 10 GOP Sound Bites has seen another shake-up at the top of the charts. With the exploding U.S. attorneys scandal, the Scooter Libby verdict and the debate over Iraq war funding, a new crop of Republican talking points is zooming up the rankings. Topping the charts is the Gonzales-Bush smash hit "Mistakes Were Made" from their tribute album to the former federal prosecutors, Eight is Enough. With the conviction of Dick Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby... more Posted on March 15, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Top 10 Reasons Gonzales Must Go In the wake of his tortured press conference yesterday, politicians and papers across the nation are calling for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But despite the flood of revelations that the White House and Gonzales' Department of Justice authored a plot to purge U.S. attorneys for purely partisan political advantage, President Bush is standing by his man. Alberto Gonzales must resign. But his departure is required not merely because of his ham-fisted and duplicitous role in the firing... more Posted on March 14, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Link: GOP Purging Prosecutors - and Voters The exploding U.S. attorneys scandal threatens to engulf the White House with the revelations that the Bush administration as early as February 2005 contemplated sacking all 93 prosecutors. But today's stories in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the LA Times reveal more than a White House determined to enforce loyalty to President Bush and entrench partisan Republican hatchet men throughout the DOJ's ranks. Simply put, the Bush White House planned to systematically drive down the turnout of... more Posted on March 13, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Corporate Treason: Halliburton, Dubai and Iran With Sunday's announcement of its headquarters relocation to Dubai, Halliburton completed its transformation from mere war-profiteer to corporate traitor. The motivations for the move are simple: death and taxes. Shifting its corporate headquarters not only allows Halliburton to shaft American taxpayers. It enables Dick Cheney's old firm to comfortably expand its large and growing business with Iran and other declared terrorist enemies of the United States. The company, which raked in $2.3 billion in profits on revenue of $22.6 billion... more Posted on March 12, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	NEW: The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents For the latest news, hearings, legal filings and other essential documents on the Bush administration's politically motivated prosecutor firings, visit Perrspectives U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center. The U.S. Attorneys Document collection includes: A complete archive of the latest news articles on the prosecutor firings, including updates on planned Congressional hearings and Alberto Gonzales' decision to reverse course on the White House's threat to legislative revision of the Patriot Act. Access to transcripts of recent Congressional testimony by the fired prosecutors,... more Posted on March 9, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Last Throes of the Bush Presidency For an already embattled White House, March 6, 2007 may have officially marked the last throes of the Bush presidency. In court rooms and Congressional hearings, in Iraq and in the polls, the Bush administration was deluged with a torrent of breaking news, all of it bad. Start with Tuesday's conviction of former Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby on four counts of obstruction and perjury in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. In revelation after revelation, the administration's duplicity in... more Posted on March 7, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Enter the "Sentence Scooter" Contest! The jury in the CIA leak trial of Scooter Libby has spoken. Now it's your turn. Enter Perrspectives' "Sentence Scooter Contest." You get to play judge and pronounce a fitting sentence for the incredibly guilty Mr. Libby, convicted on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. You'll not only have fun, you could also win a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate for your trouble. The rules are simple. Use the Comments Form... more Posted on March 6, 2007 \| Comments (74)

	Conservatives 527, John Kerry 0 The campaign 2004 indignities continued this week for Senator John Kerry. On Tuesday, Kerry's Foreign Relations Committee confronted Sam Fox, the President's nominee for ambassador to Belgium, also a Bush "Pioneer" and a $50,000 contributor to the Swift Boat Vets in 2004. And on Wednesday, Kerry learned that the Federal Election Commission slapped a record $750,000 fine on Progress for America, a conservative 527 group which spent almost $30 million on President Bush's reelection. The Fox confirmation hearings proceeded uneventfully,... more Posted on March 1, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Bush's Shaq Attack On Tuesday, President Bush welcomed Shaquille O'Neal and his 2006 NBA champion Miami Heat teammates to the White House. Appearing with the 7 foot center in the East Room, the smiling President said of O'Neal: "Standing next to Shaq is an awe-inspiring experience." The President, however, may have been somewhat less inspired had he known about Shaq's comments about him just two days earlier. Reacting to questions about his selection to the NBA All-Star game despite starting only 10 games,... more Posted on March 1, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	The Beautiful Minds of the Bush Family On the Larry King show Monday, First Lady Laura Bush demonstrated that the Bush family's legendary compassion deficit is contagious, if not genetic. Even as daily attacks in Iraq climbed to an average of 230 last month, Mrs. Bush casually dismissed the suffering of American troops and Iraqi civilians alike: "Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everybody." This shocking detachment is just the... more Posted on February 28, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Romney, Cheney in Deep with Iran Investments In a high profile effort to bolster his credibility on national security, 2008 Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney last week called on New York to divest its pension fund of any holdings in firms doing with business with Iran. But as it turns out, it is Mitt Romney's former employer with the ties to Tehran. And as you'd expect, Dick Cheney's Halliburton is in deep as well. Following the lead of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Romney began... more Posted on February 26, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Newsweek: Off-Script on Iran Last week, Perrspectives documented the controversy and contradictions surrounding the administration's case to provide Iranian meddling in Iraq ("Fool Me Once: Bush and Iran"). Today, Newsweek provides more of the backstory in "Straying from the Script." While there is evidence of Iranian weapons and agents in Iraq, JCS Chairman Peter Pace and Centcomm commander William Fallon disagreed with military briefers claiming the "highest levels" of the Tehran regime had authorized the activities. The resulting confusion led to rhetorical gymnastics from... more Posted on February 22, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	UPDATED: CIA Leak Trial Resource Center With closing arguments underway in the trial of Scooter Libby, Perrspectives has updated its CIA Leak/PlameGate Resource Center. The PlameGate document repository features all the latest Libby trial news, legal documents, timelines and other essential materials surrounding the Bush administration's outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and its politics of payback against Joseph Wilson. Everything you need to follow the PlameGate saga is there. The latest articles cover closing arguments and new revelations about the Libby-Cheney relationship, as well... more Posted on February 20, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Bin Laden Fantasy I have long argued that for conservative Republicans, the only impeachable offense George W. Bush could ever commit would involve video evidence of him and Dick Cheney engaged in the throes of neo-con love-making. Now, just two days after his major address on the deteriorating situation against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, there are new revelations of a different Bush homo-erotic fantasy, this time with Osama Bin Laden. In a review of a new biography of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli paper... more Posted on February 19, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Fool Me Once: Bush and Iran As the debate over Iran's involvement in attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq heats up, the Bush White House is facing a credibility gap of historic proportions. Four and a half years after mangling the old saying himself, President Bush's Iran saber-rattling is suffering from the same "Fool Me Once" syndrome he bungled in September 2002: "There's a lot of talk about Iraq on our TV screens, and there should be, because we're trying to figure out how best to... more Posted on February 13, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Taxman Doesn't Cometh Monday's New York Times offers an analysis of the latest front in the partisan class war, the battle to collect unpaid taxes. The plot of this morality tale is predictable. On one side, Democrats seek to capture up to $100 billion in tax fraud to help fund their "paygo" budget plans. On the other, the GOP hopes to continue its gutting of the IRS and perpetuate the transfer of audits - and tax burden - away from the wealthiest of... more Posted on February 5, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Denies GOP Treason Label for Democrats A chastened President Bush ventured into enemy territory on Saturday to address the annual gathering of House Democrats. Obliterated in the November elections and facing both abysmal poll numbers and open rebellion over Iraq within his own party, the formerly fierce Bush with tail between his legs feigned a spirit of bipartisan cooperation: "I welcome debate at a time of war and I hope you know that. Nor do I consider a belief that if you don't happen to agree... more Posted on February 4, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Groundhog Day: Iraq, Iran and the NIE After months and months of delays, the long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq was delivered to Congress today. It is altogether fitting that the NIE crawled out from Langley on Groundhog Day. After all, like Bill Murray in the film Groundhog Day we've experienced this unsettling process of murky reports from the intelligence community before. And we're certainly in for at least six more weeks of conflict in Iraq. Wary of repeating George Tenet's 2002 NIE rosy portrait of American... more Posted on February 2, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, Emboldened Enemy Edition The building bipartisan opposition to the President's proposed troop surge in Iraq and the crickets-chirping reception to Bush's abysmal State of the Union address have led to another dramatic shake-up in the list of Top 10 GOP Sound Bites. The President's hard-charging counterattack has moved two right-wing talking points up the charts. The new #1 is the thrashing "Embolden the Enemy," performed by George Bush, Dick Cheney, Robert Gates and Tony Snow, with guest vocals from Joe Lieberman. Jumping all... more Posted on February 1, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Hagel and Bush's Bay of Pigs Moment With Senate debate on competing Iraq resolutions set to begin this week, Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel has emerged as the bete noire of President Bush and his remaining Republican allies in Congress. But while his ferocious opposition to the "Alice in Wonderland" surge in Iraq marks him now as a White House foe, back in 2005 Hagel offered Bush some sage advice that should have made him the President's best friend. The story of Chuck Hagel's wise counsel in June... more Posted on January 28, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Top 10 State of the Union Highlights For those who had the good fortune to miss his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush just offered the American people a stunning profile in rhetorical obfuscation and political comeuppance. Domestically, his seeming move to the middle on energy, immigration and health care may have alienated his own base while offering some prospect for deals with the Democrats. (Jim Webb's Democratic response is available here.) But in foreign policy and the war in Iraq, President Bush's language was... more Posted on January 23, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Bush State of the Union Archives With the 2007 State of the Union address now one for the history books, you can access the full text of this and all six prior Bush SOTU speeches in the Perrspectives Document Library. Details on new White House policy proposals are available here. The text of Senator Jim Webb's Democratic response is available here.... more Posted on January 23, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Libby-SOTU Edition As George W. Bush prepares to deliver his 2007 State of the Union address, the President and his amen corner in suffered through another week of rhetorical distress. With the GOP in rebellion over the President's "surge' in Iraq and the CIA leak trial of Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby underway, Bush in succeeding weeks might look back fondly on his current 28% approval rating. Here, then, are the latest Quotes of the Week: "I will not be sacrificed so Karl... more Posted on January 23, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	SOTU Preview: 10 Things to Watch Tuesday's State of the Union Address should offer Americans compelling viewing. After the GOP's electoral disaster in November and the resounding thud that greeted the "surge" in Iraq, the 2007 SOTU can be said to officially mark the last throes of the Bush presidency. In anticipation of tomorrow night's presidential flight of fantasy, here are 10 things to look for in the 2007 State of the Union: 1. An Unhealthy Vision As his Saturday radio address made clear, President Bush... more Posted on January 22, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	China Rising, America Adrift This week's startling revelations regarding Beijing's successful test of an anti-satellite weapon provided just the latest evidence of China's growing geo-strategic challenge to the United States. And as I first wrote almost three years ago, the Bush administration seems rudderless in the face of rapidly rising Chinese economic power, military might and diplomatic strength. For sure, the size, sophistication and aggressiveness of the Chinese military pose a direct threat to American hegemony, especially in the Pacific. The Chinese ASAT test... more Posted on January 21, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	GOP Flashback: "No Civil Liberties When You're Dead" What a difference a year - and electoral disaster - makes. As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the Bush administration's illegal NSA domestic spying last February, Republicans Senators rushed to the defense of the President and his program. Fast forward to yesterday's announcement by Gonzales that the White House was backing away from wiretapping without FISA court warrants and the GOP's histrionics seem all the more comical. As Perrspectives detailed last year, President Bush's amen corner on Capitol Hill offered... more Posted on January 18, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Gonzales: New FISA Role for Domestic Spying In what may be a major reversal of course, the Bush administration may yet submit to the rule of law regarding its illegal NSA domestic spying program. The AP is reporting that Attorney General Gonzales notified Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) that the Justice Department will once again submit wiretap requests to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Courts. "As a result of these orders, any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the... more Posted on January 17, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Plame CIA Leak Resource Center With the CIA leak trial of one-time Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby beginning today, the Perrspectives Document Library has all the resources you need to track the investigation and court room battle. The PlameGate CIA Leak Resource Center features all the latest breaking news, key legal documents, detailed timelines and more surrounding the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame and the Bush White House effort to discredit Ambassador Joseph Wilson. It's all there, from Bush's infamous 16 words, the... more Posted on January 16, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Understanding the White House's Iraq Vocabulary While a fierce battle over President Bush's "new way forward" in Iraq is being joined in the halls of Congress, an even more ferocious war of words is taking place to win the hearts and minds of the American people. Among Democrats, Republicans and the media at large, a rhetorical conflict to control the marketing of the Bush message on Iraq is well underway. From almost the moment the Iraq Study Group report landed with a thud on the President's... more Posted on January 15, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Required Reading for Bush's Iraq Speech Wednesday President Bush is now scheduled to deliver his "new way forward" in Iraq in nationally televised address on Wednesday, January 9th at 9:00 EST. Ironically, Bush's coming strategy of "surge and purge" features troop increases he previously rejected, benchmarks for the Iraqis he hitherto scoffed at, cleansing the military leadership of the generals Bush once promised to listen to, and a $1 billion infusion of U.S. taxpayer funds for Iraqi jobs program. In preparation for President Bush's latest prime-time departure... more Posted on January 8, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Bush and FDR on Sacrifice Earlier today, I described President Bush's cynical and shameless plan to use the banner of "sacrifice" to market his coming call for a surge of U.S. forces in Iraq. Americans of all political stripes should view this clarion call for sacrifice as nothing less than an obscenity. Not just because the President's escalation supports no strategic military objective or because the vast majority of Americans oppose it, but because Bush's call for sacrifice comes five years too late. A quick... more Posted on January 3, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Sacrificial Sham on Iraq In one of the least surprising revelations of the New Year, the BBC on Tuesday reported that President Bush's coming new Iraq strategy will feature his ill-advised "surge" of U.S. troops as its centerpiece. What is even less surprising is Bush's cynical plan to proclaim "sacrifice" as the theme of his address to the nation. As I originally wrote in 2004 ("The War President?"), the defining trait of George W. Bush's wartime leadership since 2001 has been precisely his refusal... more Posted on January 3, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Richard Clarke's Security Challenges for 2007 In the Washington Post this New Year's Day, former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke has a compelling op-ed piece ("While You Were At War...") on the dangerous and rising opportunity costs of the Bush administration's Iraq fixation. In a nutshell, Clarke argues that while President Bush and the U.S. national security apparatus have been focused like a laser beam on "grave and deteriorating" war in Iraq, other mounting security challenges have fallen off the radar. While the emphasis may differ, Clarke's... more Posted on January 1, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, 2006 Final Edition As 2006 comes to a close, the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites chart has been turned upside down. In the wake of the Republicans' midterm election nightmare and the battering of the Iraq Study Group report, a bevy of GOP favorites have fallen off the list. Nowhere is the shake-up more evident than in the declining fortunes of the Republicans' Iraq Remix LP. Smash hits with a great beat you could dance to like George Bush's thumping "Stay the Course"... more Posted on December 29, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Happy Holidays from Barbara and George H.W. Bush The holiday season frequently features both selfless charity and empty gestures. For Barbara and George H.W. Bush, 2006 proved no exception. Appearing on ABC's This Week on Christmas Eve, the President's parents recalled their work over the past week ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in Houston. Calling it "the Lord's work," Bush the Elder declared "There's so many people in need, so many people that need help." Mrs. Bush concurred, adding: "Giving is so easy...We just ought to... more Posted on December 25, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	The White House on Winning and Losing in Iraq There's an old saying it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. But as President Bush's press conference this morning shows, when its comes to saying whether or not the U.S. is winning or losing it Iraq, the White House just isn't playing the game very well. "I believe that we're going to win." President Bush, December 20, 2006. "We're not winning, we're not losing." President Bush, December 19, 2006. "Absolutely, we're winning." President... more Posted on December 20, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Surge and Purge: The Bush Strategy for Iraq While President Bush has declared that he "won't be rushed" into unveiling his new strategy for Iraq, the outlines are already clear. The twin pillars of the coming Bush approach appear to be a "surge" in U.S. force levels combined with the sacking of the generals opposed to it. Call it "Surge and Purge." Rumors of a "surge" in American forces to secure Baghdad, featuring perhaps as many as 50,000 troops, have been swirling for days. But now the AP... more Posted on December 20, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Iraq and the 7 Habits of Highly Defective Presidents Since he first stepped into the Oval Office, much has been made about George W. Bush as America's CEO, our first MBA President. In the wake of the Iraq Study Group report, the nation has been eagerly awaiting President Bush's now-delayed new strategy with the baited breath surrounding a major new product announcement. But as is becoming increasingly clear, when it comes to Iraq, George W. Bush the MBA President is managing the war like a failed business. As a... more Posted on December 17, 2006 \| Comments (20)

