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KERRY RESPONDS ON 'GMA' Drudge Report — Permalink ABC NEWS GOOD MORNING AMERICA'S CHARLIE GIBSON: Now joining us from West Virginia is himself senator John Kerry. He's in the town of Glen Easton, West Virginia, today. Good to have you with us. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: Nevertheless, this attempt at an explanation pretty much has to be judged a disaster for the Kerry campaign. Betsy Newmark: Drudge has the transcript of Kerry's appearance on Good Morning America trying to defend his throwing away his medals or... Glenn Reynolds: HERE'S A TRANSCRIPT OF KERRY'S APPEARANCE ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA TODAY regarding the medal controversy, and it's pretty devastating. |
Vanderleun: Asked by Gibson on Good Morning America: "GIBSON: Can you explain? Answer: KERRY: Absolutely." KJL: KERRY ON GMA — Here's the transcript. Roger L. Simon: UPDATE: Dept. of Curiouser and Curiouser... By now many have read the transcript of the Gibson-Kerry Interview on Good... |
| Also: Captain Ed | |
The Revolution Will Not Be Blogged By / Mother Jones — Permalink First, a confession: I hate blogs. I'm also addicted to them. Hours dissolve into nothing when I suit up and dematerialize into the political blogosphere, first visiting one of the larger, nearer online opinion diaries — talkingpointsmemo.com,... | |
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David Adesnik: THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE BLOGGED: That's the title of the George Packer column that Josh mentioned earlier today. Jesse Taylor: Love 'Em, Hate 'Em, Cull From 'Em... Yeah, well...I'm wearing a Bengals sweatshirt. Haha, I win! Josh Chafetz: Thus far, no women, but I'm being patient* ... OxBlog gets a mention in a Mother Jones article by George Packer:... |
Kevin Drum: After admitting that he's addicted to blogs and spends uncounted hours reading them, his judgment is surprisingly accurate: [snipped quote] OK, I take it back. Matt Yglesias: Certainly Not At This Rate — There's a George Packer article in the current Mother Jones called "The Revolution Will Not Be Blogged." |
College Leader 'Disappointed' by Cheney By / AP — Permalink FULTON, Mo. - Westminster College's president said Monday he was so "surprised and disappointed" by Vice President Dick Cheney 's attacks on John Kerry during a speech that he is inviting the Democrat to visit for a reply. | |
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Oliver Willis: Cheney's Speech Backfires — College Leader 'Disappointed' by Cheney Westminster College's president said Monday he was... Harley: More here from the AP. Tho' I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. The One True Face of the Bush admin. is consistent, if nothing else. |
Josh Marshall: Here's the first graf of an email President Fletcher M. Lamkin sent to faculty, students and staff this afternoon ... [snipped quote] More background in this AP article. Atrios: The man has no manners. |
Discarded Decorations ABCNEWS — Permalink April 25 — Contradicting his statements as a candidate for president, Sen. John Kerry claimed in a 1971 television interview that he threw away as many as nine of his combat medals to protest the war in Vietnam. | |
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David Adesnik: Here's one: The ABC website now has an article up on the mini-scandal set off this morning by John Kerry's extremely... David Allan Pell: Kerry has fought back on this issue saying: [snipped quote] But these strong comments are often surrounded by long,... Hesiod: HEAVY MEDALS: This is what I posted about John Kerry's medals a few weeks ago — the following excerpts are from Winter... |
Smash: Today, in the context of a contentious presidential campaign, questions are being raised about exactly what happened on... Stephen Green: Roll the Tape — Here's the full Kerry videotape story from ABC News. Libertarian: WHY CAN'T KERRY JUST BLURT OUT: [snipped quote]? I guess that response didn't do well in the focus groups. |
| Also: McQ, Taegan Goddard, James Joyner, Captain Ed, KJL, Betsy Newmark, Glenn Reynolds | |
Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam By / NYT — Permalink LUTON, England, April 24 — The call to jihad is rising in the streets of Europe, and is being answered, counterterrorism officials say. In this former industrial town north of London, a small group of young Britons whose parents emigrated from Pakistan after World War II have turned against their families' new home. | |
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Porphyrogenitus: In one sense, the headline Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam comes as no surprise. David Allan Pell: Calls to Jihad are on the rise in Europe. Can Europeans work together well enough to meet the challenge? DemFromCT: Iraq Open Thread — Kos will deal with the troll infestation. in the meantime our attempts at winning hearts and minds... |
Donald Sensing: Euro-Muslims call for jihad — Some immigrant Muslims in Britain and the continent are calling for its Islamization and a jihad to make it so. Rod Dreher: I sent to a French friend in Paris a link to the Times front-pager about the growth in jihadism in England. Allah: Allahmania in Europe? |
| Also: Nathan Hallford, Joseph Alexander Norland, Cori Dauber, The Big Trunk, Michael Totten | |
Kerry Demands Bush Prove Guard Service By / AP — Permalink WHEELING, W.Va. - John Kerry , a decorated Navy veteran criticized by Republicans for his anti-war activities during the Vietnam era, lashed out at President Bush on Monday for failing to prove whether he fulfilled his commitment to the National Guard during the same period. | |
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Mathew Gross: Brilliant — Knowing when to strike is the key to landing a successful blow: [snipped quote] It's been a perfect... Kos: Kerry is fighting back, and I like it: "John Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran criticized by Republicans for his anti-war... |
Cori Dauber: Well you won't believe unless you see it (I thought the reader who emailed me about this was kidding) the frame used by the AP — but, no, not an Onion story. |
Likud activist calls Sharon Nazi Maariv International — Permalink Inter- Likud campaign gets acrimonious as struggle over the disengagement plan intensifies. The atmosphere in the Likud has reached near boiling point, following a vicious atack on PM Sharon by Ohad Kamin, a leading activist of the extreme right wing "Jewish Leadership" faction headed by Moshe Faiglin. | |
