Exactly two years ago, I dissected the Bush administration's dubious legal justification for its illicit program of NSA domestic surveillance. Then, I argued that the President's twin claims that his constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief and the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) allowed Bush to operate outside the legal mandate of FISA […]

Watching the CNN Democratic debate last night, I wondered if Barack Obama had reprised George W. Bush's infamous "not ready for duty, sir" accusation about the American military's preparedness. As it turns out, what sounded like Obama hyperbole about the state of overstretched U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is by and large accurate. And […]

Just yesterday, I documented George W. Bush's hilarious - and pathetic - history when it comes to Kosovo. Now with Serbian rioters storming the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, Bush's dubious grasp of the implications of an independent Kosovo doesn't seem so funny any more. That the United States would come to grief in the Balkans […]

While debate rages over the New York Times' bizarre allegations regarding John McCain's relationship with a DC lobbyist, two other legendary Republican scandalmakers are keeping GOP corruption in the spotlight. On Tuesday, Duke Cunningham bagman Brent Wilkes was sentenced to 12 years in prison. And just yesterday, former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney was transferred to […]

The blogosphere is abuzz with the New York Times story about presumptive GOP nominee John McCain and the nature of his relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. It remains unclear why the paper sat on the story since December. But whether or not the New York Times has had the goods on John McCain, it didn't […]

On more than one occasion (for example, here and here), I've joked that President Bush is slightly more popular than the Ebola virus. As it turns out, I may have been giving this lamest of lame ducks too much credit. A new poll from the American Research Group shows that President Bush's approval rating has […]

Generations yet unborn will speak of the intellectual confusion of George W. Bush. But no issue may be more emblematic of President Bush's ongoing cognitive crises than Kosovo and the 1999 American intervention to end ethnic cleansing there. Speaking yesterday at, of all places, the Rwanda genocide museum, President Bush defended American inaction in Darfur, […]

In his Wisconsin victory speech this evening, John McCain wasted no time in firing shots across Barack Obama's bow. Hoping to highlight the Democratic frontrunner's inexperience, McCain to partisan cheers ridiculed Obama's promises as "eloquent but empty." But in a preview of Republican duplicity to come, McCain blasted Obama's past advocacy of unilateral American attacks […]

One of the most consistently insulting and fatiguing myths perpetuated by the conservative chattering classes is the right's age-old fraud that liberals hate America. Which is why Michelle Obama's latest misstep is all the more frustrating. Just days after implying she'd withhold her active support should Hillary Clinton become the Democratic presidential nominee, Mrs. Obama […]

On Friday, I detailed Hillary Clinton's desperate search for a "Where's the Beef" moment to deflate the surging campaign of Barack Obama. As it turns out, it's not 1984 but 1988 the Clinton camp is trying to recreate, casting Barack Obama not as Gary Hart, but instead Joe Biden. While blogs left and right discuss […]