At Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, the president denounced the “blame game.” Later that day, at the White House press briefing, Scott McClellan used the phrase seven times. At yesterday’s briefing, he used it eight more. The phrase seems to put some critics on the defensive, but as Jonathan Cohn explains in a helpful New Republic column, […]
That’s what I get for giving the administration the benefit of the doubt. When I first heard about a FEMA request that journalists not photograph dead bodies found in Louisiana, I actually understood the basic reasoning. There are a lot of families with missing loved ones and no one wants to learn of a friend […]
Shortly before breaking for the August recess, Congress approved a sweeping energy bill crafted by the White House. The legislation was hardly a step in the right direction — the bill, by its sponsors own admission, does nothing to address energy prices or reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. What’s worse, the Bush-backed energy […]
(Editor’s Note: The Carpetbagger Report, as regular readers know, has joined the Coalition for Darfur, a bi-partisan online initiative created to raise awareness and resources to address the crisis. This is the latest in a series of posts from the Coalition.) Two weeks ago, the “Be a Witness” campaign reported that it couldn’t even pay […]
I’ve seen several suggestions that Dem leaders have not been nearly aggressive enough in holding the White House accountable for the series of failures in response to Hurricane Katrina. I’ve been hesitant to join the bandwagon, in part because I suspect party leaders haven’t felt the need to go on the offensive — administration officials […]
In case you missed it, The Daily Show was in rare form last night. C&L has some video, and here’s some of the transcript, via Dan Froomkin: Ed Helms: “Jon, today, finally, a ray of hope. Eight days after Katrina came ashore, the federal government has gotten its act together, marshalling all of its resources […]
Way back in mid-July, shortly after John Roberts was nominated for the Supreme Court, there were a number of ideas of how best to use the process. If Dems weren’t going to defeat the nomination — with 55 Republican senators, a long-shot from the get-go — the trick of it was how to make the […]
I saw this on CNN this morning and was pretty amazed. Miles O’Brien: As millions watched the horror unfold in New Orleans, our next guests took some immediate action. They got in a car, and they drove from North Carolina straight to Louisiana. They managed to get into the heart of the city and rescue […]
As noted here over the weekend, FEMA gave TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing a top slot on a list of approved charities that are helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It was, to be sure, an odd choice. Now, I’m pleased to report, FEMA has not only pulled Robertson’s charity from the list, they’ve […]
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 Field Poll released today shows that barely more than one-in-three California voters would vote re-elect to Arnold Schwarzenegger and that the broad base of independent and Dem support he enjoyed in […]