NewsTrust - Bush Administration - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By James Fallows - Jul. 25 (Opinion) - You can be against deficits. You can be for preserving tax cuts. You cannot be for both -- logically, that is.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Who deserves an ICC arrest warrant more than himQaddafi - By David Rothkopf | David Rothkopf

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy - By David Rothkopf - Jun. 28 (Opinion) - "What about George W.T.F. Bush?" he must be asking aloud while daubing shoe polish on his moustache and wondering silently who does Tom Selleck's? "He and Cheney violated every international law on the books, invaded a country, hundreds of thousands of innocent people died, and what do they get? Presidential libraries! Book contracts! State of the art pacemakers!"

NewsTrust Rating: 2.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

TV review: Keith Olbermann comes out swinging on Current's new ‘Countdown'

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Mary McNamara - Jun. 21 (Review) - "In the briefest of special comments ... this is a newscast of contextualization, it is to be presented with a viewpoint, that the weakest citizen of this country is more important than the strongest corporation, that the nation is losing its independence through the malfeasance of one political party and the timidity of another and that even though you and I should not have to be the last line of defense, apparently we are so we damn well better start being it."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Rumsfeld on ‘contingency plans’ for Iraq

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

MSNBC - By Andrea Mitchell - Feb. 23 (Interview) - During an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defends the Iraq War invasion and also shares his thoughts on the current situation in Libya.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Donald Rumsfeld: Obama “Made A Practice Of Trying To Apologize For America”

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By Matt Schneider - Feb. 20 (Interview) - ormer Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appeared on State of the Union this morning and didn’t mince words when Candy Crowley asked him if he agreed with the opinion that President Obama has been successful in improving America’s image abroad since President George W. Bush. In a word, the typically blunt Rumsfeld said “no” and in a few more words suggested “I don’t think there’s data that supports that.” Instead Rumsfeld claimed “I think [Obama] has made a practice of trying to apologize for America. I personally am proud of America.” And he wasn’t done yet, regarding Obama’s receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Rumsfeld said “he had not accomplished a thing when he got the Nobel Prize. It was given to him on hope . . . he’d been in office 15 minutes.” With a few awkward silent moments as a result of Rumsfeld’s abrupt and short answers, his no-nonsense approach to all interviewers always provides for some interesting conversation.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Viewpoints: Dispelling myths about Katrina helps us learn from mistakes - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Sacramento Bee - Dec. 19 (Opinion) - Read Sacramento opinion, letters and editorials at The Sacramento Bee

NewsTrust Rating: 2.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

What Sparked the Tea Party

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

National Journal - By Michael Hirsh - Nov. 13 (Opinion) - Indeed, the eruption against Big Government that the tea party has come to embody can trace its roots back at least to the sense of betrayal among conservatives over Bush’s runaway-spending habits and refusal to veto any spending bills, especially in his first term. Not to mention the nearly six years of GOP control of the Senate and House from 2000 to ’06, when federal spending grew to a record $2.7 trillion, more than doubling the increase during Bill Clinton’s two terms

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How did this wastrel ever find his way to the White House?

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

The Independent - By Matthew Norman - Nov. 10 (Review) - May the Lord the former president so ostentatiously worships have mercy on my soul, and those in Iraq without water, electricity and medicine forgive me, but I just cannot suppress a twinge of sympathy for George W Bush.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The paradox of American poverty

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Sadhbh Walshe - Sep. 17 (Comment) - The Obama administration has been tardy to tackle economic misery, but looks set to lose to a GOP that would do even less

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Obama Speech

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Time - By Joe Klein - Aug. 31 (Opinion) - "...this speech was a necessary ceremony of the presidency, if a thankless one. The commentators will say the President didn't transcend. His critics will say that he refused to acknowledge the "success" of the surge. But he also refused to indulge in relitigating the stupidity that launched the war."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why should we care what the Obamas do on vacation?

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Anne Applebaum - Aug. 17 (Opinion) - Why do we care about presidential holidays? I don't know for certain, but I'm blaming the Kennedys, whose photogenic touch football games and elegant yachts set a standard to which later presidents could only aspire. They did have precursors: Franklin Roosevelt was photographed fishing in Florida, riding horses, even swimming at a pebbly beach. And there are many, many pictures of his cousin Theodore holding up his hunting trophies in exotic forests.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Let the Bush tax cuts expire

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - By Fareed Zakaria - Aug. 02 (Opinion) - George Bush's massive tax cuts are the single largest chunk of our structural budget deficit. ... These tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year. Were the tax cuts to expire, the budget deficit would instantly shrink by about 30%, or more than $300 billion dollars. But Republicans are now adamantly opposed to any exploration of the Bush tax cuts because they say that would weaken the economy.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Five myths about the Bush tax cuts

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By William G. Gale - Aug. 01 (Editorial) - The tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, known as the Bush tax cuts, are set to expire Dec. 31, and the fight over what to do is increasingly heated. Should the tax cuts expire, as some Democrats have said?

