Politico spotlights a good angle to the subject of my new print piece this week: the huge Republican money steamroller poised to flatten Democrats from coast to coast in the midterms. If you read my story you’ll see that Karl Rove is a central player in this effort, particularly through the anodyne sounding group American Crossroads, …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Election Road Trip, Day 11: Democratic Tea
Kansas City, Missouri
Traveling Companions: Harper Barnes, Katy Steinmetz
Events: Robin Carnahan veterans roundtable; Time Kansas City barbecue
Robin Carnahan, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Missouri, is attempting a three-cushion bank shot: Her opponent is long-time Republican Congressman Roy Blunt, a …
Which Side Are You On? Team Fear or Team Reason?
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Morning Must Reads: Rollout
–Conservative bigwigs and most of the prospective 2012 Republican field are gathered at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit today in Washington. These types of events tend to be message testing grounds and there’s red meat aplenty on the menu. Check out the schedule or watch live on C-SPAN.
–Inimitable and esteemed …
What’s Behind Warren’s Weird Title
Obama will NOT nominate Elizabeth Warren to be the interim director of the powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) tomorrow. What he will do is name her Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on CFPB, administration sources say. Tangled politics, both within the executive branch …
In Which the Tea Party Outdoes Progressives
One political dynamic that’s emerging this election season is the strength of the right and the weakness of the left.
While the Tea Party appears, in many ways, to be steering the ship of the Republican Party, on the other end of the spectrum, progressives may feel like their banging their heads against the wall.
Just take a …
Christine O’Donnell and the Politics of Abstinence
Amid all the talk of the Delaware Tea Party darling’s background promoting a philosophy of abstinence so strict that it excludes what Woody Allen once called “sex with someone I love” I wondered about the state of the abstinence movement in the U.S. nowadays. It seems like something one heard of in O’Donnell’s promotional heyday about 15 …
What Christine O’Donnell Got Wrong About Thomas Jefferson
At the end of her victory speech Tuesday night, Christine O’Donnell quoted Thomas Jefferson. “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” (See here at 12:11)
You can buy that quote online on everything from
Morning Must Reads: Split
President Obama delivers remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 33rd Annual Awards Gala in Washington September 15, 2010. (Photo by REUTERS/Jim Young)
–Obama splits the baby on the Elizabeth Warren appointment, naming her a special adviser sans Senate confirmation and rankling the Harvard prof’s boosters and …
In the ArenaUncategorized
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More from the road: Underwater in Detroit
In the ArenaUncategorized
Exit Fenty, Exit Rhee
Ben Smith says the teacher’s union spent heavily to stop the reform of the Washington, DC, school system…and won. I have been covering this issue for 30 years and it never changes: the teachers unions are a force for ignorance and stagnation. I’m in favor of industrial unions: I understand who they’re organized against–the power of …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Election Road Trip, Day 10: How to Get a Job…and Some Songs
St. Louis, Missouri
I spent the morning writing my print column and the afternoon driving to St. Louis, through the cornfields of Illinois. Saw one pretty big wind farm just north of Bloomington–the first I’ve seen on this trip, which is not very encouraging. Stopped for gas just outside of Springfield and the proprietor of …
The 1099 Fracas and Income Tax Evasion 101
We are a nation of tax cheats. In 2001, the difference between what Americans and businesses owed in taxes and what they actually paid voluntarily was $345 billion.
The enormous amount, known as the “tax gap” has been vexing politicians and IRS bureaucrats ever since it was quantified in 2005. Of course, one way to increase U.S. …