Washington Affairs

9 February 2004


CIA Director Defends Agency, Causes President Trouble
George Tenet made a speech last week that more or less defends his agency against the charges that it got the intelligence in pre-war Iraq wrong. It isn't the slam on the Bush administration that many are reading into it. "They [CIA analysts] never said there was an imminent threat," said Mr. Tenet, and in fact, Mr. Bush never did either. Still, Mr. Tenet's defense of the CIA amounts to an attack on the pre-war White House. Click here to read more.

Bush's Budget Sets Record Deficit
It is a shame that the American Congress cannot seem to get a budget passed on time, and hasn't for years. Then again, when the budget that comes from the White House is as ridiculous as the one President Bush offered last week, it's no surprise that Congress feels the need to start from scratch. Budgets ought not to be works of speculative fiction. Click here for more.

Winning Without a Single Southern State
The conventional wisdom in American politics says that no one can win the presidency without a decent showing in the south. By south, psephologist and their ilk mean the states of the old Confederacy that left the union during the American Civil War. It has been gaining in population for decades relative to the northeast and central states, and it is more conservative and religious than the rest of the country. It is also unnecessary to White House calculations. Click here to read on.