Ed Kilgore

Just realized yesterday that I’ve now been at Political Animal longer than Steve Benen was here. Amazing, eh? Here are some midday news/views snacks: * Obama announces he’s no longer planning to withdraw last 5,000 or so U.S. troops out of Afghanistan before the end of his term. * McCarthy now not alone as Republican […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr So here was Ted Cruz’ calm and reflective observations about the first Democratic presidential debate, as conveyed to an Iowa audience (per the Dallas Morning News‘ Todd Gillman): “It was more socialism, more pacifism, more weakness & less Constitution,” he told about 100 people crammed into a motel lobby in Kalona, a small […]

As we head towards what will probably be another fiscal crisis in December, perhaps managed by a caretaker Speaker of the House, coinciding with the frenzy of a presidential nominating contest in which nearly all Republicans are running against their own party’s leadership, it’s a good time to step back and remind ourselves how we […]

The landmark Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges swept away all laws discriminating against same-sex couples, right? Well, not exactly. As the University of Oregon’s Alison Gash (who you may remember from a 2013 Washington Monthly article on gay adoption law) explains in a web exclusive at Ten Miles Square today, state laws governing […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr Looking around the commentariat this morning, there are some good signs for Dr. Ben Carson. His recent deployment of Hitler analogies doesn’t seem to have created quite the media storm it probably deserved. A new national poll from Fox has him up in the 20s and only a point behind Donald Trump. The […]

Michael Vadon/Wikimedia Commons There’s a fascinating piece up at Politico this morning from Eli Stokols and Marc Caputo that documents the Jeb Bush presidential campaign’s new interest in frugality. On the first day of a two-day Iowa swing back in August, Jeb Bush flew from Davenport to Ankeny in a private plane. The next day, […]

Blues guitarist Robert Ward was born on this day in 1938. Here he is performing “Blood Run Cold” with Ry Cooder. By definition, that’s cool.

It’s the ninth anniversary of Tammy Booth’s (a.k.a. Blue Girl) service in monitoring the comment threads here at WaMo, among other duties. She outlasted both Kevin and Steve, and isn’t slowing down. A collective tip of the hat to Tammy! Here are some remains of the day: * Last night’s Democratic presidential debate wound up […]

If you need a good, if not very charitable, laugh today, I strongly recommend Ben Terris’ WaPo article about his experience participating in–well, let him explain it: In 1996 a woman named Jennifer Ringley decided to put a camera in her apartment and broadcast her entire life over the Internet. Because it was a new […]

I know it’s only half-serious, but still, one of the better commentaries I’ve seen about the Democratic presidential field (actual and potential) was offered by an unnamed correspondent with WaMo Contributing Editor James Fallows, who published the bon mot at the Atlantic: Why is Chafee running? Or, more accurately, for what is he running? My […]