The Carpetbagger Report

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: * Republican presidential hopefuls will gather tonight for their third debate, this one in New Hampshire on the same stage used by Dems on Sunday night. The debate will be aired on CNN, […]

It may seem rather wonky, but the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a pretty important government report. As Dean Baker explained a while back, it’s the “only major longitudinal survey that tracks the same families over time…. [It is] especially useful for examining the impact of TANF, Medicaid, and other […]

Obviously it’s weak and cowardly to for policy makers to let poll results overrule good judgment and common sense. But when all three tell congressional Dems to more forcefully oppose the president’s war policy, it’s probably a good idea to pay attention. Growing frustration with the performance of the Democratic Congress, combined with widespread public […]

As you’ve almost certainly heard by now, Sen. Craig Thomas (R), a three-term Republican from Wyoming who has struggled with leukemia, died last night at the age of 74. My best wishes go out to Thomas’ family. The senator’s family said he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The family […]

The available evidence overwhelmingly suggests that global warming is a burgeoning environmental crisis. The Bush administration has decided to take action — it wants to collect less evidence. America will lose much of its ability to monitor global warming from space unless the Bush administration reverses course and restores funding for the next generation of […]

There’s a little secret that usually goes unmentioned when the political discourse turns towards so-called “partial-birth” abortions: if medical professional can’t use one procedure, they’ll just use another. The absurd legal ban, recently upheld by the Supreme Court (Gonzales v. Carhart), basically boiled down to this: the justices said one specific abortion method is never […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * Bush’s G8 meetings didn’t get off to a good start today: “President Bush’s European trip was jarred as it began Monday by deteriorating relations with Russia and threatening words from President Vladimir Putin.” Administration officials conceded that the rhetoric, particularly about Russia pointing missiles at Europe, is getting a […]

Dennis Milligan, the new chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, probably shouldn’t sound quite this excited about the prospect of domestic terrorism. He said he’s “150 percent” behind Bush on the war in Iraq. “At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we […]

Meet the new contributor to Time magazine’s Swampland blog: former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). As I settle in as a guest blogger here at Swampland, I’d like to thank Time and its readers for inviting me to share my views. I hope I can raise the debate about the direction in which the […]

Last week, I had an item detailing the bizarre interest in some media circles with the presidential candidates’ (and their spouses’) appearance. Apparently, the craziest example hadn’t come yet. Consider this exchange on MSNBC this morning, between Joe Scarborough and CQ’s Craig Crawford. SCARBOROUGH: Have you seen Fred Thompson’s wife? CRAWFORD: Oh, yeah. SCARBOROUGH: You […]