Ed Kilgore

There’s a lot to be said for afternoon naps after staying up late to watch and write about Republican debates. I’m headed there shortly without stopping for a doctor’s prescription. Here are some remains of the day: * Online polls show not Rubio or Cruz but Trump winning the CNBC debate. * TNR headlines are […]

At his website today Brad DeLong grabbed an image of Jeb Bush with the CNN chyron: “BUSH: MY CAMPAIGN IS NOT ON LIFE SUPPORT,” and makes the inevitable connection: But is it the case that the JEB! Bush campaign’s soul fled long ago? And that it is now being kept alive at huge expense only […]

I’ve probably said enough about the conditions under which John Boehner gave up his Speaker’s gavel and resigned his House seat. And I’m still a bit amazed at his success in getting a budget deal signed and through the House even as he was packing up his golf clubs. But since we probably won’t have […]

Managed to wrap up the debate live-blogging and then a TPM Column by about 9:30 PDT last night. But then kept dreaming of men in suits making crazy sounds. Here are some quieter midday news/views treats: * To no one’s surprise, Paul Ryan elected Speaker with only 9 Republicans voting against him. * Third quarter […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr There’s one more bit of post-election news worth noting if you can avoid the mesmerizing sight of buzzards circling the suddenly toasty Bush campaign. Dave Weigel has the story: Republican presidential front-runner Ben Carson told reporters Thursday that he was reaching out to every rival campaign to lobby for changes to future debate […]

It probably won’t make your day since it’s an analysis of how an extremist party continues to impose its will on the country, but Tom Schaller does a good job at the American Prospect of briskly summarizing and classifying the various ways in which the GOP has managed to expand its control over Congress and […]

secretlondon123/Flickr Here’s some potentially big news for the really serious political animals out there, from AP’s David Pace: When voters go to the polls in Kentucky and Mississippi on Nov. 3, The Associated Press will be launching experiments aimed at finding more accurate and less expensive ways to survey them. With funding from the Knight […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr Before turning the page on last night’s CNBC debate, I do want to draw attention to what was probably the single dumbest moment, brought to us by probably the single smartest candidate on the stage, Ted Cruz. CNBC’s Rick Santelli, who seems determined to induce interest rate hikes, asked Cruz what he thought […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr It’s not easy to get a grip on what happened in Boulder, Colorado last night at the CNBC-sponsored third GOP presidential debate. The questioning was limited to economic and fiscal policy issues (though that did not keep Lindsey Graham from his usual warmongering in the “undercard” debate), so we got just one mention […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr Nancy LeTourneau was at the controls here when the two-year budget deal got through the House via the mother of all Hastert Rule violations, and she’s right that there are always enough House Republicans who will stick with the leadership when they choose to move legislation supported by the entire Democratic Conference. But […]