Ethical lapses, weak leadership, and a failure to stick to the Republican theme of limited government have led to the problems the Republican Party faces in the polls this year, according to a key member who spoke to reporters on background.
In 1988, Tim Phelan was an ambitious new college grad with a degree in French and economics. He dreamed of becoming a successful international businessman–but his life took quite a different turn, thanks to his overactive bowels. Through more than a decade of battling what he would eventually find out was irritable bowel syndrome, he lost a job and several relationships, unwilling to discuss his symptoms with anyone and obsessed with never being far from a bathroom. Now 39, he is able to speak frankly about his travails with IBS–and recently did with U.S. News–and has shared lessons learned in a new book, Romance, Riches, and Restrooms: A Cautionary Tale of Ambitious Dreams and Irritable Bowels (iUniverse, $19.95).
NEW YORK—In a visit reminiscent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's famous forays into Harlem in 1960 and 1995, Venezuela's controversial president, Hugo Chávez, came to Harlem's Mount Olivet Baptist Church today to announce fuel aid for poor Americans and to, once again, taunt President Bush.
AP - Republicans hope that an accord reached between the Bush administration and GOP senators on the treatment of terror-war detainees means the party can go on a campaign-season offensive on the issue of protecting the country.
AP - Three Christian militants were executed by firing squad Friday for leading attacks on Muslims six years ago that left at least 70 people dead, setting off fresh sectarian clashes on restive Sulawesi island, police said.
AP - The ruling Hamas group will not join the planned coalition government with the rival Fatah party if recognizing Israel is a condition, a close aide to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday.
The White House and three dissenting Republican lawmakers have settled their differences over the Geneva Conventions and how far the CIA can go during interrogations of suspected terror suspects. President Bush hailed the agreement, saying it "preserves the most potent tool we have in protecting America."
Two top Democrats are outraged about attacks on President Bush from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. After denouncing Bush as "the devil" yesterday at the United Nations, Chavez kept up his name calling today, calling Bush "an ex-alcoholic" and "a sick man, full of complexes" who is unqualified for the job.