	Flashback: Rumsfeld Celebrated, Aspin Slandered As he exits the Pentagon stage, outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shows once again that for the Bush White House, nothing succeeds like failure. In an elaborate ceremony carried live on all the cable news networks, President Bush and Vice President Cheney feted the disgraced Defense Secretary with glowing words, military pomp and even a 19 gun salute. "This man knows how to lead and he did," Bush declared, "and the country is better off for it." But while... more Posted on December 15, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Reyes Joins Bush in Failing Foreign Affairs 101 On Monday, Democrats began to pay the price for the ongoing feud between Californians Nancy Pelosi and Jane Harman. In one of the first tests of her leadership, Speaker Pelosi bypassed Harman in favor of Texan Silvestre Reyes to head the House Intelligence Committee. Sadly Reyes, like candidate George W. Bush before him, failed his first test on foreign affairs. In an interview in CQ on Friday, Reyes displayed staggering ignorance of the environment in the Middle East and across... more Posted on December 11, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Jeane Kirkpatrick and the Death of the Bush Doctrine If a period of days can be said to mark the end of the era, this past week almost surely heralded the demise of the Bush Doctrine. On Wednesday, the Iraq Study Group dealt a death blow to the Bush foreign policy's three pillars of no safe havens, preemptive war and democracy expansion. But it is the passing on Thursday of the neo-conservative Cold Warrior Jeane Kirkpatrick that perhaps best symbolized the closing of the book on Bush's ill-conceived experiment... more Posted on December 11, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Iraq Document Library Adds Iraq Study Group Report The Perrspectives Iraq Document Library has been updated to include the findings of the Iraq Study Group. The document repository includes the ISG's final report as well as its executive summary. The Perrspectives Iraq Document Library also provides one-stop access to all the essential documents surrounding the Iraq war, pre-war intelligence and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. This includes the WMD findings of the Iraq Survey Group, as well as the report of the Robb-Silbermann Commission. The Senate... more Posted on December 6, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Iraq Chaos Edition Just weeks removed from their midterm calamity, the leading lights of the right continue to suffer from rhetorical destruction. The entropy in Baghdad, the looming report of the Iraq Study Group and the last throes of a rudderless Bush administration have produced yet another bumper crop of classic Conservative Quotes of the Week: "We've been in this phase [in Iraq] for a while." President Bush, November 28, 2006. "This business about a graceful exit just simply has no realism to... more Posted on December 1, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Senate Rights Bush's Wrong on Wellstone With control of the Senate about to change hands, Democrats can begin the work of righting some of the many wrongs perpetrated by President Bush. Last week, the Senators took one small step forward, unanimously passing a resolution honoring the memory and contributions of their late colleague, Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone. The Senate's warm embrace of Wellstone provides a stark contrast with President Bush's mean-spirited, partisan slight in October 2002. Of Wellstone, killed along with his wife and campaign staffers... more Posted on November 25, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Sinks GOP Majority Over Rumsfeld With the midterms now in the rear view mirror, history will record that President Bush committed the defining gaffe of the 2006 campaign. Try as they might, conservatives failed to turn John Kerry's clumsy "stuck in Iraq" stumble into the moment that snatched Democratic defeat from the jaws of victory. As it turns out, it was President Bush who sealed the fate of the GOP's congressional majority by offering job security for the "fantastic" Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the... more Posted on November 15, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Sacrificial Sham: Bush Changes the Subject with Rumsfeld Sacking With Wednesday's post-election sacking of Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush showed once again that he's more concerned about managing the news cycle than America's national security. Facing the prospect of explaining away his party's "thumping" at the hands of the Democrats, Bush instead hoped to change the topic. The "blue wave" that swept the Republicans from Congress can in no small measure be attributed to Bush's failed presidency in general and the disaster in Iraq in particular. Exit polls revealed that... more Posted on November 9, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Divide, Suppress and Conquer: The GOP's 25% Strategy for 2006 As Tuesday's vote approaches, Democrats are buoyantly optimistic about their prospects for retaking control of Congress. President Bush is wildly unpopular. His handling of Iraq, the election's dominant issue, is backed by less than a third of the electorate. On issue after issue, voters across the United States support Democratic positions. And in generic Congressional polls, a majority of Americans consistently prefer Democrats over Republicans. Almost none of which matters for the Republican braintrust. For the GOP, 2006 isn't a... more Posted on November 6, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Pre-Election Edition As election day nears, the rhetorical woes of the conservative chattering classes continue unabated. From President Bush's ill-conceived Rumsfeld endorsement to Ted Haggard's boy trouble, the Republican leadership and its amen corner are providing plenty of fodder for voters. "I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring with it all of my adult life." Ted Haggard, November 5, 2006. "We don't have to debate... more Posted on November 5, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Documents of Mass Destruction: GOP Puts Party Before National Security with Iraq Papers Once again, the Republicans have put partisan political advantage ahead of national security. And as the New York Times reports today, they may have just given Iran the recipe for a nuclear bomb as a result. As the Times article details, back in March conservatives desperate to salvage President Bush's debunked WMD rationale for the Iraq war demanded the publication of thousands of Saddam's captured documents. As it turns out, those "Operation Iraqi Freedom" papers published on a public web... more Posted on November 3, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Falwell Denies Haggard Links On CNN's Situation Room, a very uncomfortable Moral Majority founder and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell denied to Paula Zahn that knew Ted Haggard, the now disgraced former head of the National Association of Evangelicals. As with so much else, Falwell has it utterly wrong. The reality, as it turns out, is that Haggard and Falwell have been partners in a wide range of efforts where the wall between church and state once stood. As former Bush faith-based crusader David... more Posted on November 2, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	American Taliban Ted Haggard's Boy Trouble Among the many oversights of the Perrspectives web site is its failure to include New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard in its listing of the American Taliban. But breaking news from Colorado suggests that Haggard is about to add his name to the growing list of gay, anti-gay conservative crusaders. AmericaBlog reports that gay escort Mike Jones detailed a three-year relationship with Haggard during an appearance on Peter Boyles KHOW 630 AM radio show. According to Jones, Haggard frequently made... more Posted on November 2, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Kerry's Failed Joke, Bush's Sick Humor John Kerry's failed "stuck in Iraq" joke once again highlighted the Massachusetts Senator's uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But as George Bush, Dick Cheney and their amen corner try to make hay at Kerry's expense to help the GOP's flagging midterm prospects, they should take care that Americans not be reminded of the President's own sick sense of humor. After all, Bush's jokes usually come at our expense. A sense of humor has always been... more Posted on November 1, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Abramoff: The Gift That Keeps on Giving While all eyes have been focused on the collateral damage from the FoleyGate scandal on Republicans' midterm prospects, convicted GOP uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. A flurry of stories over the past two weeks highlighted the Abramoff taint that keeps spreading across Republican ranks in Congress and the White House. GOP nerves no doubt grew more agitated with the news that Jack will be ensconced in the nearby federal prison... more Posted on November 1, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Cheater in Chief: Bush as the MBA President With each passing week, Americans are provided more insight into the deeply flawed character and mounting sins of their President. The latest comes in the form of a study by the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University showing that more MBA students cheat than those pursuing other professions. In what should come a surprise to few, George W. Bush, America's putative first MBA president, is the poster boy for the country's most dishonest profession. Ironically, the Duke University report... more Posted on October 30, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Jim Webb and the Pornographers of the Right With the truth about his neo-Confederate proclivities and stock swindles putting his Virginia Senate reelection bid in doubt, Republican George Allen turned to fiction to smear his opponent, Vietnam War hero Jim Webb. Citing disturbing content from Webb's combat novels (one of which, "Fields of Fire," appears on the Marine Corps' recommended reading list), Allen and his amen corner have implied that Webb is a misogynist, pedophile or worse. As it turns out, poorly crafted, soft-core pornography seems to be... more Posted on October 29, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Hutchison Backs Iraq Partition, Endorses Clinton Balkans Policy With the looming midterm elections and the imminent report from James Baker's Iraq Study Group facing them like a double-barreled shotgun, Congressional Republicans are beginning to cut and run on President Bush's failed Iraq strategy. In recent days, Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and John Warner (R-VA) have garnered most of the attention with their critiques of a "stay the course" policy that has left Iraq "drifting sideways." But it is Kay Bailey Hutchison from the President's home state of Texas... more Posted on October 20, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Republican Quotes of the Week The Republican implosion over Iraq, the Foley scandal and the North Korean nuclear crisis has produced yet anothe bumper crop of conservative quotes, quips and catastrophes. A small sampling from the talking heads of the right: "He [Rumsfeld] leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country." Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Peter Pace, October 19, 2006. "House Democrats plot to establish a Department of Peace, raise your taxes, and minimize penalties for crack... more Posted on October 20, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, FoleyGate Edition The last two weeks have produced a dramatic shake-up in the Top 10 GOP Sound Bite list. The exploding Mark Foley scandal, the disintegration of Iraq and the new terrorist detainee legislation sent a bevy of Republican ditties racing up the charts. Meanwhile, some old conservative standards have fallen by the way side. Soon-to-be former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert now has three smash hits at the top of the charts. Hastert's hard-rocking cut "(Democrats) Pamper the Terrorists" from... more Posted on October 19, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	New Reports Highlight Housing Market Woes Two new reports this week served to highlight the central role of the housing market in the U.S. economy and in driving the living standards of Americans. Coming on the same day the Dow reached an all-time high, the housing data is not good. On Tuesday, the Census Bureau reported that Americans have become "house poor," dramatically increasing the percentage of their incomes dedicated to housing. Americans now spend 21% of their incomes on housing, up from under 19% as... more Posted on October 3, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Thailand and the Bush Democracy Promotion Fraud This week's coup in Thailand highlighted once again the yawning chasm between rhetoric and reality when it comes to President Bush's clarion call for the global expansion of democracy. The tanks rolled in Bangkok at virtually the same moment the President lectured the United Nations about people "from Beirut to Baghdad" making "the choice for freedom." Yet the White House was silent regarding the overthrow of the democratically elected if corrupt Thaksin government. It's hardly the first time the global... more Posted on September 21, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Bush Document Library Perrspectives has expanded its Document Library to include latest news and essential documents involving the key scandals and controversies of the Bush administration and the Republican Party. The Abu Ghraib and Torture Scandal resources provide must-read background on the current debate over President Bush's proposed legislation to undermine the Geneva Convention. This includes former Secretary of State Colin Powell's correspondence to John McCain, as well as the letter from retired generals to the Senate Armed Services Committee, each arguing the... more Posted on September 19, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Amazing Race Card There's an old saying that a gaffe is what results when a politician inadvertently tells the truth. By that standard, then, the Republican Party must be confessing its deeply held beliefs when it comes to race. After all, despicable racial slurs like Arnold Schwarzenegger's lecture on black and Latino blood and George Allen's MacacaGate are only the latest signs that racial bigotry is not the exception in the GOP, but perhaps the rule itself. Bush League Racism The rot starts... more Posted on September 13, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Republican Quotes Du Jour The fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and primary politics have helped to once again bring out the worst from the mouths of the right. Featuring fear-mongering, the politics of the pulpit and outright racism, here are the latest mantras from the leading lights of the Republican Party. "I wonder if [Democrats] they're more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people." House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), September 12, 2006. "I know Iraq is a mess... more Posted on September 13, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	A Look Back: 9/11 and the Culture of Grief On this the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Department of Defense once again organized the "Freedom Walk" 9/11 commemorative march to the Pentagon. But as I wrote last year in "9/11 and the Culture of Grief," this and other ritualistic displays of grief and remembrance reflect the new mass cultural experience of participatory mourning in the United States. And for a nation engaged in a global war with Al Qaeda, the American culture of grief is not... more Posted on September 10, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	ABC Slams New Iraq Documentary, Ignores Own 9/11 Right-Wing Fantasy With this weekend's upcoming mockumentary "The Path to 9/11," Disney and ABC are breaking dangerous new ground in the conservative propaganda war. Even as the ABC network follows in the footsteps of Mel Gibson and The Passion of the Christ in "mobilizing the base," ABC News on Sunday declared Robert Greenwald's new documentary "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" a left-wing hatchet job "produced like a political campaign." A pre-election salvo designed to pin the blame for the September 11... more Posted on September 5, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Troubling Trends on Americans' Incomes Despite grandiose claims from the White House regarding the strength of the U.S. economy, a flood of new data helps explain Americans' continued feelings of insecurity. While the unemployment rate (4.7%), GDP growth (2.9%) and productivity gains (2.3%)look impressive, below the surface the picture for wages and income grows bleaker still. Whether the incumbent Republicans pay a price in November for that dismal performance remains to seen. The disturbing trends for Americans' incomes are beyond dispute. Since President Bush took... more Posted on September 4, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Stevens and Tomlinson Latest GOP Smitings The Avenging Angel, punisher of miscreants of the conservative ascendancy, offered yet more retribution this week in response to the latest Republican buffoonery. The fun and frolic began with Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens. The Republican porkmeister suffered a double-dose of humiliation just in time for Labor Day. Just days after it was revealed that Stevens was the "Secret Senator" who put a hold on a public database for federal grants and earmarks to contractors, the FBI pursuing corruption tied to... more Posted on September 3, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Katrina Flashback: The Warnings With the one-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans now at hand, the Bush administration has launched its revisionist history project. (Last week's stage-managed journey of the Big Easy Republican Rockey Vaccarella was just the first salvo of the full scale blitz from the White House.) Central to President Bush's effort to evade responsibility for the calamitous federal response to Katrina was and will be the "failure of imagination" defense. Like Condi Rice's stunning 9/11 claim... more Posted on August 27, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Flip-Flops on Plan B In a welcome change of course, the Bush administration ended its stonewalling of over-the-counter sales of the Plan B emergency contraceptive. After five years of outright deception and promises broken, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Barr Pharmaceuticals its blessing to proceed with OTC sales to women 18 and older. As Perrspectives reported two weeks ago ("Plan B's Tangled Web"), President Bush's looming flip-flop became apparent during the confirmation hearings of acting FDA chief Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach. After... more Posted on August 24, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Conservative Threat Level Raised to Red/Severe With this week's revelations regarding the UK terrorist plot to blow up airliners en route the United States, the Perrspectives Conservative Threat Level (CTL) has been raised to Red/Severe (Return to Middle Ages Likely). Despite President Bush's poll numbers languishing in the low 30's, the 2006 GOP midterm platform of "nothing to run on but fear itself" got a giant boost with the UK airliner plot. Among other mouthpieces of the right, Vice President Cheney is already on message with... more Posted on August 11, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Plan B's Tangled Web President Bush's cynical efforts to block over the counter sales of the emergency contraceptive Plan B have taken on almost comic proportions in recent days. But kowtowing to the radical right on Plan B has come at a steep price for Mike Leavitt, George Allen and other Republicans in the administration and Congress. The Senate confirmation hearings of acting FDA chief Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach offered a new chapter in the President's rearguard action to keep Plan B off drug... more Posted on August 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Avenging Angel Smites Burns, Bolton and Steele The Avenging Angel, punisher of the rascals of the right, had yet another busy week delivering payback. Out in Big Sky country, GOP Montana Senator Conrad Burns found himself in hot water this week for insulting firefighters who had been battling blazes in his state. In the midst of a tough reelection bid against Democrat and rancher John Tester, Burns heaped scorn on the visiting Augusta Hotshots from Virginia, telling them they had "done a poor job" and "should have... more Posted on July 30, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	George W. Bush, American Idle As the crisis in the Middle East spirals out of control, President Bush jumped into action on Friday. Not by taking control of Secretary of State Rice's failed talks in Rome or by announcing a major American initiative during his press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. No, Bush mobilized the White House to stop the slaughter in Lebanon by welcoming the finalists of the Fox reality show American Idol in the Oval Office. Of course, this isn't the... more Posted on July 28, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	Bush's Voting Rights Act In Washington today, President Bush signed a bill extending by 25 years the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In so doing, Bush once again succeeded in having it both ways. While publicly proclaiming his support for the Voting Rights in public, the Bush Justice Department has blocked its enforcement at every turn. The President's rhetoric, of course, is designed to establish Bush's civil rights credentials and aid the Republican Party's outreach to moderate and African-American voters. On Martin Luther King's... more Posted on July 27, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Hoekstra's War on the CIA For most watchers of the CIA, the return of Steven Kappes to Langley as the agency's number 2 man is a welcome development. Fluent in Farsi and Russian, the 23-year veteran of the clandestine service can bring a renewed focus on the CIA's core intelligence-gathering mission. Unfortunately, Kappes' return almost certainly signals the resumption of Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra's partisan war on the CIA. Hoekstra (R-MI), the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, was a strong supporter of Porter Goss, his former... more Posted on July 26, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Specter's Op-Ed: Cowardice He Can Live With In a bizarre Washington Post op-ed ("Surveillance We Can Live With") pitching his ill-conceived NSA eavesdropping compromise, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) shows all of the hallmarks of a man in the throes of severe cognitive dissonance. While essentially pronouncing the illegality of George Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program, he cannot bring himself to harm his President or his party. As we've come to expect, the battle between Specter's inner demons yields only frustration and cowardice. Specter gets... more Posted on July 23, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	IRS Slashes Staff Auditing Wealthiest Americans In the latest sign that Republican class warfare is alive and well in Washington, the IRS is planning draconian cuts to its team of estate tax lawyers handling the audits of the wealthiest Americans. In the next 70 days, the IRS will shed almost half of the 345 lawyers assigned to monitor the gift and estate taxes paid - or not paid - by those with some of the largest fortunes in the United States. This latest effort to gut... more Posted on July 23, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Leavitt Latest GOP Miscreant Bush Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt headlines another week of wrongdoing by the miscreants of the right. The HHS chief earned the wrath of the Avenging Angel this week for proving that charity does indeed begin at home. Bush's go-to man on blocking the morning after pill used a non-profit foundation to enrich himself and family members. With Senators clamoring for the IRS to close the "Leavitt loophole," the HHS head may have to turn to Plan B.... more Posted on July 23, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Gonzales: Bush Blocked NSA Probe Back in May, Perrspectives described how inquiries by both the FCC and the DOJ into illegal domestic surveillance by the Bush NSA had been blocked. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have a much clearer picture as to why. In a nutshell, President Bush personally insisted that the probes be stonewalled. The following exchange between Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Gonzales shows President Bush's iron hand at work in blocking the needed... more Posted on July 18, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Bush and Putin Split This week's G8 Summit in St. Petersburg marked the end of the five-year romance between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. With festering disagreements over Iran, Russia's entry into the WTO, the North Korean crisis, and Moscow's descent into autocracy, tensions between Bush and Putin were on public display. Ironically, the exchange of barbs took the form of lectures on democracy, a subject about which the two leaders share limited knowledge. During a press conference on Saturday, President Putin lambasted... more Posted on July 16, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Valerie Plame's Quixotic Court Case Former CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson publicly unveiled their lawsuit against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in a Washington press conference today. But while the Wilson's action offers the potential to bring President Bush's "Politics of Payback" under the microscope, its prospects for success seem remote. That seems to be the early consensus, even among those sympathetic to the view that the Bush administration outed Plame as part of full-fledged war to... more Posted on July 14, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Wrist Slap for Bush Medicare Fraud Scully The Washington Post reported today former Bush Medicare and Medicaid administrator Thomas Scully agreed to pay back $10,000 for personal job-hunting trips he had charged to the government during his tenure. But while the Post piece provided a breezy overview of Scully's ethical indiscretions during his time at HHS, it completely omitted any mention of what should be his enduring legacy: threatening truth-telling subordinates with dismissal during the selling of President Bush's Medicare prescription plan. To fully appreciate Scully's sinister... more Posted on July 11, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Stem Cell Veto Threat is Dems' Opportunity In an interview with the Denver Post editorial board, Karl Rove signaled that President Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to block Congressional stem cell legislation. For Democrats, that veto threat could be just what the doctor ordered. In a nutshell, Bush's 2006 base-baiting, red meat strategy could well backfire when it comes to stem cell research. In May 2005, 50 Republicans joined a united Democratic block in passing the bi-partisan Castle-Degette bill by 238-194. (The House... more Posted on July 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's U-Turn on North Korean Talks Just one day after President Bush forcefully defended his insistence on multilateral negotiations with North Korea, the White House has apparently okayed direct talks with envoys from Pyongyang. Speaking in Seoul on Saturday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Bush's point man on discussions with the North Koreans, signaled his willingness to meet directly with Kim Jong Il's emissaries once the stalled six-party talks resume: "As many of you know, the Chinese have talked about putting together a six-party informal,... more Posted on July 8, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Bush-Style Brotherly Love in Poland On Friday, E.J. Dionne used Mexico's cliffhanger election ("It Couldn't Happen Here") to show the comparative electoral dysfunction of the United States. Not so tongue in cheek, Dionne asked of disputed voting results in a critical swing state, "How would it look if the governor of the state was your own brother?" For today, though, the most glaring case of brotherly love distorting the political process isn't George and Jeb Bush in the United States, but instead can be found... more Posted on July 8, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	"Define GOP" Contest Winners Perrspectives is pleased to announce the winners of our first ever "What Does 'GOP' Stand For?" Contest. Back in June, we asked readers to say what three words the acronym "GOP" suggested to them. Three weeks and hundreds of entries later, the Republican party of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Frist, Delay and Abramoff is no longer the "Grand Old Party." Instead, Perrspectives readers offered new definitions for today's GOP, the party of the prudish and the partisan, the power-hungry and the... more Posted on July 5, 2006 \| Comments (7)

	CIA Shutters Bin Laden Unit The New York Times reported Tuesday that the CIA has shut down its Bin Laden unit late last year. The unit, called "Alec Station," had been in place for over a decade to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and his leading Al Qaeda lieutenants. As I wrote in January, President Bush's on-again, off-again emphasis on catching Bin Laden is tied to the shfting political winds at home. In the four years plus since the 9/11 attacks, the simplest way to... more Posted on July 4, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Happy Birthday, Mr. President! On Thursday, George W. Bush will celebrate his 60th birthday. This President's birthday may well be historically unprecedented, with his age, his disapproval ratings and seemingly even his IQ all converging at 60. As the AP reports, President Bush is responding to his aging process by applying his unusual brand of humor to his looming birthday at every opportunity. (That is, when he's not already making fun of the blind and disabled.) During a White House press conference with German... more Posted on July 4, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	The Bush-McCain Courtship Back in March, I documented the amazing transformation of John McCain from GOP maverick to Republican prostitute. As I wrote then, the Arizona Senator in his quest for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination exchanged his seething hatred of George W. Bush for a high profile bootlicking of the Bush political machine. On Monday, the New York Times offered a new installment in the budding courtship between McCain and Bush, his campaign 2000 tormenter. Summing up their changed relationship, McCain acted... more Posted on July 3, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Hamdan Deals Blow to Bush Domestic Spying The Supreme Court's ruling today in the Hamdan case wasn't merely a defeat for the Bush administration's system of military tribunals for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. As ThinkProgress describes, the majority's explicit rejection of broad presidential powers claimed by the White House to be inherent in the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) also imperils Bush's dubious arguments for the illegal NSA domestic spying program. The challenge for President Bush and his allies is clear. As... more Posted on June 29, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Warren Buffett Defends the Estate Tax On Monday, billionaire financier Warren Buffett made two important contributions to the public good. First, he announced a staggering gift of $30 billion of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Perhaps more important for America's future, Buffett came out swinging in defense of the estate tax. During his press conference, Buffett offered a strong progressive argument in support of the estate tax: "I would hate to see the estate tax gutted. It's in keeping with the idea... more Posted on June 27, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, Cut & Run Edition The past two weeks have seen a changing of the guard atop the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites list. With the contentious Congressional debate over the path forward in Iraq, the fire and brimstone Republican smash hit "Cut and Run" vaulted to the top of the charts. Performed by George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Ken Mehlman and John Boehner with a chorus of hundreds on Capitol Hill, "Cut and Run" easily outpaced the new #2, "No Civil Liberties (When... more Posted on June 25, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Iraqi PM, U.S. Commander: Cut and Run Just days after President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress lambasted their Democratic opponents for supposedly wanting to "cut and run" in Iraq, the Iraqi government and American military leadership in Baghdad essentially endorsed the Democratic position to set a timeline to draw down U.S. troops. As Newsweek first reported on Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki endorsed a timetable for American withdrawal as part of 28-point national reconciliation plan submitted to the Iraqi parliament today. While Maliki proposed... more Posted on June 25, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Republican Rap Sheet This weekend, Democrats in Congress moved quickly to oust Louisiana Representative William Jefferson from his seat on the powerful House Way and Means Committee. Facing strong opposition from the Congressional Black Caucus, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi showed that Democrats would be quick to punish ethical transgressors within their ranks. The contrast with the Republican culture of corruption could not more stark. Jefferson, who housed $90,000 in cold cash from a Nigerian bagman in his freezer, is the exception that proves... more Posted on June 20, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Bush's Premature Emancipation Problem This weekend, the United States launched "Operation Mountain Thrust" in Afghanistan. Featuring 10,000 U.S. troops and American aircraft targeting the peaks along the border with Pakistan, the spring offensive seeks to decimate a resurgent and emboldened Taliban. Sadly, that would be the same Taliban President Bush declared non-existent two years ago. This weekend's fighting in eastern Afghanistan may have killed 90 guerillas, but it also served to highlight President Bush's penchant for prematurely declaring victory in his wars fought on... more Posted on June 19, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Contest: What Does "GOP" Stand For? With the November mid-term elections rapidly approaching, Democrats are trying to counter the perception, fostered by the Republican media machine, that their party doesn't stand for anything. But what does the GOP stand for? That's for you to answer in the Perrspectives "What Does GOP Stand For?" Contest. The contest is simple. Tell us what you think the three-letter acronym "GOP" now stands for. With the one-time budget balancers now the budget busters and the isolationists now nation builders, what... more Posted on June 16, 2006 \| Comments (120)