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Terrorism detainee Maher Arar: Supreme Court should have intervened

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - Jun. 21 (Editorial) - The Supreme Court has in some cases been willing to temper the excesses of the war on terror, most notably in ruling that inmates at Guantanamo have the right to challenge their confinement in U.S. courts. But last week, it fell down on the job when it refused to consider the case of Maher Arar, the victim of an egregious and shocking violation of rights by the U.S. government

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A new agenda for school reform

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Diane Ravitch - Apr. 02 (Opinion) - I used to be a strong supporter of school accountability and choice. But in recent years, it became clear to me that these strategies were not working. The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program enacted in 2002 did not produce large gains in reading and math. The gains in math were larger before the law was implemented, and the most recent national tests showed that eighth-grade students have made no improvement in reading since 1998. By mandating a utopian goal of 100 percent proficiency, the law encouraged states to lower their standards and make false claims of progress. Worse, the law stigmatized schools that could not meet its unrealistic expectation.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

What’s Behind Obama’s Drilling Plan? - Room for Debate Blog

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Apr. 01 (Editorial) - Have technologies changed so that offshore exploration can be done now with less impact than, say, 20 or 30 years ago? Given the greater awareness that environmental issues are global, does this trade-off make sense? * Peter Maass, author, “Crude World” * Frances Beinecke, Natural Resources Defense Council * Samuel Thernstrom, American Enterprise Institute * David Roberts, Grist.org * Donna R. Christie, Florida State University College of Law

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How Reagan ruined conservatism

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Financial Times - By Gideon Rachman - Mar. 01 (Opinion) - Battling my way through Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, last weekend, I began to wonder how American conservatism had come to this. Ms Palin’s book is smug, lightweight, nationalistic, entirely free of original ideas. How has this woman become the darling of the American right? How has she become so popular that some bookmakers make her the favourite to win the Republican party nomination in 2012? And then I realised – the rot set in with Ronald Reagan.

NewsTrust Rating: 5.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

All politicians are madhouse freaks

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

San Francisco Chronicle - By Mark Morford - Feb. 19 (Opinion) - You might say the worst affliction we suffer isn't the horrible economy, job losses, botched health care reform, war, or housing collapse. Rather, it's a snarling, hydra-headed government led by fundamentalist tea-party fringe nutballs from the right and weak-kneed whiners from the left, full of sound and fury, inspiring absolutely nothing.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Renouncing Islamism: To the brink and back again

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Independent - By Johann Hari - Nov. 16 (Opinion) - In the mosques across the city, I hear a fringe of young men talk dreamily of flocking to Afghanistan to "resist". Yet this whisper never has an immigrant accent. It shares my pronunciations, my cultural references, and my national anthem. Beneath the beards and the burqas, there is an English voice.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Zakaria on a Third Surge in Afghanistan

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Fareed Zakaria - Oct. 26 (Opinion) - The real question we should be asking in Afghanistan is not "Do we need a surge?" but rather "Do we need a third surge?" The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in January 2008 was 26,607. Over the next six months, the Bush administration raised the total to 48,250. President Bush described this policy as "the quiet surge," and he made the standard arguments about the need for a counterinsurgency capacity—the troops had to not only fight the Taliban but protect the Afghan population, strengthen and train the Afghan Army and police, and assist in development.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama’s Dick Cheney Moment

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Benjamin Wittes - Sep. 28 (Opinion) - His decision not to consult Congress on detentions represents a virtually wholesale adoption of Bush’s failed policies.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Fear was no excuse to condone torture

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Miami Herald - By Charles C. Krulak, Joseph P. Hoar - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - In the fear that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Americans were told that defeating Al Qaeda would require us to ``take off the gloves.'' As a former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and a retired commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, we knew that was a recipe for disaster. But we never imagined that we would feel duty-bound to publicly denounce a vice president of the United States, a man who has served our country for many years. In light of the irresponsible statements recently made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, however, we feel we must repudiate his dangerous ideas -- and his scare tactics.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average - 10 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

So far, Obama's failing miserably

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Jeremy Lott - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - When he ran for president, George W. Bush promised to be a modest reformer at home and a humble representative of the United States on the world stage. The Al Qaeda-organized-and-funded terrorist attacks of eight years ago changed all that.

NewsTrust Rating: 1.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Cheney for President

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By James Taranto - Aug. 31 (Opinion) - As the Obama administration moves toward prosecuting intelligence agents for allegedly overzealous questioning of terrorism in the months following the 9/11 attacks, the Washington Post delivers a timely reminder of why those methods were thought necessary.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Video: Dick Cheney calls Eric Holder's interrogation investigation political

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Fox News - By Chris Wallace - Aug. 31 (Interview) - WALLACE: So even these cases where they went beyond the specific legal authorization, you're OK with it. CHENEY: I am.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer