Just got off a conference call with a “senior administration official” about the President’s signing of an executive order related to the 2006 Military Commissions Act. The good news: We don’t torture! The bad news: As to what torture is, as to how violators will be punished, as to whether or not torture ever took [...]

Eric Edelman’s background is confusing. In addition to having served Cheney, both in this administration and when Cheney was SecDef under Bush 41, Edelman for a long time worked for — get this — Bill Clinton’s old friend and former Oxford roommate Strobe Talbott, when Talbott was deputy secretary of state. (Currently the president of [...]

Okay, there are really too many easy jokes to make about this: President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday and temporarily hand presidential powers over to Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House said. But I think funniest-because-it’s-truest is this: “temporarily”! HAHAHAHAHHAAH! [Wipes eyes, straightens up.] Okay, back to work now. “Temporarily.” That’s just [...]

I’m not sure who wins in this one: NEW YORK – Former President Clinton spoke out on behalf of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, after Elizabeth Edwards criticized the Democratic front-runner for not being a strong advocate for women. “If you look at the record on women’s issues, I defy you to find anybody who [...]

Not sure if others have noted this yet, but the Pentagon official who strafed Hillary Clinton yesterday–Under Secretary Eric Edelman–is a former aide to Dick Cheney. I interviewed him in Ankara once when he was U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and his office was festooned with Cheney photos. I wonder what the SecDEf, who is not [...]

Well, of course they want to delay the reports till November. And Ryan Crocker is right–the Maliki government’s movement toward passing the benchmarks isn’t a true test…because the Maliki government isn’t a true government, which is something the U.S. won’t admit. As I’ve been writing here, the reality is that the capital city is, increasingly, [...]

So last night I stopped by a book party for Kristin Gore, who has written a second novel. The party was thrown by her parents. A lot of old Gore hands were there. I know, of course, that by attending a book party in Washington, and one thrown by a (former) politician to boot, I [...]

Endearing himself further to the Volvo-driving, latte-sipping, NPR-listening liberal left (guilty on counts myself), Patrick Fitzgerald last night participated in the public radio quiz show “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” When asked by host Peter Sagal why such a tight-lipped public official would come on the show, Fitzgerald said, “Literally, I was trying to get [...]