Joe Conason, Toronto Star

On the audiotapes of George W. Bush recorded secretly by his erstwhile confidant Douglas Wead in 1999, the future president revealed how much he feared candid discussion of his personal use of marijuana and cocaine. As quoted in The New York Times, Bush vowed that no matter what rumours and facts circulated about what he did or might have done, he would doggedly decline to answer forthrightly.

His natural urge to protect his privacy evokes sympathy, however quaint his expectations might be at this point in our political history. But in justifying his refusal ...   more »

(Yeah, let’s export the American version of Fascism.  That’s a really good idea.  Let’s make the whole world as miserable as we are.)

This year's Conservative Political Action Conference proved so popular that it had to be moved from its usual venue in Arlington, Va., to the RonaldReaganBuilding in the heart of Washington. More than 4,000 people turned up this month to listen to Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich, to buy Ann Coulter dolls and to swap personal anecdotes about the evils of liberalism.

The conservative movement is in its glory. A recent ...   more »

(The authors of the above article apparently want to spread this kind of hateful propaganda to the rest of the world.)

Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times

As synonyms for the word "vile," my thesaurus offers some of the following: offensive, objectionable, odious, repulsive, repellent, repugnant, revolting, disgusting, sickening, loathsome, foul, nasty, contemptible, despicable and noxious.

Any of those words would aptly describe the advertising attack launched last week against AARP, the largest advocacy group for seniors, by the conservative interest group USA Next. But there's one word that unfortunately can't be applied: surprising.

The salvo against AARP crystallizes trends developing ...   more »

(When do we get to call it corruption?)

Office of the Democratic Whip, House of Representatives

Firing of Professional Staffers Smacks of Retribution, and Is Yet Another Example of Republican Arrogance and Abuse

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today regarding the recent firing of professional staffers on the House Ethics Committee by the new Republican Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (WA):

 “Chairman Hastings’ firing of two highly respected members of the committee’s professional staff is one more step in the elimination of consideration of ethical violations in the House ...   more »

San Francisco Chronicle

LOBBING softball questions at White House press conferences is hardly a new phenomenon, but having them thrown by a pseudo-journalist with a sleazy background who mysteriously cleared security checks is. Add in the fact that reporter Jeff Gannon used a false name and his employer was a Web site called Talon News staffed almost exclusively by Republican activists and you have the whiff of a scandal.

Whether Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert, was a White House "plant'' may never be known because officials in the Bush administration have taken great pains to distance themselves ...   more »

(Do you think Ali will be “rendered” to a country that doesn’t mind using torture, now that the Attorney General has been forced to “clarify” that we can no longer use it here in the U.S.?)

By BOB HERBERT, The New York Times

If John Ashcroft was right, then I was staring into the malevolent, duplicitous eyes of pure evil, the eyes of a man with the mass murder of Americans on his mind. But all I could really see was a polite, unassuming, neatly dressed guy who looked like a suburban Little League coach…

"I still have nightmares ...   more »