In the Arena In the Arena

Pentagon Cuts

The usual suspects are whinging about SecDef Robert Gates’ plan to eliminate the Joint Forces Command and reduce the number of Pentagon bureaucrats and contractors. Actual military experts like Abu Mook don’t seem very upset. JFCom mostly existed to expedite inter-service relations–the sort of thing that’s nice but not exactly …

Sarah Palin Stops By The “Worst Governor Ever” Sign

In the new issue of Vanity Fair, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer is quoted making the following observation: “What they teach you on the first day of press-secretary school is to worry about blowing something up by giving attention to it. … ‘Don’t blow something up.’” He goes on to explain that those rules no …

John Boehner vs. “Funny Accounting”

It wasn’t exactly a red-hot newsmaking weekend, but my former colleague Jon Chait noticed the same thing I did from the Sunday political talk shows — namely House Republican leader John Boehner’s awkward attempt to reconcile his critiques of Barack Obama’s fiscal responsibility with his support for extending the Bush tax cuts, which are …

Anyone Know Elizabeth Warren’s Travel Schedule?

After weeks of dodging the question, White House aides telegraphed today the timing for the announcement of a new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is from a gaggle with Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton on board Air Force One as it flew to Texas today, where Obama will grip ‘n grin with rich people for campaign …

The House’s Special Session

Ah, the joys of special session. Today 255 House Dems and 178 House Republicans are making their way back to Washington for a 24-hour session of the lower chamber. The reason? A $26.1 billion bill providing aid to the states that the Senate finally managed to push through before adjourning last week — about half of the original $50 …

In the Arena In the Arena

Endorsements

Heading into election day tomorrow, we have two interesting–but not fascinating–endorsement fights in close races. In the Georgia GOP governor runoff, we have Sarah Palin’s candidate Karen Handel against Newt Gingrich’s endorsee Nathan Deal. In the Colorado Democratic Senate primary, we have Barack Obama’s candidate, the unelected …

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11-1

One of the more strenuous tasks I perform each week is to lend my vote to the Matthews Meter for Chris Matthews’ Sunday show. This past week we were asked whether the Republicans would stick to the economic message in the fall campaign. The vote was 11-1 that they would. I was the one. Let me explain:

In the Arena In the Arena

Good For Fareed

Belated congratulations to Fareed Zakaria for returning a reward–including cash money–he received from the Anti-Defamation League because of their defamatory position on the so-called Ground Zero mosque, which is located near, not on, the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I’m sure there are plenty of enlightened people of good faith …

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Worst News of the Weekend

So…while Pakistan suffers a monumental human catastrophe because of extensive monsoon flooding, the country’s president–Asif Ali Zardari–is off having “meetings” in Paris and London and Islamist radicals are providing the bulk of relief services. Is it any wonder that we–and the elected governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan–are …