Brilliant. Osama bin Laden flew to London in 1986 to help negotiate the purchase of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles to be used by Arab fighters then...[More]
April 1, 2008
Quote of the Day
I know its still early, but I'm already calling it. Nobody is going to beat this from Ezra: Elizabeth Edwards says she and John McCain...[More]
Why The Clinton-Scafie Connection Matters
When last week's story broke about the Clinton campaign's connection to the wretched Richard Mellon-Scaife, I flipped out. I tried to offer a more rational...[More]
Getting Ethnic?
I would have thought that at this point nothing that Chris Matthews says would surprise me. I would have thought that, but of course I...[More]
Quote of the Day II
So much for my certainty that no one could beat Ezra's cake and celery quote. Check out this madness from 50 Cent: "I heard Obama...[More]
Understanding Paulson's Plan
A few days back, Treasury Secretary Paulson unveiled a new blueprint for reforming the way we regulate financial services. Clive Crook has had a chance...[More]
Responding to Imaginary Threats
And while I'm on the subject of financial regulation, if you haven't read James Surowiecki's latest piece in the New Yorker, you really need to....[More]
The Idiocy of the "Emboldening" Argument
If I hadn't already posted two quotes of the day, this one from Matt Y would certainly merit consideration: ...Max Boot offers a slightly different...[More]
Magazine Covers
Over at Tapped, Dana Goldstein raises an interesting question: Turns out that Esquire's August 2007 cover featuring John Edwards was its worst seller of the...[More]
How To Be President
At a town hall today, a second-grader asked Obama what he needs to do so that he can grow up and become the president one...[More]
Praise the Gods!!!
Fafblog is back!!!...[More]
Confessions of a Super Delegate
Interesting interview with an anonymous Super Delegate over at TAP. Since everyone else is focusing in on the suggestion that the race will be over...[More]
More Foreign Policy Nonsense From McCain
What will it take for the media to realize that he really doesn't know what he is talking about? In a rational world, this would...[More]
The Geography of Dating?
Sorry guys, but that map is meaningless if it doesn't take into account sexual orientation. I mean, sure thing: there are far more men in...[More]
Good For Her!
McClatchy: An American college professor whose Kenyan husband was killed in the 1998 al Qaida suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania said Tuesday...[More]
The Fierce Humboldt Squid
And now for something completely different......[More]
April 2, 2008
War Crimes
Bit by bit, the truth comes out. Today's bit, however, is a big one. Washington Post has the details: The Justice Department sent a legal...[More]
Quote of the Day
First, the setup from TPMm: It won't surprise anyone that the least sympathetic portrayal in Phillipe Sands' Vanity Fair piece is of former Undersecretary of...[More]
Quote of the Day II
From former Sen. Chafee's new book, here's an interesting take on the days immediately following the 200 campaign: Hearing Cheney say "the campaign was over...[More]
Why Poverty Persists
From Drake Bennet's overview of Charles Karelis's The Persistence of Poverty. traditional economics just doesn't apply to the poor. When we're poor, Karelis argues, our...[More]
Four More Years...
I've spent a good bit of time these past few weeks beating up on Sen. Clinton for forming an alliance with the very same conservative...[More]
Muppets Vs. N.W.A.
Blame Yglesias:...[More]
Curveball
Want to know more about the man pro-war Bush administration officials relied on for " intelligence" as they built their case for war? It was...[More]
The Limits of the Surge
Spencer Ackerman reports: The trend toward increased violence in early 2008 does not rise to the level of the bloodshed Iraq experienced in mid-to-late 2006,...[More]
Your DOJ Under Gonzales: Homosexuals Need Not Apply
Wow. TPMm: The Department of Justice's inspector general continues to conduct its wide-ranging investigation of the U.S. attorney firings and the general politicization of the...[More]
Green Quote of the Day
Political Wire: "Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part...[More]
Torture Memos II
Marty Lederman has just completed the first in what he promises will be a long series of posts on the John Yoo torture memo, and...[More]
Torture Memos III
More analysis, this time from Wired's security blog Threat Level Citing cases that prevented companies from suing the U.S. government for losses they sustained overseas...[More]
April 3, 2008
Over Here: Iraq the Place vs. Iraq the Abstraction
If you haven't read George Packer's look back at the first five years of the war in Iraq, please go now and do so. Here's...[More]
April 4, 2008
Bailout! Who To Blame?
One of the most common criticisms I've read of efforts to provide some assistance to struggling homeowners is that most people simply don't deserve the...[More]
Listen To Our Enemies
We ignored bin Laden's explicit statements that he wanted to create a quagmire for us in Iraq, so I'm not holding my breath that we'll...[More]
Quote of the Day
This one comes from the way back machine (and via Jon Taplin): "The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap which...[More]
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) Is A Jackass
WaPo: During a joint hearing on Tuesday by two House Judiciary subcommittees considering legislation to extend benefits, Issa described the Sept. 11 attacks as "a...[More]
New Rules For A New Economy?
