Meanwhile, unemployment reaches 1983 levels

While the Bush administration faces increasing heat this week over Niger lies, Iraqi violence, and stonewalling the independent 9/11 commission, there’s still the White House’s failed economic policies to deal with. As the New York Times reported, “The number of Americans claiming jobless benefits late last month hit its highest point in more than 20 […]

Niger-gate a full-fledged scandal

So much to say on Niger-gate, I’m not sure where to begin. It’s starting to reach that point where the media sharks smell blood in the water… First off, the White House seems to have finally settled on a strategy — everything is the CIA’s fault. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice has made this approach […]

Bush administration embraces Hussein-style ‘minders’

I’ve been meaning to write about the 9/11 commission report, and how the Bush administration has been dragging its feat and undermining what should be a thorough investigation of the worst attack on America in our history. There’s a lot going on with this, more than I could cover in a post (or two). But […]

Pryor vote postponed — again

The Senate Judiciary Committee keeps scheduling a vote on Bill Pryor’s judicial nomination and then keeps delaying it. Today the committee agreed to push it off one more week. Pryor’s biggest fan, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), said the delays have been caused by a busy schedule, not concerns over the nomination. “Nothing in the Senate […]

Robertson busted by Washington Post for defending Charles Taylor

I mentioned a month ago that TV preacher Pat Robertson’s business partner, ruthless Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, had been charged as a war criminal for his brutal reign of killing and torturing political opponents in his country and others. As I explained, Robertson overlooked Taylor’s dreadful record for thousand of human rights abuses because the […]

Administration response to war falsehoods grows increasingly ridiculous

The media is picking up on Niger-gate nicely, realizing that the administration is having trouble even coming up with a basic defense for the president’s multiple misstatements. The White House is clearly unaccustomed to playing defense. From the looks of it, I’d say they aren’t very good at it. Let’s start with Bush’s four-question press […]

Maybe John Edwards is the real ‘straight talking’ presidential candidate

I saw the other day that The New Republic was praising Dem presidential candidate John Edwards for pushing a requirement that companies expense stock options as part of his campaign’s emphasis on the economy and corporate reform. As the magazine explained, most Dem candidates won’t touch this issue because Silicon Valley’s high-tech crowd, which has […]

Another day, another round of details and outrage on Niger-gate

The White House has admitted that the president’s claims about Iraq’s uranium from Niger were false, but that hasn’t made the scandal go away. In fact, the admission only confirmed widespread concerns and raised additional questions. I think the admission that Bush was wrong was so startling because this White House never admits a mistake. […]

Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on Pryor tomorrow

As part of my continuing fascination with Bill Pryor’s nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, I thought I’d mention that the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for Pryor tomorrow. (If you’re new to The Carpetbagger Report and don’t know why I care about this, you can check some of my previous […]

Another lawmaker sees the error of his ways on term limits

It’s a familiar scene: an enthusiastic politician runs for Congress on a “citizen legislature” platform. He or she says we need to return the political process “to the people” and swears that, if elected, he or she will return home after serving three terms. There are, of course, some variations on this story. Sometimes it’s […]