	Bush's Amazing Gracelessness In the Bible, Jesus cured the blind. In a bizarre White House Rose Garden press conference yesterday, President Bush chose to taunt them instead. During a rambling session with reporters following his Baghdad pop-in, Bush chided Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten for wearing sunglasses during the press conference: THE PRESIDENT: Are you going to ask that question with shades on? WALLSTEN: I can take them off. THE PRESIDENT: I'm interested in the shade look, seriously. WALLSTEN: All right, I'll... more Posted on June 15, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Ann Coulter and Conservatism's Continuum of Hate On the House floor Thursday, Democratic Congressman Rahm Emmanuel threw down the gauntlet and challenged his GOP colleagues to repudiate the bilious words of Ann Coulter. But as should be clear by now, they simply can't. Whether the issue concerns gay Americans, 9/11, abortion, judicial appointments or political corruption, a seamless continuum of hate runs from today's governing conservatism through to its most extreme proponents. And that means the Congressional GOP differs only in degree - not in kind -... more Posted on June 9, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	666: Armageddon, Iran and Bush Foreign Policy June 6, 2006 (6/6/06) is the 62nd anniversary of D-Day, one of the most glorious - and bloody days - in American military history. But as the American Prospect reports, for evangelical leaders close to President Bush such as Texas Pastor John Hagee, the number 666 has another important meaning for the future of the United States. 666 is the number to be borne by the Anti-Christ in the coming battle of Armageddon, which if Hagee has his way, will... more Posted on June 6, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	Laura Bush and the ABC's of AIDS On Friday, President Bush sent the only remaining popular member of his White House team to address the UN General Assembly meeting on HIV/AIDS. Just days after a UN study reported progress in slowing the spread of AIDS, a smiling First Lady Laura Bush demonstrated why her husband's United States may still be the biggest barrier to defeating the global scourge. A sure sign of the lack of seriousness of the Bush administration was the make up of the American... more Posted on June 3, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Reagan and Bush in the Age of AIDS PBS this week aired "The Age of AIDS," perhaps the most powerful and devastating documentary on American television in years. The two part, four-hour special featured interviews and history from six continents and over a dozen countries detailing the path, the politics and the pain of 25 years of the AIDS pandemic. Perhaps the most disturbing thread running through "The Age of AIDS" is the myopic complicity of the American radical right in the needless death and suffering of thousands... more Posted on June 1, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Price of Folly: Reinforcements to Iraq Just 24 hours after the United States commemorated Memorial Day, the American people are being reminded once again of President Bush's folly in going to war in Iraq with too few troops. The American commander in Iraq General George Casey is dispatching up to 3,500 reinforcements from Kuwait to turbulent Anbar province in Iraq. The troops from the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division are likely headed to Ramadi, where units from the Pennsylvania National Guard and the U.S.... more Posted on May 30, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Lies About Ken Lay A jury in Houston has just spoken and found former Enron CEO Ken Lay guilty on all six counts. Bush family sugar daddy Lay, who gave his close friend George W. Bush over $500,000 for his various campaigns, now faces a long stint in prison and perhaps the Grandma Millie treatment. It will be interesting to see what President Bush has to say today, given his past denials regarding his long friendship with Lay. After all, when the Enron scandal... more Posted on May 25, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	A BFD: The NSA, FCC, DOJ, EFF and AT&T New revelations in the NSA domestic spying scandal are now coming in a flood. Today, the FCC announced it could not pursue an investigation into the role of American telecommunications companies in illegal domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency because it was not granted the necessary security clearances. That announcement came just two days after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared the Bush administration would track journalists' phone records and might prosecute reporters for publishing stories involving classified national security... more Posted on May 23, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Gonzales: Reporters Fair Game On Sunday, the cancer of domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency continued to metastasize. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared that journalists can and should be prosecuted for publishing stories involving classified national security information. "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws." The Attorney General also made it clear that the... more Posted on May 21, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	The Final Word on Snow's Slur Last week, White House press secretary Tony Snow used his virgin press briefing to reintroduce the racial slur "tar baby" back into the vernacular. But while an unrepentant Snow attacked his critics as "unfamiliar with the pathways of American culture," it would appear that eBay offers a clear picture as to why Random House suggests "avoiding the use of the term in any context." As it turns out, an eBay seller by the name of "Our Southern Collectibles" offers Tar... more Posted on May 21, 2006 \| Comments (9)

	No Comfort for Bush on the Economy Nothing seems to frustrate the White House and the Republican leadership more than their abysmal poll numbers on the economy at a time of booming GDP and a resurgent job market. It is, they claim, all about the war. But as I wrote in the "Bush League Economy," the issue for the President and the GOP isn't the Iraq war overshadowing a robust economy, but the growing insecurity most Americans experience daily with surging energy prices, spiraling health care costs,... more Posted on May 19, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Flip-Flops on North Korea In the latest flip-flop from President Bush, the administration is planning to reverse course on North Korea. After five-years of a failed policy that produced a nuclear-armed North Korea, Bush will give the go-ahead for direct bilateral negotiations with Pyongyang. Apparently, the President has finally decided to listen to John Kerry's advice in 2004. The New York Times reports that President Bush will soon approve recommendations from top advisors which include "a broad new approach to dealing with North Korea... more Posted on May 18, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Pat Roberts on Civil Liberties: Drop Dead During his opening comments in the CIA confirmation hearings of General Michael Hayden, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) returned to a favorite Republican sound bite in defense of illegal domestic surveiilance by the NSA. Roberts proclaimed: "I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties. But you have no civil liberties if you are dead." On February 3rd, Roberts, who has stonewalled the Phase II investigation into the misuses of pre-Iraq war... more Posted on May 18, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Hayden Learns the 4th Amendment The CIA confirmation hearings for General Michael are underway and the Bush administration is pulling out all the stops for their man. Yesterday, the White House flip-flopped and provided briefings on its illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs to the full Senate and House intelligence committees. And today, General Hayden showed he did his homework and finally learned the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. As the AP reported, Hayden today sought to defend the legality of the NSA domestic... more Posted on May 18, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Snow White During his virgin White House briefing today, new press spokesman Tony Snow reverted to his Fox News roots with his casual use of a racial slur. But in referring to a thorny question regarding President Bush's illegal NSA domestic spying programs as a "tar baby," Snow is just the latest conservative to show why the Republican outreach effort to African-Americans seems doomed to fail. Consider, for example, President Bush's own campaign to woo black voters during his calamitous campaign to... more Posted on May 16, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	The Question for Hayden: Is FISA Unconstitutional? With the confirmation hearings for his CIA director nomination set to begin on Thursday, General Michael Hayden will no doubt be grilled on the broadening scope and dubious legality of the domestic surveillance programs during his tenure at the NSA. As we learned last week, Hayden's NSA not only conducted warrantless electronic eavesdropping on Americans, but clandestinely built a massive database of their phone records as well. And just today, Brian Ross of ABC News revealed that he had been... more Posted on May 15, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	This Week in Republican Corruption The Avenging Angel, smiter of conservative evil doers, has had a very busy week. From the White House to the Kentucky State House, from Langley to K Street, the latest batch of Banana Republicans was exposed, indicted or jailed. Let's start with Robert Ray, Kenneth Starr's successor as Bill Clinton Grand Inquisitor, who got his just desserts this week in New York. Ray, who famously said of Clinton, "no person is above the law," surrendered to the NYPD on charges... more Posted on May 15, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney's Double Dealings on Plame, NSA Scandals Sunday's news contains a double-barrreled shotgun blast in the face courtesy of Vice President Dick Cheney. First, the New York Times detailed Cheney's post-9/11 insistence on far more invasive domestic spying by the National Security Agency. Apparently, it was only through the efforts of NSA lawyers that the Bush administration limited its illegal domestic eavesdropping program to calls involving a party outside the United States. Second, the latest filings by Patrick Fitzgerald in the Scooter LIbby case reveal that Cheney... more Posted on May 14, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Poll: Double Win for Bush on NSA Phone Records A new poll from the Washington Post suggests that the President Bush may be winning a double victory with his illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs. Americans seem willing to buy the White House's "tough on terrorism" hype at the expense of the law and their own civil liberties. And as an added ironic bonus, the President gets another opportunity to decry leaks that supposedly jeopardize national security. Surprisingly, the poll data show Americans even more content with revelations over government... more Posted on May 12, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Bush to Disabled: "You Look Mighty Comfortable" It's been a banner week for the verbal incontinence of George W. Bush. Just days after telling a German reporter that the highlight of his presidency was "when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake," President Bush made a bizarre remark certain to charm disability advocates everywhere. Pitching his troubled Medicare prescription plan in Florida, President Bush said to a man in a wheelchair, "You look mighty comfortable." Just another example of "compassionate conservativism" in action. Hopefully, the... more Posted on May 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Bush Cabinet's Cult of Personality As President Bush's approval ratings continue to plummet, the White House has upped the ante in politicizing virtually every Cabinet department. That's the clear lesson from today's news that HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson cancelled contracts previously awarded to critics of the President. That revelation came only 24 hours after the Washington Post reported that Department of Agriculture required its public spokesmen to include pro-Iraq war talking points in each speech. The Dallas Business Journal and later Reuters reported the Jackson... more Posted on May 9, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	The Gospel According to Ahmadinejad The French paper Le Monde has just published the text of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush. Ahmadjinejad's missive skirts the central issue of the Iranian nuclear program and has been met with disdain by both the administration and the mullahs in Tehran. But in repeatedly calling upon the President to heed the teachings of Jesus, the letter reveals how completely Ahmadinejad misunderstands George W. Bush and his core supporters. As I've written before, the President's evangelical... more Posted on May 9, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Bush Picking a Fight Over Hayden As predicted, President Bush nominated Air Force General Michael V. Hayden to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA. And while the Hayden nomination brings with it a growing laundry list of problems, that's just fine with President Bush. After all, a fight is exactly what the Bush White House wants right now. The smallest stumbling block comes from the President's own allies. House Intel chief Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) expressed concerns over putting a military person in charge of... more Posted on May 8, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Malkin Rages Over "Los Rangers" One day after Cinco de Mayo, the puerile Michelle Malkin was once again on the culture warpath. The target of her outrage this time? Baseball's Texas Rangers, who donned uniforms on Friday bearing the text "Los Rangers." While I'm no supporter of the Rangers pandering to their growing Hispanic fan base, I find the virtriol and venom that Malkin and her fellow travellers offer over the jersey episode both fatiguing and ironic. After all, a previous owner of the Texas... more Posted on May 7, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Hayden In; Jury Still Out on Goss Departure Yesterday, I suggested that the spontaneous combustion of Porter Goss was a fitting end for the partisan hack installed by President Bush to lead the war-time CIA. But the jury is still out on the impetus for his sudden departure, what Goss himself today deemed "just one of those mysteries." So far, the Washington Post and New York Times have focused on political intrigue. The Post cited administration officials who claimed "there has been an open conversation for a few... more Posted on May 6, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Goss Goes Down Over HookerGate? In a surprising and welcome announcement today, CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly tendered his resignation to President Bush. Effective immediately, Goss' quick exit was unusual, to say the least. But not necessarily totally unexpected. Since the story broke about Republican congressmen involved in the Hookergate scandal of Duke Cunningham moneymen Mitchell Wade and Brent Wilkes, rumors have swirled around not-so-clandestine rendezvous involving top CIA figures. Goss' #3 at the agency, Kyle Foggo, admitted to playing poker during the Watergate sessions,... more Posted on May 5, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Conservatives Say the Darndest Things Conservatives, to paraphrase Art Linkletter, say the darndest things. The past several days have been no exception, as the denizens of the right have served up a steady of diet of contradictory claims, egregious gaffes and downright disturbing ditties. Here, then, for your entertainment pleasure are the latest installments of "Today's Mantras." "Well, from my perspective, Heather and I already are married...The way I look at it, is we're just waiting for state and federal law to catch up with... more Posted on May 4, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Voting Rights in Black and White As the AP reported today, the Bush administration once again appears to be standing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on its head. In an unusual lawsuit, the Justice Department is bringing action against Ike Brown, the African-American head of the Democratic Party in sparsely populated Noxubee County. Brown, the suit contends, used coercion and intimidation to prevent the white voters, who make up only 30% of the county, from going to the polls. This is neither to suggest that... more Posted on May 2, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Iran, Bush and the Second Coming The tensions between the United States and Iran reached a new level over the past week. Following a series of announcements regarding its nuclear program and tests of new weapons systems, Tehran announced on Tuesday that it was purchasing the sophisticated Tor M1 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia. On Friday, the IAEA released its highly anticipated report on the Iranian nuclear program and its failure to meet UN Security Council deadline to stop its uranium enrichment efforts. Secretary of State... more Posted on May 1, 2006 \| Comments (24)

	Submission Accomplished On this the third anniversary of President Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the American people have grown cynical over prospects in Iraq. A new CNN poll shows only 9% of Americans believe the mission in Iraq has been accomplished; 44% believe it never will be. Meanwhile, ThinkProgress has catalogued just what President Bush has accomplished in Iraq so far. Here, then, is a look back at the Bush speech and its aftermath. Three years later,... more Posted on May 1, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Bitter Pills for Crawford, Limbaugh It was a mixed week for the Avenging Angel, punisher of conservative miscreants. Two evil doers of the right, Lester Crawford and Rush Limbaugh, found themselves in trouble this week for doing bad things with prescription pills. Sadly, only one faces the prospect of true justice. Dr. Crawford, the former head of the Bush FDA, faces a criminal inquiry for financial misdeeds and lying to Congress. Last fall, Crawford, a vet by training and a friend of big Pharma, reneged... more Posted on April 30, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Snow Day in Washington As widely predicted, President Bush on Wednesday officially named Fox News regular Tony Snow White House press secretary to replace the departing Scott McClellan. Putting a card-carrying member of his conservative amen corner in front of the press may signal Bush's willingness to circle the wagons at the White House or to play to his base. As for the Dana Milbank of the Washington Post got it about right in his analysis on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last week: "I'm... more Posted on April 26, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	That's a Big No: Bush, Gas Prices and the Polls With gasoline prices skyrocketing around the country, a spate of opinion polls show that President Bush is running on empty with the American people. The new CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey puts Bush's approval rating at a dismal 32%. Perhaps even more glaring, a staggering 69% of respondents claimed that gas prices constituted a financial hardship. But if Bush is being punished for high energy costs, he has only himself to blame. This May 7, 2001 response by then press secretary Ari... more Posted on April 24, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	James Baker: Bush's Mr. Fix It Goes to Iraq As surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, James Baker III reliably appears whenever George W. Bush finds himself in trouble. As the New York Times reports, the growing Iraq quagmire is no exception. Baker, the Secretary of State under the President's father, will lead a congressionally mandated team to generate new ideas for salvaging the American adventure in Iraq and with it, extricate George W. Bush from another fine mess. Baker has long... more Posted on April 24, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Scott McClellan's Greatest Hits White House press secretary Scott McClellan made it official today, tearfully announcing his resignation. McClellan's was a long overdue and merciful act of political euthanasia, ending what one analyst last year deemed "a persistent vegetative state." McClellan's sublime ignorance, awkward dissembling and limitless ability to take a punch made him the perfect mouthpiece for the scandal-ridden Bush White House. His rumored replacements, including Fox News anchor Tony Snow and one-time Iraq coalition provisional authority shill Dan Senor, simply don't offer... more Posted on April 19, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The GOP's Pulitzer Prize Winning Scandals The 2006 Pulitzer Prize awards were announced today in New York. If there is one common attribute many of the winners share, it is holding up a mirror to the scandals and corruption of the Bush administration and his Republican Party. The Pultzter Board recognized coverage of a broad range of Republican fraud, deceit and skullduggery, including the NSA domestic spying program, the CIA's secret prisons and the Jack Abramoff scandal, just to name a few. For example, Susan Schmidt,... more Posted on April 17, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	General Agreement: Rumsfeld Fails the Aspin Test As the firestorm between the growing ranks of retired generals and the White House over Donald Rumsfeld continues to heat up, the Republican leadership in Congress remains largely - and predictably - silent. As I wrote back in December 2004, the Republican Party and its amen corner have decided that its 1993 "Les Aspin Standard" does not apply to Defense Secretary Rumseld and the Bush administration. That is, decisions that needlessly cost American lives in battle cost defense secretaries their... more Posted on April 15, 2006 \| Comments (7)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, Iran Plan Edition The tumultuous events of the past week have led to a complete shake-up of the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites. Rumored plans for military strikes against Iran, revelations regarding President Bush's authorization to leak classified national security information to target political foes and the resignation of Tom Delay have combined to send some newcomers up the rankings and drop some old favorites off the charts. Rocketing to number one is the thrash metal "Wild Speculation (Fantasy Land)" by George Bush... more Posted on April 13, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Trailer Trash: Bush's Bogus Bio-Weapons Claims On May 29, 2003, President Bush proudly trumpeted the supposed discovery of mobile bio-weapons labs in Iraq, declaring, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." As the Washington Post is now reporting, the President's claim was not only untrue, but the administration knew it was false at the time Bush uttered it. The Post piece is yet another devastating blow to the White House campaign to retroactively justify the invasion of Iraq. By May 27th, 2003, a team of... more Posted on April 11, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	The PlameGate Leak Resource Center As the scandal grows surrounding President Bush's leak of classified national security information to discredit administration critics, you can track all of the latest news, legal filings, statues, timelines and other key documents. Just visit: The Perrspectives PlameGate Scandal Resource Center.... more Posted on April 11, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	GOP Cornered by Bush Leak That President Bush authorized Scooter Libby to selectively leak portions of the highly classified October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate as part of a coordinated assault on Joseph Wilson and other debunkers of pre-war Iraq WMD claims should come as a surprise to no one. What is surprising is that at least one Republican has the courage and the honesty to acknowledge the hypocrisy and shamelessness of a President now revealed as "leaker-in-chief." Representative Ray Lahood, an Illinois Republican and staunch... more Posted on April 7, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Condi Rice's Faux Apology Visiting England this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a new twis on that staple of Bush administration communications, the faux apology. Speaking to an audience of British foreign policy wonks, Rice offered a seeming mea culpa for the situation in Iraq, "I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them I'm sure." Any notion that Rice was breaking with the Bush doctrine of infallibility was extinguished with her very next sentence. "But when you look back in history,"... more Posted on April 1, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Bush-Putin Soulmate Watch With the July G8 summit approaching in St. Petersburg, President Bush is facing some uncomfortable questions about his close friend and budding Russian autocrat, Vladimir Putin. Speaking to Freedom House this week, Bush brushed aside suggestions that he boycott the summit, saying the two have a "personal relationship such that there is the possibility for candid conversation" and that "I'm able to walk into the room with the President of Russia and him not throw me out." That personal relationship... more Posted on March 30, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Brand W and the Midterm Elections Facing dismal poll ratings and the potential loss of both the House and Senate, the Republican National Committee appears set with its 2006 mid-term election strategy. Call it "Brand W." That is the central message in a memo from GOP pollster Jan van Lohuizen to RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. Acknowledging the GOP's current challenges, van Lohuizen says the key to maintaining Republican control of Congress is reenergizing and mobilizing the Party's dispirited base. To do that, the memo claims, the... more Posted on March 29, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Terri Schiavo: One Year Later This Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo. While the battle to respect her wishes is thankfully past, the war over individual autonomy and the protection of private, personal life choices is far from over. As many of the leaders of the religious right convene at VisionAmerica's "War on Christians" conference, Terri Schiavo's parents Mary and Bob Schindler are coincidentally set to release their tell-all book. Meanwhile, husband Michael has broken his public silence, issuing his... more Posted on March 27, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Barbara Bush: Rhymes With... The mythic image of Barbara Bush as "America's Grandmother" suffered another body blow this week. The Houston Chronicle revealed that Mrs. Bush directed contributions to the Bush-Clinton Katrina relief fund on the condition that the undisclosed funds be spent on products and services from the company of her ne'er do well son Neil. Of course, Mrs. Bush's cynicism towards and disdain for the victims of Hurricane Katrina is nothing new. Touring refugee evacuation centers in Houston with husband George just... more Posted on March 26, 2006 \| Comments (9)

