Category: Edgewise

  • Some dursn’t call it treason

    But the Editors have no such delicate scruples: If Rove were working for the CPUSA, the Constitution Party, or the Black Panther Party, I doubt anyone would have a problem calling him “traitor”. But he doesn’t: he works for the premier establishment political party, a party with tens of millions of blindly loyal partisans. Somehow,…

  • Was Ari Fleischer the second leaker?

    Salon reports that, at least, it’s possible, even plausible.

  • Treasongate primer

    Tired of listening to mealy-mouthed Republican apologists for treason? Check out the Left Coaster’s Response to GOP talking points. Print out, stick in your pocket, speak truth to power.

  • Carnival of the Rovegate

    Tony Pierce holds Glenn Reynolds feet to the fire, the Editors point out that the Washington press corps isn’t having an attack of conscience right now, Frank Rich analyses the Watergate analogy, John Aravosis asks the musical question, “If Karl Rove is fully complying then why does the president have to wait for the investigation…

  • Take Back California is looking for a Development Director

    Take Back California is a nonprofit promoting clean-money elections. I’m on its advisory board and the Executive Director is my friend and colleague Dan Newman. They are currently searching for a part-time or full-time Development Director: The Development Director is responsible for building, leading and growing the development functions of TakeBackCA.org. Our main focus is…

  • Basketball Practice

    I know this isn’t really a usual topic for me, but one thing I find a little bit embarrassing for the professional NBA basketball players is that you can see them out there–just minutes before the game starts–and they’re practicing! I mean, isn’t it a little late for that? They should have thought of it…

  • What he don’t know won’t hurt him

    According to Editor and Publisher: Lawrence O’Donnell, the MSNBC analyst who first broke the Rove/Cooper link on Friday, wrote on the Huffington Post blog today, that Rove’s lawyer had “launched what sounds like an I – did – not – inhale defense. He told Newsweek that his client ‘never knowingly disclosed classified information.’ Knowingly. “Not…

  • No time to go wobbly

    Last November I voted against torture. I voted against the party that was making excuses for, defending, and facilitating torture. I’m not particularly proud of myself for this, but I did wonder how others could convince themselves that supporting the party of torture was OK or justified or necessary. Now (Setting the bar, absolutely) I’m…

  • It’s beginning to look a lot like Rovegate

    Quoting from James Wolcott: Blowback Is a Bitch: When word broke that Karl Rove’s name was the live hand grenade rolling around in Matt Cooper’s notes, I immediately flashbacked to this almost Elizabethan scenario of palace intrigue and betrayal from From the Wilderness. Its author, Michael C. Ruppert, author of Crossing the Rubicon. Its title,…

  • Wanting to Get to the Bottom of It

    The very next Q&A in the press conference xian links to below is also a prize specimen of weasel-wordedness: Q Two questions. First, you’ve said in the past that, on the matter of Matt Cooper and Judith Miller that the President supports the investigation. What specific steps is the White House taking to support it?…

  • Schwarzenegger’s popularity down to Bush levels

    The Field poll says only 39% of respondents would vote for Schwarzenegger again. Going, going, ….

  • Conflict, schmonflict

    Thanks to John Berger on the Well, I ended up reading this interesting exchange between administration spokesweasel John McClellan and the usually prostrate White House press: Q: When the President talks about high gasoline prices, he often cites the demand for gasoline and crude oil from China. Is the President comfortable that the company partly…

  • Karl Rove prepared for war

    I’m not sure Rove is prepared for the way these liberal soldiers and veterans are pissed at his divisive comments about how different Americans responded to 9/11: Take it to Karl

  • Public Television vs The Klan

    Full disclosure: I have a liberal viewpoint. That means primarily that I believe in taxes, free speech, and that Abraham Lincoln was right. And sometimes I wish The North had let The South secede. Then we wouldn’t have today a national leadership lording their prejudices over us from the legacy of a constitutional compromise. That’s…

  • We Shall Overcome

    Deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall overcome someday. I sang it a hundred times. But, how sure was I really? How hard did I believe? And have we overcome? A lot of us on the left would answer, almost reflexively, “No!” Because there is no cause to be satisfied or complacent about…

  • The press gang redux

    I realize the military is hard-up for recruits but I have nothing but respect for the Marines, so I was dismayed to read this article: When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call. Do we really need to take advantage of the young and unworldy to fill our ranks? If so, we’re in more trouble…

  • The Invention of the Zero–Part II

    Before the invention of the zero, the DEA announced a policy of “Hardly Any Tolerance for Drugs.”

  • The Invention of the Zero

    Before the invention of the zero, even when something was free, you still had to pay a penny for it.

  • Violins

    Disturbing report I heard on NPR radio. This expert said that the prevalence of violins in the media could easily lead to more violins in the street, and even to domestic violins.

  • He may be a loose cannon, but he’s our loose cannon

    Hey, I actually agree that Dean should be more careful in how he phrases his outrageous statements, and that it’s not good that we’re talking about Dean instead of about Bush’s unpopularity or Republicans shutting down hearings on the Patriot act, but on the other hand it’s about time we had a tough-talking Democrat with…

  • Usurpation as a Life-Long Commitment

    And they don’t always win… I have freely excerpted and rearranged from this LA Times piece. “Watergate Weighs on Today’s White House,” By Peter Wallsten., LA Times Staff Writer, June 7, 2005 [L]ingering weaknesses remain in the executive branch’s authority, officials around Bush have said. ********** Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a Nixon aide who…