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Fred Lapides: But this is acceptable? Likud activist calls Sharon Nazi Gene @HarrysPlace: Sharon brings the extremes together — To give you an idea of how crazy Israeli politics can get, especially on the... |
Gary Farber: Because you can never be too "pro-Israel." [snipped quote] This is how Yitzhak "break their bones" Rabin was killed. Allah: UPDATE: Meanwhile, on the other end of the Israeli political spectrum . . . . Allahu Akbar. |
Democrats to Target Cheney WaPo — Permalink Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and the Democratic Party will open a week-long assault on Vice President Cheney today in hopes that tarring him as promoting secrecy and controversial policies will erode confidence in President Bush. | |
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James Martin Capozzola: According to the Washington Post, "Republican officials and decorated veterans will appear at plants that make weapons Sen. John F. Kerry has opposed." Jeralyn Merritt: Dems to Target Cheney — The Washington Post reports that the Democrats are about to launch an attack on Vice President Dick Cheney. Robert Garcia Tagorda: Dick Cheney Takes One for the Team — Unsurprisingly, Democrats aim to weaken the president by assaulting his running mate. |
David Allan Pell: Because that is apparently part of a new strategy. But no one ever won a presidential election by beating the opponent's VP. Jesse Taylor: Nobody Likes Dick — Kerry's ramping up to go after Dick Cheney, a long overdue strategic assault on one of the least popular and most important figures in the Administration. Betsy Newmark: Well, it's heating up this week with Kerry attacking Cheney and Cheney attacking Kerry. What fun for pundits. |
| Also: Mathew Gross | |
Kerry faces PR fight over foreign policy By / Boston Globe — Permalink WASHINGTON — If elected president, John F. Kerry would move to increase the US military by 40,000 troops. He would send more soldiers to Iraq if commanders said they were needed. He would stay in Iraq as long as it took to get the job done. | |
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Ezra Klein: Word. Kevin sez: [snipped quote] Damn. That's a terrific point, it takes a fine mind to think of something like that. Kevin Drum: FOREIGN POLICY....John Kerry's foreign policy vs. George Bush's foreign policy: [snipped quote] Does that seem a little....abstract for a presidential campaign? |
Glenn Reynolds: KERRY TALKS TOUGH ON FOREIGN POLICY: "WASHINGTON — If elected president, John F. Kerry would move to increase the US military by 40,000 troops. |
New Iraqi Flag Meets With Public Disapproval By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD, April 26 — It was supposed to be the perfect symbol for a new and unified Iraq: an Islamic crescent on a field of pure white, with two blue stripes representing the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and a third yellow stripe to symbolize the country's Kurdish minority. | |
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Fred Lapides: ">>>Washington Post>>>" Allah: The verdict is in and Iraqis agree: It's way too Jewy. [snipped quote] Patience, o children. |
Libertarian: UPDATE: Of course, they all hate the damn flag! "Why was public opinion not consulted?" Because it's a democracy, you idiot. |
A JOB FOR SUPERMAYOR New York Post — Permalink The appointment of U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte as U.S. envoy to Iraq places a seasoned diplomat in an extraordinarily sensitive spot - and gives President Bush an opportunity to speak real truth to the corrupt power at Turtle Bay. | |
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Damian Penny: Rudy 4 U.N. This is an excellent idea. Adam White: The Best Idea I've Seen In Weeks: Rudy for U.N. Ambassador. |
Edward Driscoll: THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB: The New York Post and James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal agree: Rudolph Giuliani should... |
Flip Flop? ABCNEWS — Permalink The disputed incident happened 33 years ago this past weekend, on April 23, 1971, when Kerry led the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War in a protest against the war they fought. Many veterans were seen throwing their medals and ribbons over the fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. | |
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Steven Taylor: Instead we have as ABCNEWS.com details, a disputed timeline in which Kerry appears to contradict himself numerous times:... |
Roger L. Simon: According to ABCNEWS: But in 1984, when he first ran for the U.S. Senate, Kerry revealed he still had his medals. |
Why the Palestinians are in such a state Telegraph — Permalink By Mark Steyn. There was an hilarious piece in the Washington Post on Sunday, under the plaintive headline, "Why Did Bush Take My Job?" The author was Saeb Erekat, and the job he claims Bush has taken from him is "senior Palestinian negotiator" with the Israelis. | |
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Ted Belman: Why the Palestinians are in such a state — By Mark Steyn. in the Telegraph UK Filed: 27/04/2004) There was an... |
Betsy Newmark: Mark Steyn is, again, spot on. Here he writes about the Palestinians. |
1971 Tape Adds to Debate Over Kerry's Medal Protest NYT — Permalink Throughout much of his political career, Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has faced questions about a singular event that took place 33 years ago last week: he and fellow veterans discarded medals in Washington to protest the war in Vietnam. | |
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Tom Maguire: MORE: Memeorandum rounds up the "Kerry actually supported medal tossing before he opposed it...." story; NY Times coverage here. Captain Ed: A Whiff of Desperation at the Gray Lady — John Kerry's fumble on his medal-tossing incident has produced an aroma of... |
Taegan Goddard: Kerry's War Medals Become An Issue — With Sen. John Kerry facing questions about an act of protest he made 33 years... Ezra Klein: Their opening salvo has been culled from a tape taken by Nixon's Communications Office and is all ready for tomorrow's papers. |
WMD hunters ambushed in Baghdad By / UPI — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 26 (UPI) — An explosion that killed al least three U.S. personnel in Baghdad was an ambush of a top-secret unit detailed to search for weapons of mass destruction, United Press International has confirmed. | |
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Libertarian: WMD HUNTERS AMBUSHED IN BAGHDAD What are the Islamofascists hiding? |
