Time magazine’s Mark Halperin offered an interesting list today: a 16-point guide on what, in Halperin’s opinion, John McCain’s campaign can do to tear Barack Obama down. As Halperin sees it, McCain’s campaign is “staffed with savvy, experienced operatives who have closely watched the rise of Obama, and they have learned from Clinton’s failure to […]
McCain predicts Iraq may cost him the election
He may be a 25-year veteran of Washington politics, and he may be a two-time leading GOP presidential candidate, but John McCain apparently still needs to work a bit on his “message discipline” problem. John McCain said Monday that to win the White House he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq […]
Republicans worried about being labeled bigots
It never struck me as especially complicated. Once there was a clear Democratic presidential nominee, the Republican National Committee would label him or her weak on terror, liberal (on everything), and desperate to raise your taxes. Throw in some references to 9/11, a few pictures of menacing-looking Middle Easterners, and a dash of immigrant bashing, […]
What it takes for Kristol to slam Obama
The preferred conservative anti-Obama attack of the hour seems to be go after his patriotism, and right on cue, the NYT’s Bill Kristol devotes his column this week to exactly what the Republican National Convention and Fox News would like to see. Last October, a reporter asked Barack Obama why he had stopped wearing the […]
Drudge and Obama’s Somali garb
Just how silly is the Silly Season? Consider the story that has quickly come to dominate the political world’s attention this morning and this afternoon. Drudge is running this report, alongside a photo of Barack Obama visiting Africa and wearing Somali garb. The headline reads, “Clinton staffers circulate ‘dressed’ Obama.” With a week to go […]
Monday’s campaign round-up
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: * Hoping to find a line of attack that will resonate, Hillary Clinton gave sarcasm a try on the campaign trail yesterday: “Framing Obama as both a deceiver and a dream weaver, Clinton […]
CNN goes where even the RNC will not
As a rule, the little “quick vote” features on major news outlets’ websites are easy to ignore. After all, the “polls” — I use the word loosely — are intended to be just for fun. The results are unscientific, the methodology doesn’t include a random sample, and the whole thing is generally just a way […]
The railroading of Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman
Back in October, a nationally known print journalist told Harpers’ Scott Horton, “I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Everything I’ve been told by the convicted defendants checks out as the gospel truth. And everything I’m told by federal prosecutors who pushed the case turns out either to be an outrageous lie or at least […]
Five years and counting
Over the weekend, we officially passed the fifth anniversary of the creation of The Carpetbagger Report, so I thought I’d take a moment to offer a quick note of thanks to readers. (I generally avoid navel-gazing posts; consider it a once-a-year-indulgence. Besides, as far as the blogosphere goes, five years seems like a fairly significant […]
When the right balks at pursuing al Qaeda
I have to admit, I didn’t see this one coming. I’d long assumed that if there were one thing the left and right could agree on, especially when it comes to foreign policy and counter-terrorism, it’s the pursuit of al Qaeda terrorists. With this in mind, Barack Obama’s pronouncement in August hardly seemed controversial. He […]