"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
publius by publius I haven't followed the Virginia governor's campaign as closely as I'd like. But it seems clear that McDonnell was pretty much running away with it before his thesis emerged. The views in his thesis have really wounded him — and rightly so. It's not exactly a college-era exploration. He wrote it at 34, … Read more
by publius I'm not entirely sure why including maternity care in health insurance benefits is a hill that Jon Kyl wanted to fight on. But he did: I don't need maternity care and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the insurance more expensive. … Read more
by publius Regardless of what you think of Posner, you have to respect his willingness to write an essay like that. It's no easy thing, after decades of being on a different "team," to be that intellectually open to re-examining your basic foundations and assumptions. It's an admirable trait — and I hope I would … Read more
by publius Richard Posner just wrote one of those "read the whole thing" essays in TNR. And it's the clearest and most persuasive theoretical grounding of recent Democratic economic policies that I've seen. It's dense in a few places, but he generally lays out pretty clearly the logic of things like the fiscal stimulus, policies … Read more
by publius I apologize for being a broken record this week, but this week's FCC decision is an incredibly important one. And it's important to stand up for it now, in the immediate aftermath, while opinions are being formed. So that said, there is a great deal wrong with this Peter Suderman critique of the … Read more
by publius One unfortunate aspect of today's political conservative movement is that much of it is defined entirely by opposition — and contempt — for liberals. That's the ideological glue that holds many otherwise inconsistent policies and coalitions together. Another dynamic is simply that frustrations with the Bush administration led to massive amounts of cognitive … Read more
by publius Julian Sanchez wrote a thoughtful critique of the FCC's decision yesterday. There's a lot there, but his main theme is simply that we should be skeptical of adopting rules like these because of the potential unknown consequences (on investment, network construction, etc.). A few thoughts… First, it's a small point, but I don't … Read more
by publius Following up on Eric's post, I just read this very insightful Q & A with Rick Perlstein (author of Nixonland, Before the Storm) on ACORN. It's about the best analysis I've seen. The upshot, according to Perlstein, is that ACORN is a largely manufactured crisis. A few employees at an extremely marginal organization … Read more
by publius I'm pretty sure I have never — before today — yelled at NPR's Robert Siegel in my car. But his intro to the segment on the FCC ruling left me no choice (audio): The Internet has gone largely unregulated since it came into being more than 30 years ago[.] But today the Chairman … Read more
by publius I've only scanned the speech, but on first glance, it looks pretty solid. It hits the right notes on the value of open networks — it expands substantive protections. It's good. Also, one particularly nice and unexpected touch — very Obama/Genachowski-ish — is that the FCC launched a new website today called openinternet.gov. … Read more
by publius In further evidence that elections matter, the FCC is taking an aggressive step tomorrow toward protecting open networks (a more accurate term than "net neutrality"). The WSJ reported on Saturday: The U.S. government plans to propose broad new rules Monday that would force Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally[.] The FCC … Read more
by publius I won't pretend to claim expertise in the debate about whether the feds should regulate bankers' compensation. But the devil, it seems, is in the details. I could easily imagine rules that are excessive intrusions — but I could just as easily imagine acceptable ones too. Regardless, though, the underlying theory of imposing … Read more
by publius Sorry for non-posting (almost finished with outside project), but I thought this Post article was worth noting. In addition to domestic violence, insurers have adopted a few other noteworthy pre-existing conditions: Health insurers have issued guidelines saying they could deny coverage to people suffering from such conditions as acne, hemorrhoids and bunions. One … Read more
by publius Ezra Klein notes a very, very promising aspect of Baucus's bill: The House bill, for instance, specifically allows businesses with only 20 or fewer people to join. Baucus goes quite a bit further. He begins by mandating that businesses with up to 50 employees be allowed to buy into the exchanges. If states … Read more
by publius Is the number of Republicans supporting Baucus's bill, which is apparently going to be released today. The Hill reports that Snowe is now out. But hey, maybe Baucus can still get Enzi. In all seriousness, I don't think this is the last word on Snowe. It could be kabuki on her part — … Read more
by publius Let me echo Andrew Sullivan and Rod Dreher and Conor Friedersdorf in condemning the utterly shameful and race-baiting exploitation of yesterday's school bus incident. I'm not big on writing posts that start "Rush Limbaugh did outrageous thing X today…", but this is an exception. And it's not just Limbaugh. It's also Malkin, and … Read more
by publius This weekend's Post had an interesting take on whether colleges might soon go the way of newspapers. The basic gist is that the rise of online long-distance learning makes a lot of the traditional college system unnecessary and redundant. While these trends are not promising for the Publius family checkbook, it's easy to … Read more
by publius America's favorite Senate committee seems to be close to an actual bill. And I have good news and bad news on that front. First, the bad news… Suzy Khimm at TNR is reporting that the Baucus bill isn't going to raise the cap on subsidies. It's going to remain at 300% of poverty, … Read more
by publius I have mixed feelings about this weekend's protests. On the one hand, I have a soft spot for marches like these. Regardless of who sponsors them, lots of people made the effort to join the proud tradition of speaking out on the DC Mall on issues important to them. That said, the amount … Read more
by publius Via a Weigel tweet, Kanye interrupts Obama’s address to Congress. Plus, a Kanye thread.
