The Carpetbagger Report

James Kirchick, writing for The New Republic’s blog, directed readers last night to Michael Kelly’s infamous hit job, “Ted Kennedy on the Rocks,” which Kirchick describes as “one of the best pieces of political reportage I have ever read.” Kirchick features a couple of paragraphs from Kelly’s article about Kennedy and Democratic presidential hopeful Chris […]

Guest Post by Morbo An interesting milestone was reached this week, one you might have missed: The Innocence Project has just cleared its 200th client. Jerry Miller, a Chicago man, served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Miller had been paroled a few years back, but now, thanks to the […]

Guest Post by Morbo This weekend, a collection of far-right religious figures is gathering in Virginia Beach to “rededicate” America to Christ. According to this gang, it’s a rededication because the first dedication took place 400 years ago, when a clutch of European settlers reached Jamestown, Va. Various Religious Right leaders have convened a conference […]

Guest Post by Morbo Remember Jessica Lynch, the poor West Virginia girl who went off to Iraq, got captured by the Iraqis and was rescued in a commando raid? Remember the stories of how she went down fighting, firing her weapon until it was out of ammo and resisting capture until the very end? Remember […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * The good news: “The Pentagon announced Friday the capture of one of al-Qaida’s most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was trying to return to his native country when he was captured.” * The bad news: the terrorist was actually captured late last year, but the announcement […]

When the Bush White House was confronted with questions about an unprecedented purge of eight U.S. Attorneys, one of the key responses was, “Clinton did it, too.” It was false, Bush aides knew it was false, but they used it anyway. Now the same officials are confronted with questions about an unprecedented initiative from Karl […]

In an interview with the AP yesterday, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took a rather passive attitude towards the terrorist responsible for 9/11. [Romney] said the country would be safer by only “a small percentage” and would see “a very insignificant increase in safety” if al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was caught because another terrorist […]

As the war in Iraq has unfolded, the word of U.S. generals has become almost sacrosanct. Discredited and dishonest civilian leaders such as Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are now practically synonymous with “failure,” but generals have consistently managed to avoid criticism. Indeed, political leaders in the White House are often criticized for not paying the […]

For all the times I’ve accused Fox News of being a parody of real journalism, I never actually expected the network to make the charge literally true. Last week in the town of Lewiston, Maine, a group of Somalian Muslim middle school students were the subject of a cruel prank when their peers placed a […]

I’m a little surprised that this incident, from Austin, Texas, isn’t a bigger deal. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. (via Feministe) A package left at a clinic that performs abortions contained an explosive device that investigators said Thursday could have been deadly. The incident came just days after a national abortion group alerted […]