TChris: Search For WMD's Leads to Soldiers' Deaths — Three members of a "top-secret unit detailed to search for weapons of mass... |
Justice Dept. Probes Senate Memo Scandal By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Monday asked the new U.S. attorney in New York to investigate how Republicans got access to Democrats' computer memos in the Senate Judiciary Committee . | |
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Josh Marshall: The DOJ has asked David Kelley, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to investigate what... |
Oliver Willis: The Most Criminal Bunch, Ever — Justice Dept. |
McAuliffe Defends Kerry After Cheney Rap By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe on Monday accused President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney of misleading Americans about John Kerry 's record on defense and demanded that their campaign "call off the Republican attack dogs." | |
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Steve Messina: Then Kerry and Democratic surrogates point out that Cheney opposed funding some weapons. Fine. Lovely. Rapid response and all that. Robert Garcia Tagorda: But this less-familiar attack catches my attention: [snipped quote] Specifically: [snipped quote] In response, the GOP... |
John Cole: I find it absurd that Terry McAuliffe can even make statements like this with a straight face: [snipped quote] Hehe. |
Win some, lose some CNN — Permalink CLEVELAND — Covering the NFL Draft is all about knee-jerk journalism. Instant analysis. Assigning grades off the top of your head, after assessing months worth of work based on two or three minutes of contemplation. Projecting the future on little more than a gut feeling and guesswork. | |
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Edward Driscoll: BIAS IN THE STRANGEST PLACES: Tim Graham writes: [snipped quote] Last Wednesday when I arrived early for my focus group,... |
Tim Graham: LIBERAL BIAS IN THE STRANGEST PLACES — Sports Illustrated/CNN.com picks winners and losers in the weekend NFL Draft:... |
Tillman's Generation By / NRO — Permalink When Bruce Snyder, Arizona State's football coach asked Pat Tillman to redshirt his freshman year — a move that would have extended his eligibility, but would have required Pat to stay in college for an extra year — Tillman reportedly explained to him that "in four years I'm gone. | |
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Michael DeBow: On Pat Tillman's generation: Robert Alt, on NRO: "There is a temptation to say that Pat Tillman demonstrated a courage... |
The Big Trunk: Tillman's generation — Robert Alt has a moving tribute to Pat Tillman and those men serving with him, such as our man... |
Poll: Nearly one of three Californians favor gay marriage AP — Permalink LOS ANGELES (AP) - More than half of all Californians believe gay and lesbian relationships between consenting adults are not a moral concern, and nearly a third believe same-sex marriages should be legalized, according to a Los Angeles Times poll. | |
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Captain Ed: However, the Sacramento Bee headlined the story thusly: "Poll: Nearly one of three Californians favor gay marriage" Wow — nearly a third support gay marriage! |
Jonah Goldberg: GREAT HEADLINE — Nearly one of three Californians favor gay marriage. One could also say "More than 2 out of 3 Californians Oppose Gay Marriage." |
Teresa: Abortion ends a life NY Daily News — Permalink WASHINGTON - Teresa Heinz Kerry says she's pro-choice but believes abortion is "stopping the process of life," it was reported yesterday. "I don't view abortion as just a nothing," said Heinz Kerry in an interview with Newsweek, in which she took a side in the long-festering debate over when life begins. | |
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Libertarian: MRS. KERRY MAKES some very sensible comments about abortion. Examples: Abortion ends a life. Only mindless women would want to get an abortion. |
KJL: This, in the Daily News: [quote] Asked if he shares his wife's views, Kerry told Newsweek, "I do not know the answer to that.[end quote] |
We're F*****' Feminists! By / NRO — Permalink WASHINGTON, D.C. — "I wish Barbara Bush had had choice available to her." That was a snippet of an ongoing conversation — and it was characteristic of more than one — overhead Sunday night on an Amtrak train from Washington, D.C., to New York City. | |
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John Cole: Oh, and btw - here is what one of the elected representatives of the Democratic Party had to say: "At a pre-march rally... |
Betsy Newmark: Kathryn Jean Lopez went to the March of feminists for abortion and against Bush this weekend. Here's her report. |
Kerry blasts 'phony controversy' over medals CNN — Permalink WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John Kerry on Monday rejected as a "phony controversy" questions about whether he had misled people about a symbolic anti-Vietnam War protest he participated in 33 years ago. "I'm not going to stand for it," Kerry told ABC's "Good Morning America," "I'm not going to stand for it." | |
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Jeff A. Taylor: Heavy Medal Thunder — Color me mystified by Medalgate. Yes, John Kerry looked like a dope trying to explain exactly what he did during a 1971 act of political theater. |
Jeff Goldstein: Just thought I should let you know. Because after all, honesty is the foundation of any successful relationship... |
WORD PROBLEM New Yorker — Permalink Among the many peculiarities of Times house style—such as the tradition, in the Book Review, that the word "odyssey" refer only to a journey that begins and ends in the same place—one of the more nettlesome has been the long-standing practice that writers are not supposed to call the Armenian genocide of 1915 a genocide. | |
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Kevin T. Keith: The New York Times Finally Fails to Forget — An article in the current New Yorker notes a change in a New York Times style policy that I never knew existed in the first place. |
Gary Farber: Here is an account of another very important such shift. Read The Rest as interested. |
Bush to Push Broadband Agenda By / AP — Permalink President Bush Monday will call for making high-speed Internet access more affordable and stepping up hydrogen fuel cell research. After a week focused on environmental policy, Bush will use a speech in Minneapolis to promote his high-tech agenda, including plans to provide universal access to high-speed Internet, known as broadband, by 2007. | |
