Beyond Parody

Daniel Larison’s take on Michael Steele’s ridiculous hip hop posturing is pretty hilarious. Now Michelle Bachmann – fresh from a crash course in Ebonics circa 1997 – is trying to get in on the action:
As Steele concluded his remarks, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann — the event’s moderator — told Steele he was “da man.”
“Michael Steele! [...]

Casting Stones

Before Jonah Goldberg and the rest of the NRO crew lay into the newly-ascendant Cult of Obama, they would do well to remember the last eight years of absurd Republican hero-worship.

Uncomfortably Numb

Post-bailout, does the public attach any significance to the dollar cost of public programs?  Do you? Do I? Chris Hayes writes that Republicans will opportunistically capitulate on the stimulus package and then use its cost to justify blocking Obama’s other legislative priorities. In any other political context, this strikes me as a savvy move, but [...]

Iraq’d

Buried in Mike Pence’s mindless Washington Times broadside is this foreign policy gem:
We must develop new strategies for strengthening our armed forces and homeland security, and be willing to oppose any effort to use our military for nation-building or progressive social experimentation.
You have to wade through several layers of Republican-speak to get to the real [...]

Minority Outreach

Go Republicans!

TPM Election Central notes today that South Carolina Republican Party Chairman and recently declared candidate for RNC chairman, Katon Dawson, was formerly a member of a the 80-year-old whites-only Forest Lake country club.
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In August, Dawson did indeed send a letter to the country club calling for it to open its doors to minorities. But [...]

Defenders of the Status Quo

Have you read Steven Horowitz’s excellent response essay at Cato Unbound? Here’s an interesting nugget:
Libertarians like me who make arguments of the second sort can easily be accused of “vulgar libertarianism.” There might be cases where that claim is valid, but I don’t think the accusation is fair when the analyst tries her best to [...]

The Sound of Silence

The David Brooks column everyone is talking about is, I think, one of the best examples of the Republican Party’s unwillingness to grapple with the Iraq War and its aftermath. The impending intra-party fight Brooks describes centers on social and economic policy, with nary a mention of the war or foreign affairs. As an Iraq [...]

Our Brand Is Crisis

“Better to be strong and wrong than weak and right.” – Bill Clinton
Say what you will about Bill Clinton, but he remains a shrewd observer of American politics. His aphorism aptly characterizes the approach of many on the Right, who evidently feel that McCain’s decision to suspend his flailing campaign is a sign of masterful [...]

Cover me!

Plenty of righteous anger is being directed at the terms of the proposed bailout, whose financial cost promises to be absolutely staggering. I won’t (read: can’t) comment on the merits of the bailout itself, but I will say that tacitly ceding economic management to Paulson and Bernanke is having some unintended political consequences. Here, for [...]