The Field Poll’s out (pdf), and it’s enough to set even Arnold’s steel-rod of a jaw a-quiver. In February 2005, 56% of voters were inclined to reelect Arnold, while only 42% wanted the guy gone. Now 39% want another go on the governator’s merry-go-round while 57% want to get off. Amazingly, the news gets worse […]
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It’s About Osama
So let’s try to get this straight. We invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, except he didn’t, and because he was tied in to the attacks of September 11, except he wasn’t. We’re staying in Iraq, President Bush said Tuesday night, because terrorists with the same ideology as those behind 9-11 […]
Bush’s Speech By The Numbers
So the speech. Didn’t watch it. But, you’ll be happy to know, the girlfriend and I had an excellent Italian dinner while it was going on. I win. Nevertheless, conscientious blogger that I am, I did give it a read through. Impressive it wasn’t, but redundant it was. The nice thing about this group is […]
Herding Cats and Lacking Tasers
Matt’s response to Derek Chollet’s post warning against a Democratic timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is worth thinking seriously about: I appreciate what Derek Chollet is getting at with his warning that advocacy of a nuanced timetablish withdrawal from Iraq could turn into a political fiasco for the Democrats. Still, the general form of argument […]
Taxes: Coming to an Election Near You
Over at TPM Cafe, the Piper sounds the alarm over tax reform. Good man, somebody needs to be doing it. The logic for the Bush administration here is fairly simple: they lost on Social Security reform, Iraq isn’t going to be a selling point, the election needs something else to turn on. Why not run […]
Brave New World
I’m not going to get in the way of Matt’s open-source advocacy, it’s very much a heart says yes, head says no issue for me. I do think he’s being a bit obtuse on the distinction between “making stuff” and infringement (it’s fairly well understood that many of these programs are specifically made for the […]
Recess Disappointment
Rumor has it in Washington that former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton will receive a “recess appointment” to serve as UN ambassador. Such appointments are fairly common and normally uncontroversial, but there are the occasional exceptions. Bolton would be an exception, as was the recess appointment of James Hormel to serve as […]
All Around the World, People Stop and They Say…
Survey USA has released a 50-state poll of Bush’s approval ratings. So if you were wondering what, say, Hawaii thinks of the Commander-in-Chief, now you’ll know. I’m not quite woken up yet, so serious number crunching will have to be done by others. Suffice to say that Bush only hits the magic 50% mark in […]
Speechwriting
John Kerry’s penned an op-ed in today’s Times called “The Speech the President Should Give”, offering Bush a helpful outline for how tonight’s Iraq address should be structured. What’s not mentioned anywhere is that this is exactly the speech John Kerry should’ve been giving during the election, over and over again, rather than continuing with […]
Conquering by Dividing
When a country is locked in a protracted struggle with a vicious foe, its political leaders normally seek to emphasize the depth of their nation’s commitment to the cause. Winston Churchill set the gold standard for this brand of rhetoric with his famous proclamation, “[w]e shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight […]

