Noam Scheiber

Why Mitt paid more taxes than he had to.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Mitt Romney’s 47% riff is damning whether or not he actually believes what he said. Still, it’s worth pausing briefly to reflect on the chances that a would-be president really thinks half his fellow citizens are moochers. Jon Chait, arguing for the prosecution, is convinced the remarks reflect Romney’s actual worldview: Romney explained to reporters tonight that his remarks were not “elegantly stated,” but did not repudiate them as his true beliefs. In fact, it was quite eloquently stated.

Any reporter who’s covered Mitt Romney this election season knows there are people in his campaign—and legions more in the GOP professional class—who don’t like Stuart Stevens, his chief strategist. Thanks to pieces yesterday in Politico and The New York Times, we’ve learned something new: These people really don’t like Stuart Stevens. The basic knock on Stevens to this point has been that the campaign has lacked imagination or ambition: There’s been nothing remotely innovative about any policy it’s proposed or any message it’s field-tested.

What was Team Romney thinking? I happened to speak to a senior Romney adviser from a previous campaign who offered his own theory.

In a new book, a former Senate insider and lobbying kingpin spills the beans on how Wall Street throws its weight around Washington.

I’m in a strange place when I assess Obama and the economy these days. Having written a book that catalogues my disappointment in both, I’m the first to say their performance could be better. On the other hand, I long ago adjusted my expectations downward. When I see I jobs report like we got today—a middling 96,000 jobs in August, along with 40,000 worth of downward hits to June and July—it’s not a crushing blow. It’s a basic affirmation of where I’ve assumed we were for a while now.