Carlotta Gall has a terrific piece in the Times today, interviewing a former Islamist militant, who maintains that the Pakistani military is behind much of the terrorist activity in south Asia. This is not new, but the level of detail is fascinating. Take, for instance, this tidbit about how the Pakistani military–using a retired …
Viewpoint
Tim Geithner Owns the Economy, Too
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the last remaining principal from President Obama’s original economic team, apparently may step down once the debt ceiling gets sorted out. The obvious point to make about Geithner is that …
How Michele Bachmann’s Surge Reshuffles the GOP Presidential Race
Last week’s Des Moines Register poll tells us — assuming nothing actually happens in Iowa over the next six months — that about 22% of the 125,000 or so Hawkeyes most likely to show up for next year’s Republican caucus will …
Obama Bound
Mike Gerson has a pretty smart column in the Washington Post today about the President’s political dilemma, given the current economic doldrums. Gerson starts with the coincidence of Obama’s visit to a Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, …
Victory! The Grey Goliath Gives Way on Social Security
Here at Swampland, we get results. In April, I explained my principled refusal to join AARP, despite my advanced age, because it defends the ruinous practice of taking money from children and future children to give it to the wealthiest segment of our society: retirees. And not just the seniors who need it (we should definitely support …
Yes, Let’s Kill Ethanol Jobs
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO— As corn ethanol’s Public Enemy Number One — did my plaque get lost in the mail? — I’m thrilled the Senate voted to kill the industry’s fiscally and ecologically ludicrous tax credit. But it was galling — if not too surprising — to hear Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, complain that the …
Republicans Don’t Care If Default Boosts Deficits, Because They Don’t Care About Deficits
The Republican Party, after converting huge surpluses into huge deficits during the Bush era, after opposing deficit-reducing health reforms, student loan reforms and big-bank taxes during the Obama era, after continuing to clamor for trillions of dollars in deficit-expanding tax cuts while gutting House pay-as-you-go rules to make it …
What Would Anthony Weiner Tweet About This Worthy Effort to Reduce Waste?
It’s a trivial matter, with no connection whatsoever to the obscene congressional tweets that demand our attention in these troubled times, but President Obama’s widely ridiculed stimulus bill has brought unprecedented transparency and accountability to federal spending, which is why it’s been virtually fraud-free. So now the …
A Feast for Fat Cats, A Project for Liberals
These are depressing times for liberals. The President is groveling in the White House, trying hard to please the Wall Street financiers who bankrolled him in the past, but are angry now because he called them “fat cats” and …
The Wages of Weinermania
OK. Enough. I must admit I’ve enjoyed the furious Weinerian punning. It’s been a magical summer story for the New York tabloids, and victimless as well, unless you count the shmuck at the center of it, who is yet another male …
Romney for President: “He’s Not Going to Change His Mind” (At Least This One Time)
I hate to keep picking on Mitt Romney, but…oh, who am I kidding. I love to pick on Mitt Romney! He’s an Onion headline in a suit! He’s John Kerry with an R after his name! Today’s new hilarity comes from an unnamed adviser in …
Mitt Romney: Obama’s Next Energy Czar?
I suspect that Mitt Romney’s record of sane centrist achievement, along with his hilarious flip-floppery and unconvincing pose as a red-meat right-winger, will doom him in the Republican primary. But it would be a shame to waste his talents, so I’m going to start proposing possible jobs for him in the sane centrist Obama …
Liquid Courage: Pawlenty vs. Huntsman on Ethanol
Longtime corn ethanol supporter Tim Pawlenty has gotten a lot of good press for his allegedly courageous proposal to phase out ethanol subsidies, because they’re popular in Iowa. I suppose on this issue he’s more courageous than Mitt Romney, which is sort of like being more eloquent than The Situation. But in my official role as …