The Carpetbagger Report

Quick quiz: what does Iraq really need? If you said “political reconciliation” or “a functioning infrastructure,” you’re not thinking with the kind of outside-the-box creativity that Llewellyn Werner is. Llewellyn Werner admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with – insurgent attacks and looting. When you are building an […]

Roll Call noted today that Senate Democrats have some legislative priorities on the calendar, which the paper described as “red meat.” The rallying cry Wednesday was, “Equal pay for women.” Next week, it likely will be “Insurance companies play fair.” And in the next month it will probably be “Gay rights.” By design or happenstance, […]

We know that both of the Democratic presidential candidates have ambitious healthcare plans. What we did not know is that congressional Dems, who expect to be in the majority next year, don’t sound especially optimistic that sweeping changes to the existing healthcare system will be possible. It is still seven months before Election Day, but […]

Last September, in an incident Bush administration officials have been very reluctant to talk about, Israeli jets attacked a facility in Syria, destroying what was believed to be a nuclear site, created with apparent support from North Korea. Today, the WaPo had a front-page item about an explosive new video that would have a dramatic […]

There’s probably little point to arguing that much of the political media establishment is embarrassingly in the tank for John McCain, but the Washington Post has been especially frustrating this week. On Monday, for example, reporter Jonathan Weisman noted that McCain is faring well in national polls because he’s been “branded” an “independent maverick.” Suggesting […]

I’ve already done approximately 10 gazillion items about how and why abstinence-only programs — championed by the Bush administration and conservatives everywhere — don’t work, waste money, mislead young people about reality, and undermine public health. This is not another one of those posts. Instead, it’s about Republicans’ reaction to the evidence on abstinence-only programs. […]

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: * In the wake of her success in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton picked up another superdelegate yesterday, Rep. John Tanner, a Blue Dog from Tennessee. Later in the day, 15 House Dems met at […]

John McCain recently acknowledged, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” That’s a perfectly accurate self-assessment, but McCain would almost certainly be better off if he didn’t spend so much time highlighting his lack of knowledge on the subject. For example, yesterday, the Republican presidential candidate had the […]

There are a variety of annoying angles to the Democratic presidential race, but one of the more jarring elements is the fact that we’re seeing the same arguments played out, over and over again. Some of these questions have been played out repeatedly, and yet we seem to forget the particulars. At the top of […]

I had hoped Democrats were already on the same page on this one. Fox News is a partisan news outlet, which exists to promote the Republican agenda. The network doesn’t work especially hard to hide its ideology or partisanship, and this isn’t especially controversial anymore. Which is precisely why Terry McAuliffe, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s […]