The first 20 stories written about a public figure set the tone for the next 2,000, and it is almost impossible to reverse it.
— Charles W. Colson, White House aide

As if more proof were needed that George W. Bush is a congenital liar, he’s now claiming that his use of the phrase “Democrat majority” in the State of the Union speech this month was a slip of the tongue:
“I didn’t mean to be putting fingernails on the board. I meant to be saying, Why [...]

IED fodder: Due to local economic conditions, lack of educational and employment opportunities, and other pretty obvious reasons, most of the U.S. volunteer army comes from the hinterlands, not the cities. It’s not an uncommon story — young men and women from small towns getting their asses shot off while rich Republicans get richer off [...]

Ari’s testimony at Scooter Libby’s perjury trial in the CIA Leak scandal certainly does not bode well for Scooter:
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer testified Monday that then-colleague I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby told him over lunch that the wife of a prominent war critic worked at the CIA.
Fleischer said the conversation happened June [sic] [...]

The most tyrannical governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts.
— Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), Dutch philosopher

Remember last year when Stephen Colbert addressed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and ripped them a new one for their cowardice at reporting all things Bush?
Do we really need a neon sign to proclaim the coziness of the White House press corps and the White House’s occupant?
But, listen, let’s review the rules. Here’s how it [...]

Campaigning in Iowa over the weekend, Sen. Hillary Clinton issued a demand that Pres. Bush bring troops home from Iraq before he leaves office:
Clinton’s proposal provides an answer to the Republican talking-points challenge that Democrats don’t have a plan for getting out of Iraq. You want plan? Here’s a plan: You broke it, you fix [...]

In the last statewide elections in North Carolina, Democrats held onto the governor’s mansion and the Assembly and won back the state Senate. Now new polling suggests Democrats are becoming more popular in the state, while Republicans, especially the state’s two nitwit U.S. senators, are becoming less so:
Approval/Disapproval
N.C. Gov. Mike Easley (D) 50/33
Sen. Elizabeth Dole [...]

Does Sen. John McCain have the temperament and judgment to be president? His behavior at a dinner with journalists last week indicates he may be too emotionally volatile to make it through the campaign without embarassing himself.
Arianna Huffington was at the dinner, and wrote about it (”John McCain Bites My Head Off”) here:
McCain’s “volcanic” temper [...]

Don’t miss the amazing interview with Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) in GQ. You’ll see why the Bush White House is so upset with this guy, and why there is such a remote chance he will ever drink the Kool-Aid.
A sample:
GQ: What would it take to secure Baghdad?
Hagel: It’s not ours to secure. We have never [...]