By all indications, the Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI is going to playing a much more aggressive role in politics in the U.S. and around the world. Benedict's denial of communion to pro-choice politicians, his reinvigoration of pre-Vatican II rites and his inflammatory critique of Islam suggest Americans will be seeing a much higher, […]

The National Review, the conservatives' official game day program for the war in Iraq, has finally jumped the shark. Like a long-running sitcom with declining ratings, aging stars and bereft of new ideas, the magazine has been reduced to bizarre stunts in a desperate plea for attention. This week, that desperation took the form of […]

Just one day after the Iraqi government received failing marks in President Bush's surge interim progress report, Americans learned that the Iraqi parliament is proceeding with its plans to take off the month of August. But while the American people may be up in arms, President Bush's amen corner is predictably silent. After all, given […]

In Washington this week, former Bush Surgeon General Richard Carmona described what happens when radical conservative politics and ideology replace science at the basis for public health policy. But one story this week - the booming over-the-counter sales of the Plan B emergency contraceptive - shows the benefits to Americans' health when those right-wing barriers […]

In Washington yesterday, George W. Bush encountered what might be deemed the "reverse Chicken Little moment" of his presidency. That is, Americans have simply stopped believing his perpetual claims of sunny skies to come in Iraq. As the President delivered the interim progress report on his Iraq surge, he was greeted with dropped jaws and […]

The developments of the last few days have not been kind to the so-called "values voters" of the Republican Party. One after another, paragons of conservative virtue have been going down (so to speak). And making matters worse, they are taking down the top GOP presidential campaigns with them. Florida State Representative Bob Allen is […]

With each day, the Bush presidency more and more resembles the disgraced tenure of Richard Nixon. This past week alone brought dubious assertions of executive privilege, new revelations of domestic surveillance and civil rights violations, similarly dismal poll ratings and even a presidential pardon. And now, it seems, the disturbing Nixon-Bush parallels extend to their […]

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) added another plaque to his wall of shame during House hearings today looking into President Bush's commutation of the Scooter Libby's sentence. Ever eager to defend the President and the flagging hopes of the Republican Party, Issa accused outed CIA agent Valerie Plame of perjury. Issa's previous career lowlights included his […]

On Saturday, Americans learned that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2005 cancelled a major U.S. raid into Pakistan designed to decapitate much of Al Qaeda's senior leadership. Now, a new CIA assessment details the steep price the U.S. is paying for President Bush's failure to enforce his mantra of "no safe havens." U.S. intelligence analysts, […]

In Cleveland on Tuesday, President Bush offered Americans yet another example of the heartwarming leadership style that has so endeared him to 26% of Americans. At his latest invitation-only event, Bush made a 13-year old girl cry. Of course, making fun of children is all in day's work for George W. Bush. After all, as […]