Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) clearly has a major problem on his hands, as evidenced by SEC and Justice Department investigations into his suspicious “investment strategy” a few months ago. And while there’s been ample speculation about possible insider trading, there’s an equally important side to this controversy that could be even more damaging: […]
The ongoing desire in Republican circles to find explanations for Bush’s recent “difficulties” has led to a new political parlor game of sorts: find the scapegoat. Failures simply can’t be the president’s fault, so at this point, it’s simply a matter of finding the responsible party. “The staff” seems to be a leading contender. Conservatives […]
American politics has seen its share of bizarre and unpredictable scandals since the dawn of the republic, but I’m fairly certain we’re in the midst of an historic first: The Republican White House is under a criminal investigation. The Republican House leader is under a criminal investigation. And as of this week, the Republican Senate […]
Guest Post by Morbo President George W. Bush and members of his administration constantly assert that “faith-based” organizations provide services to those in need more effectively and cheaper than secular or government-run entities. There is no empirical evidence to back this up. Bush and his chorus in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community […]
Guest Post by Morbo The anti-intellectual kook right often huffs and puffs about the depredations of the “cultural elite.” For a long time I’ve aspired to be a member of that rowdy crew. Where can I join? Is there a membership card? I’ve wanted to join the cultural elite since reading a really cool opinion […]
Guest Post by Morbo I’ll admit that my search for the most offensive thing said by a right-winger about Hurricane Katrina has become a bit obsessive. I just can’t help myself. Most people have enough common sense not to say insensitive and stupid things in the wake of a natural disaster of this scale. They […]
Guest Post by Morbo As the Carpetbagger noted on Wednesday, the FBI has announced yet another crack down on pornography. I know I’ll be sleeping better at night. That’s right. At a time when fighting the “war on terror” is supposedly our nation’s top priority, the FBI is forming a special anti-smut squad. Staffers for […]
I’ll describe the disaster, you name it. There’s a problem in the Gulf region, the seriousness of which the president has been reluctant to appreciate. Objective experts have offered Bush warnings, which he has ignored. The White House has had trusted loyalists responsible for addressing the crisis, but they turn out to be tragically inept. […]
The massive anti-war protests planned for this weekend haven’t generated too much attention yet, and some of the reports I’ve seen suggest that the protestors themselves are a fairly nutty bunch, with fringe ideas and an extreme agenda. I don’t know exactly who and which groups are participating in the protests, so it’s certainly possible […]
I generally agree with nearly everything Slate’s Jacob Weisberg writes, but yesterday’s piece on Bush’s alleged “war on poverty” seems badly mistaken. Weisberg’s thesis, in a nutshell, is that the president has unveiled a plan, at long last, with real and specific “anti-poverty ideas.” Instead of criticizing Bush’s agenda, Weisberg says, the president’s critics should […]