National Politics
Jason Jones delivers it on Jon Stewart, just after Stewart has illustrated the striking similarities between Bush’s rhetoric and Obama’s: It’s like, why is cheese delicious on Italian food, but when you melt it on Chinese food, it’s disgusting. I don’t know. I guess when Obama says this stuff, I don’t think he really means…
Here is the text of President Obama’s speech. His victory speech was much better, not the least because it was much more gracious toward and tolerant of the other side. Among the first statements issued in the president’s new, “unified” tone? On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and…
Connecticut has a familiar problem (h/t): While the private sector was shedding millions of jobs in 2008 and government budgets were collapsing under the weight of waste, fraud and carved-in-stone personnel costs, the public sector had another banner year. Governments at all levels hired 164,100 new employees and were largely responsible for the addition of…
On Monday, the Americans for Tax Reform organization will be holding a debate between the candidates for chairman of the Republican National Committee. Confirmed participants are Saul Anuzis, Ken Blackwell, Katon Dawson, Chip Saltsman and Michael Steele. Also inivited, but not confirmed the last time I checked the website, are Mike Duncan, Tina Benkiser and…
Is it me, or is the continued media harassment of the Palin clan beginning to seem like a more general warning: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says her future son-in-law is not a high school dropout as the press is reporting. … Palin said some media outlets also are erroneously reporting that her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol,…
In part blaming the Illinois legislature for failing to pass a law that would give the people of Illinois the chance to elect Barack Obama’s successor, Governor Rod Blagojevich has appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the United States Senate, saying, The people of Illinois are entitled to have two United States senators…
Obama’s “task force to bolster the standard of living of middle-class and working families in America” can’t possibly succeed at its stated objectives, because the ideas and priorities that constitute its basis for formation are deeply flawed, even inimical to the goal that it professes. Here’s a bit of ready evidence (emphasis added): The effort,…
Everybody’s talking about the Electoral College and the national popular vote movement, ’round here. Ian’s on it in the Phoenix. Matt Sledge talks it up on RI Future (although he doesn’t think it pertinent to mention that he’s the executive director of FairVote RI). Most interesting, however, is Edward Fitzpatrick’s column, because the recent FairVote…
Driving into work and listening to NPR (yup, really) I heard this story about Obama’s nationwide “Change is Coming” house party meetup things (there were some in Rhode Island, too). My first thought was: “It’s the holiday season, and these people have no better way to spend their Sunday than regurgitating Obama talking points at…
The Providence Journal’s front-page lead for the New York Times version of the story that Monique mentioned this morning is precious: Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich is accused of trying to profit from his appointment of Barack Obama’s successor in a scheme that didn’t involve the president-elect. It’s possible I’ve missed such things in the past,…