The Justice Department gives its most detailed accounting yet of how its used its post-9/11 powers in the war on terror, although the vagueness of the report does little to satisfy congressional critics and civil liberties advocates. On a loosely related note, it must be some weird cosmic irony that the spokesperson for the Ashcroft Justice Dept. is named Comstock.
Category: The Dubya Era
Capital Gains, National Losses.
The House and Senate GOP agree on a compromise bill that cuts the tax rates on dividends to 15%. (Don’t worry, Mr. Burns – the wealthy also get their fix in the form of a capital gains rate cut to 15%.) But, problems for the dividend debacle remain…particularly in that the $383 billion package goes over the $350 billion cap established by GOP moderate George Voinovich. Can the Dems mount a last stand?
Read Their Lips.
With the Dubya dividend debacle virtually a done deal, the Democratic field rethinks their election strategies in lieu of the Bush tax cuts. Given the inroads Dubya’s making into Dem territory (well, at least according to Fox News), hopefully Kerry, Edwards, Dean & co. will realize the only way to play it is straight – the tax cuts are a horrible idea and they need to be repealed.
Here Comes the Judge.
With talk of Supreme Court vacancies opening up over the summer, the Post sits down with White House counsel (and prime contender) Alberto Gonzales. Good to hear that private sources find him “insufficiently conservative”…there might still be hope for the guy. In related news, Jeffrey Toobin surveys the judicial confirmation battlefield for the New Yorker.
No (More) Comment.
The press corps breathes a sigh of relief as Ari Fleischer announces he’s leaving the White House in July. I haven’t seen Scott McClellan, his potential replacement, at work behind the podium, but it’d be hard for him to be much worse.
Warm up the Gavel, Judge Rehnquist.
Well, it’s official. To noone’s surprise, Dubya is running for reelection, with help from his veteran phalanx of media-savvy message manipulators, who know when it’s time to dress down Real Americans (Last link via Raza.) What will the campaign theme be, I wonder? Bush: He’s not French. Or Bush – Because There’s Still Oil in Alaska. There’s probably some support behind Vote for George W. Bush…(we’ll know if you don’t.) Or how about Dubya…We Might Actually Win for Real This Time?
Deficit, Schmeficit.
Cheney breaks the tie as the Senate GOP pass the third-largest tax cut in history, one that includes a three-year moratorium on dividend taxes. Dems Zell Miller and Ben Nelson (and eventually Evan Bayh) joined the Republicans in passing the cut. (Republicans McCain, Chafee, and Snowe were opposed.) Of course, this tax giveaway for the rich does nothing to address the largest budget deficit in history…but that’s a problem for Dubya’s successors, isn’t it? And children don’t vote anyway.
Bait and Switch.
Republicans inadvertently stall the Dubya tax cut by putting the wrong number on the bill, thus blunting the force of the President’s arm-twisting US tour. It’s the little things that get ya.
Wages of Fear.
In keeping with his right-on-terror campaign strategy, Senator Bob Graham accuses Dubya of a 9/11 coverup. While I don’t particularly care for Graham’s brand of fear-mongering, he’s got a point this time around…that congressional report should be made public, and particularly if the centerpiece of Dubya’s re-election campaign will involve waving the bloody shirt as planned.
Trent Lott’s Boy on the Bench.
Historian Sean Wilentz delves into the segregationist past of Charles Pickering, who is currently Dubya and Senator Cat-killer’s judicial nominee of choice.