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Jesse Taylor: Wonky To A Fault — Bush's high-tech broadband proposal, other than being yet another idea that not only seemed to come... |
Matthew Yglesias: Reuters reports on a new presidential initiative to increase internet access: "After a week focused on environmental... |
Half-Hearted By / NRO — Permalink On April 23, 2004, President George W. Bush waived most economic sanctions on Libya. His press secretary announced that the United States would open a liaison office in Tripoli, a major step on the road to reestablishment of formal diplomatic relations. | |
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Allah: Not only that, but when it finally comes time to square off, you pussy out—again and again and again. |
Matthew Yglesias: The National Review Online's Michael Rubin has a sneaking suspicion that George W. Bush sometimes says things he doesn't really mean: [snipped quote] I wholeheartedly concur. |
For a Conservative, Life Is Sweet in Sugar Land, Tex. By / WaPo — Permalink SUGAR LAND, Tex. — This is the home of Britton Stein, who describes George W. Bush as "a man, a man's man, a manly man," and Al Gore as "a ranting and raving little whiny baby." Forty-nine years old, Stein is a husband, a father, a landscaper and a Republican. | |
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Hesiod: DIARY OF A PEEPER: This is just too hilarious: [snipped quote] Elsewhere in the article, Stein says it would take a"... SLZoll: Anyway, here are a few pieces from the Washington Post piece "For a Conservative, Life Is Sweet in Sugar Land, Tex."... |
Nathan Hallford: Red America: The Washington Post is doing a series on the Red/Blue divide in America. Today, a look at Red America. Oliver Willis: Red America — The Washington Post has a series going on about the political divide, and in this installment they're in... |
Kerry Blasts Bush on Trade Agreements AP — Permalink WHEELING, W.Va. — As he begins a tour of four industrial states, John Kerry says President Bush has failed to enforce trade agreements that protect U.S. workers. | |
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McQ: Kerry needs to keep up — Kerry blasts Bush on trade: "A report released Monday by the Kerry campaign says Bush has... |
Jeff Goldstein: Johnny Buchanan — Panderer. |
White House Chose to Promote New Book By / WaPo — Permalink When Bob Woodward made one of his many trips through the White House's northwest gate early on the afternoon of April 16 to drop off a copy of "Plan of Attack" for President Bush, West Wing aides were presented with a choice. | |
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Nathan Hallford: Recommended Reading: The White House viewed Woodward's book as, overall, positive and chose to promote it. At least initially. |
Taegan Goddard: But it's the Washington Post that gives the best answer: "An administration official said Bush aides had learned from... |
Wallowing in nuance, Dems lack resolve By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink It's a good rule of thumb that so-called moderate opinion is several degrees to the left of popular opinion. You can test this for yourself easily enough: pick a subject such as, say, illegal immigration and compare the position of every Democratic senator,... | |
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Mike Hendrix: Chin up, head down, slog on — This just might be Mark Steyn's best effort yet: [snipped quote] Plenty of reason for... Maimon Schwarzschild: Our Senior Political Analyst — Mark Steyn, in fine form. |
Tim Blair: Lots of other fun newsy links over at C&P. Speaking of Kerry, Mark Steyn asks: "Do Americans want to hand over... Betsy Newmark: Mark Steyn has his own explanation for the poll results showing Bush ahead after the supposed beating he's taken in the past weeks. |
Interview With Prince Bandar Bin Sultan; Interview With Karen Hughes CNN — Permalink THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's noon in Washington, 9 a.m. in Los Angeles, 7 p.m. in Riaydh and 8 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us for "LATE EDITION." | |
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Jesse Taylor: This Stupidity Is Killing Me... You know, out of the entire Cabinet, the entire political apparatus surrounding Bush,... |
DHinMI: Karen Hughes: Pro-Choice=Pro-Terrorist — The Bushies will twist reasonable opposition to any of their policies into an accusation of giving succor to our terrorist enemies. |
Hybrid Kerry By / American Spectator — Permalink For all the excitement about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, it isn't translating into volunteers for his campaign. In fact, according to a Kerry campaign staffer in Florida, the Kerry camp is surprised by the lack of paid staff and volunteer crossover from other dead Democratic primary campaigns to theirs. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: This report could very well serve as a barometer for the enthusiasm—or lack thereof—surrounding the Kerry campaign |
Betsy Newmark: The Prowler notes that Kerry is having trouble getting volunteers from the campaigns of his defeated rivals to come out to work for him. |
THE OPPENHEIMER RIDDLE By / San Francisco Chronicle — Permalink A UC professor says he's solved one of the darkest mysteries in U.S. history: Was J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant Berkeley scientist known as "the father of the atomic bomb," a secret member of the Communist Party? | |
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Betsy Newmark: Historians are debating whether or not Robert Oppenheimer was a member of the Communist Party during the 1930's. |
John J. Miller: New evidence suggests he was. Historians debated the matter over the weekend. |
Catholics Question Abortion Focus By / WaPo — Permalink A question has been gnawing at Frank A. McNeirney since he read that some Roman Catholic bishops want to deny Communion to Catholic politicians, such as Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, whose public positions are at odds with church doctrine. | |
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Kevin T. Keith: Questions Heard over Consistency of Catholic Bishops' Political Meddling — The Washington Post has an article on the... Atrios: Finally, a Wee Bit of Balance — From the WaPo: A question has been gnawing at Frank A. McNeirney since he read that... |
Max B. Sawicky: The Church has a large house to get in order. Of course, Catholic opinion on these issues is divided. |
