I’ve grown increasingly frustrated of late with what passes for John McCain’s “straight talk,” in large part because it usually doesn’t make a lot of sense. Consider his latest gem. John McCain, who’s positioning himself as the GOP primary’s uber-hawk, today made it clear that there’s only one option he considers unacceptable for Iraq: compromise. […]
I “met” Tom Schaller a little more than three years ago after he wrote a provocative piece for the Washington Post arguing that Democrats should stop trying to compete in the South, especially in regard to presidential politics. I’d written something rather critical of Tom’s Post piece, prompting him to email me with a detailed […]
I should probably make one thing clear about the 2008 race and The Carpetbagger Report: I plan to remain neutral, at least as far as the Democratic primary race goes. I like several of the major candidates, but won’t officially take sides. Readers can expect me to say supportive and derogatory things about each of […]
For far too many on the right, Iraq can’t be Bush’s fault because, well, it just can’t. To hold him responsible for the calamity would be to label his presidency a tragedy. This is not to say the “blame game” should be avoided, only that fingers should be pointed away from the commander in chief. […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Sen. Diane Feinstein, the soon-to-be Chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, is preparing to introduce legislation requiring paper trails for all electronic voting. As she said in a statement, “We must do everything we can to restore confidence in the outcomes of elections by helping to ensure that every […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Bush administration tried to shortchange victims of Hurricane Katrina, and force them to jump through ridiculous hoops in order to get benefits to which they were entitled. Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon put a stop to the nonsense. “It is unfortunate, if not incredible, that FEMA […]
Within the Republican Party right now, there seem to be three factions who want to define the reasoning behind the GOP’s failures. There are some remaining Republican moderates (Republican Main Street Partnership, Christie Todd Whitman) who believe the party has fallen on hard times because it’s veered too far to the right, and there are […]
In the waning days of the GOP majority, House Republican leaders have to make some tough choices about what to spend their time on. Iraq? National security? Health care? No, they’ve decided to go back to an abortion measure that won’t become law anyway. While they still can, House Republicans are looking at scheduling a […]
I’ve often wondered if a tipping point exists for Republicans when it comes to the war. Apparently, we’re not quite there yet. As of today, Maliki and Bush relations are fraying, the stability of the Iraqi government is shaky, the American public’s patience is gone, and the civil war rages on unabated. Taken together, even […]
The spirited conversation between Sen.-elect Jim Webb (D) and President Bush has raised more than a few eyebrows. Dems seem to believe Bush was rude and provoked the heated exchange, while Republicans tend to believe the opposite, but either way, George Will’s “reporting” on the issue was wrong. Wednesday’s Post reported that at a White […]