The Carpetbagger Report

Given the president’s poor public standing, it stands to reason that people would be pretty used to public criticism of Bush. It’s about as common as breathing, and it’s the natural consequence of a president with Nixon-like approval ratings. And yet, for some reason, this story about a hand-written sign at the World Bridge Championships […]

By now, most of us have heard quite enough about the non-existent “War on Christmas.” And the alleged “War on Easter.” Sean Hannity has tried to launch a “War on Halloween” — the Fox News blowhard said it’s a “liberal” holiday that teaches kids “to beg for a handout” — but it hasn’t caught on […]

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: * The latest New York Times/CBS News polls gauged support for the presidential candidates specifically in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the race is very different, at least among Dems. In Iowa, the […]

Following up an item from last week, Georgia is in the midst of an awful drought, and state officials are running out of ideas to deal with the area’s water shortage. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) responded by organizing a multi-denominational prayer service, in which state officials and clergy would collectively ask The Man Upstairs […]

In recent years, Republicans at the state and federal level have worked diligently to win elections by blocking likely Democrats from voting. The key has been state efforts to pass voter-ID laws, under the auspices of preventing voter fraud. Of course, proponents push these schemes without any evidence of actual fraud. Historically, the Justice Department […]

When a senator threatens a filibuster on a bill, the Senate holds a cloture vote to end debate. If the measure gets 60 votes, the full chamber votes on the legislation. If the cloture vote fails, which is far more common in an evenly divided Senate, the bill is pulled from the floor. No one […]

Given the contention surrounding Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s confirmation, it’s possible the new AG wants to start his tenure on the right foot, demonstrating just how different he is from his disgraced predecessor, and earning some goodwill from those who expressed doubts about his independence. And if that’s the case, this is an encouraging sign. […]

In the sordid scandal surrounding Rudy Giuliani and Bernie Kerik, celebrity book publisher Judith Regan has always been an embarrassing side note. After 9/11, a wealthy real estate developer donated use of a Manhattan apartment to the city, so relief workers could have a place to rest. Instead, Kerik used the apartment as a love […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN: “Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday called on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to immediately step down in the wake of a mass crackdown on the opposition this week. Protesters in Karachi meanwhile reportedly opened fire on two police stations in protest as Bhutto remained under house […]

One of the many striking angles to the White House’s fiasco in Iraq is that the two men in charge — Bush and Cheney — seemed to have a fairly reasonable grasp on Iraq policy before they took office. The president didn’t have any foreign policy experience before taking office, of course, but as reader […]