National Politics

Reed’s Unimpressive Spinnage

By Justin Katz | August 27, 2009 |

As I catch up with my Projo reading, an article describing a Web chat with Senator Reed reinforces my impression that he’s spectacularly unimpressive. I see no intellectual interest in the man, only talking-point recitation: When readers mentioned two proposals that Republicans tend to embrace, Reed pointed out what he views as their limitations. When…

The Comedy Duo of Whitehouse and Reed

By Justin Katz | August 27, 2009 |

When Monique brought up our liveblogging from the healthcare community dinner hosted by Senators Whitehouse and Reed, on the Matt Allen Show, the conversation drifted toward the oddity of the Senators tackling this issue, locally as a team. Matt’s thesis is that Reed doesn’t care about the issue, while Whitehouse has all the background, yet…

A Trillion Dollars per Year

By Justin Katz | August 26, 2009 |

President Obama has put the government on track to realize nearly one trillion dollars per year of cumulative deficit for the next decade: In a chilling forecast, the White House is predicting a 10-year federal deficit of $9 trillion — more than the sum of all previous deficits since America’s founding. And it says by…

They’ve Heard Us

By Justin Katz | August 25, 2009 |

An understandably frustrated Karin commented to a recent post: Does it really matter who yells and screams. They have no intention of changing the way they vote. The yelling is out of pure frustration that we have zero control over these guys. One needn’t read Sunday’s Providence Journal article about our delegation’s backing off the…

Ajami: Obama Cult of Personality = FAIL

By Marc Comtois | August 25, 2009 |

Fouad Ajami: American democracy has never been democracy by plebiscite, a process by which a leader is anointed, then the populace steps out of the way, and the anointed one puts his political program in place. In the American tradition, the “mandate of heaven” is gained and lost every day and people talk back to…

UPDATED: Langevin Town Hall Video

By Justin Katz | August 25, 2009 |

UPDATE: The video below is now complete; I’ve also managed to take some of the echo out of the audio, so it might be a little easier to understand what people are saying. Given that Andrew and I attended a separate press session before Congressman Jim Langevin’s town hall meeting in Warwick, tonight, and that…

We All Need An Obama Vacation

By Marc Comtois | August 24, 2009 |

The Prez is off: Seven months after taking the oath of office, President Obama on Sunday began his first vacation, traveling to this tony hideaway for Hollywood stars, the wealthy and the occasional politician….Past presidents have been queasy about what they called their time away from the White House, fearing the image of a checked-out…

The Weekly Steyn

By Justin Katz | August 22, 2009 |

Sing it, brother: That’s why the “stimulus” flopped. It didn’t just fail to stimulate, it actively deterred stimulation, because it was the first explicit signal to America and the world that the Democrats’ political priorities overrode everything else. If you’re a business owner, why take on extra employees when cap’n’trade is promising increased regulatory costs…

UPDATED: Senators Whitehouse and Reed Meet in West Warwick

By Justin Katz | August 21, 2009 |

UPDATE: The collection of video clips (below) from this event is complete. Thursday night’s community dinner with Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse did indeed have its drama. It also had moments of should-have-been-revelation that we’ll be exploring in the days to come. In the meantime, I’m collecting the raw video in the extended entry…

Blame the Betcha Gal

By Justin Katz | August 20, 2009 |

When the Pawtucket Times’ Jim Baron lobbed Congressman Langevin the “death panel” volley ball to smack down during the pre-town hall presser, it occurred to me that if (and I repeat: if) some monstrosity of a socializing healthcare bill becomes law, at least some of the blame with fall to Sarah Palin. When she initially…