Why Did Bush Take My Job? By / WaPo — Permalink JERUSALEM — President Bush apparently has taken my job. Until the Bush-Sharon press conference on April 14, I was the chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, the only internationally recognized entity that has a mandate to negotiate a permanent peace with Israel. | |
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Charles Johnson: Bush Takes Erekat's Job — PLO spokesliar Saeb Erekat has resigned from Arafat's "cabinet" 9 or 10 times now, but in... |
Gregory Djerejian: And Saeb Erekat asks: "(w)hy did Bush take my job"? |
Battleground states in play for Bush camp By / Washington Times — Permalink Sen. John Kerry is trailing or tied with President Bush in many of the battleground states Democrats won in 2000 and that will likely decide the outcome of this year's elections, according to a survey of polls across the country by The Washington Times. | |
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The Big Trunk: Today's good news — In this morning's Washington Times Donald Lambro has an interesting review of the lay of the land... |
Betsy Newmark: The Washington Times looks at polls in several battleground states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Iowa, Florida, and Michigan. |
U.S. Opts To Delay Fallujah Offensive WaPo — Permalink FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 25 — U.S. Marines have postponed plans to mount an attack against insurgents holed up here and instead will attempt to regain control of this violence-wracked city without a full-scale offensive, military commanders said Sunday. | |
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Cori Dauber: (My emph.) Now, look at this from a story in today's Washington Post. |
James Joyner: Iraq Roundup — A series of interesting developments in Iraq overnight: WaPo: U.S. Opts To Delay Fallujah Offensive |
Rockford man accused of plotting deaths of government officials By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink A Rockford man who allegedly kept a hit list of government and public figures and said he planned to blow up squad cars was arrested Wednesday, after federal agents found a huge cache of explosives in his home and car. | |
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Adam Mordecai: The most fascinating thing about this terrorist is this: "Breit is charged with illegally receiving explosive material... |
David Neiwert: Both of those concerns, it seems, have coalesced in the arrest last week of an Illinois man named Michael J. Breit for... |
Among the Pagan Ladies By / American Spectator — Permalink WASHINGTON — Sunday's "March for Women's Lives" made maximum usage of euphemism, invoking "choice" whenever marchers meant killing. They, for example, used placards to convey the lament that Barbara Bush hadn't killed her son in the womb. | |
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Betsy Newmark: George Neumayr looks at some of the placards carried in the march for abortion rights this weekend. |
SLZoll: Because It's the Liberals Like Atrios Who Are Intolerant of Religion Here's George Neumayr, managing editor of The... |
Woodward Returns The Nation — Permalink W ell, Bob Woodward has partially redeemed himself. His last book, Bush at War, read like a superhero comic book mistranslated from its original Serbo-Croatian. Everyone in the Bush Administration was portrayed as they might have wished: brave, steadfast, determined to protect America from evildoerdom, no matter the cost. | |
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Jeralyn Merritt: Eric Alterman, writing for the Nation, and Kevin Drum of Political Animal have already begun. |
Kevin Drum: Here is the second of his six observations: That's too bad, because unfortunately Cheney is nuts. |
Transcript: Ahmed Chalabi on 'FNS' AP — Permalink The following is an excerpt from FOX News Sunday, April 25, 2004. CHRIS WALLACE, HOST, FOX NEWS SUNDAY: In just 66 days, the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will hand over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government. | |
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Hesiod: CHALABI JOE: You have to read this pathetic interview of Ahmed Chalabi by Fox Bews' Chris Wallce to believe it. |
Mark Kleiman: And it looks as if he's not happy. I wonder if Chalabi is right that following the Brahimi plan would violate the transitional law? |
Brahimi's Two Mistakes By / NYT — Permalink U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, the Bush administration's great Arab hope to appoint a transition government that would bring democracy to Iraq, is off to a troubling start. | |
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Betsy Newmark: William Safire looks at what is wrong with Brahimi. |
Stephen Green: Bill Safire reports that the UN's man in Baghdad, Lakhdar Brahimi, is mouthing off so much that even Kofi Annan had to... |
Politics of Patriot Act Turn Right for Bush By / LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — Only months ago, Democrats were targeting the controversial USA Patriot Act as an ideal issue to use in their campaign against President Bush, assailing the law as an intrusion on civil rights. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Reason's Jesse Walker takes a look at an LA Times article on the USA PATRIOT Act and smells a flip-flop Steven Taylor: Politics is a Funny Business — Sometimes it is funny how what looks like a liability can turn into a strength (and vice... Pejman Yousefzadeh: Well, so much for that. The major flaw of the featured article should be pointed out, however. |
Jesse Walker: Flip Along with John — John "Who Cares Where I Stand, At Least I'm Not Bush" Kerry is going squishy when it comes to... Libertarian: Seems like some bloggers will do anything to keep up the support for Bush. Jonathan H. Adler: PATRIOT ACT POLITICS — Support for the PATRIOT Act is helping President Bush, the LA Times reports. |
Hughes blasts Kerry's Vietnam comments CNN — Permalink WASHINGTON (CNN) — One of President Bush's closest confidants challenged Sen. John Kerry on Sunday to further explain comments he made in 1971 that he participated in "atrocities" in Vietnam. The presumptive Democratic nominee has since said that he regrets using such language. | |
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Josh Marshall: Yesterday the president's longtime handler and current campaign advisor Karen Hughes was on CNN attacking John Kerry's... |
Betsy Newmark: I guess the Bush campaign has decided to take Kerry on about his remarks about atrocities being committed by American soldiers in Vietnam. |
