"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by publius It’s been difficult — you know, as an intrepid reporter on the ground — keeping up with what people are saying about the convention thus far. I gather that one dispute is whether the convention should be more hard-hitting, or whether it should stay fluffy like last night’s. Count me pretty firmly in … Read more
by publius This morning I attended a technology roundtable that had lots of interesting panels. The first one was a true all-star cast — e.g., former FCC Chair Reed Hundt, various industry people from Google, Level 3, and Verizon. A second panel discussed the future of technology and innovation. Various interesting points, but here are … Read more
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by publius What’d you think?
by publius So I was a little late getting to the “blogger lounge,” so I missed Michelle. But I did catch the New Republic’s environmental panel earlier today — “the Politics of Green.” It was a good group — Rep. Ed Markey, Sen. Bingaman, a Sierra Club bigshot, Cass Sunstein, the Obama energy advisor, and … Read more
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by publius Everyone should read David Leonhardt’s piece in the NYT Magazine on Obama’s economic philosophy. It’s fascinating — and reflects just how difficult it is to squeeze Obama into any sort of conceptual box on any issue. The article also reaffirmed some of my original reasons for supporting Obama — i.e., it reminded me … Read more
by publius If you have the stomach for it, check out Sean Wilentz’s latest — and nastiest — anti-Obama screed. It’s not everyday you see a respected Princeton historian devolve into Grandpa Simpson in four short pages, but Wilentz pulled it off. (The 4th page alone is all you need to read.) Like everyone else, … Read more
by publius First iPhone post. I’m ready. UPDATE: Now back on my computer, I wanted to offer a brief preview of what I expect to do in Denver. (See from 0:23-43.) UPDATE 2: Question — I’m toying around with setting up an ObWi twitter account for next week. Thoughts? If people like it, we could … Read more
by hilzoy Politico: “But Biden watchers also know that there is much to like and admire about the man. Biden is a fighter who is joining a campaign some Democrats believe should scrap a little more. He is a serious adult on the serious, adult issues of the day. And no one will liken Joey … Read more
by publius Biden it is. Personally, I’m pretty psyched — I’ve always liked Biden. But I also think it’s a strong political choice, despite all the potential criticisms. The first criticism — echoed already by the great visionary Ron Fournier — is that Obama’s pick shows a lack of “self-confidence.” Another way of looking at … Read more
by hilzoy I got my email (I’m not technologically advanced enough to want a text message) while I was sleeping. I’m getting ready to go to the convention tomorrow, so I don’t have much in the way of thoughts. But for what it’s worth: I think this is a decent choice, especially given the alternatives … Read more
by hilzoy Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released new long-term Social Security projections (pdf): “CBO projects that outlays will first exceed revenues in 2019 and that the Social Security trust funds will be exhausted in 2049. If the law remains unchanged, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will then no longer have the legal authority to … Read more
by hilzoy From ABC News: “ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson Report: John McCain’s campaign signaled on Wednesday that the Arizona senator is backing away from his previously stated goal of changing the GOP’s platform on abortion. (…) McCain’s plan to take a hands-off approach with the abortion platform stands in stark contrast with … Read more
Chaired by Eric Martin Topics du Rant: 1. Please, while I’m eating food with you, abstain from sharing with me your prognostications of how, and in which ways, the present meal will affect your level of flatulence and/or bowel movements. As a matter of fact, I’d rather not hear about it after the meal either. … Read more
by Eric Martin Britain’s MI5 recently conducted an extensive review of hundreds of case studies in order to attempt to create a profile of would-be terrorists (via Calpundit 2.0, not to be confused with the 3.0 model). While MI5 was unable to establish a holistic profile, they were able to dispel certain myths and shoot … Read more
by hilzoy In my ideal world, the fact that John McCain cannot remember how many houses he has would not be a very big deal. It does make it clear just how wealthy he and his wife are, and it raises the question how well he understands life outside the cocoon of privilege. But in … Read more
by Eric Martin Matt Duss passes along a recap of a recent incident that offers yet one more indication that McCain’s foreign policy will be, in almost every crucial respect, a redux of the Bush administration’s circa the first term – if not more reckless. Just observe how his campaign reacted to a relatively innocuous … Read more
