White House Insiders Take Note Paul O’Neill’s use of White House and Treasury documents was not illegal, although “had [about 140 documents] been properly marked as “classified,” they would have been withheld. AB

Cyber-Terrorism? I’ve been curious about what the administration’s counter to Clarke’s book and interviews would look like. My best guess would be that it would center on Clarke being “disgruntled.” About an hour ago, Dick Cheney was on Rush Limbaugh’s show, advancing this story and adding a new one, that Clarke wasn’t in the loop […]

Richard Clarke The political fallout from Richard Clarke’s 60 Minutes interview should, if there is any justice in the world, be swift and devastating. Clarke came across as someone very well-informed on terrorism in general and al Qaeda in particular. His story is consistent with Paul O’Neil’s: from day one, before 9/11, the administration ignored […]

More Signs of Life? I didn’t have time to mention this yesterday: Jobless claims hit three-year low New weekly claims for unemployment benefits come in lower than Wall Street forecasts. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – New jobless claims fell last week to the lowest level in more than three years, the government said Thursday, coming in […]

Postcards from Old Europe – Setting the Stage Dear readers, Angry Bear and Kash have invited me to guest blog here on a regular basis. AB and Kash are both economists – I’m not. I work in discretionary portfolio management for high net worth clients in a rather large European financial services company. You can […]

The Ad War Bush seems to have won the battle for the first half of March. From The National Journal’s Hotline on March 17: AD SPENDING, 3/3-14 ——————————————————————– BUSH-CHENEY Estimated spending: $8,197,514+ Spots aired: 8,071 States: AR, AZ, CA, FL, IA, ME, MI, MN, MO, NH, NM, NV, OH, OR, PA, WA, WI, WV, nat’l […]

Globalization Strikes Angry Bear Exciting details tomorrow … AB

Rumsfeld I just got around to following Kash’s earlier link to Rumsfeld on Face the Nation (now a compelling MoveOn.org ad.) If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to check it out the next time you have broadband access. Now the important question is whether MoveOn can make an equally powerful ad based on […]

Bush and Shaggy: It Wasn’t Me From Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me: She even caught me on camera “It wasn’t me” She saw the marks on my shoulder “It wasn’t me” Heard the words that I told her “It wasn’t me” Heard the screamimg getting louder “It wasn’t me” I think that nicely encapsulates the Bush […]

Rumsfeld on Face the Nation You may well already have seen this, but if not, this video clip from this past Sunday is amusing. (Courtesy of the Center for American Progress. If that link doesn’t work try this one.) Kash