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Actually a week or two more than 7 years, because I forgot about it. I published the first of 1,923 posts (quite a few written by others who were gracious enough to help me out) on October 22 of 2003. The subject of that first post was Frank Gaffney’s daffy take on the . . . → Read More: Happy anniversary to me: BTC News is 7 years old As probably nobody remembers, BTC News once boasted our own White House correspondent, the inimitable (actually, truly) Eric Brewer. Eric went into the White House press room and despite no journalism experience whatsoever, stayed composed while asking some very tough and valuable questions. You can see his work under the category “White House Dispatches” . . . → Read More: I want a new White House correspondent! Damn it! On April 3, late on a Friday afternoon, the Justice Department asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the National Security Administration for unlawfully spying on Americans’ telephone records. In its brief, the Justice Department made two arguments: First, it claimed that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would result in the . . . → Read More: Obama’s fraudulent “sovereign immunity” legal argument George W. Bush’s public statements have been absurd for so long, that it’s almost poor sport to continue to skewer them. Nevertheless, because I haven’t done so on BTC News in quite a while, and because this may be my last opportunity, I can’t resist one last shot. For auld lang syne, as it . . . → Read More: Shooting the last fish in the barrel: Bush’s “biggest regret” On Monday at the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Dana Perino declined to answer when I asked her whether the White House would apologize for last Friday’s raid by U.S. forces in Iraq that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The slain man, Ali Abdul Hussein al-Maliki, was described . . . → Read More: Playing hardball in Iraq: did Bush throw Maliki a brushback pitch? BTC News contributor Eric Brewer, now reporting from the White House for online magazine Raw story, challenged Bush press secretary Dana Perino on the president’s claim that al Qaeda in Iraq might one day appropriate Iraq’s oil and use the funds for their own purposes. This isn’t a new claim—Bush has made it . . . → Read More: Perino challenged on claim that al Qaeda could control Iraq’s oil Today at the White House press briefing, I got into a somewhat heated (on my part) dispute with John Gizzi, political editor of the right wing web magazine HumanEvents.com. It happened like this… Earlier in the briefing, the press was asking Tony Snow some pretty good questions about Bush’s commutation yesterday of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence. Questions like (this is a paraphrase): “What is it about this particular case that makes it so special that the president commuted the sentence without Libby even petitioning for a commutation, when there are 3,000 actual requests for commutation currently languishing at the Justice Department?” Tony’s (paraphrased) answer: “This case is just really, really special.” However, I was puzzled that all the reporters were referring only to Libby’s perjury convictions, and not to his conviction for obstruction of justice. So when Tony called on me, I asked: Won’t this encourage other members of his administration to obstruct justice?” Tony’s response: No. I got another chance, though, later on, during the following exchange: In which Tony dodges questions about the U.S. Attorney firings… . . . → Read More: Playing dodgeball with Tony Snow Tony Snow laughed at me today in the White House briefing room after I asked him a question inspired by John Yoo’s vigorous defense, in an op-ed in last Sunday’s NY Times, of the Supreme Leader style of government that Mr. Yoo helped fashion when he worked in Bush’s Justice Department in the two years after the 9/11 attacks. . . . → Read More: In which Tony Snow laughs at me (but the last laugh is on Tony) Tony Snow does his best to control the damage after Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, speaking to reporters on Thursday, denounced coalition troops’ treatment of Iraqi civilians. . . . → Read More: Was Maliki misquoted? Tony Snow’s “gauzian” epistemology |
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