Think Progress

FLASHBACK: Ensign Called On Clinton To Resign After Admitting Affair — ‘He Has No Credibility Left’ - Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reports that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), a member of GOP leadership and a potential candidate for president in 2012, will hold a press conference later today in which he will acknowledge having an extramarital affair “with a campaign staffer who was married to an employee in Ensign’s Senate office.” Ensign [...]

Vitter: Even though I didn’t resign, Burris should. - Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Earlier today, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) called on Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) to resign his Senate seat. Despite his own refusal to resign after admitting to being a former patron of the “DC Madam”, Vitter dismissed the notion that his demands of Burris are hypocritical. “I honestly don’t know anybody who would compare these situations. [...]

Vitter casts lone vote against Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. - Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 16-1 to approve President-elect Obama’s nomination of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Casting the sole “nay” vote was Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who was concerned about Bill Clinton’s “multimillion dollar minefield of conflicts of interest.” Vitter has long been a Clinton foe, calling on President Clinton to [...]

Fox News Host Refuses To Talk About Russia-Georgia War, Insists On Covering Edwards’ Affair (Updated) - Saturday, August 9th, 2008

Yesterday, Russia launched a major military offensive against Georgia, which Georgia has called “a state of war.” Nearly two thousand people have died and the conflict risks sparking a wider war. Also yesterday, former senator John Edwards admitted to having an extramarital affair in 2006.
Fox News has decided which story is worthy of more coverage. [...]

Clarke On Iraq War Architects: ‘We Shouldn’t Let These People Back Into Polite Society’ - Friday, June 6th, 2008

Noting that “prominent Democrats” had ruled out impeachment, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann asked former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke on his show last night, what “remedy” there could be for the lies and misinformation highlighted in the new Senate Intelligence Committee reports on the Bush administration’s misuse of pre-war Iraq intelligence.
“Someone should have to pay in [...]

Isikoff: Drudge is ‘much less of a factor than he was five years ago.’ - Friday, April 25th, 2008

In their book, The Way To Win, Mark Halperin and John Harris praised right-wing internet gossip Matt Drudge’s influence on the media, saying, “Matt Drudge rules our world.” But yesterday, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff — whose Monica Lewinsky reporting was famously leaked to Drudge — declared at “Q & A Café” that Drudge is “is much [...]

Tucker: ‘I Instinctively Jump To The Defense Of Anyone Whose Private Life Is Violated’ - Thursday, February 21st, 2008

After the New York Times released a bombshell story on Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) cozy ties to a telecommunications lobbyist, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson engaged in a full-throated defense of the senator. This morning, Carlson boiled down why he thinks the story is all hype, claiming it’s just about “sex”:

Well, look at the lede! It’s about [...]

Hannity: Sen. Vitter Should Resign - Friday, July 20th, 2007

When Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) replaced former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA) — who “abruptly resigned after disclosures of numerous affairs” in 1998 — he argued that an extramarital affair was grounds for resignation:
“I think Livingston’s stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess,” he said. [...]

Elizabeth Edwards Confronts Coulter During Live Television Appearance - Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

Elizabeth Edwards confronted right-wing pundit Ann Coulter during a live interview on MSNBC this afternoon, charging that Coulter’s “personal attacks” on former senator John Edwards and others were based on “the language of hate.”
Yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Coulter said, “[I]f I’m gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish [...]

Flashback: Lott Said Claiming Executive Privilege Makes WH ‘Look Like They Are Hiding Something’ - Monday, March 26th, 2007

Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS) defended the Bush administration’s refusal to allow Karl Rove and other top White House aides to testify before Congress under oath, in public, and with a recorded transcript, claiming Bush had a “right to executive privilege.”
LOTT: The question is are the Democrats in [...]

Snow Responds To Executive Privilege Flip-Flop ‘Making Its Way Through The Left-Wing Blogs’ - Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told the National Review’s Byron York that “[w]e feel pretty comfortable with the constitutional argument” that White House officials don’t have to testify under oath to Congress about the prosecutor purge.
But as Glenn Greenwald first noted, Snow had a much different view of executive privilege in 1998, [...]

Tony Snow Flip-Flops On Executive Privilege - Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

President Bush said yesterday he would “absolutely” fight to prevent Karl Rove and other senior officials from testifying under oath about the U.S. Attorney purge. Tony Snow explained the position to National Review’s Byron York:
I asked whether the president was perhaps overly confrontational at this stage of the game. “I don’t think it’s confrontational,” [...]

VIDEO COMPILATION: Matthews Obsessed With Clinton Sex Speculation - Wednesday, February 28th, 2007

MSNBC host Chris Matthews is obsessed with Bill Clinton’s sex life. Over the last four weeks, Matthews has incessantly raised baseless speculation that President Clinton may have an extramarital affair or engage in inappropriate behavior that would impact Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
He has called Clinton’s sex life the “800-pound gorilla stalking behind” Hillary Clinton, [...]

FACT CHECK: Excuses About The Foley Cover-Up Debunked - Monday, October 2nd, 2006

Some leading conservatives have tried to excuse, justify, or downplay the scandal surrounding Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-FL) predatory behavior towards underage pages. We debunk their claims below:
EXCUSE #1: Foley’s initial e-mails seemed harmless, “over friendly”.
Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) said he dropped the matter when Foley told them, “When I was a young person, [...]

Hume Compares Mark Foley To President Clinton - Sunday, October 1st, 2006

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume compared Mark Foley’s predatory behavior towards underage pages to President Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Hume said that while Foley is now “in total disgrace in his party,” Clinton’s “inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate [didn't] even cost Bill Clinton his standing in his party.” Watch it:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2006/10/humeclinton.320.240.flv]
There [...]

FLASHBACK: Conservative Lawmakers Decried Clinton’s Attacks Against Osama As ‘Wag the Dog’ - Monday, September 25th, 2006

In his interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, former President Bill Clinton noted that the political right, which now accuses him of not doing enough to stem the al Qaeda terrorist threat, criticized his 1998 missile strikes in Afghanistan as “wag the dog.” Clinton said:
The people on my political right who say I didn’t do [...]

New York Times corrects the record. - Saturday, September 9th, 2006

Remember this post? Looks like someone was listening: “The TV Watch column in Weekend yesterday, about the ABC mini-series The Path to 9/11, referred incorrectly to a conclusion of the commission that investigated the terror attacks. The commission said the accusation that President Clinton had ordered air strikes against Osama bin Laden in August 1998 [...]

NYT Falsely Claims 9/11 Commission Concluded Lewinsky Distracted Clinton Admin From Terrorism - Thursday, September 7th, 2006

From the New York Times review of Path to 9/11:
The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat.
What the 9/11 Commission actually says (pg. 118):
Everyone involved in the decision had, of course, been aware of President Clinton’s problems. He told them to ignore them. Berger recalled [...]

Flashback to 6/10/99: - Tuesday, October 25th, 2005

“Texas Gov. George W. Bush said Tuesday that he would have voted to impeach President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. ‘I would have voted for it. I thought the man lied,’ he said.” (Via TalkLeft)