	Abdul Rahman and the Death of the Bush Doctrine Neo-conservative founding father Irving Kristol once famously said, a neoconservative is "a liberal who's been mugged by reality." Now the once-preening adherents of the Bush Doctrine are being beaten and battered by events on the ground. First came the Sharia-influenced constitution and sectarian violence in Iraq and the Hamas government in Palestine. With the possible execution of Christian convert Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan, neo-conservatives' faith in democracy promotion in the Middle East is falling victim to their own much-hyped law... more Posted on March 25, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Top 10 GOP Sound Bites: Iraq Anniversary Edition This weekend's third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq brought another shake-up in the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites List. Catapulting to #4 is the new White House medley, "We're Makin' Progress", performed by George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and General George Casey. Still topping the charts is the hard rocking smash hit, George W. Bush's "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Coming in a close second is Scott McClellan's lyrical magic, "Ongoing Investigation." Another cut from that same broken record, Karl... more Posted on March 20, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Losing the Cracker Vote The much-deserved indignities continue for President Bush. Just a day after a host of new opinion polls put the President's approval rating as low as 33%, Bush suffered a devastating blow from one of his core constituencies. George W. Bush is losing the cracker vote. On Thursday, pop star Jessica Simpson snubbed the President, choosing to skip an appearance at a Republican fundraiser featuring Bush. Simpson, who portrayed the Southern belle Daisy Duke in last year's film version of "The... more Posted on March 16, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Poll Watch: Bush and GOP Spiral Downward The latest wave of public opinion polls shows that President Bush's downward spiral continues unabated. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bush's approval rating has plummeted to 37%, with CNN coming in at 36%, a precipitous 10% drop from January. And while a comparatively upbeat Washington Post survey from March 6th put the President at a 41% approval rating, a devastating assessment from the Pew Research Center showed Bush at only 33%, the lowest mark of his presidency. There can... more Posted on March 16, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Bush's Humor: The Joke Is On Us A sense of humor has always been an invaluable tool for presidents. Self-deprecating humor helped endear John F. Kennedy to the press and allowed Ronald Reagan to disarm his critics. But for George W. Bush, humor provides only a occasional glimpse of the truth and a rare window into the dark soul of a man who apparently views his fellow citizens with disdain. President Bush's performance Saturday at the Gridiron Club was no exception. Bush used the roast last night... more Posted on March 12, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Norton, Norquist and Abramoff's Body Count In what may be the latest addition to Jack Abramoff's Republican body count, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced her resignation today. With Abramoff's legal team threatening to tell all about the "friends of Jack" throughout Congress and the Bush White House, Norton preemptively ended her career in government. As the Denver Post, ThinkProgress, Atrios and others report, Norton certainly has a lot of explaining to do. Norton protected her deputy and former energy industry lobbyist Steven Griles even after her... more Posted on March 10, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Senate Intel Committee Caves on NSA Inquiry As predicted yesterday, the Senate Intelligence Committee today confirmed its status as a rubber stamp for the White House. The Committee, led by staunch Bush ally Pat Roberts (R-KS), rejected vice-chairman Jay Rockefeller's call for an investigation of the President's illegal NSA domestic spying program. Bowing to pressure from the White House, Majority Leader Frist and its chairman, the Intelligence Committee agreed only to institute a seven-member subcommittee, which along with staff, would receive full briefings on the program. Rockefeller... more Posted on March 7, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Senate Showdown Tuesday on Domestic Spying Tomorrow is shaping as "Showdown Tuesday" for the Senate Intelligence Committee. On Tuesday, the Intelligence Committee led by Kansas Senator Pat Roberts will decide whether to investigate President Bush's illegal NSA domestic wiretapping. At this point, the vote could go either way. Whether Roberts' committee once again abdicates its oversight role likely comes to down the votes of three Republican members previously critical of the NSA program: Mike DeWine of Ohio, Maine's Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. DeWine,... more Posted on March 6, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush, Dubai and the Ties That Bind I tend to agree with Kevin Drum over at the Washington Monthly that the Dubai port deal is not necessarily the grave and gathering security risk its opponents decry. (The shocking political tone-deafness is another matter altogether.) But it certainly smells bad, in no small part because of the cronyism and close ties the Bush White House - and family -have to Dubai Ports World and the government of the UAE. As has been reported previously, the Bush team is... more Posted on February 28, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	GOP Scandals Converge in Texas Redistricting Case On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that brings together three simmering Republican scandals. The GOP's unprecedented Congressional gerrymandering, Tom Delay's ethical failings and the Department of Justice's gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 will be among the story lines as the Roberts Court takes on the 2003 Texas redistricting cases. On its face, the Texas cases concern the constitutionality of a new Congressional district map put in place by Texas Republicans in 2003. Coming only... more Posted on February 27, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Republicans' Constitutional Crisis When it comes to President Bush's illegal domestic spying program, his Republican allies over the last several days have shown that discretion is indeed the better part of valor. From the beginning, the administration's amen corner has aggressive claimed that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the wartime Commander-in-Chief powers give President Bush the statutory and constitutional basis for sidestepping the FISA process for domestic electronic surveillance. But most in the GOP are downright sheepish... more Posted on February 20, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Just Say Noe to Thugs For those who have been following the ethical trials and travails of the GOP, the Buckeye State brings us the latest chapter of the Banana Republicans. Ohio Republican fundraiser extraordinaire Tom Noe, a Bush pioneer and close supporter of Governor Robert Taft, has been indicted on 53 new counts of stealing over $1 million from a dubious state investment in rare coins. These counts come on top of earlier charges of illegally funneling over $45,000 to President Bush's 2004 reelection... more Posted on February 13, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Playing Dumb: Bush on Abramoff, Lay and Libby Facing increasing pressure over his ties to convicted Republican uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff, George W. Bush is doing what comes naturally: playing dumb. And why not? It worked for him with Ken Lay and the Valerie Plame leak. On January 26th, President Bush denied any relationship with Abramoff, a "Pioneeer" who raised over $100,000 for his reelection campaign: "You know, I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him." Sadly for the President,... more Posted on February 9, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	The White House Flip-Flops on NSA Program Oversight President Bush has flip-flopped once again. Just 24 hours after Vice President Cheney firmly declared the administration would not more broadly share information with key Congressional committee members regarding Bush's NSA domestic spying program, the White House reversed course - sort of. The seeds of the turnabout were sown with yesterday's challenge from House Intelligence Committee member, Republican Heather Wilson of New Mexico. Wilson, who is also one of the few House GOP members to return contributions from Tom Delay's... more Posted on February 8, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The GOP's "Give Me Death" Defense on Domestic Spying During a break in the Senate testimony by Attorney General Gonzales this morning, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions resorted to the now standard Republican defense of President Bush's illegal domestic spying program. Call it the "Give Me Death" strategy. During brief comments to the press, Sessions referring to the rightness of Bush's domestic spying after 9/11 declared melodramatically: "Over 3,000 Americans have no civil rights because they are no longer with us." The Republican leadership is singing from the same Karl... more Posted on February 6, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Dishonoring Mrs. King In Atlanta this weekend, thousands braved unusually cold weather to pay their final respects to Coretta Scott King, who lay in state at the Georgia Capitol. That honor, withheld from her slain husband in 1968 by the legendary racist Governor Lester Maddox, comes as a bitter irony. For it was in the same Georgia Capitol only days before that the GOP-controlled legislature passed and Republican Governor Sonny Perdue signed a restrictive new voter ID card program designed to suppress minority... more Posted on February 5, 2006 \| Comments (9)

	CPAC 2006: Republican Party Animals Just in time for Lincoln's birthday, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will arrive in Washington. Next Thursday, February 9th, hundreds of right-wing activists, high-profile Republican politicians and conservative groups of all stripes will descend on the capital to give lie to the Great Emancipator's words, "with malice toward none; with charity for all." The CPAC 2006 speakers include Vice President Cheney, whose scheduled remarks are said to include a primer on Senate floor etiquette. UN Ambassador John Bolton... more Posted on February 2, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites: SOTU Edition With the NSA domestic spying scandal and Pesident Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address, the past week has seen another shake-up in the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites. Jumping to the top of the charts is the hard rocking smash hit, George W. Bush's "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Another cut from that same broken record, Karl Rove's "Pre-9/11 Mindset," vaulted to the #3 in the rankings. Still strong in second place is Scott McClellan's lyrical magic, "Ongoing Investigation." Dropping off... more Posted on February 1, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	The Top 10 State of the Union Highlights Faced with negative polls and a pessimistic American nation, President Bush's just completed 2006 State of the Union Address naturally focused on the theme of "the Hopeful Society." But like the stillborn "Ownership Society" vision before it, Bush's 2006 SOTU will be remembered not for its policy program, but for its partisan political purposes. The top 10 highlights: 1. Demonize the Democrats The President continued Karl Rove's 2006 electoral strategy to once again run on national security and brand the... more Posted on January 31, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	The Sad Symbolism of Samuel Alito and Coretta Scott King There are days when the convergence of events can't help but deliver a larger message, to augur change or signal the passing of one era and the start of another. With the coincident confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito and the death of Coretta Scott King, today is one of those days of historical - and symbolic - significance. In Washington, the U.S. Senate confirmed Alito by 58 to 42, possibly changing the the direction of the Supreme Court for a... more Posted on January 31, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Jeff Gannon Meets the 82nd Airborne This past week has been among the most instructive in the annals of the Pentagon's inexcusable "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Among the lessons learned: while the American military has no place for soldiers who pose on gay web sites, the Bush White House press corps is another matter altogether. On Wednesday, the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military released Pentagon figures estimating that 10,000 gay servicemen and women were discharged from the U.S. armed forces... more Posted on January 27, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Flip-Flops on Bin Laden In the four years plus since the 9/11 attacks, the simplest way to gauge President Bush's changing political fortunes has been his changing attitude towards Osama Bin Laden. In the Bush playbook, the threat posed by Bin Laden is directly proportional to the threat to the President's political standing. Trying to fight back the growing public outcry over his illegal domestic wiretapping program, President Bush used the Bin Laden bogeyman once again during his remarks Wednesday at the National Security... more Posted on January 25, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	Branding the NSA Domestic Spying Scandal As part of its all-out campaign to defend its indefensible illegal domestic wiretapping program, the Bush administration is turning to one of its tried and true marketing techniques - branding. The product? The "Terrorist Surveillance Program." In speeches this week, President Bush, former NSA program manager Air Force General Michael Hayden and other White House surrogates will toe the party line and refer to the "terrorist surveillance program." To support the new GOP talking points, the White House web site... more Posted on January 24, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Gonzales and the War on Voting Rights The Washington Post today offered a devastating look at the Bush administration's systematic attempt to undermine voting rights in the United States. The Post looks in-depth at cases in Georgia, Texas and Mississippi in which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other Bush political appointees overruled career staff in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. In each, the DOJ granted "pre-clearance" to new state rules designed to suppress minority voter participation to the benefit of the GOP. As... more Posted on January 23, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Republican Plantation Politics On the same day that Republicans howled over Hillary Clinton's use of "plantation", a GOP term of art, President Bush was practicing some plantation politics of his own. In Washington on Monday, the President honored the life of Martin Luther King Jr. by calling for the renewal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. "We all must recognize we have more to do," Bush intoned, "And Congress must renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965." Too bad his Justice Department... more Posted on January 17, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Alito Files The Perrspectives Supreme Court Resource Center has assembled a host of resources providing the background and proceedings of the confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito. In addition to links to the daily hearing transcripts, the Resource Center includes Alito libraries from the New York Times, Washington Post, FindLaw and others. Essential documents are also provided, including Alito's responses to the confirmation questionnaire, released papers from the Reagan-era, and his infamous 1985 memo laying out a strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade.... more Posted on January 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Engine Trouble for the Economy To kick-off his 2006 campaign for permanent - and dangerously irresponsible - tax cuts, President Bush crowed on Friday about his economic stewardship. "The American economy," Bush boasted, "heads into 2006 with a full head of steam." New economic data released on the same day, however, suggests that the American economic locomotive may be experiencing some engine trouble. After a stellar November, December produced only new 100,000 jobs, roughly half of the gains anticipated by analysts. Paradoxically, the .1% drop... more Posted on January 8, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Jack Abramoff & the Banana Republicans With today?s guilty plea by Republican uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Congressional GOP and its K Street poject may be in for a world of hurt. As many as 20 people in the House, Senate and other Republican circles in DC may be implicated. For all the latest news, documents, legal filings and timelines on the growing Abramoff and Delay imbroglios, be sure to visit the Perrspectives Abramoff/Delay Scandal Center. In the mean time, here?s an updated Most Wanted poster of... more Posted on January 3, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The NSA Scandal Resource Center The Perrspectives Resource Center has just been expanded to include a new document library for the exploding Bush-NSA Spying Scandal. The NSA Scandal Document Library includes the latest Bush spying scandal news, essential Department of Justice memos and key laws such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the War Powers Resolution, the 2001 Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) and more. Key Supreme Court decisions involving presidential war powers, such as the 1952 Youngstown v. Sawyer and 2004's Hamdi v.... more Posted on January 1, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Brokebush Mountain The new Ang Lee film Brokeback Mountain may be one of the most powerful love stories brought to theaters in recent years. It would also appear to be among the most successful at the box office, with the highest per screen take of any film in the United States during the past week. The "gay cowboy" film is also causing predictable consternation among the family values crowd. On Fox News, host Stuart Varney worried that the film would make "explicit"... more Posted on December 30, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Yoo Da Man Karl Rove is widely credited with being "Bush's brain." But when it comes to the administration's dangerous and unprecedented expansion of presidential war powers, John Yoo is the President's mouthpiece. Only 34, Yoo, formerly of the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel and now a professor at the University of California Boalt Hall School of Law, joins Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney as one of the preeminent if unlikely policy architects in the Bush pantheon. Wolfowitz, the former Defense Undersecretary, was... more Posted on December 23, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Bush on Dictatorship In his December 19th press conference regarding his secret and likely illegal program of domestic surveillance, an angry President George W. Bush took umbrage at suggestions that he believes in unprecedented, expansive and unchecked presidential power. A fuming Bush responded: "To say 'unchecked power' basically is ascribing some kind of dictatorial position to the President, which I strongly reject." Unfortunately, Bush's past statements show that far from rejecting dictatorial power for the President, he's actually quite enamored of it. "A... more Posted on December 19, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	The Wages of Spin As I wrote recently, the White House is increasingly frustrated by Americans' continued pessimism with the President's handling of the economy. Perhaps President Bush can find some solace that he seems to draw his greatest support in precisely those states where conditions are the worst for American workers. That would appear to be the central finding in a report just released by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts. The report, titled "Decent Work in America: The... more Posted on December 9, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush League Economy Nothing, apparently not even the growing opposition to the war in Iraq, frustrates President Bush and the Republican Party more than Americans' consistently negative view of the economy. Despite 215,000 new jobs in November, stout 4.3% Q3 GDP growth and a whopping 4.7% gain in productivity, only 37% of Americans approve of Bush's handling of the economy. As one Wall Street analyst moaned on the RNC blog, "No matter what happens, no matter what data are released, no matter which... more Posted on December 8, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Dishonoring Pearl Harbor President Bush used this 64th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to continue his faltering effort to drum up support for his Iraq policy. Only days after unveiling his supposed "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" to an incredulous American public, Bush sought once again to draw parallels with a different, "good war" against fascism: The strike on Pearl Harbor was the start of a long war for America -- a massive struggle against those who attacked us,... more Posted on December 7, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The Republican Rap Sheet The explosion of scandals engulfing the Banana Republicans is producing a growing body count. In just the last week, California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned his House seat after pleading guilty to taking over $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractor MZM. Jack Abramoff partner Michael Scanlon entered a guilty plea for his role in swindling Native American tribes, a turn of events that may imperil a host of others in Congress, including Ohio Representative Bob Ney. Meanwhile, the PlameGate/CIA... more Posted on December 1, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney and the "Same Intelligence" Myth In "Bush Rewrites History", I argued that in attacking opponents of its uses and manipulation of pre-war intelligence, the Bush White House and its amen corner were propagating four new myths. First, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their allies claimed that Congress has access to the "same intelligence" as the White House. Second, the President and his team asserted that two investigations of the Iraq war run-up found no evidence that the President or his administration had manipulated pre-war... more Posted on November 28, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Medicare's Prescription for Failure Last week saw the launch of the enrollment period for the new Medicare prescription drug plan. Judging by the initial reception by beneficiaries, Congress and the market alike, the Medicare drug benefit is off to a rocky start. That should come as a surprise to no one for a program that was designed to fail. All over the country, overwhelmed seniors wrestled with over 40 competing plans featuring conflicting formulary lists and dramatic geographic variations in premiums. Beneficiaries' confusion was... more Posted on November 23, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Bush Rewrites History When in a hole, one of the timeless maxims of politics states, stop digging. President Bush, facing plummeting poll numbers, the festering PlameGate scandal and a growing national consensus that he misled the country into war with Iraq, has apparently decided to keep digging. In shameless and angry speeches in front of military audiences on Veterans Day and again in Alaska on Monday, the President in essence accused his critics of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. But in... more Posted on November 15, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	The Top 10 GOP Sound Bites: Rewriting History Edition The past week has seen another shake-up in the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites. After the President's shameless Veterans Day speech, the smash hit "Rewriting History", performed by George Bush, RNC chairman Ken Mehlman and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, jumped to the top of the charts. Kay Bailey Hutchison's ode to Scooter Libby, "No Underlying Crime," dropped two places to #3, while Scott McClellan's ballad "Ongoing Investigation" held firm at #2. For the first time since January 2002, George... more Posted on November 14, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Hard Liners, Soft Porn One of most ironic - and enjoyable - side stories of the CIA Leak/PlameGate investigation has been the discovery of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's trashy 2001 novel, "The Apprentice." As the New Yorker describes at length, Libby, the right-hand man for staunchly conservative Vice President Dick Cheney, seemed quite comfortable writing about prostitution, deviant sexual acts and bestiality in his bizarre coming of age tale set in 1903 Japan. No doubt Libby's "man-on-deer" and "bear-on-girl" forbidden love scenes would make Rick... more Posted on November 10, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	Roberts' Iraq Stonewall Crumbles Over the past week, Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas chose to ignore the old dictum, "when in a hole, stop digging." As I wrote last week, Roberts has been a key leader of an elaborate GOP effort to stonewall investigation into the Bush administration's uses and misuses of pre-Iraq war intelligence. Stung by the closed Senate session in which Democrats savaged his obvious obstructionist tactics, Roberts came out swinging. Now, Roberts is insisting that there is no evidence of... more Posted on November 7, 2005 \| Comments (9)

	Fitzgerald, Iraq and the Truth About Pre-War Intelligence One of the most telling moments of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's press conference on Friday concerned the larger context - or lack thereof - for the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. "This indictment is not about the war. This indictment's not about the propriety of the war. The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified." Fitzgerald, of course, is right. Establishing the truth about the path to war in Iraq is not his... more Posted on November 1, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	The Top 10 GOP Post-Indictment Sound Bites Back in July, Perrspectives took a look at the Top 10 GOP sound bites. What a difference a hurricane and two indictments make. Catapulting to #1 in the charts after the Scooter Libby indictment is Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's smash hit, "No Underlying Crime (Perjury Technicality)." "Ongoing Investigation", the previous chart-topper from Scott McClellan and George W. Bush, dropped to #2. Moving to #5 is "Criminalization of Politics", as performed by Tom Delay, Ken Mehlman, Bill Kriston and Robert... more Posted on October 31, 2005 \| Comments (18)