by publius Amanda Marcotte writes that many insurance companies treat domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. This is one of those "read the whole thing" posts, but I've excerpted a bit below. Other than the obvious grotesqueness of it, I think it shows the dangers of allowing coverage decisions to be made purely by market … Read more
by publius I'm in the midst of deadlines, etc., but I wanted to note that Salon has published a new essay by Professor Lee Kovarsky, who guest posted here a while back on the Court's most recent habeas decision. In light of the recent New Yorker article arguing convincingly that Texas executed an innocent man, … Read more
by publius Tonight's speech was one of Obama's very best — and he's delivered some good ones. I don't have any one overarching theme, but here are my thoughts: First, I'm glad there was such a big focus on benefits to the insured. The threats to insured people — rising premiums, lack of security — … Read more
by publius I'll write more later tonight, but I thought it was excellent.
by publius This Camille Paglia column is one of the most rambling incoherent pieces I’ve ever read (for a professional writer). It’s hard to even know where to start. The most obvious problem – the rambling hordes of lost adverbs in mile-long sentences – isn’t even what most bothers me. What most bothers me is … Read more
by publius We received this email from Andy Olmsted's father, and I wanted to pass it along to everyone here: We have finally gotten a chance to start the Major Andrew J. Olmsted Scholarship Fund at St. John's High School. The fund should be activated by this Friday, September 4th. . . . Anyone wishing … Read more
by publius One reason I'm suddenly feeling better about the chances of reform is that the incentives seem to be aligning in a more constructive way. And the pressure from the left for both a public option and reconciliation is helping make this happen. Consider the world from the perspective of insurance companies. Understandably, they're … Read more
by publius Rescission — i.e., canceling coverage when you get sick — is arguably the most outrageous action that health insurance companies take. So kudos to the Post for putting a rescission story on A1. There's more to this debate than town halls. This is what's really at stake in our once-in-a-generation opportunity for reform: … Read more
by publius It's clearly not as important as today's socialist infiltration of our (socialized) schools, but the Afghanistan election keeps getting smellier: Afghans loyal to President Hamid Karzai set up hundreds of fictitious polling sites where no one voted but where hundreds of thousands of ballots were still recorded toward the president’s re-election . . … Read more
by publius I caught the end of this CNN segment, and Atrios saved me the trouble of tracking it down: ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. How far would you go to get good health insurance? One man who lost his job and medical benefits reenlisted in the Army just to … Read more
by publius Max Baucus has finally circulated a health care plan. That single fact is probably more important than any substantive provision the plan contains. I just want the frickin' bill reported out of Finance, which has been holding up everything. Some of the highlights include (1) subsidies at 300% of poverty (too low); (2) … Read more
by publius The Blogger Licensing Board informs me that I have to say something about Van Jones. Scattered thoughts below: First, my take is that he's a guy with some amazing accomplishments who simply never should have signed on in light of his 9/11 comments. There's just no way you can ask an administration with … Read more
by publius As you'll recall, we passed a stimulus bill earlier this year. The original proposal was already too small. But then a group of centrist Senators led by Ben Nelson and Susan Collins demanded additional significant cuts to aid for states. They ultimately cut about $25 billion from the original proposal, most of which … Read more
by publius To add a more substantive note to my last post, the retreat on the school language is extremely irritating (and a bit depressing). The reason is that it signals weakness and defensiveness. Look, I understand completely the need for legislative horsetrading and deal-cutting. We have a failed political institution (the Senate) that makes … Read more
by publius Jake Tapper, "WH, Dept. of Education Revise Language": In an acknowledgment that the Department of Education provided lesson plans written somewhat inartfully, surrounding the President Obama’s speech to students next Tuesday, the White House today announced that it had rewritten one of the sections in question. NYT, "Obama Aides Aim to Simplify and … Read more