Bob Franken -- Politics Daily

Published: 09/2/09

Torture Investigation or Tortured Witch Hunt?

There are two words that those on the left need to remember as they demand that any detainee torture investigation examine top officials in the Bush administration: "Karl Rove." ...

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Published: 08/31/09

Republican Health Care Mailer: No 'Honor Among Thieves'?

Even in the world of brutal partisanship, there is supposed to be "honor among thieves." In gutter politics, that means there are some unwritten rules about stretching the truth. Distortion is OK. Outright lies are not. Tell that to the Republican National Committee.Critics complain that in the health care debate, the RNC, under Chairman Michael Steele, has shown it is immune to any sense of shame: It tries to terrify anybody who pays attention with claims that are outrageously untrue. ...

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Published: 08/28/09

Obama Energy Policy: Poll Shows General Support

For the Obama administration, all the uproar over health care seems to have sapped the strength of opponents struggling to block the equally ambitious and equally massive changes to the nation's energy policy. At least a new poll says so.In the Washington Post-ABC News Poll, 55 percent of those responding favor the way the president is handling energy policy. That drops a little to 52 percent when measuring support for the cap-and-trade system of controlling greenhouse gases. ...

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Published: 08/28/09

FTC Plans to Study Journalism's Woes -- and That's a Problem

The Federal Trade Commission is scheduling public workshops on the media -- two full days to examine the problems of journalism. Please permit me to be subtle: What a DUMB idea!!! This is the Federal Trade Commission we're talking about.The New York Times reports the sessions, scheduled for December, are designed to "play a facilitating and public education role in gathering together various disciplines and perspectives to talk about the crisis in mainstream journalism." ...

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Published: 08/27/09

Michael Steele, Under Criticism, Tries to Explain His Health Care 'Bill of Rights'

GOP Chairman Michael Steele is once again demonstrating how astute he is. Quick to recognize how his op-ed piece "Protecting Our Seniors" landed with such a thud, he has raced out to do what politicians always do when such things happen: further muddle his remarks. To address the embarrassment from his own words, he went on NPR this morning to make sure nobody has the slightest idea what he was talking about. Mission accomplished. Listen: ...

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Published: 08/27/09

Torture Probe, Health Care, the Economy: For Obama, Hostility From All Sides

It's a bit simplistic, but generally true, for reporters to say that if we have antagonized people on both sides of an issue we're reporting on, we are probably doing our job well. Perhaps Barack Obama embraces the same belief about "presidenting." ...

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Published: 08/26/09

Major Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Fundraiser Charged With Fraud

Some will certainly notice the irony in Hassan Nemazee being charged with trying to defraud Citibank, the financial behemoth so many believe victimized our entire economy.How far he has fallen. The 59-year old Nemazee was national co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid last year, and when she lost he raised money for the man who beat her, Barack Obama. In 2004 he was New York state financial chairman for John Kerry. Most recently he was national chairman of the committee that works to elect Democrats to the Senate, chaired by New York Sen. Charles Schumer. ...

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Published: 08/26/09

FBI Beats the CIA in Bitter Turf War -- for Now

It's gotten lost in the shuffle, but news that the FBI will take much of the responsibility for questioning terrorists is a major poke in the eye for the CIA. It couldn't have been anything but a serious slight with the announcement coming on the same day that spooks at CIA were identified by one of their inspectors general as significant interrogation abusers. ...

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Published: 08/25/09

$9 Trillion Deficit is Central Figure in Health Care Debate

Pay As You Go -- PAYGO -- is a wonderful platitude in Washington, but a bit whimsical after the president's own Office of Management and Budget acknowledges the federal deficit over the next 10 years will not be the $7 trillion it had been projecting but more than $9 trillion. This year alone it will be more than a trillion and a half.Numbers like these are incomprehensible, meaning that a problem of such massive importance is usually ignored by those of us who don't like numbers in the first place. ...

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Published: 08/25/09

Michael Steele's Health Care Diet for Seniors Is Loaded With Red Herrings

Here's how the dictionary defines a "red herring": "Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue." And a "straw man argument" is one "based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position." Both come to mind as we consider the new Republican "Senior Health Care Bill of Rights."In a Washington Post Op-ed, GOP Chairman Michael Steele pledges to protect against the dangerous straw men he and his cohorts have created and nourished with a steady diet of red herrings about health care reform. ...

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