Kentucky
The Son Also Rises
Tea Minus Zero
Liberals have responded to the Tea Party movement by reaching a comforting conclusion: that there is no way these guys can possibly be for real. The movement has variously been described as a “front group for the Republican party” and a “media creation”; Paul Krugman has called Tea Party rallies “AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects.” READ MORE >>
A Very Good Night For Democrats
Here are the important developments of the night, in ascending order of importance: 1. Joe Sestak beat Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. I think this makes the Democrats marginally more likely to hold the Senate seat. Toomey is a radical candidate, and Sestak's win strips him of the anti-incumbent sentiment that's his best shot. That's worth more to the democrats than Specter's superior political polish. READ MORE >>
Mitch McConnell, Democratic Patsy
Josh Green talks to some Kentucky Republican voters, and man, are those people crazy. By "crazy" I don't mean that they have objectionable moral beliefs or support impractical policies, though I'm sure they do. I mean they have no analytical connection to political reality: READ MORE >>
Frum Hell
One of the problems with David Frum's campaign to nudge the Republican Party toward the center is that he relentlessly conflates moral arguments with arguments about electoral feasibility. Frum clearly believes that the party's rightward lurch is wrong and renders the party unable to address real-world problems. But, to appeal to conservatives who don't share his beliefs about public policy, he often frames his case in crass electoral. READ MORE >>
Carp, Carp, Carp
The great lakes are in danger of being overrun by an invasive species of Asian carp, gigantic eating machines which devour all the plankton and thereby kill off the local habitat. Great Lakes states have resorted to all kinds of highly expensive interventions, such as electric barriers, to stop the invasion. READ MORE >>
Just How Much Taxation Without Representation?
Over the past year or so the nebulous movement known as the Tea Party has co-opted many of the symbols of the founding fathers to fight against (among other things) taxation without representation. However, on Tax Day it is important to remember the one group of present-day citizens who know what “taxation without representation” really means: residents of the District of Columbia READ MORE >>
Mitch McConnell's Populism
Even by the standards of politics, Republican opposition to financial reform is unusually shameless. The GOP party line, in keeping with the postmodernist stylings of Frank Luntz, is that they oppose financial regulation because it's a big handout to the financial industry. READ MORE >>
