Media
A Threat to Hockey Moms Everywhere
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who hasn’t been “America’s most popular governor” for a few months now, has drawn her first Democratic challenger for re-election.
Bob Poe, a former state commissioner and past president of the Anchorage Economic Development Corp., is the first to announce for the race. Republican Gov. Sarah Palin hasn’t said for sure whether [...]
Zbigniew Bzrezinski Holds Forth on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan
Former Carter administration National Security Adviser Zbigniew Bzrezinski has moved far to the left over the past several decades — and in particular over the last eight years, when he’s become downright combative — and so today it’s interesting to hear him talk about four distinct but somewhat linked issues: Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. [...]
Live From A Huge Foreign-Policy Confab
I’m in one of the two massive ballrooms of the Washington Convention Center, where in a few minutes, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to present a tour of the foreign-policy horizon. That’ll kick off a day-long event sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace called “Passing The Baton,” outlining the national-security and foreign-policy [...]
Feinstein on Panetta
Beef officially squashed. Here’s what Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said about CIA director-(quasi-)designate Leon Panetta to reporters outside the Senate floor this afternoon:
“I’ve known Leon for 20 years. He is smart, he is credible, and he is truthful. And I believe he will surround himself with very qualified intelligence professionals in the top positions, and [...]
In Defense of Joe The Plumber’s Reporting Cred
Get that tone out of your voice, Aaron! You slyly mock Joe The Plumber’s forthcoming reporting assignment for Pajamas TV in Israel. But a closer look at the ongoing war in Gaza demonstrates why, now more than ever, the region needs Joe The Plumber.
Human rights groups and Palestinian officials are reporting a sewage crisis, with [...]
Don’t Be So Sure About Haass, Holbrooke and Ross
Marc Ambinder reported this morning that three top diplomats — Richard Haass, Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross — will be President-elect Barack Obama’s envoys to various global hellholes: Iran, Israel/Palestine, and Afghanistan/Pakistan/India. He says it’s “confirmed,” but I’ve heard otherwise.
It appears, particularly with Haass, the chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, that this is [...]
Strategically Confused Like A Fox!
In the midst of this confused New York Times piece on Israel’s objectives in Gaza — “Mr. Olmert has been far more careful this time to state ambiguous and modest goals for the war,” apparently, even though his defense minister says it’s an “all-out war” to the “bitter end” and from the perspective of a [...]
When You’ve Lost Powerline…
The deeply flawed Wall Street Journal editorial on the Minnesota Senate recount was too much even for the bloggers at Powerline, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”-based Website whose lawyer/writers pinned Dan Rather to the wall back in 2004. Scott Johnson writes:
There was no noticeable partisan division among the board. I reject any imputation of misconduct [...]
The Continuing Republican Campaign For Black Justice
The conservative CNS News site gets Michael Steele (about whom you can find more here) on record, telling Democrats to seat Roland Burris as the junior senator from Illinois.
Now, the Democrats have got their hands full, because they can seat him or not seat him, and the reality of it for them is there’s no [...]
CQ: CIA Operations Folks Dissatisfied With Panetta
My CIA sources on Monday were surprised but not so dismayed by the news that Leon Panetta is President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to head the agency. Jeff Stein’s CIA sources yesterday? Much more dismayed.
Writing in his CQ column, Jeff talks to veterans of the CIA’s operations directorate — the people who recruit spies, gather information, [...]
