AM Feed - April 26: Fox in the White House
Hot Topics
- It looks like all that kow-towing to the Bush administration has paid off for Fox News: Tony Snow, a conservative pundit on the channel, will replace Scott McClellan in the role of White House press secretary. Which means that from now on he’ll do his shilling from behind a White House podium, not a Fox News desk. [link]
- The Senate Armed Services Committee is considering holding a hearing that would include testimony from the retired generals who have called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign. Last week, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) asked Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-VA) to invite the former generals as a means to learn from mistakes made in Iraq, although some in the Republican-controlled Senate have been loathe to opening up the operation to further scrutiny. Rumsfeld, who has joined Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on an unannounced visit to Iraq, has drawn criticism from nearly every angle for the handling of his job, but has also been steadfastly backed by President Bush. [link]
- Just what exactly is President Bush doing about rising energy prices? So far he’s taken baby steps on the issue – which is not at all surprising given his deep ties to the oil industry. Among the changes he’s slowly embracing are a couple that his industry-tilted energy plans should have included a few years ago: More tax allowances for hybrid cars, and a reversal on tax breaks for oil companies engaging in certain types of exploration. In fact, just last year (after gas prices were already going through the roof), Bush signed an energy package containing those very same tax breaks for oil companies. Meanwhile, the Bush administration spent its first years handing out huge tax breaks for businesses that purchased not hybrids, but the largest class of SUV available. This stuff isn’t a matter of hindsight – everyone else seemed to see it coming. [link]
- Another sign of failure: The percentage of middle-income Americans without health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005 – an enormous increase from 28 percent in 2001, President Bush’s first year in office. [link]
Quote of the Day
“I can look you in the eye and tell you I feel I tried to solve the problem diplomatically to the max.” – President Bush, speaking about his, like, totally awesome pre-war efforts, 4/24.
Morning Snark
- If working at a news network alongside Bill O’Reilly doesn’t prepare Tony Snow to deal with co-workers who have no sense of diplomacy (a useful skill in his new job), then nothing will.
Comment
- The news from Washington just seems to get worse and worse. I keep writing my congressman (a republican, but one who does respond to me) about all the above and more but what more can one do??? It’s so frustrating.
— jen Apr 26, 11:20 # - If we can’t get the straight scoop from Tony Snow we can tune in on perky Katie Curic for some in depth anelysis. The future seems bright,
— Rosalie Stern Apr 26, 11:29 # - I here ya jen, I’ve written to my congressman countless times on a vast number of subjects and we haven’t agreed on one single issue, not a single one! This turd, does not represent me!
Rosalie, you have tapped into something I’ve been preoccupied with lately – Katie Couric’s faux journalism and Tony Snow-job as Bush’s latest press secretary – the degradation of our news stream and dwindling amount of investigative reporting and dumbing-down of our propaganda-soaked, ahistorical pop-culture and hyper-commercialism makes the acquisition of real quality news, i.e that news which we need to keep our freedoms and hold power acccountable for abuses, a sisiphusian task.
— John Apr 26, 13:08 # - I, too, have two Republican senators who remain incredibly quiet in the midst of all the scandals and the assaults on middle and low-income Americans.
Obviously, to remain in the good graces of the party one has to toe the party line no matter how bad things get and in the great state of North Carolina, our senators aren’t doing anything about gas prices, the continued hemorrhaging of jobs, homelessness and entrenched poverty. But they’re good Republicans!!!!
— Theresa Bennett-Wilkes Apr 26, 21:20 # - So I see from the Quote of the day Bush can still look anyone in the eye and lie.
Except that most of the time when I see him on TV he looks toasted and so I doubt he can actually look anyone in the eye.
I say indict the drunk that has his finger on “the” button before he kills us all.
— MO Apr 27, 12:12 #
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