Ed Kilgore

Robert Costa’s WaPo piece based on an interview with Donald Trump has lots of useful information–or for all we know, propaganda–about The Donald’s future plans. We learn that his original paid media budget for 2015 was $20 million, which he still plans to spend in a more abbreviated time-span. We learn that he’s got a […]

A friend tells the story of entering a Burger King near the French Quarter in New Orleans very late one night (or perhaps very early in the morning, depending on how you look at it) and asking for a Whopper. “We’re out of Whoppers” said the person at the cash register. “OK, how about a […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr A lot of observers have noted a somewhat different tone in liberal reactions to the latest gun massacre, led by the president’s own exasperated denunciation of the inability of Congress to enact even gun safety measures supported by the vast majority of Americans, and indeed the vast majority of gun owners. But I’d […]

Marc Nozell/Flickr So yesterday there was a big, big kerfuffle in chattering classes everywhere over Edward-Isaac Dovere’s claim at Politico that it was Joe Biden himself who told Maureen Dowd of the New York Times about his late son’s dying wish that he run for president–which when reported by Dowd in an August 1 column […]

Colin Cooper of the Climax Blues Band was born on this day in 1939. Here’s the band in its earlier, bluesier days performing “St. Michael’s Blues” in 1971.

So I hear the baseball post-season begins tonight with the Yankees facing the–Astros? I totally missed the Astros changing leagues. That’s how closely I follow baseball these days, after once being a fanatic Bill James disciple. Here are some remains of the day: * Justice Department to release 6,000 federal inmates convicted of non-violent drug […]

Maybe it’s because Marco Rubio is on my mind today, but have to say, Brother Benen raises one of those obvious but forgettable points about the nature of the Floridian’s massive flip-flop on immigration reform, as expressed in an interview with John Harwood: This week, the GOP candidate sat down with CNBC’s John Harwood, and […]

It’s not a real good sign when your name is turned into a synonym for political backstabbling. That seems to have happened beyond retrieval to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who wants to be the next Speaker of the House. Here’s a Tweet from the guy who first lifted Chaffetz from obscurity to power in Utah: […]

Mike Tomasky is right: an awful lot of pundits have already decided Marco Rubio is your 2016 Republican presidential nominee, and an awful lot of liberals–or at least this is the idea I get from list-serves–are terrified by the prospect. You know, there’s the youth thing and the Latino thing and the not-dumb-as-a-rock thing. But […]

Most people think Little Sonny was named after his idol Sonny Boy Williamson, but seems his mama called him that long before he picked up a harmonica. Serendipity. Here are some serendipitous midday news/views treats: * For people who can’t get enough of Iowa political minutiae, Craig Robinson’s published a useful list of the 50 […]