1971 VIDEO: KERRY ADMITS THROWING OWN MEDALS; CONTRADICTS CURRENT CLAIMS Drudge Report — Permalink In an interview published Friday in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry claimed he "never ever implied" that he threw his own medals during a Hill protest in 1971 to appear as an antiwar hero. But a new shock video shows John Kerry — in his own voice — saying he did! | |
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Charles Johnson: "[Tour of Duty, Douglas Brinkley]" ... is about to be proven false: "In an interview published Friday in the LOS... |
Captain Ed: However, Matt Drudge reports that ABC has video from 1971 that will prove Kerry lied: "In an interview published Friday... |
The Orwellian Olsens By / NYT — Permalink It's their reality. We just live and die in it. In Bushworld, our troops go to war and get killed, but you never see the bodies coming home. In Bushworld, flag-draped remains of the fallen are important to revere and show the nation, but only in political ads hawking the president's leadership against terror. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: John Kerry's a flip-flopper and I'm so unoriginal. Maureen Dowd. Someone put a very strange headline on my column. |
Dan Gillmor: 'Bushworld' and its Disconnections Maureen Dowd is scathingly on target in this column: "It's their reality. |
Opportunism Knocks By / WaPo — Permalink When Matthew Dowd, a senior strategist for the Bush campaign, was asked in a conference call with reporters last week why President Bush had gained strength in two of the latest national surveys despite the worst month of bloodshed in Iraq, the headlined... | |
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Matthew Yglesias: George Will. I heard this on NPR yesterday. David Broder. John Kerry's a flip-flopper and I'm so unoriginal. Maureen Dowd. |
Betsy Newmark: David Broder gives his theory of why Kerry's poll numbers have been dropping. |
Washington Mall Is Filled With Protesters From Across Nation By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 25 — A vast multitude of protesters marched here today in support of abortion rights and to highlight what organizers contend is the Bush administration's erosion of reproductive liberties. | |
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Jeralyn Merritt: One Million March — Estimates vary, but between 750,000 people and upwards of a million marched in the March for Women's Lives in Washington today. |
Kevin Drum: This fellow was at the big abortion rally today, and speaking of abortion, here's what Karen Hughes had to say about it... |
Don't mourn Pat Tillman, follow his lead Arizona Republic — Permalink Pat Tillman believed that there ought to be a purpose in life. That he wasn't just here to play football and make money. That he was here to make a difference. He strived for excellence in everything he did and packed a lot of living into his 27 years. | |
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James Joyner: The editorial page weighs in on Pat Tillman, another man who resisted that label but who most think deserve it. |
Stefan Sharkansky: A hero and a 'hero' — Saturday's front-page headline in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer [print only] read: 'Hero' of NFL... |
Action Man laid low by midlife crisis and 9/11 By / Observer — Permalink Armed with guns, tanks and military helicopters, Action Man represented plucky British soldiering to a generation of boys. But after years of rebranding as a climber, skydiver and skateboarder, sales of the toy have plummeted. The youngsters of today believe Action Man has gone soft. | |
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Tim Blair: ACTION MAN NOW NANCY BOY — [snipped quote] reports The Guardian. Not any more he doesn't: [snipped quote] Yikes! |
Andrew Stuttaford: THE LAST ACTION MAN 'Action Man' is Britain's version of GI Joe and, it seems, he's in trouble. |
We're all Europeans now By / Observer — Permalink Europe has a problem, one which has been getting worse for almost two decades. Having started as a customs union, member states embarked in 1986 on a far more ambitious project. Under the single European Act the former Common Market began its slow transmutation to a jointly-governed but distinctive political entity. | |
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Stephen Pollard: The Left's penchant for using 'society' to excuse certain behaviour is gloriously, if unintentionally, parodied by Will... |
Andrew Stuttaford: WILL HUTTON, AGAIN — Meanwhile, 'journalist' Will Hutton, a man (presumably - I'd love to be proved wrong on this) paid... |
Carroll: Kerry agonistes Rocky Mountain News — Permalink If you were a politician who'd said something 33 years ago that was outrageously out of line - something false, offensive and inflammatory - wouldn't the simplest way to deal with it be to admit your mistake and trust that people of goodwill would understand, forgive and move on? | |
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Betsy Newmark: Vincent Carroll asks a question I've been wondering about Kerry's defense of his Winter Soldier testimony. |
Deacon: A Man of (one) principle — Vincent Carroll, editor of the editorial page of the Rocky Mountain News, wonders why John... |
U.S. Shifts Position on Fallujah By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD, April 25 — Backing away from warnings that a new U.S. offensive on the city of Fallujah may be imminent, U.S. officials on Sunday announced that the occupation authority has shifted to a "political track" in an attempt to defuse the month-long crisis. | |
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DemFromCT: Standing Down — U.S. Shifts Position on Fallujah [snipped quote] Good news for now, at least in Fallujah. |
Tacitus: WaPo reports that the President has decided upon conciliation for Fallujah, moving ahead with the proposed joint US-ICDC... |
Oh, Yeah, He Also Sells Computers By / NYT — Permalink STROLL the corridors and the atriums on Apple Computer's corporate campus these days and you will notice that something is missing. Gone are the posters and graphics accenting the company's sleek personal computers. | |
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Gary Farber: Here's one: [snipped quote] Read The Rest depending on your interest in reading John Markoff, um, performing gratifying acts on Steve Jobs. |
Dan Gillmor: Apple's Future, Transcending the Mac — NY Times: Oh, Yeah, He Also Sells Computers. |