	Indicting an Administration Special Prosecutore Patrick Fitzgerald has announced that Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby has been indicted on five charges on obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements. (Here are PDF's of the Libby indictment text and the Fitzgerald press release text.) The false statements occurred during interviews with federal agents in 2003. The perjury charges center on two different appearances by Libby before the grand jury. In response, Libby has tendered his resignation. At this time, the status of... more Posted on October 28, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Premature Withdrawal In one of the least surprising announcements to come of out Washington in recent years, President Bush bowed to the inevitable and pulled the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. Positioned as a principled withdrawal by a stalwart White House counsel concerned with preserving executive privilege, in reality the Miers collapse was both a total defeat for the President and a potent symbol of his political cowardice. The Bush nomination of Miers was stillborn. She was cannibalized by movement conservatives,... more Posted on October 27, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Blowback: Bush, Plame and the Politics of Payback Washington is on pins and needles as all await word from CIA leak special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Reuters reports that Fitzgerald may convene the grand jury as early as Tuesday to seek indictments. What began as an investigation into the outing of a covert CIA operative has grown to encompass perjury and obstruction of justice, and perhaps even cast doubt on the candor of the administration's rationale for the Iraq war. Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the Bush White House is... more Posted on October 23, 2005 \| Comments (9)

	Your Guide to PlameGate The specter of indictments in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case came in to greater focus today with the debut of a web site by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. The launch of the site is fueling speculation that next week brings a flood of documents from Fitzgerald, including possible indictments for Rove, Libby and the rest of the cast of characters. To follow all the latest developments and access a collection of the key articles, briefings, statutes, timelines and other... more Posted on October 21, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	What the President Knew and When He Knew It President Bush, as Ricky Ricardo used to say, has some 'splaining to do. Thanks to a piece in the New York Daily News, we now know the President's claims throughout the fall of 2003 that he had no knowledge of the identity of the Valerie Plame leaker are simply untrue. The article ("Bush Whacked Rove on CIA Leak") cites White House sources who describe a furious George W. Bush dressing down Rove in September 2003 for his role in the... more Posted on October 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Foreign Aid, Self-Help Marx once remarked that historical events occur twice, the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. In the wake of the devastating earthquake that killed at least 35,000 in Pakistan and India, the United States is once again being penny wise and pound foolish. Repeating the administration's initial "stingy" response to the December Asian tsunami, Secretary of State Rice in Islamabad offered $50 million in American emergency aid. If ever the United States had an opportunity to... more Posted on October 13, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Freeh at Last: Revenge and Revisionism at the FBI On Sunday night, former FBI head Louis Freeh introduced his salacious new Clinton tell-all book, My FBI, on CBS 60 Minutes. For Freeh, the book is an opportunity not only to cash in, but to lash out. Scolded by the 9/11 Commission and savaged by the critics of his tenure at FBI, Freeh is now getting a chance to tell his side of the story. It's too bad he doesn't seem to be telling the truth. Even in advance of... more Posted on October 9, 2005 \| Comments (11)

	No Judge of Character President Bush has tried to reassure anxious conservatives over his choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, testifying to her good character by saying " I know her heart. I know what she believes." They are not buying it. The conservative punditocracy and blogosphere are enraged with the Miers selection. George Will said that Bush "has forfeited his right to be trusted as a custodian of the Constitution." The President's amen corner is in full rebellion, with Charles Krauthammer... more Posted on October 7, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Stirling Work on the Delay Case Over the last several months, Perrspectives has amassed a large and growing document library regarding Tom Delay and his laundry list of scandals. One of the most important additions to the Tom Delay Scandal Document Center comes from Stirling Newberry of Blogging the President. Over at BOP and in a post at DailyKos, Newberry has unearthed a treasure trove of memos, emails and other correspondence involving Delay's TRMPAC, Texas legislators, Texas Republican contributors, and the Hammer's own staff. Last week,... more Posted on October 6, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Miers Fails the Three Strikes Test The judicial philosophy of Harriet Miers, President Bush's surprise choice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, remains a mystery. But what little is known about Miers suggests she is a political operative with some extreme views if not extreme qualifications. In a nutshell, Miers fails Perrspectives' "Three Strikes Test" for the Supreme Court. Back in July, I urged Democrats to hold their fire on John Roberts and focus instead on Bush's second nominee, taken for granted to... more Posted on October 4, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Harriet Miers' Supreme Opportunism The nomination of Harriet Miers as the replacement for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has united liberals and conservatives in ways few thought possible. Democrats fear she is a stealth arch-conservative. But it is Republicans fellow-travelers like Michelle Malkin, Bill Kristol and David Frum who seem most horrified. They are simply astounded that Bush confirmed Americans' worst fears that he values cronyism over qualification. Given her complete lack of a track record on the bench, it's virtually impossible to... more Posted on October 3, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	America's Most Wanted The cavalcade of Republican corruption continues unabated. Only days after the first of two indictments of Tom Delay and the commencement of an SEC investigation into insider trading by Bill Frist, the PlameGate investigation is heating up once again. The Washington Post reports that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may pursue criminal conspiracy charges against Karl Rove and Cheney chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the payback outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. And ABC's George Stephanopolous claimed Sunday that... more Posted on October 2, 2005 \| Comments (11)

	An Army of One? The recruiting woes of the American military continue unabated. The AP reported today that the U.S. Army just completed its worst recruiting year since 1979. The shortfall for the all-volunteer force was among the most dramatic, both in absolute numbers (7,000) and as a percentage of the target (80,000), since the United States ended conscription in 1973. These disconcerting results reflect the ongoing chaos and unending carnage in Iraq. In this environment, the Army understandably will miss its goal of... more Posted on September 30, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	The GOP Scandal Documents With Tom Delay indicted and Judith Miller released from jail, the bubbling pot of Republican corruption, cronyism and skullduggery is reaching a boiling point. Ever the schadenfreude merchant, the Perrspectives Document Library is only to happy to offer the essential documents and materials for the Delay, Rove and other festering scandals of the Banana Republicans. The Tom Delay Scandal Center has all the key background for the Delay case and its spawn, including Jack Abramoff and David Safavian. The essential... more Posted on September 30, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Banana Republicans During a week when Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean tried to rally his party in a quixotic effort to block the confirmation of John Roberts, Republicans at all levels of government may have given him the keys to Congress. For Democrats, ending the epidemic of GOP corruption, patronage and cronyism has to be one sure fire theme for next year's mid-term elections. Memo to Dean: Clean Up the Mess in '06. The Republican rap sheet for the past week... more Posted on September 26, 2005 \| Comments (18)

	Sins of Commission The American people are rightly outraged by President Bush's refusal to call for an independent commission to investigate the disastrous government response to hurricane Katrina. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 81% of Americans would like to see an independent panel versus only 18% backing a Congressional inquiry. Democrats will pay no price for opposing both the defanged joint committee pushed by House and Senate Republicans and the sham White House investigation led by Bush homeland security advisor Frances Townsend.... more Posted on September 21, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	John Roberts, Chief Umpire? Among the rhetorical flourishes that characterized his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, none perhaps will prove to be as lasting or strategic as John Roberts' "umpire" analogy. Designed to disarm both conservative opponents of so-called "judicial activism" and liberal foes of right-wing ideology on the bench, the eloquent Roberts offered the soothing platitude, "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them." Roberts� umpire approach was warmly received by fawning Republicans on the Committee. Democratic members, though,... more Posted on September 21, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Trojan Horse: The Bush Plan for Katrina Last Thursday�s speech by President Bush in New Orleans� Jackson Square kicked off the administrations� cynical campaign to snatch political victory from the jaws of defeat in the wake of its disastrous Katrina response. Karl Rove�s strategy for the coming 2006 mid-term elections will modeled on his 2002 GOP success with the Department of Homeland Security. With the Gulf States devastated, hundreds dead and thousands displaced, President Bush and the GOP will lace a popular recovery program featuring massive federal... more Posted on September 19, 2005 \| Comments (9)

	The Bush Speech in Black and White One of the more transparent aspects of President Bush's speech from New Orleans last night was its cynical outreach to African-Americans. Trying to break the stereotype of his administration and his party as modern day Confederates, Bush spoke eloquently of race and poverty in the Katrina disaster. Unfortunately, Bush's makeover as born-again racial healer simply isn�t credible, given his own penchant for racial stereotypes. Returning to the formula of his 2005 State of the Union address, President Bush sought to... more Posted on September 16, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Katrina Cop Out The President's prime-time "Katrina Comeback" address was vintage Bush. Primarily designed to help him, and not the Gulf States, recover from his administration�s disastrous bungling of the Katrina response, Bush's speech offered to shower money on the devastated South. But in his typical fashion, George W. Bush held no one accountable and shunned independent oversight of the response and the rebuilding. Most of all, the Free Lunch President refused to ask the American people to pay for it. Let's start... more Posted on September 15, 2005 \| Comments (16)

	George Bush, Security Risk In a short statement on Tuesday, George W. Bush completely undermined the entire premise for his second term as President. With plummeting polls in the wake of his administration's bungling of the New Orleans disaster, Bush sought the appearance of accountability. He said tersely, "to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility." But in so doing, President Bush demolished his national security credentials. The same man who campaigned for reelection in 2004 as... more Posted on September 13, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	9/11 and the Culture of Grief This fourth anniversary of the devastating September 11 Al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington were marked with the usual ritualistic displays of grief and remembrance. Some, like the World Trade Center ceremony in New York were heartfelt and moving. Others, like the Bush administration�s so-called "Freedom Walk" in Washington DC appropriated (or perhaps more accurately, misappropriated) the symbols of 9/11 for partisan political ends. And some, like the Nick Lachey/Jessica Simpson pop rendition of "America the Beautiful" simulcast... more Posted on September 11, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Where's the Lisa Beamer of New Orleans? The Bush White House, if nothing else, is a marketing machine, a triumph of style over substance. In the summer of 2002, Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card admitted as much, declaring the time for selling the planned war with Iraq was not yet ripe, "from a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." Therein lies the problem for President Bush in the marketing of his administration�s abysmal response to hurricane Katrina. Bush has no product.... more Posted on September 8, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	FEMA: Florida Election Management Agency Mel Brooks once said, "it's good to be king." Well when it comes to hurricanes, it's even better being the President's brother. Especially in a vital swing state. In an election year. Louisiana's Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco is learning that the hard way. While her state suffered through a disastrous, disorganized and delayed response to Katrina from FEMA and the Bush administration, Florida governor Jeb Bush had no such problems as his state weathered four hurricanes in 2004. There is... more Posted on September 5, 2005 \| Comments (14)

	Cancel the 9/11 Freedom Walk With New Orleans and the Gulf States in ruins, now is not the time for purely symbolic acts, especially not cynical ones. That's why President Bush and the Pentagon should cancel the so-called Freedom Walk scheduled for Sunday, September 11. From its inception, the Freedom Walk has been controversial. Putting only thinnest veneer of patriotism over pure politics, the Freedom Walk was designed to explictly link 9/11 with the war in Iraq. Starting at the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, registered marchers... more Posted on September 4, 2005 \| Comments (9)

	Estate Tax or Dynasty Dividend? In the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast, Americans should be united in providing relief, resources and support to all in need. But sadly, that massive relief effort will take place during a time divisive - and fundamental - debate about the very meaning of national unity in the United States. As New Orleans struggles for survival, the President and his amen corner are waging a full scale assault on the estate tax, what they derisively (and effectively)... more Posted on September 4, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Compassionate Conservatism, RIP Over two years ago, I wrote the words below as part of long piece titled, "The Opt Out Society: The GOP Threat to National Unity and the American Social Contract." Now, two years later, with New Orleans in ruins, hundreds dead and thousands more at risk, we see the willful neglect of the Bush administration and the morally bankrupt conservative public philosophy behind it in the clear light of day. Theirs is the Opt Out Society indeed. And in it,... more Posted on September 2, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Compassion Deficit: Clinton to the Rescue It is now official. President George W. Bush, Mr. Compassionate Conservative, has a Compassion Deficit. And as I predicted yesterday, he is turning to conservative uber-villain Bill Clinton to save him from it. Bush is now facing a hellstorm of criticism for his delayed, detached and deficient response to the hurricane Katrina disaster in the Gulf states. After two days of pushing Medicare drug coverage, staying the course in Iraq and just strumming a guitar, President Bush spoke to nation.... more Posted on September 1, 2005 \| Comments (12)

	New Orleans Pays the Death Tax Now should not be the time, as Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly has noted, for the politics of blame. In the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast, Americans should be united in providing relief, resources and support to all in need. But sadly, that massive relief effort will take place during a time of divisive and fundamental debate about the very meaning of national unity in the United States. As New Orleans struggles for survival, the President... more Posted on August 31, 2005 \| Comments (36)

	Hurricanes, Divine Retribution and the Right In these times of American hyper-partisanship, even the response to an act of God like hurricane Katrina is revealing. The disaster, which devastated the extremely red states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, brought no snide claims of "divine retribution" from the voices of the left. No one declared that a just God wrought vengeance upon the South for its sins of slavery, succession, civil war, Jim Crow or more recently, its coronation of George W. Bush. Instead, the liberal blogosphere,... more Posted on August 30, 2005 \| Comments (13)

	Intelligent Design in Iraq There are at least two things we know for certain about George W. Bush. One, he is committed to "stay the course" in Iraq, despite the clear and growing chaos on the ground. And second, Bush believes in the doctrine of intelligent design. As it turns out, the two are related for President Bush. There is no question that Iraq is, as ID advocates like to say, "irreducibly complex." The security nightmare, the economic devastation and the budding civil war... more Posted on August 28, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	America and China in Hot Oil It�s been a busy week for energy news in the United States. First, the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in the United States topped $2.60. Then, a barrel of oil flirted with $68, yet another record. And Bush Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta announced minor revisions to the federal CAFE fuel efficiency standards for some light trucks and SUVs. But the most important development for the long-term health of the American energy market came from China. On Monday,... more Posted on August 25, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	What Is To Be Done: A 10-Point Plan for Iraq The debate over the American debacle in Iraq sounds more and more like the Fram oil filter ads from the 1970's. In those spots, a hard-nosed mechanic tells consumers, "you can pay me now or pay me later." The inevitable result of the current political dialogue over Iraq will be the "Fram choice" for Americans: the United States can lose now or lose later. On the right, President Bush and his fellow travelers refuse to accept accountability for selling a... more Posted on August 20, 2005 \| Comments (13)

	The Image Gallery In response to reader requests, we're pleased to offer the Perrspectives Image Gallery. In one place, the Image Gallery brings together all of the most popular Perrspectives images and graphics. These include Bush on the Couch, Easter Reflections on Tom Delay, Bill O'Reilly's VideoGate, the Bush Iraq Report Card, Baghdad Bob and DC Dick, Justice Sunday II, the Top 10 Bush Sound Bites and a host of others. Check it out!... more Posted on August 15, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	On W's Words of Wisdom President Bush' s struggles with his mother tongue are legendary. Collections and analyses of "Bushisms" even predate his ascendence to the White House. But in defending his refusal to meet with grieving Iraq war mother Cindy Sheehan, George W. Bush reached a new plateau of verbal incontinence: "But whether it be here or in Washington or anywhere else, there's somebody who has got something to say to the president, that's part of the job. And I think it's important for... more Posted on August 14, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	Justice Sunday II: This Time It's Biblical For those of you who missed the "Justice Sunday" protest against the judicial filibuster, Tony Perkins, the Family Research Council and American Taliban friends are back with Justice Sunday II. Justice Sunday II, to be held on Sunday, August 14th in Nashville, Tennessee, brings together some of the leading lights of the American reactionary right in support of Bush SCOTUS nominee John Roberts. The FRC's own Perkins will be joined by convicted Watergate felon turned prison minister Chuck Colson. Colson,... more Posted on August 10, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	The Cindy Sheehan Rorschach Test The vigil of Cindy Sheehan outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch has come to embody all the anger and division of the increasingly counterproductive American debate over Iraq. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, says she wants to meet again with President Bush to ask him, "why did you kill my son?" But while she is lionized by the left and vilified by the right, Washington fiddles and Baghdad burns. The reaction to Sheehan by the Bush White... more Posted on August 10, 2005 \| Comments (25)

	Karl Rove Whack-a-Mole Contest Winners! On August 3rd, 2005, the fifth anniversary of George W. Bush's promise to "uphold the honor and dignity of the office", Perrspectives concluded the "Karl Rove Whack-a-Mole Contest." Today, we're pleased to announce the winners. Hundreds of people worldwide came forward to be judge and jury for Karl Rove. Their verdict for Rove's outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame and crimes too numerous to document here: guilty. And while the Fitzpatrick grand jury is still months away from indictments, the... more Posted on August 5, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	The Hitchhiker's Guide to Intelligent Design Earlier this week, President Bush expressed his support for the teaching of "intelligent design" alongside the theory of evolution in American schools. By backing the quackery that is this repackaged creationism, Bush is showing both his usual disdain for the scientific method and his preference for faith over fact as the basis for public policy. This time, though, the President is also highlighting his ignorance of basic philosophy and pop culture. For those who had the good fortune to miss... more Posted on August 3, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	The Global War on Error In a rhetorical shift last week, the Bush administration unveiled a new name for its worldwide war against an abstraction. The old moniker "Global War on Terror" (or GWOT) has been exchanged for the new label, the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism" (or G-SAVE). The results for America and the world, sadly, will be the same. This is not a case, as Shakespeare might have said, of a rose by any other name smelling as sweet. The United States is... more Posted on August 1, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	Chaos Theory: Bush & The Bolton Diversion As expected, President Bush Monday morning made a recess appointment of John Bolton to the post of UN ambassador for the United States. This, despite Bolton's inability to get Senate approval, his lie regarding his testimony in the Plame affair, and the possibility of his own involvement in a White House orchestrated smear campaign against the Wilsons. Bush's move, though, may be less about his famed loyalty or legendary intransigence, and more a diversion aimed at creating chaos. At this... more Posted on August 1, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Turd Blossom Tournament Ends Wednesday! This is a last reminder that Perrspectives' own Karl Rove Whack-a-Mole Contest ends on Thursday, August 3rd. While the grand jury may not issue any indictments for months, you can be Karl Rove's judge and jury today. Just sentence Rove for his outrageous crimes and you could win an Apple iPod Shuffle or other great prizes. This is one time when justice delayed doesn't have to be justice denied. Enter today!... more Posted on July 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Roberts, Poppy and Attorney-Client Privilege With Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on John Roberts still over a month away, a battle royale over the nominee's paper trail is rapidly developing. But despite White House protests to the contrary, the conflict may be less about protecting attorney-client privilege, and more about protecting the President's father. First, a little background. As part of the confirmation process, Senate Democrats have requested documents from Judge Roberts' time in both the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses. Yesterday, the Bush team... more Posted on July 29, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The Top 10 Bush Sound Bites With the Karl Rove PlameGate scandal now in high gear, the Bush White House and the GOP leadership as usual have everyone singing the same tune. Over the last three weeks, their latest smash sound bite hit, "Don't Prejudge An Ongoing Investigation", has jumped to the top of the charts: Click here for performances of "Ongoing Investigation" by President Bush, Scott McClellan, and RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.... more Posted on July 27, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	All the President's Men - and Women The mushrooming Karl Rove CIA outing scandal increasingly looks like it will rack up quite a body count within the White House. It was only two years ago that President Bush concluded of the Valerie Plame outing, "I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official." Now it is beginning to appear that he will have no credible senior officials left. Bush advisor Karl Rove and Dick Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby, of course, are... more Posted on July 25, 2005 \| Comments (17)

