Is DeLay really ‘defying political gravity’?

The New York Times’ Anne Kornblut had a provocative piece over the weekend, noting Tom DeLay’s extensive network that has kept him afloat during times of crisis. The descriptions of DeLay’s system of patronage was helpful, but I wonder if Kornblut’s central point is off-base. Politicians are not always the most courageous lot. The first […]

Get to know Rick Scarborough

If you missed it, the Washington Post ran an excellent item over the weekend on a religious-right player a lot of Americans have probably never heard of, but who’s influence is definitely on the rise. In his home town of Pearland, Tex., Baptist minister Rick Scarborough was tireless in promoting his conservative Christian way of […]

An amusing setback for the GOP’s Hispanic outreach efforts

If you’re going to issue a statement in recognition of a holiday, you probably should know what the holiday is. When it came to Cinco de Mayo and the House Republican Conference, this clearly wasn’t the case. The GOP Conference created a sample press release saying, “Congressman ____________ today marked Cinco de Mayo with the […]

At least Reid apologized

By now, nearly everyone has probably heard about Harry Reid calling the president a “loser.” I’d like to take a moment, however, to do a quick compare-and-contrast for some of my friends on the right who believe Reid’s comment is serious and a sign that the Dems’ rhetoric has gone off the deep end. Reid […]

The 70 percent solution: Taking ‘The Plan’ to the next level

Guest Post by Morbo A few months ago, I wrote about “The Plan,” my scheme to make the Republican Party’s attempt to destroy Social Security the dominant issue of the 2006 campaign. President George W. Bush is doing his part. He won’t shut up about what he wants to do to Social Security — essentially […]

The kettle called black by the pot: Tony Perkins goes psycho on liberals

Guest Post by Morbo Family Research Council President Tony Perkins is angry that a bunch of liberals dared to meet in New York City recently and express opposition to the agenda of the theocratic right. In an e-mail to his supporters, Perkins bemoaned the “anti-religious” tone of the conference, titled “Examining the Real Agenda of […]

Going to the chapel, gonna get married (perhaps)

Guest Post by Morbo As the country continues to obsess over that woman in Georgia with the giant eyeballs who skipped out on her fantasy princess wedding, it seems a good time to pop off about marriage in the U.S.A. Naturally, I’ll be stealing someone else’s ideas. One of my favorite writers about marriage and […]

Carpetbagger Exclusive: Robertson responds to ‘This Week’ flap

TV preacher Pat Robertson caused something of a fuss last weekend when he appeared on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” and said, among other things, that the terrorists of Sept. 11 were just “a few bearded-terrorists who fly into buildings” and that federal judges who fail to share his worldview are a greater threat to […]

Friday’s political round-up

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * A new Quinnipiac poll offers Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) some very encouraging news about her re-election prospects. Her approval rating is up to 63%, two-thirds of New Yorkers believe she deserves a […]

Guess who else had close contact with Abramoff?

Jack Abramoff’s connections to Tom DeLay have been well-documented and will soon be the center of a major Ethics Committee investigation. But, as it turns out, Abramoff also enjoyed sweeping influence with another even more powerful Republican. In President Bush’s first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts […]