The Carpetbagger Report

In recent years, Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan has gone from being tragic to suspicious to scandalous. As you probably know, Tillman, a former NFL star who retired from football to become an Army Ranger, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 and his death was quickly seized upon for public relations purposes. In fact, the […]

There was some talk in the spring that the Iraqi Parliament, barely able to function anyway, would break for the summer. The reaction was overwhelmingly negative in the U.S., even among White House allies, and soon after the talk disappeared. Yesterday, Tony Snow acknowledged what the administration would prefer not to talk about. Q: Is […]

From Bob Novak’s Q&A with the New York Times Magazine: NYT: Your betrayal of [Valerie Plame’s] identity appalled not only Democrats but also some of your former conservative friends, like Bill Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, who called your conduct reprehensible. Did that sting on a personal level? Novak: I think it did. […]

One of the principal goals of U.S. presence in Iraq is building an Iraqi military that can operate independently. Kevin noted today just how remarkably slow progress has been. September 2005: The number of Iraqi army battalions that can fight insurgents without U.S. and coalition help has dropped from three to one, top U.S. generals […]

The estimable Bill Moyers explored the “I” word on PBS last night, discussing George W. Bush’s “unique” approach to the presidency with conservative attorney Bruce Fein, Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan, and The Nation’s John Nichols. Here’s the money quote from Fein in the clip: “[Bush’s crimes are more] worrisome than Clinton’s because […]

During yesterday’s entertaining White House press briefing, Tony Snow rolled out an oldie but a goodie. “[T]he al Qaeda that exists today is not the al Qaeda that existed September 11, 2001. That is an al Qaeda that was a more traditional, top-down organization where you had bin Laden and a series of lieutenants and […]

I hope no one got their hopes up. In recent weeks, several Senate Republicans have talked a good game when it came to the failures of the president’s tragic policy in Iraq, but the question was always going to be whether they were willing to follow through. Those of you who placed your bet on […]

As war supporters see it, U.S. troops need to stay in Iraq for the indefinite future in order to provide some semblance of security in the country. Today, Nouri al Maliki effectively said our presence is no longer needed. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping […]

First up from The God Machine this week is an analysis from Time’s Amy Sullivan of a new poll about voters, politics, and matters of faith. Apparently, the Bush years have had quite an effect on public attitudes, but not in a way the president and his allies probably intended. [T]he poll found that Americans […]

Guest Post by Morbo I’m not a native Washingtonian — not many of the people I’ve met in the D.C. area are. Like me, they fled an economically distressed area for better opportunities. Life in the Most Important City in the World can be frustrating. Our traffic is a nightmare. Our subway system, the Metro, […]