Gu Kailai, the wife of senior Chinese party leader
Bo Xilai, has been
arrested for the murder of an English businessman. Bo, until his
sudden fall from power this year, one of the most popular politicians in China, the leading figure of the
Chinese New Left and Party Committee Secretary of the megacity of Chongqing, has completed his downfall by being expelled from the politburo and stripped of all party positions. The collapse started in February, when his top lieutenant, Wang Lijun,
was suddenly demoted and then fled to the US consulate for a day - supposedly, either attempting to defect or to give incriminating evidence on Bo and Gu to the Americans for safekeeping.
[more inside]
posted by strangely stunted trees
on Apr 10, 2012 -
38 comments
Texas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is booked on all the major morning shows tomorrow, and with good reason.
After two months of
gaffes,
impolitic stands, and
bizarre speeches that quickly waned his
once-strong odds of winning the Republican nomination, Perry went into Wednesday's
CNBC debate sorely needing a win... only to deliver
a tortuous, cringingly forgetful attempt [video] to recall just which three cabinet departments he'd vowed to abolish, a stunning failure political scientist Larry Sabato deemed
"the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate" in his memory.
While Perry's slow-motion flameout has
boosted the fortunes of dark horse candidate Herman Cain, the unlikely challenger is facing troubles of his own in
a volley of sexual harassment claims -- an
oddly ineffective scandal Cain is doing his best to
(somewhat dubiously) disavow. If Cain collapses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
may reap the benefits, but his moribund campaign
has issues of its own. Pawlenty, Bachmann, Perry, Christie, Cain, Gingrich... the base is loathe to rally round him, but after so many failed, flawed, or forfeited challenges,
can anyone topple Mitt Romney?
posted by Rhaomi
on Nov 10, 2011 -
208 comments
"Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson all face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman.
In the letter, which was written four years ago but published only on Tuesday,
Goodman claims that phone hacking was "widely discussed" at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with "the full knowledge and support" of other senior journalists, whom he named." (Most recent
previously.)
posted by Len
on Aug 16, 2011 -
77 comments
Last week, the New York Times magazine
published an explosive article about the phone-hacking exploits at the Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid
News Of The World under the then-editorship of Andy Coulson, now the
the Government's chief of communications. Following the NYT's investigation, questions about the "unhealthy" relationship between the Metropolitan Police and the
press (particularly Murdoch's
News International, which also includes The Sun, The Times and the Sunday Times), and further claims that an independent inquiry was abandoned so as
not to upset the Metropolitan Police, assistant Met Commissioner John Yates was
questioned [video; 4 mins] on Tuesday by the Home Affairs select committee. Following an
emergency debate in Parliament today, which concerned the fact that MPs of all parties may have had their phones hacked (and therefore had their
Parliamentary Privilege breached), the
Standards and Privileges Committee, the most powerful committee in Parliament, is to
open an inquiry which will be able to compel witnesses to give evidence. Meanwhile, former News of the World reporters are coming out the woodwork, claiming that hacking at the paper was
"rife", and the pressure is on Coulson to resign his £140,000 job at No. 10, with a
poll [pdf] which says 52% of the public says he should go.
[more inside]
posted by Len
on Sep 9, 2010 -
46 comments
Remember back in the '90s when the GOP was still the party of fiscal conservatism, and the shiny new code word was "family values"? Well, they still believe in family values part:
Exhibit 1. Exhibit 2. Exhibit 3.
posted by hwestiii
on Mar 23, 2006 -
31 comments
The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.
posted by Postroad
on Dec 31, 2005 -
33 comments
Imminent job openings at CNN... Open the link and right click the picture of Bush and wife, click "Save Picture/Image" and look at the filename!
In the words of a certain Denis Leary, "He's an asshole, asshole, asshole-e-o-oe-oh".
I suggest someone mirrors this ASAP!
posted by metaxa
on Nov 4, 2004 -
14 comments
Before Enron Houston, Texas had been the locus of a
stock scandal of a slightly different sort. Growing up in Houston in the 80s and 90s, I never associated the word "Sharpstown" with anything but a mall, but the area underwent a
development mired in scandal.
In the late 1960s Frank W. Sharp, a Houston businessman, negotiated a deal with a few Texas House Democrats; they would help pass a piece of legislation, and in turn, he would ensure that they would make a profit from his company's stock. In 1971, the dealings
came to light. Most of the public officials connected with the scandal were run out of office, but somehow
one man beat the resulting karma, even it was a a few decades later. But some good did come out of this, as the Texas
Open Records Act was expanded in the aftermath of the scandal.
posted by lychee
on May 15, 2004 -
3 comments
Chickenhawk Down The Daily Kos
challenges readers to come up with a new name for the CIA-Wilson-Plame business that doesn't include the term "gate." Many amusing suggestions have been logged in comments. Entries include The Plame Game, Intimigate, FrogMarch, Novack-aine, and Karl's Bad. Whatever your political persuasion, the name game can be fun. Surely MeFi wags can come up with a few witty ideas.
posted by madamjujujive
on Oct 1, 2003 -
35 comments
The CEO White House has yet another CEO with credibility problems. On Mr. O'Neill: "Administration officials "need to bring in someone with real credibility, with a good understanding of economics and who understands politics," said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee."
posted by nofundy
on Jul 18, 2002 -
2 comments
The 'Gate-less Community "But something changed when George W. Bush became president. The current administration has not lacked questionable behavior: Karl Rove met with Intel executives in the White House even as he held a significant amount of Intel stock; Deputy Interior Secretary J. Stephen Griles, a former coal-industry lobbyist, intervened in an energy-exploration dispute on behalf of former clients; Dick Cheney met repeatedly with energy company officials who appear to have had a strong hand in formulating the administration's energy policy; and, of course, there is White. Yet each retains his job. Eighteen months into Bush's term, his only appointee to resign under a cloud is Michael Parker, the former civilian chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, and not over allegations of corruption, but for what this administration views as the one true deadly sin: disloyalty. (Parker publicly criticized the president's budget.) By contrast, two years into the Clinton administration, 10 political appointees had resigned; under the elder Bush, eight; under Reagan, 13. What has changed isn't so much the conduct of officials, but the standards by which they're judged. The "new tone" that George W. Bush brought to Washington isn't one of integrity, but of permissiveness."
posted by owillis
on Jul 8, 2002 -
23 comments
Great article on the whole Andrew Sullivan and Michael Signoreli fiasco. Finally, a well written viewpoint about the
barebacking incident that raised the hackles of gay conservatives and liberals alike.
posted by chason
on Jun 8, 2001 -
3 comments
This may be too good to be true. Drudge says there's a
home video of a possibly drunk GW Bush acting the smartass.
posted by nikzhowz
on Aug 27, 2000 -
9 comments
