I disagree with both David and Michael. The universe of regulation is so large and the targets of administrative rule-making and enforcement so diverse that any attempt to broadly define “regulation”–let alone to prescribe a way to “fix” it–loses useful meaning and can hurt more than help.
That’s New York Times columnist David Brooks on the phone and Newt Gingrich coming down the stairs behind him. One possible motivation for fleeing: “Some people are interesting, like Newt Gingrich, but Newt Gingrich is not going to be President. I wouldn’t let that guy run a 7-Eleven, let alone a country.”
–Republican House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, commenting on GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s decision to distance himself from Ryan’s Medicare proposals.
The naysayers said Donald Trump was just pulling a con. They said he was doing it for the ratings and to help his renegotiation for a big Celebrity Apprentice payday next year. They said he just wanted folks to pay attention to him. They said he had no intention of ever making any personal sacrifice [...]
In his post today, Mike Grunwald bravely admits that “regulation is tricky” and “I’m not entirely sure what I think about these problems.” Here’s one way to think about: As a general rule, regulations that require large numbers of fallible human government employees to ferret out wrongdoing are destined not to work very well.
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is quickly developing a serious health reform problem and his defense sounds just like Mitt Romney’s.
TIME talked to former ambassador to China and Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman for a profile running in the May 23, 2011, issue of the magazine. Lightly edited excerpts from three separate interviews with Huntsman follow:
Revolving-door scandals like this one are a reminder that the housing and financial meltdowns of 2008 — not to mention the BP gulf oil spill and West Virginia’s Massey mine disaster — should have launched a great debate over how to regulate. Unfortunately, because one of our great political parties is having an intellectual meltdown, [...]
Now that Mike Huckabee has broken the hearts of social conservatives who very nearly helped him knock off John McCain in 2008 and were prepared to win him the nomination in 2012, who among the remaining potential candidates has a chance of picking up the votes of social conservatives, who made up 60% of GOP caucus-goers in Iowa in 2008?
No deal in sight as the government finally hits the debt ceiling. Jon Kyl may have put revenue increases on the table. Paul Krugman tries to convince Democrats to take a hard line. Should Mitt Romney form a tactical alliance with Michele Bachmann? Is he another John McCain?
