As the controversy over the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture continues to fester, the fate of appeals court Judge Jay Bybee hangs in the balance. Even as the torture memo author lobbied his Nevada Congressional delegation to come to his defense, New York Republican Peter King declared, "Judge Bybee should be given a medal […]

Back in 1993, Bill Kristol mobilized Republicans to block the Clinton health care plan with an infamous two- word talking point, "no crisis." Now 16 years later, GOP pollster and master of double-speak Frank Luntz is offering conservatives a new lexicon for scuttling President Obama's health care initiatives. While feigning support for "reform," Luntz insists, […]

On Monday, the New Republic's prominent legal analyst Jeffrey Rosen published a rumor-filled assessment of Obama Supreme Court short-lister, Sonia Sotomayor. And by Thursday, as ThinkProgress reported, what Glenn Greenwald deemed Rosen's "anonymous smears" and "a model of shoddy journalism" were being parroted throughout the media. But as to why Rosen took a tabloid approach […]

Announcing his Christmas 1992 pardons of Caspar Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra figures, President George H.W. Bush introduced a time honored Republican scandal evasion by decrying "the criminalization of policy differences." Now 22 years after his own role in a Congressional minority report which blasted the allegations of Reagan administration abuses of power as "hysterical," […]

While President Obama's looming commencement address at Notre Dame sadly remains controversial among a vocal minority of Catholics, it is one of America's fastest growing faiths which is at the center of three political storms this week. On Tuesday, ABC confirmed AmericaBlog's reporting that a Provo LDS member posthumously baptized Obama's late mother. Continuing his […]

As his unfortunate joke to Jay Leno about his meager bowling skills revealed, impromptu humor is not Barack Obama's strong suit. On Monday, to laughter from attendees and the press alike, President Obama flubbed his day-early White House celebration of Cinco de Mayo by proclaiming it, "Cinco de cuatro." And that, the right-wing blogosphere insists, […]

After revelations that some American soldiers were given Bibles and encouraged to "hunt people for Jesus," the Pentagon on Monday denied allegations that the U.S. military allows its personnel to seek the conversion of Afghans to Christianity. But while the copies of the New Testament translated into Pashtun and jaw-dropping video from Bagram may seem […]

Republicans are not merely beaten and battered. As they revealed once again at the kickoff event for their latest extremist makeover, they are confused as well. According to the McCain/Palin ticket and later myriad Republicans in Congress, Barack Obama is a "socialist." While their tea-bagging faithful slander Obama as a "communist," their erstwhile leader Glenn […]

This week, Judge Jay Bybee broke his silence regarding his infamous August 2002 torture memo, calmly declaring "the conclusions were legally correct." But while some Democrats want the 9th Circuit Appeals Court judge impeached or at least to testify before Congress, New York Rep. Peter King believes Bybee should be "given a medal." As it […]

This was not a proud week for the American mental health profession. On Thursday, ABC News documented the essential role of two $1,000 a day psychologists contracted by the CIA to architect its detainee waterboarding program. And on Friday, Harvard-trained psychiatrist turned right-wing water carrier Charles Krauthammer rationalized the Bush torture regime for his readers […]