The New Republic

Ed Kilgore is managing editor of The Democratic Strategist, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and a frequent contributor to a variety of political journals.  READ MORE >>

A Week in Review piece in yesterday's NYT sought to explain the tetchiness in Washington about a proposed CIA program to assassinate al Qaeda leaders by "traditionan" means, like a close-range hit squad, as opposed to Predator drone strikes. READ MORE >>

Perhaps noting the trajectory of public opinion in Britain and Canada, the defense secretary tells LAT's Julian Barnes that the war effort in Afghanistan has about a year to show progress before the public deems it unwinnable: "After the Iraq experience, nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway," Gates said in an interview. "The troops are tired; the American people are pretty tired." READ MORE >>

National Review's Jonah Goldberg links to this Ronald Reagan diatribe against the Medicare bill. Goldberg says it's "still fresh today." This is true, but not in the way Goldberg thinks. Reagan made a series of falsifiable claims about Medicare that, listened to forty years later, sound utterly preposterous. I transcribed a few choice bits. Here's Reagan describing what will happen if Medicare is enacted: READ MORE >>

From across the pond, Daniel Finkelstein offers words of caution for conservatives stateside: READ MORE >>

Some post-July 4th fireworks were on display at a Senate Environmental and Public Works Commitee hearing last week, chaired by Barbara Boxer. You could be forgiven for missing them, as they flew during the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings. But the incident was equal parts comical and pathetic, and telling for what it says about the state of today's conservative movement. READ MORE >>

The Gorilla Glue Company Responds to Zell Miller's Recent Comments: We Do Not Advocate Attempting to Glue the Leader of the Free World to His Chair News Facts READ MORE >>

This USA Today story, on Dover Air Force Base, has one piece of good news that I didn't know: READ MORE >>

Gut-Check Time: Do the Dems have what it takes to pass health reform? By Jonathan Cohn READ MORE >>

One of the most tiresome forms of opinion commentary is bad-faith advice to a political figure from a writer who is utterly opposed to his ideological goals. Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch of the libertarian magazine Reasan offer up a classic of the genre in Sunday's Washington Post. READ MORE >>