The Carpetbagger Report

Last summer, McCain appeared at an Aspen Institute discussion, where he tripped over himself trying to explain his position on science in science classes, saying intelligent design creationism does and does not belong in public schools. A former McCain aide acknowledged, “[H]is heart isn’t in this stuff…. But he has to pretend [that it is], […]

Media Matters noted yesterday that Bill O’Reilly had some rather superficial thoughts on the presidential race this week. On the May 30 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly said: “[Y]ou can’t get more presidential-looking than [former Massachusetts Gov.] Mitt Romney [R].” O’Reilly continued: “[I]f you were to make up a guy, […]

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: * Washington Times: “The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors’ rebellion over President Bush’s immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, The Washington Times has learned. Faced with […]

First, the good news. The president’s comments yesterday were at least a mild shift in rhetorical direction. He believes there should be “goals” for reducing emissions. Believe it or not, this represented a change in administration policy, which has a) questioned whether pollutants were responsible for climate change; and b) been willing to allow emissions […]

On Tuesday, the president pushed back against conservative critics of his immigration bill, insisting that they “don’t want to do what’s right for America.” It seemed like the kind of comment the far-right base may not care for. With that in mind, it didn’t come as too big a surprise to see Peggy Noonan, after […]

On Wednesday morning, Tony Snow alluded to the “Korea model” to highlight the president’s vision for a long-term U.S. presence in Iraq. “The Korean model is one in which the United States provides a security presence, but you’ve had the development of a successful democracy in South Korea over a period of years, and, therefore, […]

A few days before Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, The Onion ran one of the greatest satirical pieces of the decade: “Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that ‘our long national nightmare […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * NYT: “The economy grew at less than half the rate first estimated in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said today in its revision of the nation’s gross domestic product. Before today’s numbers were released, it was clear the economy was downshifting from the rapid 5.6 percent expansion of […]

After the midterm elections, it became common to hear Republicans say that Bush had maybe another six months to turn things around in Iraq. By the time the so-called “surge” was announced in January, that talk became louder. Atrios, however, has done a very impressive job of keeping track of some of those deadlines. And […]

As quirky poll questions go, this is actually kind of interesting. What would Americans say to President Bush if they could talk to him about the situation in Iraq for 15 minutes? The majority of Americans — if they could literally file through the Oval Office and talk to the man they elected to be […]