Informed Speculation

…Biden apologized: Biden said he “deeply” regretted “any offense” his remark about Obama might have caused anyone. “That was not my intent and I expressed that to Senator Obama,” Biden said in an e-mailed statement. Good for him; it was the right thing to do…

Molly Ivins was not my type: forgetting our huge political differences, I never enjoyed that Texas ‘cornpone’ populism so popular with Ivin and Jim Hightower. Nevertheless, she had a long history with progressive Texas politics, and I find myself quite saddened to learn that she has succumbed to cancer after a fierce battle. Ivins was [...]

Well, a couple of people weren’t too happy with my crapping all over Vista yesterday, so I thought I’d post an update. One reader commented that I should check my hardware, as it sounded like I had one or more bad drivers – and it’s true, I was having great difficulty in loading the proper [...]

John McIntyre highlights some of the reaction to Joe Biden’s “he’s so articulate!” gaffe re: Barack Obama from the left’s leading blogging lights.  Short version: I predict Biden will be forced to make some sort of public apology… UPDATE 4:15 p.m.: From the “remove the log from thin own eye” department… No one has caught [...]

I’m not the only one who took offense at Hillary Clinton’s odd remark that she ‘resents’ Bush’s Iraq policy.  Here’s Lee Harris: Senator Clinton argued that it was Bush’s “decision to go to war with an ill-conceived plan and an incompetently executed strategy.” That is, the Iraq war is Bush’s mess. “We expect him to [...]

Haven’t we already been through this? How many times does Joe Biden get to declare for president? Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. Wednesday officially launched his well-expected candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. It’s a bid predicated on one major assumption: that the race will focus greatly on Iraq and other international trouble [...]

…as 4th quarter GDP growth was quite strong: The economy snapped out of a sluggish spell and grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year as consumers ratcheted up spending despite a painful housing slump. The fresh snapshot of business activity, released by the Commerce Department Wednesday, underscored the [...]

Talk about the worst of both worlds: Hugo Chavel combines the economic policy of Joseph Stalin with the political tactics of Adolf Hitler: Venezuela’s Congress delayed by a day on Tuesday its vote to give President Hugo Chavez decree powers enabling him to nationalize oil and utility assets and press his drive to turn Venezuela [...]

Well, if you follow this blog closely, you know I had a lot of problems with the Windows Vista Beta 2 program.  You also know that I didn’t have any more luck with Windows Vista Release Candidate 1. Now, I’ve got the real deal: the offical Windows Vista Home Premium, clean installed.  Yep, I wiped [...]

Mickey Kaus, doing what he does best: Why, exactly, is Sen. Chuck Hagel showing “courage” in conspicuously denouncing the Iraq War now that virtually the entire American establishment has reached that same conclusion–now that Hagel is virtually assured of getting hero treatment from Brian Williams and Tim Russert and long favorable profiles in the newsweeklies? [...]

Timothy Noah has some good fun at Barack Obama’s expense here with a new feature that promises plenty of hilarity…

Dennis Byrne: Instead of talking in sweeping platitudes about “ethics reform,” Senate Democrats might want to prove they mean it by dumping their ethically challenged majority leader, Harry Reid. The Nevada lawmaker has been implicated in yet another land scheme that this time could net him a tidy $50,000 to $290,000. Los Angeles Times investigative [...]

It’s a frivolous way of approaching a serious subject: the point at which responsibility for martial decisions lays.  Congress is trying to assert its role in the war powers debate in hearings today, prompting the Specter quote paraphrased in my headline: A Senate Republican on Tuesday directly challenged President Bush’s declaration that “I am the decision-maker” [...]

John Dickerson got a surprise while covering the Libby trial: I wanted to raise my hand and ask, “Your Honor, may I approach the bench?” I was at the Scooter Libby trial to cover it, and all of a sudden, I found myself in the middle of the case. In his testimony today, former White [...]

The latest installment, at Searchlight Crusade…

…in the Pajamas Media Straw Poll? I notice that Mitt Romney(!!) won the first week’s balloting narrowly over Rudy G., and he’s got a narrow lead again this time.  Make your voice heard (you can vote once a week per computer), here…

Barack pays a visit to New Orleans: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama toured hurricane-scarred New Orleans on Monday after criticizing the White House for the slow pace of recovery from storms that hit the Gulf Coast almost a year and a half ago. “There is not a sense of urgency out of this White House [...]

So says military analyst Jack Jacobs of MSNBC: Public figures, most of them with both too much time on their hands and a poor understanding of most things of significance, are gnashing their teeth about the planned increase in the size of the American force in Iraq. To the extent that critics who are busy [...]

The latest moves in the pathetic Air America saga were announced today: Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said today that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would [...]

Josh Gerstein has a fun piece on the highlights and lowlights of the first week; meanwhile, Just One Minute is distinctly unimpressed with the press coverage thus far: In the wake of the first week of the Libby Trial, Patrick Fitzgerald’s soufflé has turned into a pancake. Of course, if you are getting your news of the [...]