The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
This category is a main category for post dealing with political issues and politicians at any level of government.
Two weeks ago, President Bush announced, “[The] Taliban no longer is in existence.” He was egregiously mistaken. The Taliban may not be in power in Kabul, but they have been making a steady comeback throughout the countryside.
Read moreIn this month’s New Republic, Jonathan Chait follows the evolution of the “flip-flop” in this year’s presidential campaign. Analyzing 37 Kerry “flip-flops” listed on the Bush campaign website, Chait concludes only six are “legitimate reversals”
Read moreThe most recent report from the Weapons inspector in Iraq takes away every excuse Bush has used for going to war there. Remember, the reasons have changed over time, each time they were discredited.
Read moreNew job numbers are out this morning, and they’re more bad news for a president who has already received a truckload of it this week. The economy added about 96,000 new jobs in September. That’s fewer than analysts expected, fewer than what’s needed to keep up with population growth in the job market, and way fewer than what Bush’s own Council of Economic Advisors projected in December.
Read moreI read a good summary of the Vice Presidential debate on Salon.com. I agree that mainly Cheney managed to continue throwing out information he knows to be inaccurate, but Edwards seemed more concerned with making his talking points that responding to those false statements. Neither hurt each other’s campaign, but Edwards missed some chances to hit some home runs.
Read moreThe secrecy and the closed doors just go on and on with an arrogance that defies explanation. Yet Karl Rove has been able to convince half of America that all this means is that Bush is “working hard” and is “determined.”
Read moreThe central claim at the heart of the Bush administration’s case for going to war was thoroughly discredited by the New York Times yesterday. Before the war, the Bush administration stated without doubt that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding a nuclear weapons program and, as proof, it pointed to the only physical evidence it could find: Iraq’s attempt to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes. We now know, however, that the smoking gun was a fabrication.
Read morePresident Bush and Sen. John Kerry squared off in Miami last night for the first presidential debate. The result was a solid hit for Kerry. This morning’s papers describe the scene: Bush is described as coming off as “petulant,” “tight-mouthed,” and “frustrated.” Meanwhile, Kerry was “presidential,” “in control,” “serious and substantive.”
Read moreOnce again, the Onion comes up with the real story — Freshly unearthed public documents, ranging from newspapers to cabinet-meeting minutes, seem to indicate large gaps in George W. Bush’s service as president, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens for an Informed Society announced Monday.
Read moreAs son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration?s decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry.
Read moreOn Thursday, President Bush claimed that “nearly 100,000 fully trained and equipped Iraqi soldiers, police officers, and other security personnel are working today.” But last Monday, the Pentagon said that “only about 53,000 of the 100,000 Iraqis on duty have now undergone training.”
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