Politics
The Best Thing You'll Read on Massa v. Beck
I'm getting to this a little late, but Time's Michael Scherer had an absolutely terrific take on Tuesday night's face off between Glenn Beck and Eric Massa, the former Democratic congressman who resigned this week amid allegations that he'd sexually harassed male staffers: READ MORE >>
Clear (Conservative) Thinking On “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Max Boot is among the conservative columnists I esteem the most. One reason is that he has to be more than a bit brave because the right is not ordinarily cordial to those who dissent on its keystone issues. Of course, he is not the only conservative to be sensible on gay matters. Still... READ MORE >>
Maliki vs. Allawi
Promises, Promises, Promises
Inside Man
Hank Paulson sounds tough. His gravelly delivery starts out strong. The voice is that of a seasoned and fair-minded cop sorting out the ruffians, and the hard-boiled dialogue is straight from Raymond Chandler. Speaking of his plans to act immediately against some specific financial sector CEOs and their boards of directors, he says “Mr. President, ... we’re going to move quickly and take them by surprise. The first sound they’ll hear is their heads hitting the floor.” READ MORE >>
Win Dixie
As we all understand, Republicans are about to have a pretty good election in November. Much of the GOP excitement revolves around congressional races that could unseat “red-state” Democrats who won during the 2006 or 2008 cycles, along with a number of incumbents (some of whom have decided to retire) who have been around much longer. Ground zero for the Republican tsunami is, of course, the Deep South, where in some areas John McCain did better in 2008 than George W. Bush did in 2004, and where every available indicator shows the president to be very unpopular among white voters. READ MORE >>
The Man Who's Writing Bush's Book...
...is a twenty-something former Bush aide named Christopher Michel, who rose from unpaid White House intern to deputy director of speechwriting in a dizzying five-year run. As Bryan Curtis puts it in his Daily Beast profile, "Michel had somehow emerged from ruins of Bush's second term with his c.v. burnished rather than destroyed." READ MORE >>
The Greatest Virtue of the Republican Budget Plan
Win Dixie
Court and Racket
WASHINGTON -- In a city where the phrase “bipartisan initiative” is becoming an oxymoron, the urgency of containing the damage the Supreme Court could do to our electoral system creates an opportunity for a rare convergence of interest and principle. READ MORE >>
