President obama didn’t mis-speak when he said that “the private sector is doing fine.” It was a perfectly serviceable–fine, one might say–expression of a central point of his instantly notorious White House press …
Viewpoint
Regression to the Very Mean
Andrew Sullivan nails the loathsome John Podhoretz, who tweets against the Obamacare provision that allows children up to the age of 26 to be covered by their parents’ health insurance.
Presumably Pod doesn’t have children of that age who are caught in entry-level jobs, or temp work, or internships that don’t come with health …
Gas Prices and the Big GOP Lie
To hear the Republican presidential candidates tell it, President Obama is doing all he can — shy of changing the price signs at your local Mobil station — to raise the cost of gasoline. Last week Mitt Romney told Fox News that Obama “has done everything in his power to make it harder for us to get oil and natural gas in this …
Two Wrongs and the Right: Overreaction to Conservatives Leads Liberals to Hypocrisy
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred needs to join the 21st century. Or the 20th. Last week, amid the well-deserved outcry over Rush Limbaugh’s stunningly loutish remarks about Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke — whom Limbaugh called a “slut” and a “prostitute” for supporting mandated contraception coverage — Allred made a …
Limbaugh’s Rant Isn’t Just Ignorant; It’s Terrible Politics
Just as the GOP was struggling to recover from Rick Santorum’s self-declared crusade against the “dangers of contraception” in this country, along comes Rush Limbaugh with an offensive and ignorant series of attacks on Sandra Fluke, a young woman who testified recently regarding the financial cost of birth control for female students at …
Por Que Ningun Partido Habla Nuestro Lenguaje
In the latest issue of TIME, author and award-winning Univision anchor Jorge Ramos wrote a column, ‘Why neither party is speaking our language,’ on the political isolation of Latino American voters in 2012. His piece, along with …
What Is a Conservative?
Mitt Romney’s advance toward the Republican nomination has provoked a lively conversation about what it means to be a conservative in America today. TIME asked a number of right-leaning thinkers to answer one of three questions to help define both their ideology and their challenges for the future.
Likudnik Paranoia
Uh-oh, there’s another wave of attacks–both here and in Israel–on those of us who support Israel, but not in the mindless, aggressive way that neoconservatives do and not at the expense of America’s national interests. Over there, Bibi Netanyahu has proclaimed the New York Times and Haaretz the “biggest” enemies of Israel. Over here, …
Santorum Investment Advice, Then and Now
I’m on leave writing a book about my beloved stimulus, but when I heard about Rick Santorum’s big finish in Iowa, it reminded me: Didn’t someone advise Swampland readers to invest in Santorum back in May when Intrade was giving him a 0.5% chance to win the nomination, because “that’s going to rise as the campaign starts heating up in …
Rep. Sensenbrenner Says Michelle Obama Has a ‘Big Butt.’ Really!!?
When a 17-term Republican congressman and former chair of the House Judiciary Committee says the First Lady has a “big butt,” there’s only one way to respond. So with apologies to Seth Myers (and Amy Poehler)…
Really, Jim Sensenbrenner? Really?! While speaking to a constituent–and one who has just expressed her admiration for …
Our Pakistani Allies
Jonesboro, Arkansas
I’ve got to take a break from road trip posting–there’ll be more tomorrow morning–to say: Finally! And Hoorah. Finally, the U.S. is acknowledging what some of us have been reporting for years: the Haqqani Taliban network is an asset of the Pakistani military. This means we’ve been played for suckers for the past …
Solyndra Hypocrisy: David Vitter Sought Energy Loans He Now Seeks to Scrutinize
Washington “scandals” have a predictable rhythm, and the Solyndra solar loan “scandal” has entered the phase where critics start exploiting the controversy to push their ideological agenda.
The Sisyphean Stimulus Sell: Why Obama’s Big Job Speech Will Likely Prove Unpersuasive
Governor Rick “Galileo” Perry declared at the Reagan Library last night that President Obama and his 2009 stimulus have “proven once and for all that government spending will not create one job.” Actually, in the last …