Trent Lott
The Right’s Racism Problem
The Senate’s Option Wasn’t “Nuclear”
Hack in Business
The Rule of Three
[Guest post by Michelle Cottle] First Helen Thomas shot herself in the foot with her ramblings about the Middle East. Then Dave Weigel was ousted from the WaPo when his ungenerous, off-the-record emails about right-wingers became public. Now CNN has canned 20-year veteran Octavia Nasr for a Hezbollah-themed tweet deemed overly generous. By the laws of USA Today, three cases make a trend (and I'm sure there are others I've missed). READ MORE >>
The GOP's Secret Speech
Yesterday Chuck Grassley threw cold water on the idea of a bank tax to repay the financial bailout. His logic was, on its face, puzzling: "Any money raised from the TARP tax would have to be used to pay down the deficit. If a TARP tax is imposed and the money is simply spent, that doesn't repay taxpayers one cent for TARP losses. It's just more tax-and-spend big government, while taxpayers foot the bill for Washington's out-of-control spending." READ MORE >>
The Republican Obama
Nice Guys Finish Last
Everyone remembers that George W. Bush’s first tax cut was contentious when Congress considered it back in 2001. So contentious, in fact, that the Bushies didn’t even try passing it under normal Senate procedures. The GOP leadership, worried that it couldn’t collect 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster, relied on reconciliation, the Senate rule that allows budget-related measures to pass with a simple majority. READ MORE >>
What Are Voters Angry About?
Political scientists understand that structural factors, mainly the economy but also things like wars and midterm elections, tend to drive voter behavior. Pollsters, on the other hand, have an unfortunate tendency to take public opinion purely at face value. And so you get results like this: READ MORE >>
Steele Cage
Last weekend began with Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, clinging to his job primarily via implicit racial blackmail. Steele’s tenure has consisted of a string of gaffes and managerial blunders, but Republicans had concluded that his color made him un-fireable. “You’re not going to dump the first African American chairman,” an influential party strategist told Politico, “That’s the only reason.” READ MORE >>
