There are two issues on which Bush’s disapproval ratings exceed his approval, according to the latest Washington Post poll: health insurance and the federal budget. I couldn’t help but be impressed with Alan Greenspan’s testimony Wednesday. He made the obvious point that it’s good to cut taxes if you also cut spending. Duh. This administration, alas, is one of the most spend-thrift in recent times and yet still wants massive tax cuts. Thank God for some of the saner Republicans in the Senate. At least some people haven’t forgotten that conservatism means limited government, personal privacy and fiscal responsibility, in contrast with the hard right’s big government, sex police and mounting debt.
WORSE THAN EASON JORDAN: Which journalist do you think would strike up an intense personal friendship with Saddam’s head propagandist? Who do you think would write letters to such an odious figure with sentences like: “After promising and promising to have dinner with you for such a long time – we finally did it. Alhamdullilah!!!!! For me, this was the main achievement of my visit.” Would you believe the BBC’s chief correspondent, Rageh Omaar? Once again, the British papers seem to have done a better job than Americans in digging through stacks of documents left in Baghdad. As the Times of London reports today,
[t]he tactic seemed to work. A note in Arabic on the letter suggests that it be forwarded to the visa department. Before another assignment, Mr Omaar wrote: “It’s been such a long time since we last saw each other, and I would really like to see you again. As you once said to me: Once you have tasted the waters of the Tigris, you can never forget Baghdad!!!”
Yes, some journalists in totalitarian countries have to make some adjustments to avoid being thrown out. But this kind of up-sucking? I can’t imagine John Burns doing it, can you?
The Dish 