"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
publius by publius From TPM: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just told reporters that she does not believe she has enough votes in the House to pass the Senate health care reform bill as-is — at least not yet. Here's my proposed response: Not one dollar. Not one ounce of effort. Not one word of support. The … Read more
by publius (coming briefly out of retirement) Ezra Klein writes: If Democrats let go of health care, there is no doubt that a demoralized Democratic base will stay home in November. And that's as it should be. If the Democratic Party won't uphold its end of the bargain, there's no reason its base should pretend … Read more
by publius I've been going back and forth on this for some time. But I've decided it's time to take a break from blogging for a while, maybe longer. I'm not quitting for good — I consider it more like taking "senior status." I'll continue to post now and then (Sebastian-style), but not that frequently. … Read more
by publius The League of Ordinary Gentleman is a good blog — one you should be reading. However, one of the writers there, Mark Thompson, has recently shown some questionable judgment by deciding to interview me about admin law and FCC stuff. But you should overlook that. Seriously, the interview is here if you're interested. … Read more
by publius Via Ta-Nehisi, I saw this amazing Anderson Cooper interview of Todd Willingham's defense attorney, David Martin. It's enough to make you literally nauseous. Remember that Martin's zealous defense consisted of getting the babysitter to testify: The defense had tried to find a fire expert to counter Vasquez and Fogg’s testimony, but the one … Read more
by publius You'll be shocked to learn that Fred Hiatt opposes the public option. You'll be further shocked that his argument doesn't make much sense. Hiatt's main concern is cost control. He thinks (maybe correctly) that Congress is punting on controlling costs. Instead, Hiatt wants Congress (1) to impose taxes on employer-provided health care benefits; … Read more
by publius Despite its new momentum, the public option has a powerful new opponent — the White House. It's incredibly frustrating. Although Reid is close to getting 60 votes on cloture, Obama and Rahm (who, for all his bluster, is politically timid) are pushing for the "trigger," which is the same as nothing. The question, … Read more
by publius Works calls today. Have at it. To start — why does everyone seem to think Kings of Leon is good?
by publius I have to admit that I don't like the idea of the government stepping in to dictate compensation levels, TARP funds or no TARP funds. I'm certainly not morally opposed to it — heck, many of these people deserve far worse. The problem, though, is that I don't think the government is institutionally … Read more
by publius I wasn't expecting the good folks at RedState to endorse open networks. But RedState's Neil Stevens threw me for a loop with this one: [Open network regulations are bad because] [w]ealth will be redistributed, as cash-rich, massive market valued Internet firms will bully and get a free ride on capital-intensive, smaller market valued … Read more
by publius I am furious at myself for not naming last night's post "It's a 'Part E' in the U.S.A." You don't get that sort of opportunity very often, and I blew it.
by publius House Democrats are warming to renaming the public option "Medicare Part E." The Hill reports: Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.” House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option. … Read more
by publius As I've noted before, it's nothing short of a miracle that the FCC has come out so strongly for open networks. On its face, it seems to defy the ways of Washington — and public choice theory in particular. The FCC's action wasn't the result of lobbying by monied interest groups. It was … Read more
by publius The latest Post/ABC poll shows that Americans continue to favor a public option. Indeed, the public option is getting more popular — the poll shows that support has rebounded since the summer, thanks in no small part to committed liberal activists. The fact that the public option is genuinely popular should make it … Read more
by publius We are (knock on wood) tantalizingly close to historic health coverage reform. In the heat of today's debates, it's easy to forget just how big this is. If we enact reform, it will instantly be one of the most important legislative actions in American history — remembered alongside the New Deal and the … Read more
by publius Looks promising: The parent company is in ruthless cost-cutting mode on “30 Rock” this season, thanks to what the Republican-supporting, Wall Street-loving boss, Jack Donaghy ( Alec Baldwin ), smoothly refers to as “Comrade Obama’s recession.” NBC pages no longer receive overtime, and pink slips rain down in almost every department. Jack’s huge … Read more
by publius Rick Perry has apparently decided to double down on Willingham. After multiple articles came out documenting inappropriate political pressure on the investigation, Perry came out firing yesterday. Here's the Houston Chronicle: Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday defended his actions in the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, calling him a “monster” and a “bad … Read more
by publius One sign that coverage reform has momentum is that several of the recent attacks from insurers are designed to make the bill more like Democrats want. Understandably, insurers want more healthy people buying coverage — and so they want a stricter mandate. The only way, however, to justify a stricter mandate is to … Read more
