The Carpetbagger Report

Bush’s Justice Department is clearly feeling the heat of the prosecutor-purge scandal, but let’s also not forget that the agency is still in hot water over misuse of “national security letters” (NSLs). The letters were originally created in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, but were expanded under Bush, through the Patriot Act, to […]

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) isn’t playing games. The Democratic senator leading the inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors insisted Sunday that Karl Rove and other top aides to President Bush must testify publicly and under oath, setting up a confrontation between Congress and the White House, which has said it is […]

It looked for a while as if the Bush administration had already identified its scapegoat. Kyle Sampson, who was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ chief of staff before resigning a week ago, looked as though he’d get the bulk of the blame — he helped orchestrate the purge and he neglected to share the information with […]

Last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) acknowledged that the president could fire U.S. Attorneys at will, but added, “[I]f it is done to stop an ongoing investigation, then you do get into the criminal area.” And speaking of stopping an ongoing investigation… Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice […]

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about whether we’re in the midst of a sea-change when it comes to the role of blogs in driving the political discourse. Granted, it’s been happening slowly for a while. The Plame scandal has always struck me as the first turning point. Between July 14, 2003 and September […]

It’s Saturday, and you know what that means — it’s time to marvel at the latest column from Fred Barnes, the executive editor of The Weekly Standard. Of all of the Bush shills in the conservative media, no one enjoys being an unpaid public relations rep for the White House more than Barnes. It’s enough […]

I was skeptical about John McCain’s chances in the GOP primaries before, but now I’m convinced — he’s going to lose. What convinced me was a chat McCain had with reporters yesterday aboard his campaign bus, which eventually turned to the distribution of taxpayer-subsidized condoms in Africa to fight the transmission of HIV. What followed, […]

Following up on an item from yesterday, I continue to be fascinated (and more than a little disgusted) by the White House’s negligence on the Plame leak. The revelations from yesterday confirmed our worst fears — and then some. Let’s be clear about the big picture. When it comes to handling of classified information, there […]

There have been a variety of interesting updates on the purge scandal over the last half-day, so how about another round-up? * The document dump that was rumored for late yesterday afternoon has been put off until Monday. That’s for the best — late-Friday is the worst time for such things. * Also delayed was […]

First up from the God Machine this week is a major political defeat for James Dobson and his cohorts, in their effort to drive diversity of thought from the evangelical movement. The board of the National Association of Evangelicals has rebuffed leaders of the Christian right who had called for the association to silence or […]