Entries for May 2008

While Scott McClellan's belated confession on the sins of the Bush White House is flying off the bookshelves, consider this question: Why didn't he resign?

The former Bush spokesman will not earn any profile-in-courage award from this reporter. He had to know that the inner circle was keeping him out of the loop, but he marched out with the latest party line of falsehoods.

There is something about a resistance to resignation by officials of either party when they feel betrayed.

Karl Rove, the political guru who gave us George W. Bush, is out of the White House now and free to circulate his opinions in a Newsweek column, on Fox TV, and in newspaper op-eds. But he refuses to talk to Congress about his role of firing eight U.S. attorneys after the 2006 elections.

Rove's attorney Robert Luskin says he will not appear to testify on the grounds of executive privilege. If the claim is made, contempt of Congress should be voted against him and let the current Justice Department stew or the courts decide it. With his silence, Rove is just confirming that he played a central role in the firings and probably feels he is safe with the still Republican-held Justice Department.

In search of vice presidential running mates, presidential candidates are expected to carefully vet their choice. One would think those same candidates would be as careful about high-profile preachers and their backgrounds and words.

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have already slipped up on the preacher side. They have both been embarrassed by the support of preachers who have gone far over the line from the pulpit and beyond.

Conservatives frequently remind their voters that a president's appointments of like-minded jurists to the Supreme Court are a serious consideration on Election Day.

As a counterpoint, voters of a moderate or liberal bent should be equally or even more concerned given the makeup of the current nine justices.

For many election cycles, Democrats have had major problems with being tagged as tax-and-spend liberals. The "L word" was a motto used by Republican candidates to sink their Democratic rivals.

Guess what? The Republican brand may be the losing one in 2008. Even some Republicans are openly talking about it in the face of significant losses in recent special elections.

Previously-held GOP House seats in Illinois, Louisiana, and even Mississippi have been won by Democrats. The Republican candidates looked to the L word and linked it to Sen. Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco liberal.

Just when you thought the Bush-Cheney administration could stoop no lower in foreign policy, the president has played the Hitler card in this presidential race.

The venue for this outlandish move wasn't in Washington or even the ranch in Texas but before the Knesset in Jerusalem. The Jewish state, and the important Jewish electorate back home, are naturally sensitive to any references to Nazi Germany.

Bush was speaking of appeasement against those who would negotiate with terrorists. The White House spokeswoman, with a straight face, claimed the reference was not to Sen. Barack Obama.

Even if Sen. John McCain should win the presidency in November, he is almost certain to face a more Democratic, and perhaps hostile, Congress.

The latest evidence is a stunning result in a GOP congressional district in Mississippi. A district south of the Memphis suburbs, one of the most conservative in the nation, elected a Democrat in a special election yesterday. And the margin was a comfortable 8 points.