	The Madness of King George A new study in the British journal The Lancet may finally explain the dementia and unpredictable behavior of George III. High levels of arsenic, it appears, were behind the madness of King George. That mystery solved, what is George W. Bush's excuse?... more Posted on July 25, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Holding Fire on Roberts In yesterday's piece "Supreme Limitations on Democrats", I argued that liberals and progressives of all stripes should not reflexively oppose the nomination of Judge John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. (Admittedly, when I wrote the piece, it was Judge Edith Brown Clement I had in mind.) The argument for restraint in the confirmation process is straight-forward. It's not just that Roberts is clearly a first-rate legal talent, unlike a Clarence Thomas. He simply does not cross the threshhold of... more Posted on July 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Supreme Limitations for Democrats With rumors swirling that President Bush has selected Edith Brown Clement of the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to be replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Democrats can get to down the business of planning their response. Their response should be to vote to confirm Judge Clement. Why? In a nutshell, Democrats should grudgingly accept Clement because she simply does not cross the threshhold of unsuitability. 1. Anti-Choice History Not Sufficient for a No Vote Democrats cannot... more Posted on July 19, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	The Plot Thickens It's amazing what a difference a day makes. On Friday morning, Republicans proclaimed Karl Rove's exhonoration in the PlameGate affair, after a source close to investigation claimed that it was columnist Robert Novak who informed Karl Rove of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, and not visa versa. But RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman's gloating notwithstanding, the mountain of evidence continues to build against Rove and the Bush White House. By Friday afternoon, a New York Times article revealed the existence of... more Posted on July 17, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Broken China in Washington A recurring topic here at Perrspectives has been the rise of China as a economic, military and diplomatic superpower and its impact on American security and prosperity. Since its inception, the response of the Bush administration to Beijing's emergence as American creditor, trading partner and strategic rival has alternately been silence or incoherence. This week, the pressure for policy clarity towards China ratcheted up another notch. At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has delayed the annual report due... more Posted on July 15, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The Rove-Plame Scandal Document Library The Perrspectives Document Library has been expanded to include background articles and documents on the Karl Rove outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. The Rove documents include the original Joseph Wilson New York Times op-ed, Robert Novak's column outing Wilson's wife Valerie Plame and key 2003 White House press briefings by Scott McClellan and President Bush. The Library also features key 2003 and 2005 articles on the scandal, as well as a timeline of entire affair. For future reference, links... more Posted on July 12, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	The Rove Defense: No Controlling Legal Authority Newsweek's Michael Isikoff has just published a damning article clearly identifying Karl Rove as Time journalist Matt Cooper's source in the Valerie Plame CIA outing case. Isikoff does more than use Cooper's email threads to show that Rove was in fact Cooper's "double super secret" source. His Newsweek piece reveals the outlines of the coming Rove defense. For Democrats still smarting from Al Gore's pounding in the Buddhist temple fundraising scandal, it is a hauntingly familiar: "No Controlling Legal Authority."... more Posted on July 10, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	The Karl Rove Whack-a-Mole Contest Ever feel like there?s no justice? While the New York Times? Judith Miller sits in jail for protecting the identity of the Valerie Plame turncoat, Bush White House grand inquisitor and likely leaker Karl Rove remains at large. That?s why you need to play Karl Rove Whack-a-Mole, the Perrspectives contest that lets you be Karl Rove?s judge and jury (though not executioner). How to Play The contest is simple. You get to sentence Karl Rove for his crimes; the best... more Posted on July 7, 2005 \| Comments (51)

	The Coming Draft Debate In "Getting Drafty", I argued that current and emerging American national security challenges require the reinstatement of the draft and a new "hybrid model" of national service. Developments over the just the past two weeks reflect just how rapidly the pressure is building to bolster American military force levels. London Terror Attacks and the Need for Expanded Homeland Defense. Timed to coincide with the opening of the G-8 summit in Edinburgh and only one day after London won the competition... more Posted on July 7, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	A Wink and a Nod: Bush on the Plame Scandal Now that things are heating up once again in the Valerie Plame CIA outing case, it is worth turning back the clock and remembering President Bush's take on the scandal. During his October 7, 2003 Cabinet meeting, George W. Bush, the same man who as presidential candidate who promised to "uphold the honor and dignity of the office" had this to say about the despicable act of treason committed by his White House: "Well, the investigators will ask our staff... more Posted on July 2, 2005 \| Comments (11)

	Markets, Public Goods and Military Recruiting During Thursday's hearings of the Armed Services Committee, several Republican Senators blamed the usual suspects for the shortfalls in Army and Marine recruiting. James Inhofe (R-OK) lambasted unnamed Senate colleagues, adding the potential recruits are being discouraged "because of all the negative media that's out there." Kansan Pat Roberts chimed in, "with the deluge of negative news that we get daily, it's just amazing to me that anybody would want to sign up." But while these conservative Senators predictably pointed... more Posted on June 30, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Iraq Report Card President Bush delivered his much awaited speech on Iraq to an audience of soldiers assembled at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. As theater, the President's was a confident rhetorical performance. But if the intent was to rebuild American support for the Iraq war by showing accountability for the missteps to date, providing a plan for success and asking for needed sacrifices, George W. Bush failed miserably: Bush's half-hour address showed the same story-telling and disingenuousness that has characterized his presidency and... more Posted on June 29, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Bush Iraq Speech Sneak Peak Yesterday, I offered a lengthy preview of tonight's nationally televised address on Iraq by President Bush. In the Perrspectives Guide to the Bush Address, I highlighted the Five Things Bush Must Do to rebuild public support for the conflict in Iraq. In that Guide, I also pointed out the rhetorical warning signs that Bush's rhetoric is unchanged, his plans unaltered and the prospects for American victory dimmed. Sadly, a preview of the Bush speech seems to contain them the most... more Posted on June 28, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	A Guide to the Bush Address on Iraq On Tuesday night, President Bush will take to the stage at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in a nationally televised address aimed at rebuilding public support for the war in Iraq. And well he should. Recent polls (from Gallup and Rasmussen, respectively) show that only 39% of Americans approve of the war in Iraq and that more people in the United States blame Bush (49%) than Saddam (44%) for the conflict. The torrent of revelations in 2002 pre-war British documents confirm... more Posted on June 27, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Getting Drafty: The Hybrid Model of National Service Ronald Reagan once famously said that presidents should "never say never" But when it comes to the reinstatement of the military draft, recent public opinion polls seem to suggest that the American people think "never" would be a fine idea, indeed. A recent AP/Ipsos poll showed only 27% of Americans favored conscription, with a whopping 70% opposed. As the casualties mount and recruiting woes build from the Iraq crisis, both political parties continue to make this issue moot for the... more Posted on June 26, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Mississippi Wounds Still Unhealed In Mississippi, where Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was convicted today of manslaughter in the 1964 civil rights murders, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal asks its readers a simple question: Do you think the Edgar Ray Killen trial and guilty verdict will mend the old wounds of the 1964 slayings? The simple answer? No. No, the dark cloud hanging over Philadelphia, the state of Mississippi and the South won't be lifted by this single compromise verdict. The wounds certainly... more Posted on June 21, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	DC Dick and Baghdad Bob While President Bush's statements on Iraq have entered the realm of the hallucinatory, Vice President Dick Cheney's chutzpah and mendacity in the just the last few weeks hasn't gone unnoticed, either. Cheney, the same man said who instructed Senator Pat Leahy "go f**k yourself" on the Senate floor, criticized Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for his Gitmo comments. "For him to make those comparisons was one of the most egregious things I'd ever heard on the floor of the United States... more Posted on June 20, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Bush on Iraq: That Was Then, This Is Now The Downing Street Memo and a host of new British documents are increasingly focusing national attention on the duplicity and incompetence of President Bush�s Iraq war planning. With criticism building, poll numbers plummeting and facing defections from his own party, the President used today�s weekly radio address to begin a new PR offensive to bolster support for Iraq policies. If that performance is any indication, George Bush has moved from profound deception and deep denial to outright fantasy. In one... more Posted on June 19, 2005 \| Comments (16)

	The Culture of Strife Across the nation this week, the Republican Party and its amen corner unleashed a tidal wave of dangerously irresponsible interventions into the most personal and intimate aspects of Americans' private lives. Whether they will pay a political price for their increasingly extreme - and unpopular - positions remains to be seen. Let's begin in Madison, Wisconsin, where the state assembly voted to ban the distribution and use of the "morning after" pill on state campuses. By a 49-41 vote, the... more Posted on June 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's British Invasion On the heels of Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to the U.S. and the growing furor over the Downing Street Memo, a new British document promises to further highlight the Bush administration's deception and incompetence in preparing for the Iraq war. The Washington Post reports that just two days before the Downing Street meeting, a July 21, 2002 intelligence briefing ("Iraq: Conditions for Military Action") showed British officials incredulous with the lack of planning for post-war Iraq by the Bush... more Posted on June 12, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	The White House Passes Gas Today offers yet another chapter in the ongoing attempt by the Bush White House to sell its policy program through manufactured news and faux science. The New York Times reports that a White House official, a former oil industry lobbyist, modified U.S. government climate reports in order to downplay the linkage between greenhouse gases and global warming: Philip Cooney, chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, made changes to descriptions of climate research that had already... more Posted on June 8, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	U.S. BS at the OAS The President and Secretary of State Rice took their Bush Doctrine cure-all to the meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Miami this week. Unfortunately for them, the assembled OAS delegates showed no interest in drinking the Bush Kool-Aid. While President Bush touted the benefits of his troubled Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), Condoleezza Rice tried the make the case for democracy promotion and fighting against instability in countries like Bolivia, Ecuador and Haiti: "We must act... more Posted on June 7, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Confederacy of Dunces This weekend, the disgusting spectacle of the Confederate flag reared its ugly head once again, this time in Missouri. Republican Governor Matt Blunt ordered the flag to be flown for a day during a memorial service attended at the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site in Higginsville. The 400 people in attendance didn't just lay roses and sing "Dixie." They raised the question as to whether the national Republican leadership is just whistling Dixie when it comes to celebrating the... more Posted on June 5, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	Chris Cox and the Harken Test The Center for American Progress has put together a devastating critique of Representative Chris Cox, President Bush's choice to succeed William Donaldson as chairman of the SEC. Cox's support for curtailing shareholder lawsuits, bill providing cover for Enron and his own checkered past show that Bush was never serious about his demand for corporate accountability. Cox's confirmation seems assured, especially with the broad support he enjoys from the financial services industry. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said of Cox, "with... more Posted on June 3, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	French Twist The rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters this week has raised a host of questions about the future of the European project. But while Euro-optimism absorbed a body blow, Americans may be just waking up to the prospect of a transformed alliance. Perrspectives has written repeatedly about the rise of the European Union as a economic and strategic counterweight to the United States. That development is tranforming the trans-Atlantic partnership, as growing economic competition (for example,... more Posted on June 3, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Deep Throat Irony Watch: Linda Tripp Edition As I wrote yesterday in "Gagging on Deep Throat", the mouthpieces of the conservative ascendancy have had two predictable responses to the revelation that former FBI #2 man Mark Felt was Watergate's "Deep Throat." First, they rushed to Nixon's defense, seeking to rewrite history by calling his crimes no different in kind or degree than those supposedly committed by Kennedy, Johnson or Clinton, and his downfall the result of the perfidy of liberal media. (More on this topic in a... more Posted on June 2, 2005 \| Comments (13)

	Bob Woodward Comes Clean Bob Woodward has just published in the Washington Post an account of how the FBI's #2 man Mark Felt became Deep Throat. A key sound bite from Woodward's account, "There is little doubt Felt thought the Nixon team were Nazis." For more on the demonization of Mark Felt by both Nixon and Bush apologists, see "Gagging on Deep Throat."... more Posted on June 2, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Gagging on Deep Throat Karl Marx once remarked that historical events occur twice, the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. When it comes to the scandal machines in the Nixon and Bush administrations, he could not have been more wrong. The reactions of Nixon contemporaries and today's Bush sycophants to yesterday's Deep Throat revelations are predictably - and eerily - similar. But the Bush team's own overt war against anonymous single sources and brutal retribution against whistle-blowers is no joke.... more Posted on June 1, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Sharpening Their Clause: The Coming Bush Judges Only days after the Senate reached a tenuous compromise to preserve the judicial filibuster, it appears the first Supreme Court vacancy of the Bush era may be imminent. AP reports that Chief Justice Rehnquist is preparing to step down and that the White House is already preparing to nominate his successor. There is an emerging consensus regarding the leading contenders for Bush's first Supreme. (Jeffrey Rosen in The New Republic provided a thorough run down last fall.) More important than... more Posted on May 30, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Stem Selling: The Ronald Reagan Life Legacy Act The momentum of politics and science is now with the Democrats in the battle to drive stem cell research in the United States. This week's announcement by South Korean researchers successfully producing healthy stem cells from the DNA of damaged tissue brought home the danger of the United States losing its leadership in the biotech sector. And new bi-partisan legislation in the House co-sponsored by Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) shows that increasing numbers of Congressional Republicans will... more Posted on May 24, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Nuclear Freeze and Bipolar Disorder AP has reported that the Senate 12 have brokered an 11th hour deal to avert a showdown over the nuclear option. The deal announced by Senator John McCain preserves the Democrats right to filibuster, but gives Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor a vote on the Senate floor. If the early blogosphere feedback is any indication, the Right and Left share a common sense of rage and betrayal at the outcome: "Cowards. A Bunch of M-Fing Cowards!!!! "Trust"?... more Posted on May 23, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Separated at Birth Far too much has already been made in the press about perceived parallels between the Bush administration and the new Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith. That much said, on deeper inspection, the similarities between Darth Vader and George W. Bush are striking:... more Posted on May 22, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Yoda Translates George Bush Back in 1983, Star Wars technology became both the inspiration and name for Ronald Reagan's seemingly fantastic (or at least, fantastically expensive) space-based missile defense system. Twenty-two years and a $100 billion later, we still don't know if that system will actually work. But it is easy to imagine advances from a new Star Wars film bringing immediate benefits to the White House and the American people alike. Here is an artist's rendering of Yoda, fresh off his performance... more Posted on May 22, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Judicial Filibuster Documents and Resources The Perrspectives Document Library has been expanded to include materials and resources for the Senate showdown over the judicial filibuster. The Judicial Filibuster Resource Center includes resource guides from the Center for American Progress and Media Matters, key background articles on the origins of the Nuclear Option, and background on key GOP players like Bill Frist and Manuel Miranda. The Judicial Filibuster Document Library also includes comparisons and archives of judicial vacancies under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. For... more Posted on May 19, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Single Sorcerers The ongoing Newsweek saga has given the Bush White House and its right wing jihadists what they see as a golden opportunity. Their simple goal is to use the Newsweek case and the Rathergate episode before it to wage a full scale assault on the credibility and objectivity of "mainstream press." In its place, they seek to substitute their own manufactured, alternate reality. Central to this campaign is the assault on media reliance on anonymous, single-sources. As Scott McClellan put... more Posted on May 19, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Newsweek Aftermath: The Bush Mea Culpa Watch As the Bush administration heaps scorn on Newsweek magazine for its Koran desecration story, it's worth remembering the President's own words during his April 13, 2004 press conference last year. Asked to name his biggest mistake, a modest (and incoherent) Bush responded: "I'm sure something will pop into my head here...maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one." With the White House and its conservative media goose-steppers pressuring Newsweek for an... more Posted on May 17, 2005 \| Comments (10)

	The Pot Calls the Kettle Irresponsible The Bush administration and their amen corner continue to rain down hellfire on Newsweek magazine for the Koran desecration flap. Scott McClellan called it "irresponsible" and Ohio Representative and Tom Delay crony Bob Ney termed it "criminal." As I cautioned yesterday, the administration would do well not to overplay its hand. The image of the United States around the Muslim world was already deeply tarnished. And American credibility, after Abu Ghraib, Iraq WMD, and too many other instances to list... more Posted on May 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	A Black Eye for Vicente Fox President Vincente Fox of Mexico did not help himself or President Bush with his comments about African-Americans this weekend. In Puerto Vallarta Friday, Fox declared that, "There's no doubt that Mexican men and women � full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work � are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States." His insensitive remarks come at a sensitive time for Mexican-American relations. George Bush is on the defensive over immigration reform... more Posted on May 16, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	White House Irony Watch: Newsweek Edition The disturbing revelation in Newsweek regarding the desecration of the Koran by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay has gotten more disturbing still. Newsweek now concedes that its single-source story may not be credible and has issued an apology to readers for the violence that claimed 15 lives in Afghanistan and produced fury around the Islamic world. Given the impact of its Periscope story, Newsweek's ethical breach if true is a serious one and, as the Pentagon charges, shockingly irresponsible. But... more Posted on May 16, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	Conservative Threat Level Raised Since 2000, the Perrspectives has maintained the Conservative Threat Advisory System. The Conservative Threat Level (CTL) measures the risk posed by the GOP and the forces of reaction to national unity, civil liberties, and equal opportunity. On Sunday, May 15th, the CTL was raised to Orange/High: Dismal polls, North Korean crisis and Iranian nukes can't slow momentum of Bush theocracy. While W attacks FDR in Latvia, Frist prepares to go nuclear, Kansas goes biblical and Bolton promises to get... more Posted on May 16, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Mythology as History: Yalta and the Bush Doctrine President Bush's powerful May 7 speech in Riga marking the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany has created a firestrom across the political spectrum. Conservatives, of course, loved the speech, appreciating any diminution of the Soviet role in the war, but especially the none-too-subtle assault on FDR. Liberals predictably (and I would argue, rightly) objected to Bush's butchering of history, especially his grotesque equation of Yalta with Munich and the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. What commentators on both... more Posted on May 15, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Faith-Based Intimidation So it's come to this. Pastor Chan Chandler of the East Waynesville North Carolina Baptist Church in North Carolina ejected nine members of his congregation because they did not vote for George Bush for President. 40 other congregants left his flock in protest. Welcome to the perversion that is George Bush's vision of faith America. The $8 billion Faith-Based Initiative sanctions discrimination by its recipients while involving the federal government in the functions of religious groups. In 2004, the GOP... more Posted on May 7, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	McClellan's Murky Math When is a benefit cut not a benefit cut? When does the repeal of planned future tax cuts constitute a tax increase? When White House spokesman and idiot non-savant Scott McClellan says so. The day after the President's press conference announcing his support for the Pozen scheme for Social Security progressive price indexing, McClellan was more than a little touchy. The New York Times, the Washington Post and a host of organizations quickly and correctly concluded that the repackaged Bush... more Posted on May 1, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The More Things Change As he did a year ago, President Bush on Thursday held a rare prime-time press conference to bolster his agenda. But in just one year, the once invincible President Bush finds his agenda failing, his popularity plummeting, nominees like John Bolton stalled and his disciplined party machine beginnning to split at the seams. The political circumstances may have changed, but not the man confronting them. Just as in his disturbing April 13, 2004 press conference, Bush once again displayed his... more Posted on April 29, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Lessons of Enron Revisited As President Bush took to the national stage on Thursday to try to salvage his failing second term agenda, a damning new documentary about Enron and close Bush friend was releases to critical acclaim. The film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, details the massive behind the scenes fraud the company perpetrated against its employees, its shareholders, and the American public. As reviewer David Edelstein noted, the documentary is at its most enraging when detailing the impact of the... more Posted on April 29, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	A Conservative Theory of Evolution On Sunday, April 24th, Senate Majority Leader Bill First will join James Dobson, Tony Perkins and assorted members of the conservative American Taliban for "Justice Sunday." This made-for-TV event is part of the Right's ongoing war against Senate Democrats' use of the filibuster to block a handful of Bush judicial nominees. As Frist prepares to implement the nuclear option, it is worth noting the subtle irony at the center of the Justice Sunday event. As their flyer states: "THE FILIBUSTER... more Posted on April 21, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	Bush's Secret iPod Playlist The political and entertainment worlds are abuzz with discussion and analysis regarding the contents of President Bush's iPod. The list, released by the White House on Tuesday, reveals a bland and predictable mix of rock classics and country. What is much more interesting - and surprising - are the songs comprising Bush's previously secret playlist. Released only this morning under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Bush's other playlist is said to include: - "Head Like a Hole"... more Posted on April 13, 2005 \| Comments (13)

