The White House needs to come clean about the role its attorneys played in the CIA’s decision to destroy interrogation tapes of terrorist suspects. The White House has downplayed this involvement, but at least four top White House attorneys at the time, including Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers, took part in discussions with the CIA about whether to destroy the tapes, the New York Times reported.
One former senior intelligence official told the Times that there had been “vigorous sentiment†to destroy the tapes among some top White House officials, who were concerned that the tapes could be damaging after the abuses at Abu Ghraib. However, other officials said that the attorneys didn’t advocate destroying the tapes, though they also didn’t order that the tapes be preserved.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Both sides are likely partly correct in a debate about GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s Christmas campaign advertisement. In the TV spot, Huckabee says: “Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you’ve been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I don’t blame you. At this time of year sometimes it’s nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and friends.â€
Some have complained that Huckabee is going too far mixing faith and politics, to which Huckabee responded: “If we are so politically correct in this country that a person can’t say, ‘Enough of the nonsense with the political attack ads, could we pause for a few days and say Merry Christmas to each other?’ then we’re really, really in trouble as a country.â€
Yes, we should be able to say “Merry Christmas†to one another. But few are naive enough to believe that the campaign ad wasn’t about politics and Huckabee’s ongoing efforts to appeal to conservative Christian voters.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Vladimir Putin is fooling no one in signaling he wants to be Russia’s prime minister when he leaves the presidency next year. Putin already has shown his willingness to bend democracy to serve his ambition. So odds are that if protege Dmitry Medvedev wins the presidency March 2, Putin will keep the power. The international community, including the United States, should not shrug off this phony transition. Saying, as White House press secretary Dana Perino did this week, that Putin’s latest gambit is “an internal political decision that the Russians are going to have make,†is not enough.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Dec. 10 was the first $1 million day in TV advertising of the 2008 presidential campaign, reports Advertising Age, which predicts a $2 million day by the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney have the most money in TV ads in the early primary states, $275,000 and $250,000 a day, respectively. Mike Huckabee has been spending a mere $10,000 a day in Iowa, letting the buzzing media do his talking for free.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Last week’s Mitchell Report on steroid use in Major League Baseball told us what we already know: Athletes want to be the best, and many will do what it takes to make that happen, even if it means cheating.
While we’re conducting a steroids witch-hunt, do we also call into question exceptional athletes who, like Tiger Woods, undergo surgeries to improve eyesight, even beyond 20-20 vision? The better question: Would most people still be as excited about these sports if the participants were not so superhuman?
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote, “We, the paying customers, don’t want normal-size athletes with normal abilities. We want to see supermen and superwomen performing super feats, and we’re willing to pay these gladiators a fortune. Why should they disappoint us? Why should we expect them to?â€
Posted by Kristin Mehler
