I really didn’t want to write about this. The “bulge” on Bush’s back during the first debate spurred breathless discussion among conspiracy-minded critics, but I wasn’t buying it. Yes, there clearly was something there, but I wasn’t even close to considering the notion that it was some kind of device that would allow Bush to […]
It was one of the second debate’s stranger moments. Bush was asked about whom he would chose to fill Supreme Court vacancies and why. Though the president understandably sidestepped specific names, he indicated he’d choose “strict constructionists.” Bush added that he’d select judges who agreed with him on the legality of “under God” in the […]
Friday’s debate in St. Louis was littered with some of Bush’s all-time greatest misstatements of fact. There were a handful of odd slips of the tongue, such as his reference to “rumors on the Internets,” which reportedly got the press room chuckling, but many more demonstrable, objective, Grade A whoppers. The president acted as if […]
The most awkward moment of the St. Louis debate dealt with whether Bush and Cheney count as small businesses. As the exchange is replayed in the media, I have a hunch Kerry will come out on top on this one. Bush brought up the charge that Kerry’s tax plan would hurt small businesses. It wouldn’t. […]
USA Today/CNN/Gallup: Overall, 47% of the 515 registered voters surveyed said Kerry won, while 45% said the edge went to Bush. ABC News: Among registered voters who watched Friday night’s debate, 44 percent called John Kerry the winner, 41 percent said President Bush won and 13 percent called it a tie. Bush benefited not from […]
I don’t mean loses the debate, I mean loses his mind. Bush was lost and confused in Miami, so Karl Rove and others got him good and wound up for St. Louis. The result was a president unhinged. That may have been an improvement on the stammering, blinking Bush of a week ago, but it […]
Some random thoughts in advance of tonight’s debate, in no particular order: * I will, for those of you who are interested, be ignoring my usual “no posting on weekends” rule tomorrow to offer some rants about tonight’s debate. I will not, however, offer live-blogging, the idea of which I find completely overwhelming. * I’ve […]
If you’re a Carpetbagger regular, you know the drill. If you’re new, welcome; we do this every Friday. It’s time for my round-up of statewide presidential polls released over the last seven days — a little something I call “Poll Day.” Also this week, we have the 10th installment of the Zogby Interactive/Wall Street Journal […]
The Washington Post had a good item today about one of my favorite topics: Bush’s unprecedented avoidance of people who disagree with him. It’s a solid article, but I think it left out an important detail. Several Bush advisers said the president may well pay a price for his decision to remain isolated from tough […]
We already know that the Bush White House approved a CIA plan, at some point this year, to aid candidates favored by the administration in upcoming Iraqi elections, assuming such elections ever take place. (Bush aides later insisted that the plan had been scrapped, but skepticism abounds.) But while that plan was kept secret for […]