Terror Suspect's Path From Streets to Brig By / NYT — Permalink About 10 months after Jose Padilla disappeared into a naval brig in South Carolina, a Pentagon official appeared at his mother's workplace in Florida with a greeting card. | |
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Phil Carter: Deborah Sontag has a long biographical piece in Sunday's New York Times on Jose Padilla, the alleged "enemy combatant"... |
Cori Dauber: UH, MISGUIDED YOUTH The Times today produces an analysis of almost unprecedented length of the life and times of Jose... |
Islamic group seeks firing of radio host By / Boston Globe — Permalink A national Islamic antidefamation organization called Friday for the firing of Boston talk-radio host Jay Severin after he allegedly suggested in his afternoon talk show that the United States should "kill all Muslims." | |
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Stephen Green: Here's what got me ranting: "A national Islamic antidefamation organization called Friday for the firing of Boston... Libertarian: RADIO SHOW HOST ADVOCATES GENOCIDE Atrios has the details and a link to the article. |
Atrios: Severin Update — Link: "I have spoken to Jay Severin and he knows we take this seriously and do not condone offensive... Hesiod: Contact them, and e-mail them this information, via Atrios: [snipped quote] Contact each of the station's advertisers,... |
AN open letter to my colleagues in the news business. Pasadena Star News — Permalink The silence is getting loud. It's been nearly four months since the scandal broke. Four months since Jack Kelley, star foreign correspondent for USA Today, was found to have lied his way through his professional life for the last 13 years. | |
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Kevin T. Keith: Pot Calling the Kettle White — Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald has some good stuff to say about the Jack Kelley... Kevin Drum: DOUBLE STANDARDS?....Leonard Pitts: [snipped quote] The subject, of course, is Jack Kelley vs. Jayson Blair, and Pitts' point is precisely on target. |
Jon Henke: Race and double standards — This bout of point-missing has been going on for too long. Atrios: The Future of White Journalism — From Pitts: What does this mean for the future of white journalism? |
The Wrong Debate on Terrorism By / NYT — Permalink The last month has seen a remarkable series of events that focused the public and news media on America's shortcomings in dealing with terrorism from radical Islamists. This catharsis, which is not yet over, is necessary for our national psyche. | |
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Mark Kleiman: [Longer Richard Clarke here. ] Commentary from Amy Zegart to follow soon, I hope. Libertarian: RICHARD CLARKE IS RIGHT Sure to be ignored by the warmongers, this NYTimes op-ed makes a startling observation: politics and security production do not mix well. Cori Dauber: RICHARD CLARKE REEMERGES — Richard Clarke has an oped in this morning's Times. You have to read Clarke very, very carefully. |
Matthew Yglesias: Thomas Friedman. We'll always have Lebanon. The Op-Ed You Actually Need To Read Richard Clarke on winning the war. Jim Henley: Money quote from Clarke: [snipped quote] Cf. an excellent related item from Matthew Yglesias this morning. |
'Alexander Hamilton': Rich Uncle of His Country By / NYT — Permalink When Alexander Hamilton was 10, his father abandoned him. When he was around 12, his mother died of a fever in the bed next to his. He was adopted by a cousin, who promptly committed suicide. During those same years, his aunt, uncle and grandmother also died. | |
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Steve Messina: In The New York Times, David Brooks says this in the course of reviewing a new Alexander Hamilton biography: These days we think our politics are nasty and partisan. The Big Trunk: Today's Sunday New York Times Book Review leads with David Brooks's review of Chernow's new biography of Hamilton. |
James Joyner: Alexander Hamilton — David Brooks [RSS] offers a glowing review of a new book on Alexander Hamilton "Alexander... Josh Chafetz: First, David Brooks reviews Ron Chernow's new Hamilton biography. A very good review, and it sounds like a very good book. |
The Multilevel Marketing of the President By / NYT — Permalink Republicans in Clark County, Ohio, held their annual Lincoln Day fund-raising dinner in February, at a rustic golf club surrounded by an ocean of farmland. Clark County, comprising both the city of Springfield and a block of agricultural townships, is one of... | |
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Micah Sifry: I was glad to read Jock Gill's comment on Matt Bai's long report on the Amway-modeled Bush campaign. David Allan Pell: NY Times Mag: The Multilevel Marketing of the President. Josh Chafetz: Now, David may have meant to compare our modern politics to this, but I have my doubts ... Second, Matt Bai has a... |
Susan Q. Stranahan: While Weiser's assessment is nowhere near as in-depth as Sunday's profile of Ohio voters published by The New York Times... Atrios: RNC Amway — Apparently the CREEP strategy is to run it as a massive cult-like multi-level marketing firm. DemFromCT: Update [2004-4-24 20:29:26 by DemFromCT]: Here's the link General 2004 :: Link & Discuss comment |
The last thing Iraq needs is the cheats of the UN By / Telegraph — Permalink 'War without the UN is unthinkable," huffed The Guardian's Polly Toynbee a year ago, just before it happened. For a certain type of person, any action on the international scene without the UN is unthinkable. And, conversely, anything that happens under the UN imprimatur is mostly for the unthinking. | |
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Jan Haugland: Mark Steyn wonders why so many on the left has this rosy view of the UN after so many scandals have hit the world... Betsy Newmark: Mark Steyn takes on the silly notion that the UN is somehow a noble institution. |
The Big Trunk: Mark Steyn's Telegraph column is appropraite supplementary reading: "The last thing Iraq needs is the cheats of the UN." |
Bush's Oratory Helps Maintain Support for War By / WaPo — Permalink With skillful use of language and images, President Bush and his aides have kept the American public from turning against the war in Iraq despite the swelling number of U.S. casualties there. | |
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Noam Scheiber: Fortunately, Dana Milbank hinted at an explanation in yesterday's Washington Post, in a piece about how Bush relies on... Tacitus: Stick with concept and direction, Mr President: you do a great job there. Details and execution, well, there's professionals for that. DemFromCT: What do you want to talk about? Tomorrow, I'll be talking about this. |
