Salon

Conservatives, ever suspicious of Big Government, should love a whistle-blower -- unless, of course, he's former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke. The Washington Times calls Clarke "a political chameleon who is starved for attention after years of toiling anonymously in government bureaucracies." For neoconservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, Clarke is "a liar" and "not just a perjurer but a partisan perjurer." According to Ann Coulter, Clarke is a racist. Exiting the known world and entering into her own fantasyland, Coulter depicts Clarke… more

The day after the Madrid terror bombing, the neoconservative press -- should we call it the "neocontern"? -- rushed to offer its cloying embrace to Spain. "We Are All Spaniards Now," proclaimed the The New York Sun. Of course, the real object of the neocon word blitz wasn't to soothe the Spanish, but rather to propagandize Americans; the neocons don't really care about Spain. Instead, the real target of their faux internationalist solidarity was the home audience, who might be… more

In May 2002, Westar Energy sent a $25,000 check to Texans for a Republican Majority, an organization set up to propel Republicans into the Texas state government. What did the Kansas-based Westar care about Texas Republicans? Probably not much. But it did want to curry favor with the political group's founder, Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the House majority leader.

DeLay's "agreement is necessary," one Westar executive helpfully explained in a memo, according to documents released by the company's board, "before… more

Howard Dean's bash in Bryant Park last night makes an easy target. The New York City park was packed, but seemingly everyone there was white, under 30 and dressed for a Burlington, Vt., block party. A man selling tie-dyed shirts did brisk business, and the crowd of about 10,000 seemed oddly disconnected from the incredible mix of people and cultures walking New York's streets right nearby, many of whom must have wondered what was going on. Save for the ubiquitous… more

Conservative Republicans like to compare George W. Bush to Ronald Reagan, characterizing him as a masculine Everyman, traditionally conservative and regularly underestimated because of his low-key manner. Liberals like to compare him with his father, who seemed Reagan's tightly wound, Ivy League, career-climbing opposite -- and a one-term president to boot.

Now a different former president is the dominant comparison: Bill Clinton. And that bodes very poorly for our commander in chief.

In the past week, as the White House… more

John Kerry strode into a much-hyped national security speech today in the Bronx like a slugger ambling to the plate with two runners on base and the opposing pitcher fading.

Kerry then laid down a bunt.

Kerry's aides and the gods who time political cycles had seemingly set the stage for a powerful and biting critique of the Bush administration's recent intelligence debacles. The Massachusetts senator and presidential hopeful is a decorated war hero and he was coming in… more

When Jesse Helms, R-N.C., urged his fellow senators in March 2001 to confirm a longtime friend as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, he gave an endorsement that was, quite literally, out of this world.

"John Bolton," Helms said, "is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, or what the Bible describes as the final battle between good and evil."

Bolton, who passed by a 57-43 vote, plays a much… more

The cloak-and-dagger capers of computer no-goodniks may seem like prime page-turning material, but most books on the subject have all the sex appeal of a VCR manual. … more

The keynote address at a typical hacker convention is delivered by the "Wizened Security Guru," usually an ex-CIA spook who wows the crowd with cloak-and-dagger tales. … more

After George Washington's Birthday morphed into Presidents Day, the father of our country lost much of his iconic luster. Department stores that once hawked discounted goods … more