	Delay's Judas Kiss As Malcolm Gladwell might put it, the Tom Delay saga may have reached a "tipping point." Across the House, the Senate and even the White House, Delay is under a withering assault from his erstwhile Republican allies. Many in the GOP, including the leadership, increasingly view Delay's judicial jihad and ethics imbroglio as threatening the Republican Congressional majorities in 2006. And while momentum has been building for his ouster, Delay's doom may be sealed by his own friends: Christopher Shays... more Posted on April 10, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Martin Peretz: The New Republican In the April 11th issue of The New Republic, Martin Peretz (�The Politics of Churlishness�) takes liberals to task for what he sees as their inability to show even grudging respect for President Bush�s recent successes in the Middle East. Sadly, Peretz reads too much into the supposed triumph of the Bush Doctrine, while not reading enough into the liberal critique of it. For starters, most liberals, like most Americans, are genuinely pleased with the turn of events in Iraq,... more Posted on April 8, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Conservative Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry Once again, the conservative punditocracy and blogosphere is learning the painful lesson that the truth does not necessarily set you free. From Fox News and Rush Limbaugh to virtually the entire right-wing blogosphere, the regiments of right-wing venom were all wrong about the much-hyped "GOP Schiavo talking points memo." Over the past 10 days, they called it a fraud, or in Limbaugh's case, a Democratic forgery, all in the hope of a redux of the CBS Memogate affair. Unfortunately for... more Posted on April 7, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The Potemkin President Among her legacies, Russian Empress Catherine the Great brought the term "Potemkin Village" into the vernacular. It refers to the elaborate villages erected by Russian minister Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin to impress Catherine with her new Crimean conquests. In today's political parlance, the term has become synonymous with the sophisticated facade and the clever ruse - that is, virtually any accomplishment or policy that "appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance." Fast forward two hundred years after the... more Posted on April 4, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Signs Act of Contrition I've been as tough a critic of the administration as anyone, but sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due. I never thought I'd see the day, but this press release says it all: PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNS ACT OF CONTRITION President Bush today signed Executive Order #152487, also known as the Presidential Act of Contrition. The Order expresses his deep remorse, profound regret and sincere apologies for the errors, deceptions, and acts of revenge that have come to... more Posted on April 1, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Iraq WMD Commission Whitewash As expected, the President's commission on pre-war intelligence regarding Iraqi's weapons of mass destruction offers a scathing critique of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. (The full report and other commission background can be found here; other Iraq/WMD documents are also available in the Perrspectives Document Library.) Also as expected, the report essentially absolved the Bush administration of any blame for its policies. The mandate of the panel, led by Oliver North's appellate liberator Judge Lawrence Silberman, did not... more Posted on March 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Achilles' Heels The political clash over the tragedy of Terri Schiavo is highlighting once again the Achilles Heel of the conservative movement. Dormant for two presidential elections, the yawning chasm between economic and social conservatives is reemerging, and with it, a serious threat to the Republicans' majority status. As we've noted before, the ascendancy of the Right is constantly threatened by the strains between social conservatives and their fiscally conservative, often libertarian allies. On one side, the religious Right of Robertson, Falwell,... more Posted on March 23, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	To Err is Texan Three critical points have been almost entirely absent from the media's discussion of the Terri Schiavo affair. I've written about two and others in the blogosphere have done a great job addressing the third: 1. Moral Arguments Favoring the End of Life Support A thorough discussion of the very strong moral arguments in favor of honoring Terri Schiavo's end-of-life request to her husband has been completely missing in the media. For my take, see: "Schiavo, Mill and the Culture of... more Posted on March 21, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Schiavo, Mill and the Culture of Living President Bush often likes to speak of a �culture of life�, a catch phrase that neatly frames his opposition to reproductive choice and stem cell research. The tragic case of Terri Schiavo, now featuring dangerously irresponsible and unprecedented Congressional intervention, is only latest chapter in his conservative playbook. It is high time to end the melodrama of Republican political opportunism and regain control of this debate. Progressives must do this not because we�re �right� or because our position in this... more Posted on March 20, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Expanded Progressive Resource Center Perrspectives is pleased to announced the expansion of its Resource Center. It offers Democrats, liberals and progressives of all stripes one-stop shopping for political news, polls, columnists, blogs, publications, think tanks, and other organizations. Perrspectives' Resources also include extensive online sources for budget, demographic, economic and electoral data. New additions include: Expanded library of demographic data, including global, regional, state and city sources. New Social Security reference materials, including GOP uber-consultant Frank Luntz's GOP playbook. A new library of Oregon... more Posted on March 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The Myth of the Bush Doctrine These are pretty heady days for the White House and its fellow travelers. In Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Ukraine, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia, movements for popular, democratic change seem to rule the day. The wisdom, rightness and prescience of the Bush Doctrine, they say, have been vindicated. In triumphant and self-congratulatory tones, the President and his allies are taking credit for the sweeping reform throughout the Middle East. President Bush proclaimed, "Freedom is on the march." The National Review's Rich... more Posted on March 9, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Better Lucky Than Good Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due. Like Chauncey Gardner in Being There, right now everything in the Middle East seems to be coming up roses for George W. Bush - and the United States. But like Chauncey, Bush the born-again democratic idealist has a series of happy accidents to thank for his success. The combination of the death of Arafat, Viktor Yushchenko's dioxin-tainted soup, bungling Syrian intelligence agents, and an all-powerful Shi'ite cleric may have... more Posted on March 4, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Soulmates Kicking off his European tour in Brussels, President Bush took Russian President Vladimir Putin to task for his steps away from democratic reform. Bush bluntly asserted that in order to take its place among the trans-Atlantic community, Russia "must renew a commitment to democracy and the rule of law." Clearly, Bush sent his friend a clear warning regarding his centralization of power, crackdown on independent media and crony capitalism. As the saying goes, though, it takes one to know one.... more Posted on February 22, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Fresh Air and Gray Skies: An Even Hand at NPR For the raging right, National Public Radio is the poster child for liberal bias in the media. From Accuracy in Media and the Media Research Center to the National Review and Bill O'Reilly, NPR (or "National Palestine Radio" to its detractors), is the bete noir. How very surprised, then, they must have all been while listening last week to NPR's Terry Gross on the Fresh Air program. Over three days last week, Gross brought in some of the heaviest hitters... more Posted on February 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Turning the Tables The Senate�s passage of the �Class Action Fairness Act� (CAFA) last week showcased two of the Republicans� most successful strategies for dominating political debate � Unopposable Utterances and Opposite Attractions. With the GOP stranglehold on the White House and Congress, it is high time the Democrats fought back using the very same weapons against them. But first a little background. The first of the Bush administration�s troika of tort reform initiatives (malpractice award caps and Asbestos litigation curbs are the... more Posted on February 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Fried Rice: Condi's Coming 9/11 Firestorm On the same day that the North Korean announcement of its nuclear weaponry put the Bush administration on the defensive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice got a double-dose of blowback from her 9/11 dissembling. First, the release of a previously classified report by the National Archives shows that the FAA had been warned repeatedly of the threat of terrorist hijackings between April and September, 2001. Even a slew of redactions, the Auugust 2004 report (which the administration held up) details... more Posted on February 11, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Ruy Texeira and the Whiteness of Being Over at Donkey Rising, Ruy Teixeira analyzes the raw data from the final NEP 2004 exit poll is search of an explanation for John Kerry's defeat. Not surprisingly, he concludes that "It's the White Working Class, Stupid." That is, Democrats not only got clubbed again by the GOP among working class white men (by 30% vs 29% four years ago), but were trounced among working class white women, with Bush's margin growing to 18% (from 7% in 2000). More alarming,... more Posted on February 9, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	A Banner Day for Republican Fraud Q: What do the new Bush Medicare budget forecast and ex-Talon News reporter Jeff Gannon have in common? A: They are both frauds exposed on the same day. Medicon Today, the Bush administration revealed that its 10 year forecast for Medicare, including the supposed prescription drug benefit, will be $1.2 trillion. That's $1.2 trillion between 2006 and 2015, not the $400 billion sold to Congress in December of 2003 or the $534 billion figure updated only two months later and... more Posted on February 9, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Bush on the Couch Sooner or later, every president is the subject of a "psycho-history." These works usually claim to explain the policies, behavior and even mannerisms of the occupant of the Oval Office based on a pseudo-psychological examination dating back to his childhood. Now, it's George W. Bush's turn on the couch: (Click here for a larger version of the picture or here for a PDF of this post.) UPDATE: A reader rightly asks for clarification on a couple of points. This post... more Posted on February 8, 2005 \| Comments (19)

	Updated Social Security Document Library! The Perrspectives Social Security Document Library has just been updated. It now includes the Republicans' cynical game plan, the Wehner memo, the Trustees' 2004 Report, the 2001 report of the Presidential Commission, CEPR's simple fact sheet, and resources from AARP, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Campaign for America's Future and ThereIsNoCrisis.com. Recent articles on studies and articles on the pension and retirement system reforms in Argentina, Chile and the UK are also included. In addition, links to... more Posted on February 8, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Race and the State of the Union During the February 3rd segment of the Abrams Report on MSNBC, part of the discussion focused on President Bush's surprising and vocal support for DNA evidence funding during the State of the Union address. Abrams and his guests seemed mystified as to why President Bush, a man who presided over more executions than any other contemporaneous governor, would have a "born-again" revelation as to the importance of DNA evidence in securing defendants' rights. As with virtually everything else with this... more Posted on February 4, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	State of Denial From the perspective of public policy and narrative, President Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address brought few surprises. But for sheer chutzpah, President Bush reached new heights. 1. The Social Security Shell Game As expected, Bush focused on Social Security privatization. Also as expected, he continued the selective use of numbers to create the phantasm of a "crisis." Needless to say, there was no mention of the $2 trillion cost and the serious risks of private accounts. Even more... more Posted on February 2, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	On the Wrong Side of History Once in a rare while, tectonic historical change occurs with the span of only few days. The dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall heralding the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, was one of those watershed moments. And for many Americans, the events of the last 10 days of January, with the Rice confirmation, the Bush second inaugural, and the Iraqi elections, represent a democratic tide sweeping the Middle East, a sea change the whole world is watching. Sometimes, though,... more Posted on February 1, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Perrspectives' Social Security Document Library With President Bush and the GOP launching an all-out campaign for their misguided Social Security privatization plan, Perrspectives has assembled a library of resources to help you evaluate the pluses and (endless) minuses of the Bush proposal. The Perrspectives Social Security Document Library includes the Republicans' cynical game plan, the Trustees' 2004 Report, the 2001 report of the Presidential Commission, CEPR's simple fact sheet, and resources from AARP, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Campaign for America's Future... more Posted on February 1, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Hijacking Freedom Among the many sub-plots to watch for in Wednesday's State of the Union address will be President Bush's appropriation of the words "freedom" and "liberty" for his agenda and the GOP. As we've written before, the Republicans have dominated American policy debates through their manipulation and control of language. Whether through message discipline or superior framing (to use Lakoff's term), the GOP has won a succession of victories spanning tax reform, Medicare, environmental policy, and more. Bush's 2005 State of... more Posted on January 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	2004 State of the Union Flashback With President Bush's 2005 State of the Union approaching, my 2004 SOTU-eve critique of Bush's so-called Ownership Society still stands. State of Disunion Even with his shaky State of the Union address and dipping approval ratings, President Bush unfortunately remains in a strong position for the 2004 election. Saddam is captured, GDP is surging, and his reelection war chest has a staggering $100 million in the bank. And while his Democratic foes battle each other in primary contests across the... more Posted on January 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	George Bush: Making the World Safe for Democracy? In the aftermath of President Bush' second inauguration, there is a widespread consensus that taken literally, his address would commit the United States to a global campaign of democratic proselytization. American friends and foes, puppets and pawns, the wistful and the wary, all are understandably concerned. Before starting a panic over the President's apparent Wilsonian idealism on steroids, it is worth remembering that Bush has not always been the outspoken proponent of democracy, individual liberty and human freedom: "So it... more Posted on January 22, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Name That Bush Scandal Contest Results! To commemorate the Second Inauguration of President George W. Bush, Perrspectives is pleased to announce the winners of the "Name That Bush Scandal" Contest which concluded at noon EST, January 20, 2005. Perrspectives received entries from all over the United States (and the world, for that matter). We'd like to thank everyone who participated for their creativity, spirit, energy and, given the election results, understandable angst. But while America may be the place where , to quote President Bush, "wings... more Posted on January 22, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Arrogance for the Ages Among the few certainties of life is this: no one will mistake the second inaugural address of George W. Bush with that of Abraham Lincoln. In one short speech, Bush encapsulated all the defining traits of his presidency. The rhetorical flourishes of his global crusade for freedom, a post-facto rationale for the war in Iraq, only amplified the arrogance and condescension that have earned America scorn abroad and produced shame for Americans at home. The meanness of spirit and the... more Posted on January 20, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Rue the Day January 20th has arrived and with it, George W. Bush's second inauguration. Starting today and continuing through the February State of the Union, we'll be subjected to the constant drumbeat of "The Ownership Society", the current facade put on the ongoing Republican assault on the American public interest and common good. With the election out of the way, an unconstrained George Bush will be free to pursue his radical agenda without the moderating influence of public opinion. Like a failed,... more Posted on January 20, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	African-Americans and the Bush Social Security Plan Only days after the Armstrong Williams paid-for-pundit debacle, President Bush used his January 12 "town hall meeting" to once again reach out to African-Americans. this time on his Social Security privatization plan. With a hand-picked audience of supporters present on stage and in the Washington DC audience, Bush was on the top of his game: "Another interesting idea...is a personal savings account...which can't be used to bet on the lottery, or a dice game, or the track. "Secondly, the interesting... more Posted on January 13, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Armstrong Williams Redux? On the heels of the Armstrong Williams "Payolagate" scandal come rumors that Bush administration may be planning additional outreach to the African-American community. While not confirmed, the DC grapevine has it that the Bush folks have in fact asked NWA and their lead man Ice Cube to perform their smash hit "Straight Out of Compton" at the inaugural. I heard that NWA was replacing Toby Keith, who was supposed to sing "Buy My CDs or Bin Laden Wins" and "Video... more Posted on January 11, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	The "Name That Bush Scandal" Contest Every administration has its scandals, those political quagmires and ethical fiascos that change our culture and forever mar presidential legacies. Among others, Nixon had Watergate, Reagan had Iran-Contra, and Clinton had, um, Lewinsky. Yet George W. Bush, whose scandals have been the most frequent, severe and damaging, has emerged largely unscathed. Uniquely among modern presidential outrages, Bush?s have gone unnoticed, unexplored, underreported, unpunished and most of all, unnamed. That is, until now. To commemorate George W. Bush?s second inauguration, Perrspectives.com... more Posted on January 10, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Social Security Smoke Screen As we previously discussed in "The Party of Choice", the Bush Social Security privatization is only loosely concerned about increasing market returns for retirement savings, providing greater freedom to American investors or even staving off a supposed funding crisis. Win or lose, the Bush plan seeks nothing less than to dramatically redefine the role of government while cementing the image of a majority Republican Party as the party of choice. But you don't have to take our word for it.... more Posted on January 6, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Doing Well by Doing Good: The American Opportunity in Global Tragedy In the wake of the devastating tsunami that killed thousands and threatens hundreds of thousands more across Asia, much of the coverage and debate in the United States has centered around whether or not the initial U.S. $35 million aid package is, in the words of U.N emergency coordinator Jan Egeland, "stingy." Lost in the petty bickering and wounded American pride is a unique opportunity for the United States to change its badly weakened global image by leading and funding... more Posted on December 30, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Party of Choice As President Bush ramps up his campaign for Social Security privatization, it looks like Democrats will once again win the battle of facts while losing the war of ideas. While his proposals are widely viewed as bad public policy and enjoy only lukewarm public support, regardless of its outcome Bush's crusade for Social Security reform will likely cement the positive image of the Republicans as the "party of choice." And apparently unaware of the largers stakes, it looks like the... more Posted on December 28, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Man of the Year Twofer for Bush The good news keeps on coming for President Bush. Fresh off receiving the Time 2004 Man of the Year award, rumors abound that Bush will also be recognized by Himmler Fancy magazine in its end of the year issue. Himmler Fancy, with its motto of "dedicated to advancing the age-old art of persuasion", is a niche publication. Targeting the interrogation professional community, recent issues have included features such as "Zyklon B: It's a Gas!", "The Hood: Never Out of Fashion",... more Posted on December 22, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Absolute Value and the Time "Man of the Year" Every once in a while, you realize that the apparently pointless concepts you learned back in math class were not completely without value. Or in the case of the Time selection of George W. Bush as its "2004 Man of the Year", absolute value. Bush's second crowning as Man O' Year reminds us of the notion of Absolute Value. As you'll recall, the expression \|x\| meant the positive value of x, regardless of whether x had a positive or negative... more Posted on December 21, 2004 \| Comments (1)

	Rumsfeld and the Aspin Test Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's comments to U.S. troops last week highlight once again the need for new leadership at the Pentagon. But while some Republicans are finally beginning to raise doubts about Rumsfeld, they have yet to hold him to the GOP's "Les Aspin Standard." That is, decisions that needlessly cost American lives in battle cost defense secretaries their jobs, but apparently only if Bill Clinton is president. John McCain, who sold his soul to George Bush in order to... more Posted on December 13, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Denial is not a River in Iraq Speaking of cognitive dissonance, the Bush administration continues to merrily amble forward as the situation in Iraq degrades and the stench of American abuse of prisoners grows. Earlier today, President Bush blandly stated that "free elections will proceed as planned." . At the same time he was issuing this pablum, the New York Times and The Guardian reported that a cable from the departing CIA station chief in Baghdad alerted Washington to the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground in... more Posted on December 7, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Mind Games: Intelligence Reform and the Next 9/11 After much grandstanding by members of its Republican majority, the House of Representatives passed the intelligence reform bill on Tuesday. The Senate's OK and President Bush's signature should be forthcoming in short order. With many of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations soon to be law, Americans will now rightly ask if reform will really help prevent another major terrorist attack here at home. The short answer is "yes, but only if." The long answer is that the revamped National Intelligence Directorate... more Posted on December 7, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and Wartime Leadership On this, the 63rd anniversary of the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, comparisons with 9/11 and its aftermath are inescapable. From the nature of the war itself to the identity of the attacks' casualties, the differences are stark. The contrast between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 could not be greater when it comes to presidential wartime leadership. President Bush has tried to claim FDR's mantle of "war president": "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office... more Posted on December 7, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and Wartime Leadership On this, the 63rd anniversary of the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, comparisons with 9/11 and its aftermath are inescapable. From the nature of the war itself to the identity of the attacks' casualties, the differences are stark. The contrast between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 could not be greater when it comes to presidential wartime leadership. President Bush has tried to claim FDR's mantle of "war president": "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office... more Posted on December 7, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	George W. Bush: Rhythm Methodist On Thursday, the United Methodist Church defrocked a lesbian minister, the Reverend Elizabeth Stroud of Germantown, Pennsylvania. This was the first such step by the Church in 17 years, reflecting its law that bars ""self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from ministry. Convicted by a 12-1 vote and defrocked by a 7-6 majority, Stroud may still perform other duties for her congregation. Leaving aside the fundamental issues of fairness, homophobia and church doctrine for church members themselves to debate, today's developments do raise... more Posted on December 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Maple Leaf Rag President Bush's "reaching out" visit to Canada is getting a chilly reception from our neighbors in the Great White North. Protesters holding signs simply stating "please leave" bring back memories of the Chretien cabinet minister who called Bush "a moron." It wasn't always this way. Before the current sad state of affairs, then candidate Bush received the endorsement of a Canadian prime minister. Unfortunately for Bush, this prime minister, like so much of what passes for truth in the Bush... more Posted on November 30, 2004 \| Comments (2)

	Not That There's Anything Wrong with It Two recent news developments highlight once again the fallacy of "rational rejection" of the rights of gay Americans by social conservatives. In their ongoing quest to mask theology as social science, they have once run into the dual brick walls of the academy and the Supreme Court. The first instance of conservatives being "mugged by reality" (to appropriate neocon Irving Kristol's phrase) comes from the University of Virginia, where a study led by Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson showed that teenagers... more Posted on November 29, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	American Taliban The �War on Terror� has provided Americans with a helpful introduction to theocracy. The fight against Al Qaeda, the war on the Taliban, and the growing tensions with the regime in Iran has offered a quick primer on the hallmarks of the religious state. First is the rule of religious authorities, whether it be Bin Laden�s new Caliphate, Mullah Omar�s Taliban regime, or the mullahs in Tehran. Second is the imposition of the faith�s sacred texts as law, in these... more Posted on November 25, 2004 \| Comments (19)

	Greenbacks and Greenspan Slowly but surely, Americans may be waking up to the fact that our twin budget and trade deficits are a lurking danger. It was just so surprising to hear Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan be so utterly cavalier about the downward pressures on the dollar: "It seems persuasive that, given the size of the U.S. current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point." The impact of Greenspan's unusually candid assessment was immediate. The... more Posted on November 19, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Colin Powell's Lost Soul With his resignation today, Secretary of State Colin Powell is being warmly remembered as a voice of moderation within an increasingly immoderate Bush administration, a calm and subtle diplomat seeking to build consensus and coalition. Compared to the arrogance of Rumsfeld, the incompetence of Rice and the hubris of the President, these tributes seem fitting. On the merits, however, I believe history will be much less kind to Powell, a man who unquestionably dedicated his life to the service of... more Posted on November 16, 2004 \| Comments (21)