by publius Predictably, the McCain campaign went into full hothead mode in response to Obama’s attacks, flailing about desperately and bringing up Rezko. A few observations on this. First, it’s further evidence that McCain is at his absolute very worst in responding to a crisis. He and his campaign’s initial instincts are always to lash … Read more
by publius It’s tempting, at first glance, to see the attacks on McCain’s house counting problem as trivial gotcha politics. Even assuming that’s true, I won’t shed many tears at this point — not after watching McCain rip Obama every day for the last month for excessively silly reasons. But there’s actually a substantive component … Read more
by hilzoy It didn’t take more than a few hours for McCain’s people to cite his experience as a POW in response to his gaffe about his houses: “”The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It’s not as if he lives in ten houses. That’s just not the case,” Rogers said. “The … Read more
by hilzoy The McCain campaign responds: “Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?” I thought that people who … Read more
by hilzoy I certainly hope that no one will give John McCain a hard time over this: “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. “I think – I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain told us in Las Cruces, … Read more
by hilzoy Is there any corner of the Bush administration — any at all — that isn’t hopelessly corrupt? Actually, don’t answer that… “Medicare’s top officials said in 2006 that they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency, keeping billions of dollars out of the hands of people trying … Read more
by hilzoy Andrew Sullivan linked to a blog devoted to cakes gone wrong. It’s hysterical. There are more horribly misfiring cakes than I could have imagined. Some are the result of an inadequate grasp of the use/mention distinction: Some from an apparently total lack of aesthetics: Some are just plain inexplicable: And some just make … Read more
by hilzoy From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones’ family and officials at Huron Hospital have announced that the five-term congresswoman has died. She was 58.” My thoughts are with her family and friends.
by hilzoy A couple of days ago, Michael Goldfarb wrote on the John McCain blog: “It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from the comfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories … Read more
by Eric Martin From the sublime (with follow up), to the ridiculous – yet two more reasons to end the disastrous "war on drugs." One more reason: Sebastian and I agree (I believe). That’s gotta count for something. It’s remarkable that the American people got a taste of the massive societal problems created by the … Read more
by hilzoy A very interesting discussion about what it means to support the troops broke out in the comments of this thread, prompted by a comment by LTNixon. For those of us who know people who serve in the armed forces, it’s not hard to find ways to support them. For those of us who … Read more
by Eric Martin Back in May, I made mention of what was then a three-pronged plan to subvert the democratic process in Iraq being carried out by Prime Minister Maliki and his ruling coalition (the "Powers that Be," or "PTB"), with the backing of the Bush administration and US forces. A rough sketch of this … Read more
by hilzoy Starting on Friday, I’ll be blogging both here and at the Washington Monthly. (Generally, cross-posting things, though I can imagine the odd open thread that won’t appear there.) I’m really honored to have been asked by the Monthly, and excited to be working with Steve Benen, not least because I might finally be … Read more
by hilzoy That’s what David Brooks says, at any rate: “McCain and his advisers have been compelled to adjust to the hostile environment around them. They have been compelled, at least in their telling, to abandon the campaign they had hoped to run. Now they are running a much more conventional race, the kind McCain … Read more
by hilzoy Yesterday, John McCain said: “With just three months to go before the election, a lot of folks are still trying to square Senator Obama’s varying positions on the surge in Iraq. First, he opposed the surge. Then he confidently predicted that it would fail. Then he tried to prevent funding for the troops … Read more
by publius Biden gets a gushing enthusiastic endorsement from Scott Lemieux — “a surprisingly decent option.” Biden Fever! Seriously, I would actually be pretty psyched about Biden — for many of the reasons Scott mentions. I’ll write a more substantive post later, but Biden pretty much won my heart with this:
by hilzoy My last post, about McCain’s story of a prison guard scratching a cross in the dirt, generated a fair amount of discussion. To be clear about what I meant to say and what I did not: as I said last night, if I were a reporter, I would be asking questions about this. … Read more