Howard Gleckam nails it: ...for the past three decades financial engineers have been playing a game with unlimited upside reward and, thanks to the Federal...[More]
Our Petulant President
Notice what they were discussing when he just got up and left: Enough is enough, it seems. With the NATO summit meetings consistently running two...[More]
The Other Klein On Obama [Late Update]
Time's Joe Klein has an article in this week's Time on Obama. His argument, so far as I can tell, is that patriotism is going...[More]
Clinton Raises $20 Million, But...
March totals are in. Sort of. Obama has raised "more than $40 million" last month. Clinton raised just over $20 million. But... That seemed like...[More]
40 Years Ago Today, Part I
Forty years ago on this day, Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated in Memphis, TN. The day before his death, he delivered one of...[More]
40 Years Ago Today, Part II
MLK's assassination came in the midst of the 1968 presidential campaign. When the news first broke, Robert F. Kennedy, the younger brother of JFK, was...[More]
Government Funded Search Engine Blocks Searches On "Abortion"
Is there nothing these fools will not do? Wired: A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world's largest database on reproductive...[More]
Reason 5,479 Why High Priced Campaign Consultants Suck
Far too often they do things like this: Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. on Monday to discuss a...[More]
Statistic of the Day
NYT: 81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on Wrong Track Americans are more dissatisfied with the country's direction than at any time since the...[More]
Meanwhile, In Iraq....
Matt Yglesias passes along a very strange fact: Did you know that many Badr Brigade members are actually drawing pensions from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard...[More]
Barr To Offer Conservatives an Alternative to McCain
Former Rep. Bob Barr, a true old school conservative if ever there was one, has decided to run for president this year one the Libertarian...[More]
An Advantage In More Ways Than One
Ezra on Obama's fundraising advantage: Obama's fundraising doesn't require Obama to do very much fundraising. Since January 1st, Clinton has attended more than a dozen...[More]
An Update On the Passport Snooping Story
Interesting: From NBC's Libby Leist Two weeks after it was revealed that State Department employees were found snooping on five different occasions in the passport...[More]
More On Mark Penn's Colombian Connection
Following up on this previous post, it looks like this story is rapidly evolving. Penn has already been forced to release a statement: "The meeting...[More]
Credit Where Credit Is Due
McCain just hired himself a fabulous new speechwriter, and it shows. These sections of McCain's MLK speech are really quiet good: Sometimes the most radical...[More]
Public Financing
Ambinder reports on how Obama might respond to McCain's latest move on public financing: My sense is that Obama campaign will probably call on its...[More]
Milbank Gets It Right
Whenever Dana Milbank appears on MSNBC's Countdown, I cringe. There's something about the way the guy does analysis that just rubs me the wrong way....[More]
April 5, 2008
Check The Expiration Date
Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway: A crucial yet overlooked deadline looms over the Iraq debate: Unless further action is taken, the war will become illegal...[More]
Quote of the Day
Glenn Greenwald: Our nation's coddled, insulated journalist class reaches these conclusions about what Regular Folk think using the most self-referential, self-absorbed thought process imaginable. The...[More]
Feel The Boom!
Krugman! And then more Krugman! Put those two graphs side by side and you go a long way towards understanding why so many people have...[More]
The Power Of Third Parties
This critique of Bob Barr's run as a libertarian completely misses the point: Despite the fact that both [Democratic and Republican party] nominees are broadly...[More]
Now Why Didn't I Think Of This?
Not only does the Colbert Bump exist, but a political scientist is about to publish a paper that proves it. And doing so gave him...[More]
Mark Penn Gets Fired!
Didn't see this one coming: The Colombian Government announces its decision to terminate the contract with Burson-Marsteller. This firm conducts public relations and communications consulting...[More]
Missoula For Obama!
Have I mentioned recently that I love Montana politics? It's just so.... different than what I know from my own first-hand experience. UPDATE: Headline...[More]
"Support the Troops"
Remember when the only thing all of the pro-war people wanted to talk about was "supporting the troops?" Army leaders are expressing increased alarm about...[More]
Quote of the Day II
Via Patrick over at Andrew's place, a great one from George F. Kennan's 1954 book The Illusion of Security: There is something about this quest...[More]
April 6, 2008
McCain Doesn't Get The Internet Either
20 years ago you could've gotten away with something like this. 20 years ago you were able to say one thing to one audience and...[More]
Meanwhile, In Iraq.... [With 2 Updates]
WaPo: Bush Listens Closely To His Man in Iraq For months, a debate raged at the top levels of the Bush administration over how quickly...[More]
Why Suburbs Suck, And How That Impacts The Credit Crisis
Having grown up in a suburb, this story (found via Atrios) really resonated with me. Granted, my suburb was outside of DC, not Phoenix, so...[More]
Don't Believe the Hype!
Cue the breathless reporting: After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of...[More]
Funny Ha Ha!