	Red America: Coming to a Body Near You Sometimes, a single day of news tells you everything to know about what is or what is to come. On April 2, 2004, for example, the New York Times featured no fewer than seven stories covering different scandals, deceptions, stone-walling and perversions of science by the Bush administration. November 9, 2004 is another one of those days. Today's headlines provide a chilling preview of what life will be like over the next four years in George W. Bush's Red America:... more Posted on November 9, 2004 \| Comments (22)

	An Expanded Bush Second Term Agenda? During his November 4th press conference, President Bush offered few surprises in highlighting his aggressive second term agenda. Aside from potentially radical (and staggeringly regressive) tax reform, there was little new about Social Security privatization, caps on malpractice awards, and holding the line in Iraq. Rumors abound, however, that Bush's stalwart GOP allies in Congress have even more dramatic plans for spending the political capital W "earned" during the campaign. Put on the backburner prior to the election, several new... more Posted on November 5, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Less Than the Sum of Our Parts As Democrats wallow in the mire of Tuesday's electoral devastation, many are looking for silver linings in the clouds of the Republican trouncing. From record turnout, new voter registration, impressive fundraising, and the proliferation of liberal 527's, many progressives are finding solace. Comforting as that might be during this time of mourning for progressives, this search for palliatives misses the real point of Tuesday's disaster and obscures the hard work we have to do. That is, Democrats fundamentally have neither... more Posted on November 4, 2004 \| Comments (1)

	Five Lessons Learned: The Donkey Gets Its Ass Kicked While the Ohio saga may linger for some days, it's abundantly clear that the Democrats have suffered a devastating defeat. Bush has his mandate, the GOP owns Congress and the governorships, and the Supreme Court is only a matter of time. Let the recriminations begin. Progressives will no doubt cite a host of factors, from Kerry's wooden personality, the unshakable flip-flopper label, the Swift Boat slanders, "voted for it before I voted against it", among others. But these are questions... more Posted on November 3, 2004 \| Comments (29)

	The Stakes Every four years, the presidential candidates and their parties trot out the tired clich� that �this election is the most important in our lifetimes.� In 2004, the clich� is true. The outcome of the battle between George W. Bush and John Kerry will be a watershed event for the United States, a �line in the sand� as Bush the Elder would say. The stakes on November 2 are clear and dramatic: Will the American people choose to renew their social... more Posted on November 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Is This the End of Days for W? To use the language of Armageddon so beloved by this president and his fellow travelers, is this the End of Days for George Bush? While we can only hope so, it's too soon to tell. Until election day, you can track the Numbers of the Beast in the Perrspectives Campaign Poll Center. Hopefully, Americans will wake up on the morning of November 3rd and experience the Rapture of George W. Bush being denied a Second Coming. Until then, it perhaps... more Posted on November 1, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Spinning in Their Graves President Bush, in his latest cynical act of political whoredom, is pursuing swing state Democratic voters by invoking the heroic words of Democrat heroes past, and finding John Kerry wanting in comparison: "The party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve in times of war and in hours of crisis. Senator Kerry has turned his back on 'pay any price' and 'bear any burden." Well, Mr. President, I knew the words... more Posted on October 27, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Trifecta: Fiascos and Frauds in Iraq and Afghanistan Even in Iraq, when it rains, it pours. Examples of the Bush administration's staggering blunders and clumsy cover-ups are coming fast and furious as election day approaches. Each new revelation only serves to highlight the administration's incompetence, denial and deceit: 1. The Missed Zarqawi Opportunity As The American Prospect details, the Bush White House rejected Pentagon plans to destroy Zarqawi and his Ansar al-Islam camp in Northern Iraq in June 2002. The same people who lambasted President Clinton for merely... more Posted on October 26, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Is the Pope Catholic? While President Bush continues his cynically transparent effort to court American Catholic voters, some U.S. bishops are doing his dirty work for him. A group of American bishops, backed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, proclaimed that pro-choice politicians should not receive Communion. Others have gone further, issuing statements and newspaper advertisements that true Catholics should not vote for pro-choice politicians. As Pew Research has found, American Catholics are... more Posted on October 25, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Axis of Evil Endorses W Foreign leaders continue to line up behind George Bush in the 2004 election. Joining Russia's nascent czar Vladimir Putin as a W endorser is Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security decision-making body. Unlike Bush, this leader from the Axis of Evil spoke seemed to speak honestly: "We haven't seen anything good from Democrats...We do not desire to see Democrats take over." The American people can only conclude that Iran, with its budding nuclear weapons... more Posted on October 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Foreign Endorsements: 2000 Flashback Speaking of foreign leaders supporting W for President, who could forget the ringing endorsement of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Poutine in March of 2000: "Prime Minister Jean Poutine said he wouldn't endorse any candidate in this election, now he says he believes George W. Bush is the man to lead the free world into the 21st century." Bush warmly accepted his endorsement: "He understands I want to make sure our relationship with our most important neighbour to the north of... more Posted on October 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Foreign Endorsements Back in the spring, conservatives thundered against John Kerry when he mentioned in passing that many foreign leaders had confided to him that they wanted to see him replace George Bush as President. Now, those same conservatives have remained silent as Russian president Vladimir Putin endorsed Bush's reelection this week. Putin, the one-time KGB chief and budding Russion autocrat, stated that a Bush defeat would be a victory for the terrorists: "Any unbiased observer understands that attacks of international terrorist... more Posted on October 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Foreign Endorsements Back in the spring, conservatives thundered against John Kerry when he mentioned in passing that many foreign leaders had confided to him that they wanted to see him replace George Bush as President. Now, those same conservatives have remained silent as Russian president Vladimir Putin endorsed Bush's reelection this week. Putin, the one-time KGB chief and budding Russion autocrat, stated that a Bush defeat would be a victory for the terrorists: "Any unbiased observer understands that attacks of international terrorist... more Posted on October 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Three More Strikes for W In addition to the three pastings inflicted on him by John Kerry, President Bush a day after the final debate faces a trifecta of bad economic news: 1. A record Federal budget deficit of $413 billion. 2. A large increase in the number of first time jobless claims to 352,000. 3. The second highest monthly trade gap in American history ($54 billion). The Bush record speaks for itself. As Ronald Reagan once said, "are you better off now than four... more Posted on October 14, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Three Strikes and You're Out The last presidential debate is over and the results are in. It is a clear three-peat for John Kerry. Unfortunately for Furious George, his most memorable line of the night ("Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden.") was also a blatant lie. Nothing unusual there, of course. Expect President Bush to be on his feet for the rest of campaign, as his backside is no doubt too sore after the ass-kicking John... more Posted on October 14, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	George Bush: Mr. Personality? On the eve of Friday's town hall presidential debate in St. Louis, much has been made of George Bush's "likability advantage." Seemingly plain, folksy and approachable, Bush is portrayed as the kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with. No doubt, this gives W a big advantage in Friday's town hall format. In contrast, John Kerry, like Al Gore before him, represents a personality type disliked by most voters. He was the straight A student, the guy who... more Posted on October 7, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Cheney, Edwards and the Cleveland Test Speaking of Cleveland, moderator Gwen Ifill's question about the fate of cities like Cleveland was one of the most telling moments of the Cheney-Edwards encounter. Ifill highlighted the woes of Cleveland to ask the candidates address economic and quality of life issues facing the nation. And John Edwards proceeded to use the example of Cleveland to draw the sharpest contrast in the debate. IFILL: "What can you tell the people of Cleveland, or people of cities like Cleveland, that your... more Posted on October 6, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Bush Top 10 Flip Flop List Four years ago, George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for President, and famously set the moral tone - and expectations for his presidency: "So when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God." It has not, of course, worked out that way. As we pointed out... more Posted on October 1, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Mission Accomplished In case you missed it, John Kerry put the smack down on President Bush in Debate Round I. Kerry did almost everything he needed to get the race back on track: 1. Authoritative, Presidential: Commander-in-Chief Material Kerry was in charge from the outset and was thorough, calm, serious and resolved. He sounded resolute and visionary. 2. The Split Screen is Your Friend While Kerry was providing a commanding, sophisticated and sweeping vision for U.S. foreign policy, Bush was angry, smirking,... more Posted on October 1, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush the Coward According to conventional wisdom, George Bush leads John Kerry based on the perception of his strong leadership qualities and decisive action in the war on terror. The polls back this up, with CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls showing Americans prefer Bush over Kerry by large margins in the fight against terrorism (61%-34%) and the situation in Iraq (57%-35%). On his "courageous leadership" as with virtually every aspect of the Bush presidency, however, reality and perception diverge wildly. As Perrspectives has described in... more Posted on September 27, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush RNC 2000 Flashback As Americans prepare to hold their noses for the next four days so as to not inhale the stench eminating from the GOP convention in New York, a step back to the 2000 Republican gathering is in order. Let's journey back to August 3, 2000, when then Governor George W. Bush accepted his party's nomination for president. That speech in essence encapsulated everything we suspected then and now know to be true about George Bush. The lies, the vindictiveness, the... more Posted on September 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	W's Failed Wartime Leadership During the first night of the Republican Convention in New York, John McCain and Rudy Guiliani were effusive in the their praise of President Bush's war-time leadership. They are dead wrong. As the current situation on the ground and history alike show, Bush's conduct of the war has been misguided, ineffective and yes, cowardly. As Perrspectives detailed back in February ("The War President?"), Bush has failed because he has ignored the four real requirements of American wartime leadership: 1. Call... more Posted on August 31, 2004 \| Comments (1)

	Hitting the Wall In his flat-earth attempt to ignore economic reality, President Bush mindlessly repeats the mantra, "we're turning the corner and we're not going back." Unfortunately for W, his economic denial is getting harder every day: The ranks of Americans without health insurance swelled to 45 million. Since 2002, 1.4 million more Americans joined those already in poverty. GDP for the 2nd quarter was lowered again, to 2.8%. The U.S. government is running record budget deficits of over $400 billion. The U.S.... more Posted on August 29, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Ownership Society During a recent campaign stop, President Bush gave West Virginians a preview of the GOP convention and his reelection theme for the fall. Bush summarized his "Ownership Society", stating that "when you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country." The Ownership Society is Bush's attempt to offer the "vision thing" and counter his vulnerability over the chaos in Iraq and the jobless recovery at home. It aims to create a new American homo economicus... more Posted on August 27, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	WMD, Accountability & Cowardice In April 1961, President John F. Kennedy addressed the nation to accept full responsibility for the Bay of Pigs disaster in Cuba, an operation planned by the CIA of his GOP predecessor. Fast forward 43 years as George W. Bush and Tony Blair confront American and British reports documenting the Iraq WMD intelligence fiasco. While Blair at least acknowledged reality, Bush showed that defeat, in Kennedy's words, truly "is an orphan." Bush's political cowardice is a recurring theme running throughout... more Posted on August 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Laying the Blame With the indictment of former Enron CEO and Bush sugar daddy Ken Lay, many Americans are hoping to see justice served. The real Enron scandal, though, is not the loss of billions of dollars by Americans shareholders or even the manipulation of the California energy market. No, the real and apparently unlearned lesson of Enron is that market deregulation and privatization of basic public services poses a major threat to the public interest. And that danger remains very real. For... more Posted on July 10, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Trial of John Edwards Within minutes of Senator John Edwards� selection by John Kerry as his running mate, the Republicans started their predictable onslaught of attacks on his national security experience and high-profile career as a trial lawyer. An instantaneously updated GOP web site called Edwards �a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal and friend to personal injury trial lawyers.� Trent Lott (whose wistful, public nostalgia for the days of Jim Crow cost him the Senate majority leadership) called him �a suing lawyer � that�s S-U-I-N-G lawyer.�... more Posted on July 8, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Five Global Challenges for a New American Internationalism That giant sucking sound you may have heard last week was the last vestiges of American unilateralism spinning down the drain. Perhaps barely noticed in the din and drumbeat of the Reagan commemoration, the short and unhappy life of President Bush�s policy of �America Alone� mercifully came to an abrupt halt. In securing passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution recognizing the new Iraqi Interim Government, the Bush administration unwittingly pronounced the death of an idea whose time had never... more Posted on June 18, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Reflections on Reagan Now that the orgiastic collective mourning of Ronald Reagan is complete, we can from the distance of a week honestly reflect on the legacy of Ronald Reagan. Here is a look back at the man and the myth, in his own words and those of who (theoretically) admired him... Continue reading "Reflections on Reagan"...... more Posted on June 12, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Enron, Markets ad Grandma Millie Once is a rare while, conspiracy theorists get it right. In the case of Enron, this occasional conspiracy theorist and ex-Californian hit it right on the head in 2001. As the audiotapes of its traders released by CBS News clearly show, Enron clearly manipulated the newly deregulated California energy market to extract outrageous � and illegal � profits from Golden State ratepayers. The real scandal of Enron, though, is so much broader than that. It�s not just that Enron conspired... more Posted on June 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's 12 Step Program Like many Americans, I was deeply disturbed by President Bush�s performance during his April 13 press conference. His verbal incontinence, ill-timed smirks and uneasy pauses are nothing new. But once he got past his sober opening statement, his deer-in-the-headlights gaze, unnerving silences, and bizarre �I see dead people� comment suggested something seriously amiss. And his shocking inability or unwillingness to own up to any of his immense inventory of presidential mistakes led me to think something was very, very wrong... more Posted on April 16, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Everything You Need to Know Everything you need to know about the Bush administration�s unparalleled vindictiveness, secrecy and deceit is neatly summarized in the April 2, 2004 edition of the New York Times. There are no fewer than SEVEN stories about White House wrong-doing and duplicity. Individually, each is staggering; taken together, they paint a disgusting picture of President Bush�s utter contempt for truth, democracy and the American people... Continue reading "Everything You Need to Know"...... more Posted on April 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Cognitive Dissonance, Terrorism and 9/11 The Richard Clarke firestorm and the public sessions of the 9/11 commission have gripped the nation, redefined the presidential campaign, and left the American people continuing to search for the truth behind the September 11 disaster. The families of the 9/11 victims in particular are looking for answers: how did the United States fail to anticipate and prevent Al Qaeda�s September 11 attacks and who is responsible for those failures? The work of the 9/11 commission suggests that conclusive answers... more Posted on March 30, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Are We More Secure? As we mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush has made national security the foundation of his reelection effort. To no one�s surprise, the self-proclaimed �war president� is running on a theme of �steady leadership for changing times.� Given the traditional advantage the GOP has enjoyed with voters on defense and national security issues, the formula for electoral success seems straightforward: �President Bush made America safer.� Except that it�s not true. John Kerry and... more Posted on March 18, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Are You Better Off? During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan quickly deflated Jimmy Carter�s reelection bid with a simple question, asking the American people, �are you better off today than four years ago?� The answer, at a time of high unemployment, staggering inflation, spiraling energy prices, and hostages in Tehran, was an obvious - and devastating - no. Now it�s George Bush�s turn to face the Reagan question. And as with Jimmy Carter, the verdict from the American people won�t be kind: the... more Posted on March 10, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	States' Blights As the past week�s Democratic debates in Los Angeles and New York showed once again, there are generally very few substantive policy disagreements between John Kerry and John Edwards. On the issue of same-sex marriage in particular, there is very little difference in their approach: play it safe. That may be politically expedient and even politically necessary, but unfortunately, it also dangerous to the cause of personal liberty. Unlike abortion rights, which enjoy consensus support nationwide, same-sex marriage is still... more Posted on March 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Slippery Slope Here we go again. Once again, the anti-choice movement, with support from congressional conservatives and President Bush, is pushing legislation that chips away at women�s reproductive rights. Once again, squeamish Democrats in the House and Senate are going along for the ride. And once again, they are playing directly into their opponents� hands, helping to bring about the gradual undermining of abortion rights... Continue reading "Slippery Slope"...... more Posted on February 25, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Unsafe at Any Speed Ralph Nader announced his candidacy for president on Meet the Press with Tim Russert on Sunday. For those who missed it, here is a sneak peak at the de facto 2004 Nader campaign platform. At first glance, it looks strikingly similar to George W. Bush�s program. At second and third glance, too... Continue reading "Unsafe at Any Speed"...... more Posted on February 23, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Miranda Warning Oliver North is living proof that crime does pay. The Fox analyst and host of �War Stories�, North was a central figure in the Reagan era Iran-Contra scandal, clandestinely funneling money and arms to the Nicaraguan contras in clear violation of the 1984 Bolland Amendment. North, of course, is also a convicted felon, though his 1989 conviction was later overturned on appeal by none other than Laurence Silberman, the newly named chairman of President�s Bush WMD panel. Enter Manuel Miranda,... more Posted on February 22, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The War President? Now there�s a surprise. President Bush is going to base his reelection on the claim of being �a war president.� (His �Ownership Society� vision, which he delivered stillborn during his State of the Union address, has apparently been put on the backburner.) As he told Tim Russert on �Meet the Press� and repeated to National Guard troops in Louisiana on February 17th: "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war... more Posted on February 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part VI: The Democrats' New American Bargain in Action In 2004, Democrats must answer the GOP assault on national unity with a program based on reciprocity, responsibility and opportunity that calls on the best in Americans and their government. On national security, Democrats must not only pass the threshold of credibility, they must demonstrate clear leadership compared to the GOP. There is no better way to do this, substantively and symbolically, than through national service. While the volunteer army currently seems sufficient to fight foes abroad such as Afghanistan... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part V: A New American Bargain Democrats need a new, revitalized public philosophy and politics not only to achieve victory in 2004, but also to have any hope of attaining majority status in the next decade. In contrast to a conservative Opt Out ideology increasingly at odds with the best American civic traditions, Democrats should seek to usher in the "Reciprocity Society." Characterized by shared national identity and values, commitment to common goals and public institutions, national service, mutual responsibility, and universal opportunity, the Reciprocity Society... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part IV: Identity Politics and the Threat from the Left Unfortunately, Democrats cannot credibly speak of a politics of national unity and common American interest unless they make a clear break with the identity politics, multi-culturalism, and group privileges of the party's left. Democrats during the Clinton reign in the 1990's made great progress overcoming two of the three barriers to the party gaining majority status: being trusted on national defense and to provide economic growth. On cultural issues, however, the Clinton program of "100,000 cops" and welfare reform (not... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part III: Branding the Opt Out Society Democrats in 2004 would do well to emulate two successful approaches of their opponents in branding the GOP and its Opt Out philosophy. In 1994 with Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" and again with the 2000 Bush campaign, the Republicans succeeded in both labeling the Democrats as outside the mainstream while effectively positioning their own program in easily understood, hard hitting and, at least superficially, universally appealing sound bites. The result was and continues to be GOP domination of the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part II: On Your Own The impact of the Opt Out Society can be seen across the policies the Bush administration has pursued since coming to office. These are consistently defined by three characteristics. First is market idolatry; all public policy issues are framed in terms of market choice, competition, and privatization. From school vouchers to a market for pollution credits, any outcome that results is by definition the right one, since it was freely decided by the market. Second, the politics of the Opt... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part I: Introduction There's an old saying that says, "don't bring a knife to a gun fight." Another old saw goes "know your enemy." Truer words were never spoken as Democrats approach the 2004 elections. President Bush, fresh off his victory in Iraq, the staged performance on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and the capture of Saddam, has maintained strong approval ratings. But while the president wraps himself in the flag and the banner of unity in the American war against terror, the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Smallness of King George Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Richard Nixon represents the dark side of the American spirit." Well, RFK never met George W. Bush. Not since the days of Tricky Dick has the White House seen such a secretive, paranoid and vengeance-filled occupant. President Bush may not have the Plumbers, CREEP (the Committee to Re-elect the President), or the "Enemies List", but in its essence his administration has all the same hallmarks as the Nixon team. The politics of retribution, secrecy, and... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	State of Disunion Even with his shaky State of the Union address and dipping approval ratings, President Bush unfortunately remains in a strong position for the 2004 election. Saddam is captured, GDP is surging, and his reelection war chest has a staggering $100 million in the bank. And while his Democratic foes battle each other in primary contests across the country, Bush used his prime-time address to the nation to unveil his future for America, one grandly titled the "Ownership Society." The administration's... more Posted on January 21, 2004 \| Comments (0)