The Carpetbagger Report

If recent history is any guide, Fred Thompson is going to run as a “folksy” DC outsider, who’ll win over voters with his southern charm and smooth voice. Indeed, all the media spin of the last several weeks has been about how this back-slapping pol will win over voters with his laid-back, aw-shucks style. Look […]

Roger Simon has a very good piece today about a political topic du jour: pardons. Specifically, Simon notes the story of Anthony Circosta, the kind of guy who deserves a pardon, and contrasts him with Scooter Libby, the kind of guy who doesn’t. (thanks to K.Z. for the tip) Circosta isn’t political and isn’t a […]

We learned a couple of weeks ago that the Bush administration is in the midst of building the biggest, most expensive embassy on earth, right in the heart of Baghdad. It’s slated to be a 104-acre compound — roughly 80 football fields — that will be one of the few major projects the administration has […]

It’s sometimes helpful to gauge the seriousness of a controversy by the incoherence of the White House response. If the Bush gang has a strong defense that can explain their behavior, they’re more likely to brush a scandal aside. If the Bush gang stammers and stumbles, the scandal is more likely to dog them for […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN: “The building that houses the White House press corps was evacuated Monday afternoon, after a security dog detected something suspicious in a car located in a nearby park. Security officials are currently investigating a car in Lafayette Park, directly north of the White House. The park is close […]

I appreciate the fact that John Edwards sees a need to get a little more aggressive to narrow the gap, but I’m not sure if this is the best way to do it. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards Sunday warned Iowa voters about what he perceives as the perils of nominating a candidate who down-ticket […]

Let me see if I have all the good news straight. When Sunnis attack Shi’a, we should consider it encouraging. Q: Let me follow on that, because I think some American officials have called [the attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra] an act of desperation. And I’m wondering how this is seen as an […]

I suppose it’s easy to forget, but former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore (R) is a presidential candidate right now who’s struggling to distinguish himself. Today, he tries to carve out a niche with a “third-way” approach to the war in Iraq, between Dems and the Bush administration. In a WaPo op-ed that’s written as a […]

Does a conservative approach to government encourage corruption? TNR’s Jonathan Chait makes the case today that it does, and his argument is quite persuasive. To make his argument, Chait points to one of the many Bush administration scandals that’s been hovering just below the surface: the student-loan scandal, which Chait insists is “a direct result […]

We’ve known for a while that the president has a nasty habit of issuing “signing statements,” through which Bush tells Congress which parts of certain laws he’s decided to ignore. Senate Pro Tem Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) recently asked the non-partisan General Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, to look […]