Ruy Teixeira: That's the contention of today's front page story by Dana Milbank in The Washington Post. Cori Dauber: (Read: He gets it. Why don't we?) |
Muslim women exempt from ID card photos Observer — Permalink Thousands of Muslim women will be exempted from having to show their faces on identity cards as the Government moves to allay fears among British Muslims that the new cards will be used to target them in the 'war on terror'. | |
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Charles Johnson: British Dhimmitude Watch — Even as British intelligence regularly warns of terror threats, the government of the UK will allow Muslim women to be exempt from ID card photos. Andrew Stuttaford: It's possible to debate the rights and wrongs of such a move, but what is completely unacceptable is the idea that many... |
Cori Dauber: So, sure, a national ID — and Muslim women don't have to show their faces for their photo. Jeralyn Merritt: The Government has agreed to exempt thousands of Muslim women from the photograph requirement. |
Rue John Kennedy By / NYT — Permalink I was at a dinner the other night and was introduced to a lovely Lebanese woman. We started reminiscing about the good old days in Lebanon and I asked her where she lived in Beirut. She said it was in a building off "Rue John Kennedy." I stopped her immediately. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Maureen Dowd. Someone put a very strange headline on my column. Thomas Friedman. We'll always have Lebanon. Stephen Green: Fact Checking — Tom Friedman: [snipped quote] What's absurd here is Friedman expecting to get away with his sleight-of-hand. |
Glenn Reynolds: STEPHEN GREEN is correcting Tom Friedman. Matt Yglesias: Real Failures — So I don't really disagree with Tom Friedman's latest, but let's pick on him anyway: "But the only... |
Political Split Is Pervasive By / WaPo — Permalink The past decade has been one of the most eventful in American political history, from the Republican takeover of Congress to the presidential impeachment, the resignation of two speakers of the House, the deadlocked presidential election, the 2001 terrorist attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more. | |
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Jerome Armstrong: Fractal Map — This image, done by proportional representation of voting population in the electoral college, rather... Robert Garcia Tagorda: Polarization Redux — Kieran Healy and Matt Yglesias have some doubts about this Washington Post report, which explores the pervasiveness of political polarization. Cori Dauber: RED/BLUE AMERICA — The Post has a fascinating update. Update: Oops, sorry. Didn't see the graphics at first. |
Amanda Butler: The Washington Post's most recent piece on the two colors, Political Split is Pervasive, even acknowledges this:... Matt Yglesias: One thing that bugged me about David Von Drehle's recent polarization article in the Washington Post is that it... James Joyner: Today's WaPo fronts the first installment of a three-part series, AMERICA IN RED AND BLUE: A Nation Divided "From... |
| Also: Kieran Healy, Kevin Drum | |
NASA Curbs Comments on Ice Age Disaster Movie By / NYT — Permalink "Urgent: HQ Direction," began a message e-mailed on April 1 to dozens of scientists and officials at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. It was not an alert about an incoming asteroid, a problem with the space station or a solar storm. | |
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Nielsen Hayden: The Bush Administration mobilizes against impending climate-change disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow: ... Captain Ed: NASA Panic Over Disaster Movie Gives Hollywood Too Much Credit — Tomorrow's New York Times features a story on a... |
Kevin Drum: Apparently not: [snipped quote] Jeebus, guys, it's....a....movie. Lighten up. |
How Original . . . By / WaPo — Permalink Everyone has quirks. Among mine is an obsession with matters nuclear: weapons, power, waste. I've been writing about little else for several years. So I was intrigued not long ago to run across an opinion piece in my hometown daily, the Austin American-Statesman headlined "Funds for nuclear waste storage should be used for just that." | |
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Amanda Butler: Point/Counterpoint from the WaPo — Point How Original... These shared a ghost. Who knew? Cori Dauber: Thanks to Memeorandum, I finally figured out why I never get opeds published. I am just going about this all wrong. Robert Garcia Tagorda: Betrayal, Duplicity, Unsavory Characters... Who knew that America's op-ed pages were filled with such intrigue?! |
Gary Farber: THE FAKE OP-ED SCAM is nicely exposed by William M. Adler. Kevin Drum: Specifically, it's about astroturf op-eds. It turns out that that op-ed in your local paper by a respected local... |
Bush's Decision on Possible Attack on Falluja Seems Near By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, April 24 — Facing one of the grimmest choices of the Iraq war, President Bush and his senior national security and military advisers are expected to decide this weekend whether to order an invasion of Falluja, even if a battle there runs the risk of uprisings in the city and perhaps elsewhere around Iraq. | |
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Mary InLosGatos: The NY Times reports that Bush declares "America will never be run out of Iraq by a bunch of thugs and killers." DemFromCT: Decision on Possible Attack on Fallujah Seems Near — Ny Times [snipped quote] The other thing that's clear is that this is George Bush's war. |
Brad DeLong: [quote]: Ny Times: "WASHINGTON, April 24 — Facing one of the grimmest choices of the Iraq war, President Bush and his senior...[end quote] |
Pro-Choice Politicians 'Not Fit' for Communion WaPo — Permalink ROME, April 23 — A top Vatican official said Friday that Roman Catholic politicians who support abortion should be denied communion, as church officials in the United States debate how to respond to Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry's position in favor of abortion rights. | |
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Jan Haugland: Will refuse cannibalism ritual to Kerry — Some Roman Catholic biships and cardinals will refuse communion to Roman Catholic politicians who are pro-choice, like John Kerry. |
Joe Drymala: Yesterday, a top Vatican official, Cardinal Francis Arinze, said that pro-choice politicians should be denied communion. |