In a bizarre Washington Post op-ed ("Surveillance We Can Live With") pitching his ill-conceived NSA eavesdropping compromise, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) shows all of the hallmarks of a man in the throes of severe cognitive dissonance. While essentially pronouncing the illegality of George Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program, he cannot bring himself […]

In the latest sign that Republican class warfare is alive and well in Washington, the IRS is planning draconian cuts to its team of estate tax lawyers handling the audits of the wealthiest Americans. In the next 70 days, the IRS will shed almost half of the 345 lawyers assigned to monitor the gift and […]

Bush Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt headlines another week of wrongdoing by the miscreants of the right. The HHS chief earned the wrath of the Avenging Angel this week for proving that charity does indeed begin at home. Bush's go-to man on blocking the morning after pill used a non-profit foundation to enrich […]

Back in May, Perrspectives described how inquiries by both the FCC and the DOJ into illegal domestic surveillance by the Bush NSA had been blocked. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have a much clearer picture as to why. In a nutshell, President Bush personally insisted that the […]

This week's G8 Summit in St. Petersburg marked the end of the five-year romance between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. With festering disagreements over Iran, Russia's entry into the WTO, the North Korean crisis, and Moscow's descent into autocracy, tensions between Bush and Putin were on public display. Ironically, the exchange of barbs took […]

Former CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson publicly unveiled their lawsuit against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in a Washington press conference today. But while the Wilson's action offers the potential to bring President Bush's "Politics of Payback" under the microscope, its prospects for success seem remote. That […]

As the Washington Post reports today, the already bitter Virginia Senate race between incumbent George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb is getting downright nasty. Watching his lead dwindle and his 2008 presidential hopes put in peril, the Vietnam-era freeloader Allen is attacking the patriotism of the Vietnam war hero Webb over the former Navy Secretary's […]

The past week has seen another bumper of crop curious quotes and glorious gaffes from the renegades of the Right. From the Valerie Plame affair and NSA domestic spying to adminstration flip-flops on terrorist detainees and the do-nothing Republican Congress, the mouthpieces of the conservative ascendancy this week offered Americans fresh heapings of hypocrisy with […]

The Washington Post reported today former Bush Medicare and Medicaid administrator Thomas Scully agreed to pay back $10,000 for personal job-hunting trips he had charged to the government during his tenure. But while the Post piece provided a breezy overview of Scully's ethical indiscretions during his time at HHS, it completely omitted any mention of […]

In an interview with the Denver Post editorial board, Karl Rove signaled that President Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to block Congressional stem cell legislation. For Democrats, that veto threat could be just what the doctor ordered. In a nutshell, Bush's 2006 base-baiting, red meat strategy could well backfire when it […]