by publius Happy V-F Day — reform has finally escaped from Finance, with a Republican vote to boot. And I am quite grateful to Sen. Snowe for doing the right thing in the face of almost certain reprisals. It's not an easy thing to do, but she did it. Ironically enough, though, Snowe's vote is … Read more
by publius I would like to think that sending a man to die would warrant more than 10 minutes of review by the Governor. But not in Texas. The Houston Chronicle adds some more details about how Perry disregarded doubts of Willingham's guilt. Three days before the execution, Willingham's attorney alerted Perry of a new … Read more
by publius Orwell once wrote, "[He] who controls the past, controls the future." Texas Governor Rick Perry has apparently taken the lesson to heart. He's now removed a fourth member of the Texas commission responsible for investigating whether Texas (and Perry) executed an innocent man. It's whitewashing at its worst. By now, you're probably familiar … Read more
by publius Several valued commenters have expressed concern lately that the comments are becoming increasingly hostile, etc. One aspect of ObWi that I really value is that it's a community for many of the people who visit here frequently and share comments. For that reason, we try (often unsuccessfully) to maintain basic levels of civility … Read more
by publius I'm not sure what the public option's current odds are. But regardless of the final result, the public option debate itself has been a beneficial and clarifying one for progressives. Generally speaking, political and intellectual coalitions often benefit from schisms that clarify and strengthen the coalition's ultimate positions. Sometimes, of course, these divisions … Read more
by publius Mark Thompson had a thoughtful response to my longer post on the Comcast case and the brief. It's worth reading the whole thing, but I had a few thoughts and comments. First, I think libertarians like Mark should be siding with the FCC—in this case, siding with the government agency best maximizes liberty. … Read more
by publius Previously obscure GA Representative Paul Broun thinks Pelosi is a "domestic enemy of the Constitution." As a result, he's now getting a bunch of attention. And while it's an obviously disturbing statement, my fear is that publicizing it only creates incentives for even more extreme statements. More broadly, the rising level of extreme … Read more
by publius Introducing a longer print article, Jay Newton-Small writes: John McCain returned to the Senate in 2000 a virtual liberal: throwing bombs at his Republican leaders (and especially George W. Bush). John McCain returned to the Senate in 2009 a virtual conservative[.] There's a pretty simple explanation for McCain's behavior over the past decade. … Read more
by publius Brendan Nyhan argues that Obama's health care speech didn't have much effect on public opinion. He notes that disapproval has now returned to previous levels after a brief bump. Numbers-wise, he's correct. But I think focusing on the numbers alone misses something very important about the speech — namely, it helped stop the … Read more
by John Blevins and Marvin Ammori (I'm using my real name because this piece is both co-authored and will be x-posted at Balkinization. I'll update with link when it gets posted. publius). Yesterday, a group of law professors and public interest organizations (listed below) filed briefs in Comcast v. FCC in the DC Circuit court—a … Read more
by publius Sorry for the non-posting of late, but I can explain. I helped file an amicus brief today in the Comcast litigation in the DC Circuit. I promise I'll explain it all in more detail later (and provide links to the brief for those interested). But now, must rest.
by publius I suppose it's funny if they're doing it ironically. If not, then not so much. Here's the review of Air's new one, if you can bear it: A half-decade of Balearic/glo-fi/'lude-house has since refined that mellow aesthetic to the point where taste-conscious end-runs around potential irony have become increasingly unnecessary. But while that … Read more
by publius In 2005, Peter Daou wrote a seminal essay called "The Triangle," which (among other things) examined the relationship between blogs and the "mainstream" media (MSM). Daou's framework provides the best context for understanding the wingers' recent victory lap on ACORN. As it turns out, the celebration has very little to do with ACORN … Read more
by publius Brian Beutler has the latest unhelpful comment from Ben Nelson on health coverage reform. And while it's really annoying to hear, I'm not sure it's that big of a deal. Nebraska, remember, is a very Republican state. Bush beat Kerry by over 30 points. Obama did much better, but still lost the state … Read more
by publius It's easy to understand why Obama is delaying a final decision on Afghanistan strategy. He's come to a major fork in the road — and each potential choice calls for radically different actions that can't be easily reversed. Eric Martin can correct me if I'm wrong, but Obama seems to be faced with … Read more
by publius Today's Post has a decent overview of Republicans' about-face on Medicare spending. Demagoguing Medicare cuts is quickly becoming the GOP's go-to argument. And it's hard to recall a more brazen and cynical act of hypocrisy. It's an argument premised entirely on the assumption that the public — and seniors in particular — will … Read more
by publius I've already noticed some cheering in conservative quarters about the sweeping victory of Merkel's center-right coalition. To the extent we're viewing the German election through domestic political lenses (and, as Americans, that's our God-given right), it's worth keeping relative baselines in perspective. As Yglesias notes, much of Merkel's coalition would be considered fairly … Read more