The Carpetbagger Report

In his first-ever Democratic radio address, Barack Obama touched on one of the bigger stories of the week that probably didn’t generate quite as much attention as it should have. [T]he Iraqi government now has a $79 billion budget surplus thanks to their windfall oil profits. And while this Iraqi money sits in American banks, […]

In Ohio, the Obama campaign is hitting John McCain hard on job losses. In Nevada, it’s Yucca Mountain. “Imagine trucks hauling the nation’s nuclear waste on our highways to Yucca Mountain,” the campaign voice-over says. “John McCain supports opening Yucca. He’s not worried about nuclear waste in our state — only in Arizona.” Viewers are […]

One month ago today, John McCain hosted a town-hall event in Ohio, when Mary Houghtaling, who runs a hospice in Wilmington, choked up in describing the devastating job losses associated with DHL’s plans to close its domestic air hub in her town. McCain said he’d been “briefed” on the situation, which he described as “a […]

Everyone in the political world has weighed in on revelations regarding John Edwards’ extra-marital affair. Edwards has talked about it, his wife has written about it, and his former aides have criticized him for it. Hillary Clinton has commented; Barack Obama has commented. Every pundit within reach of a microphone, telephone, or keyboard has said […]

Yesterday, after all kinds of endless fact-checking and concessions, John McCain told an Iowa audience that Barack Obama’s “energy policy” consists of properly-inflated tires. Jonathan Chait’s frustration with McCain’s incessant lying is palpable. Thinking more about this McCain tire gauge lie, I’m wondering why Barack Obama doesn’t just outright call McCain a liar. All politicians […]

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) launched a lengthy tirade about coastal drilling and the Democratic House majority doing some of the exact same things the Republican House majority was doing less than two years ago, when he probably took his rhetoric one step too far. Responding to questions over whether Pelosi could call a […]

First up from the God machine this week is the response in some faith communities to John McCain’s “The One” ad, launched last week. To briefly recap, the McCain campaign released a web video eight days ago, characterizing Barack Obama as having some kind messianic complex, comparing him to Moses, and with a mocking narrator […]

Guest Post by Morbo Stuart Shepard is the type of right-wing Christian whose vision of faith is more informed by the mean-spirited, vengeful God of the Old Testament than the founder of the religion he so claims to cherish. Shepard makes his living producing short videos for James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, the largest, […]

Guest Post by Morbo Exactly when did right wingers, who used to pride themselves on their grounding in the real world while disdaining liberals as hopeless dreamers wearing rose-colored glasses, begin residing in fantasyland? Unable to come to grips with the world as it is, right wingers are, like some New Age devotees, increasingly claiming […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * War breaks out between Russia and Georgia: “Russian and Georgian military forces clashed in the separatist province of South Ossetia on Friday, with Russian tanks and troops pushing in after a Georgian assault on the disputed area. Russia, which has peacekeeping troops in the area, said it was coming […]