I don't even care if this is for real or not. It's hilarious!...[More]
Digging Tunnels To NYC
Atrios is right. This article on the construction of new tunnels between NYC and NJ is supremely cool. Be sure to watch the interactive bits,...[More]
April 7, 2008
Meanwhile, In Iraq...
First, a quick update from the NYT: Sharp fighting broke out in the Sadr City district of Baghdad on Sunday as American and Iraqi troops...[More]
5 To 10 Years of "Full, Unconditional Commitment"
God help us: A new assessment of U.S. policy in Iraq by the same experts who advised the original Iraq Study Group concludes that political...[More]
Quote of the Day
Spike Lee wins today's honors: What do you think of Obama? I'm riding my man Obama. I think he's a visionary. Actually, Barack told me...[More]
Mark Penn Still "Very Much Involved"
So says Ambinder. I told you so....[More]
RE: Sean Wilentz
I used to respect the guy as a historian. But if he is going to make arguments like this, I better reconsider that, and quick!...[More]
April 8, 2008
Army Vice-Chief of Staff Cody: "Today's Army is out of balance."
Something to consider as we prepare for Gen. Petraeus' testimony this week. New Yorker: Last week, the General appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee...[More]
What Americans Think About the War
Glenn Greenwald reports on Gallup's latest poll on the Iraq War. Short version? We all want out, and we want out sooner rather than later....[More]
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Dana Goldstein: It seems almost too easy to beat Crocker up about this, but he just said, "Osama bin Laden has called Iraq 'a perfect...[More]
Civil War
Back when our debate over the war in Iraq was focused around whether or not we should use the phrase "civil war" to describe the...[More]
Metrics For Success?
Ezra gets to the fundamental point: Over at Democracy Arsenal, Max writes, "No one, not Crocker or Petraeus can describe what success looks like. When...[More]
April 9, 2008
Please Stop With This "History" Nonsense
I don't know when this started, but it needs to stop. Bush says that history will be the judge of his war, not us. Recently...[More]
100 Years
Although his campaign is still trying to walk back his "100 years" comment, it isn't working because, as Hendrik Hertzberg points out, even in context...[More]
Highlights From Yesterday's Testimony
I was (ad may yet still be) having some technical difficulties with my desktop yesterday, so I didn't get to blog on the Petraeus as...[More]
Today's Edition of "The Slow Motion Collapse"
A few random bits and bobs from the mortgage crisis: + The IMF is now predicting mortgage-market losses from the will near $1 trillion. +...[More]
Health Care Finding of the Day
If you care at all about health care reform, please go read this. If you were in my comparative public policy class last semester, please...[More]
Gaming the 2008 Senate Contests
The Republicans are defending nine Senate seats this fall. The Democrats are defending one. TPMe has a great rundown of what that might mean come...[More]
Save the Date
May 6: That's the date House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers has asked John "torture memos" Yoo to appear before his committee....[More]
An Open Ended Commitment
Make no mistake about it. The Bush administration is negotiating an open-ended commitment in Iraq, and they have no intention whatsoever to submit it to...[More]
100 More Years
Matt Yglesias follows-on and makes a very good point: A further thought on John McCain's "as long as our soldiers are not being wounded or...[More]
This Cannot Be True. It Must Be A Joke.
John McCain's people really misspelled his name? In a campaign commercial? Really?...[More]
I'm A Pirate!
Universal Music wants you to know: if you have ever received a promo CD from them and then thrown it away, you are guilty of...[More]
Improv Everywhere and The BEst BAseball Game EVer
This, via Kotkee, is amazing. NBC Sports, Jiim Gray, and the Goodyear Blimp? How do these people do this kind of stuff?...[More]
I Don't Care About the Torch [UPDATE: Except...]
That is all. UPDATE: No sooner had I written that then I saw this.... and this is really funny. I've got to give Mayor Newsom...[More]
More Subprime Madness!
For those of you who prefer to listen to your financial news, this report from NPR is an absolute must-listen. Here's the transcript for those...[More]
April 11, 2008
Ezra Nails Jonah - On the Back of Matt's Book!
This is some serious inside the blogosphere nonsense, but for those of you obsessed enough to get the joke, its really just too good not...[More]
Roubini: $1 Trillion Is The Floor, Not the Ceiling
Roubini's free riding on his own media appearances, so I've got no worries about taking a long excerpt today: Mr. Roubini first forecast a slowdown...[More]
Number of the Day: 3,775
First the excerpt, then I'm outsourcing my response to McMegan: After the Vietnam War, the United States resettled 1.4 million Southeast Asian refugees within its...[More]
Why Won't McCain Support Expanding The G.I. Bill?
I hadn't yet blogged about this issue, because to be perfectly honest I have no idea what to say. There are currently 54 co-sponsors in...[More]
On To Iran
Apparently Bill Bennett, Bill Kristol, and Joe Lieberman see this week's testimony by Petraeus and Crocker as an argument for going into Iran. In other...[More]