Another short break

The Carpetbagger Report will be taking a few more days off. I’ll return Tuesday, Nov. 11. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: Barenaked Ladies are neither barenaked nor ladies. Discuss. Oh, and before I go, be sure to read Kevin Drum’s brief analysis of the Democratic presidential candidates. It’s perfect.

Dick Cheney goes from competent consigliere to inept liability

I admit it; I used to think Dick Cheney had a clue. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never liked Cheney, his conservative ideology, or his hyper-partisanship, but when Bush was inaugurated, I took some comfort in believing that Cheney was at least an experienced government official, which is far more than we can say about […]

Two interesting news items, one awful environmental policy

I noticed the LA Times and the New York Times ran disturbing reports this morning on the Bush administration’s environmental policies. Thought the articles dealt with different areas environmental regulations, taken together, the pieces demonstrate just how serious the administration is in undermining our natural resources. First, the LA Times reported that the administration has […]

There’s still something troubling about Dean’s ‘apology’

I don’t mean to dwell on this controversy, but Dean’s near-apology for his Confederate flag remark didn’t quite make sense. In a speech at Cooper Union in New York, Dean sought to quell the firestorm by denouncing the Confederate flag and explaining that his remark was a poorly-worded attempt to begin a frank discussion about […]

Subtle moments like these remind us of Bush’s ties to the religious right

By now, everyone’s heard about Bush signing a controversial anti-abortion provision into law yesterday. The lawsuits have already been filed, an injunction has already been issued, and I’m confident this law will ultimately be rejected by the federal courts. Bush’s decision to sign the bill into law is not what caught my attention yesterday. The […]

Dean’s expression of ‘regret’ may end the Confederate flag controversy

I have to admit, the Howard Dean-Confederate flag flap lasted a lot longer than I expected. Finally, however, I think Dean figured out that an apology (or something close to it) may be the solution to ending this controversy. As regular readers know, I’m not much of a Dean fan anymore, but I can appreciate […]

Rep. Leach, Karl Rove is on line 1 for you…

Yesterday, one brave member of Congress called the Bush administration’s approach to Iraq “one of the most misguided assumptions in the history of United States strategic thinking.” This same lawmaker added that the U.S. occupation of Iraq could increase the threat to American security. The funny thing is this congressman is a Republican. Rep. Jim […]

Dean’s clever plan to get ‘permission’ to flip-flop on campaign financing

Howard Dean desperately wants to get out of his original pledge of staying within the public financing system. It’s hard to blame him. He has proven himself to be an extraordinarily good fundraiser and sees an opportunity to excel by forgoing federal matching funds. At this point, the Dean campaign wouldn’t hesitate to become the […]

2003 elections followed 2000 pattern

There were several interesting elections yesterday and much has been made of the GOP’s success in winning gubernatorial races in Mississippi and Kentucky. On the whole, however, the elections weren’t really a smashing success for either party. If you use the 2000 election results — blue states vs. red states — as a guide, the […]

Clark’s courageous opposition to the Cuban embargo

About a year ago, I started wondering if any of the Dem presidential candidates would have the courage to oppose the U.S. trade embargo of Cuba. I wasn’t optimistic. For nearly four decades, the U.S. has sought to crush Fidel Castro’s brutal dictatorship with a trade embargo. So far, it hasn’t worked. The Cuban people […]