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 […]

Just one day after President Bush forcefully defended his insistence on multilateral negotiations with North Korea, the White House has apparently okayed direct talks with envoys from Pyongyang. Speaking in Seoul on Saturday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Bush's point man on discussions with the North Koreans, signaled his willingness to meet directly with […]

On Friday, E.J. Dionne used Mexico's cliffhanger election ("It Couldn't Happen Here") to show the comparative electoral dysfunction of the United States. Not so tongue in cheek, Dionne asked of disputed voting results in a critical swing state, "How would it look if the governor of the state was your own brother?" For today, though, […]

Perrspectives is pleased to announce the winners of our first ever "What Does 'GOP' Stand For?" Contest. Back in June, we asked readers to say what three words the acronym "GOP" suggested to them. Three weeks and hundreds of entries later, the Republican party of Bush, Cheney, Rove, Frist, Delay and Abramoff is no longer […]

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the CIA has shut down its Bin Laden unit late last year. The unit, called "Alec Station," had been in place for over a decade to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and his leading Al Qaeda lieutenants. As I wrote in January, President Bush's on-again, off-again emphasis on […]

On Thursday, George W. Bush will celebrate his 60th birthday. This President's birthday may well be historically unprecedented, with his age, his disapproval ratings and seemingly even his IQ all converging at 60. As the AP reports, President Bush is responding to his aging process by applying his unusual brand of humor to his looming […]

Back in March, I documented the amazing transformation of John McCain from GOP maverick to Republican prostitute. As I wrote then, the Arizona Senator in his quest for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination exchanged his seething hatred of George W. Bush for a high profile bootlicking of the Bush political machine. On Monday, the New […]

The Supreme Court's ruling today in the Hamdan case wasn't merely a defeat for the Bush administration's system of military tribunals for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. As ThinkProgress describes, the majority's explicit rejection of broad presidential powers claimed by the White House to be inherent in the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military […]

On Monday, billionaire financier Warren Buffett made two important contributions to the public good. First, he announced a staggering gift of $30 billion of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Perhaps more important for America's future, Buffett came out swinging in defense of the estate tax. During his press conference, Buffett offered […]