While Jerry Falwell has passed from the scene, many of his fellow End-of-Times evangelical allies still enjoy unfettered access to and dangerous influence over President Bush, especially when it comes to Iran. As Focus on the Family head James Dobson reported on his radio show on Monday, he and a group of evangelical leaders met […]

While likely GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in April called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign over his "mishandling" of the U.S. prosecutors purge, it turns out the two men have a lot in common. As we learned on Tuesday, when it comes to pressuring the gravely ill, Gonzales and Gingrich share the same […]

Back in February, I slammed the Washington Post for its reporting on Bill Clinton's speaking fees and the implication that his new-found wealth would unfairly fuel his wife's 2008 presidential campaign. In contrast, the Post was largely silent on the million in speaking and consulting fees reaped by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. Until […]

Beginning this Friday, Perrspectives is introducing a new feature, Barking Mad. While others offer Friday cat blogging (for example, here and here), Barking Mad combines a quick survey of the outrages of the week with photos of my ill-tempered Corgi, Zoe. These are just some of the people and issues that, well, pissed me off […]

Over the past week, the continuing implosion of the Republican Party produced another bumper crop of jaw-dropping conservative gaffes and goofs. GOP infighting over the dismal realities in Iraq, Alberto Gonzales' PurgeGate scandal, and a fresh batch of right-wing rage combined to deliver new innovations in conservative rhetorical psychosis. And in recent days, White House […]

For those who missed Alberto Gonzales' act of self-immolation before Senate Judiciary Committee on April 19, the Attorney General is set to offer an encore performance during Thursday's hearing about the purged prosecutors before the House Judiciary Committee. As MSNBC, Politico and TPM Muckraker are all reporting, Gonzales will offer the House virtually the same […]

A sure sign of the GOP desperation over Iraq is ever-increasing Republican propensity to rhetorically reduce the conflict to the realm of the normal. With casual analogies to American sports, business, shopping, and history, Republican leaders try to conflate the Iraq chaos and carnage with the commonplace and carefree. Theirs isn't the "banality of evil," […]

By now, Americans should have grown accustomed to the Bush administration's opposition to Plan B. But as it turns out, the ideologues of the Republican Party not only oppose Plan B for American women. They oppose Plan B for American troops mired in the civil war in Iraq That's the message from House Minority Leader […]

During last night's episode of Bill Moyer's Journal, host Bill Moyers interviewed Jonathan Miller, creator of a three-part series titled "A Brief History of Disbelief" to be aired on PBS stations beginning this week. Or perhaps "some PBS stations" would be a better description. As it turns out, many PBS affiliates are apparently choosing not […]

If anyone had any lingering doubts about the unique role of Google as a social, cultural and political force in the United States, a Friday appearance by John McCain at its company headquarters should put them to rest. The special forum hosted by CEO Eric Schmidt let GOP White House hopeful McCain bring his views […]