The President delivered a speech full of promises likely to prove as empty as those he made before, because he won’t have any money. He took credit for some things that happened by accident and others that didn’t occur, described a war and a country few would recognize. Republicans got lots of exercise as they [...]

Bush won’t say the state of the union worsens, but he certainly should.

Condoleezza Rice brings a sort of candor to the Bush administration. Unfortunately, I think she just admits they don’t know what is happening: “There is a huge transition going on in the Middle East, as a whole and in its parts,” she said. “The outcomes that we’re seeing in any number of places, I will [...]

Publishers used to get novels banned in Boston to hype sales everywhere else. The trick still works. Bush tries to silence scientists who don’t agree with the party line, and it makes the critics heroes. Ham-handed censorship got The New York Times to let everyone who missed an obscure lecture know a top NASA scientist [...]

It is not a date likely to be trumpeted, or even calculated, by our government, but we are close to more Americans being killed in Iraq than were killed on 9/11/2001. Are we closer to victory? Can we define it? Do we have any idea what we are doing? All three answers are, “No.� Unfortunately, [...]

Conservatives want to make life better for people who have it easy. Liberals want to make life less hard for people who just can’t get by. Republicans say Democrats want to give everything away. So did Jesus.

The Iraqi war has gotten tacky and Democrats are confused. They don’t know what to do. Of course, Bush doesn’t either. But that doesn’t matter. Rove has convinced the public outsiders must find a solution superior to the one that Bush keeps secret. A Democrat must come forward. Admit we lost the war a year [...]

Bush, like Democrats, supports democracy, but not the winners.

A filibuster of the Alito nomination needn’t succeed to be meaningful. It can keep the story of his extremism alive for a few days in the hope that some Bush supporter might listen. Standing together could help Senate Democrats learn they can’t succeed against conservatives until they unite behind a few progressive ideas instead of [...]

The pictures of Bush and Abramoff must be spectacular, otherwise Rove wouldn’t leave them to our imagination. I think one might show Bush taking a check, or Jack whispering in the President’s ear, and maybe Bush tried on the gangster hat. Until we see the real thing, some of us will follow Andy Borowitz’ lead [...]

Hillary Clinton took a position on both sides of the wiretap issue, similar to her stand on the Iraq war. She likes what Bush does, but hates the way he does it. Since I don’t like either, I forget she’s really qualified.

Bush will solve the healthcare crisis the only way he knows – cut taxes. That helps rich folks who itemize deductions and that’s what matters. He’s busy paying for his tax cuts by reducing medical benefits for the poor and veterans, while protecting drug and insurance companies from risk or loss. Bush can get away [...]

Lobbying works. It gets Republicans to tuck last minute changes under industry’s pillow late at night like the tooth fairy. The Congressional Budget Office revealed the insurance industry got $22 billion from a mid-December visit by Representative Bill Thomas and Senator Charles Grassley. The gift is hidden in a conference committee Medicare budget bill up [...]

He calls warrant less wire taps “legal and necessary,â€? but many experts say he’s breaking the law. Instead of stopping, or proving he’s not, Bush just changes the name: Eavesdropping on Americans is now “the Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

Bush said his wife would never run for senator – he will be sorry!

While Rove spouts strategy as he awaits indictment, Cheney insists the President can listen in to any phone call anytime, and Gonzales demands to study Google searches, Bush steps in to settle a baseball squabble. So far Congressional Republicans have not seen fit to investigate any administration action, however questionable, but they might get angry [...]

Harry Reid apologized for publicizing Republican recipients of Abramoff cash. The document, though true, “went too far.� Liberals don’t stand a chance against the party in power because conservatives have a secret weapon: Democrat decency. We need leaders who respond to rancor with active antagonism. There is no place for understanding in Bush’s Washington.

Let’s fight about eliminating corruption in Congress. Should lunches be limited to twenty dollars or nothing? Can we eliminate gifts and trips entirely? Does it matter? No. Lobbyists aren’t the problem. Congressional rules are. They need to debate laws, read laws, then vote on laws. Do things correctly. Create order. Would that be good? Yes.

Congress races to find ethics. It should be fun to hear them debate the importance of free trips, lavish meals and special access when they retire to K Street. It will be interesting to watch how they justify the perks they want to keep, but the real excitement will be trying to find all the [...]

Hillary Clinton shocked Republicans by suggesting the House of Representatives is run like a plantation. Aside from the fact that the leaders do exactly what they want and use “whips� to keep everyone in line, there is no similarity. Plantations produced cotton. This House produces nothing useful.