An assessment from the New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn.
Uncategorized
On Van Jones
He had to go, no question. And it wasn’t just that he signed a “truther” petition, which suggested–ridiculously–active Bush Administration complicity in the events of September 11, 2001. (I believe there was Bush culpability, but it was passive–a consequence of Dick Cheney’s inability to understand or credit the Al Qaeda threat, …
Labor Day 2009
…from the master
William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath’rin’.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.
But you
…
Terrorist Reading Habits
Juan Cole has a post up about the most requested books at the Guantanamo prison library:
1. Harry Potter books
2. Don Quixote
3. Dream From My Father by Barack Obama
Two reactions: How long before Glenn Beck makes something of this? And…Don Quixote?
The Week That Was
Once again, Paul Slansky sums up the nuttiness of one week–Bachmann Bartiromo Overdrive, crazypants secession talk in Texas, return of “The Blob,” Cheney family tag team, “Animal House” in Kabul, it goes on and on– in his weekly index.
What’s making you grateful that this week is finally over?
White House Declines To Express Confidence In Van Jones
[This post has been corrected and updated. See notes below in brackets.]
Last night, Van Jones, an adviser to the Council on Environmental Quality, released a statement apologizing for some of his past remarks, and disavowing his signature on a 2004 petition raising questions about the Bush Administration’s involvement in allowing the …
Republican Sanity
Joe Scarborough, David Frum and John Podhoretz (here) are speaking out against the proposed Republican school boycott next week. I’ve disagreed, vehemently, with Podhoretz and the neocons at Commentary in the past, but I will say this: they come to their beliefs honestly. They think hard about the positions they take, deal in some …
Van Jones Apologizes, Says He’s Not A 9/11 Truther
In response to a torrent of criticism, originated and directed by Fox News’s Glenn Beck, White House adviser Van Jones has apologized for some of his past statements and distanced himself from a document he once signed.
“In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration …
Hey, Internet People!
Could someone please explain to me why three of the 11 most popular stories on TIME.com at the moment …
It Gets Worse
I was at a Blanche Lincoln town hall meeting in Russellville, Arkansas, yesterday–and the number of people who believe that the President has larded the government with communists (!) was astonishing. One woman said there were four known communists in the government and that she’d researched it on the internet. When I asked her …
Latest Column
On the need for greater clarity from the President. A couple of notes:
Print deadlines can be a pain in the butt: in the 24 hours after I wrote and closed this column, the Administration decided to do pretty much what I suggested–a speech to the Congress next Wednesday (just after my deadline, another headache) in which he clarifies …
The Rise And Fall Of Levi Johnston
I fell into watching “Don’t Look Back” last night, the great documentary of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour through England. Dylan never cared much for the press, even though, as the movie showed, he read the tabloids voraciously and spent a ton to time giving interviews. (He expresses this view in an extended verbal assault on a TIME magazine …
Unreconciled
Brian Beutler at TPM previews the next wave of health care reform stories: why taking the reconciliation route–the one that only requires 51 votes–isn’t going to work. His argument is that it would force a more robust public option, which some of the moderates in the party would oppose. I’m not sure about that–but then, no one really …