The Carpetbagger Report

Guest Post by Morbo For a few years in my misspent youth, I was enamored with the philosophy of libertarianism. Libertarians claims to advocate a consistent political philosophy — free markets and free minds — and thus insist their party is one of true principle. But these days it looks like the libertarian emphasis is […]

Guest Post by Morbo Unless you’re a student of church-state relations, the name Roy Torcaso probably won’t ring a bell. Torcaso, a Maryland resident, was working as bookkeeper in the late 1950s. His employer asked him to become a notary public. Torcaso agreed but was then denied the position because he refused to take a […]

Guest Post by Morbo If you feel like banging your head against the wall this weekend, I recommend you read Seymour M. Hersh’s article in “The New Yorker” about retired Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba. Taguba was asked to lead the Army’s investigation into the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Senate now has 100 members again, as Republican John Barrasso, a surgeon and conservative Wyoming legislator, was appointed to replace the late Craig Thomas. He sounds like he’ll be fairly predictable: “I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control and a strong […]

O’Reilly Democratic consultant Robin Swanson on last night to explore a reasonably interesting question: why progressive activists tend to oppose Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. It’s the same week as the Take Back America conference, Clinton was booed a little during her speech, so it seems like an issue a talk show on FNC would consider. […]

One of my favorite Bush moments came, oddly enough, almost immediately after he was inaugurated, before he’d had a chance to do much damage. The president met with a group of Roman Catholic bishops in the White House to tout his support for the “the Mexico City” policy, which bans federal aid to family planning […]

Reporters finally pushed the White House today on the Vice President’s belief that his office is some kind of fourth branch of government — not executive, not legislative, not accountable to anyone. WH spokesperson Dana Perino’s responses were almost comical. Q: What do you make of what congressman Waxman referred to as “absurd,” which was […]

The House passed an important civil-rights bill yesterday with near-unanimous support. The Senate, however, is another matter. The House passed a bill Wednesday to establish a new division of federal prosecutors and FBI agents focused strictly on cracking unsolved murders from the civil rights era. The bill, which is also moving swiftly through the Senate, […]

The president was in Alabama yesterday for a couple of events, including a fundraising reception for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who’s up for re-election next year. Bush delivered a fairly predictable speech on Sessions’ behalf, but one comment was noteworthy. The president was explaining how his current war policy came together: “I listened very carefully […]

Yesterday afternoon, the AP reported that Bush administration officials were poised to meet to discuss the future of detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay. By all indications, there was reason for optimism — the AP said that “for the first time, it appears a consensus is developing” for finally closing the facility. Shortly after the AP […]