Politics & Power Quote by Margaret Carlson

Carlson’s line lands like a raised eyebrow in the middle of a policy briefing: it treats a national political failing less as an ideological dispute than as a crush Americans can’t quit. “Puppy love” is the baited hook here. It’s diminutive, a little embarrassing, and pointedly irrational - the kind of affection you outgrow, unless you don’t. By choosing that phrase, she frames voter loyalty to Republicans not as principled agreement but as a juvenile attachment that overrides evidence.

The intent is prosecutorial, but the method is cultural satire: she’s not only asking why Iraq reconstruction went wrong; she’s asking why the supposed referees of public spending got a pass for it. The parenthetical “who at a minimum are supposed to be good money managers” is doing heavy work. It’s a backhanded definition of the GOP brand promise: even if you disagree with them on everything else, they sell themselves as competent stewards. Carlson weaponizes that expectation, implying the Iraq rebuilding effort exposed the brand as marketing more than mastery.

Subtext: Americans aren’t just misinformed; they’re emotionally invested in an identity narrative where Republicans equal “adult supervision.” Calling it “blindness” suggests willful ignorance, a refusal to look at receipts. The context is the post-invasion reconstruction era, when stories of no-bid contracts, cost overruns, and chaotic planning made “waste” a bipartisan punchline - yet accountability remained oddly slippery. Carlson’s question isn’t seeking an answer; it’s diagnosing a romance with power that survives repeated disappointments.