Ed Kilgore

Michael Vadon/Flickr Read this lede from a report by Politico‘s Annie Karni and tell me what’s wrong with it: Bernie Sanders’ ballyhooed speech on socialism is now on indefinite hold. Details about how Sanders would pay for his proposed single-payer national health insurance program to provide Medicare for all Americans have yet to be fleshed […]

When I heard about Mississippi’s Phil Bryant joining the cavalcade of Republican governors announcing a ban on Syrian refugees being resettled in his state, something stirred in my memory banks. I finally had it: back in the 1980s, a friend who did international business development for the Magnolia State mentioned in passing that citizens of […]

Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons Everybody’s favorite conservative-leaning numbers-cruncher, RealClearPolitics’ Sean Trende, along with his RCP colleague, David Byler, has unveiled another gizmo for political animals to play with. The last one involved general election projections based on variable turnout rates and partisan preference percentages for particular demographic groups. The new gizmo is strictly focused on the […]

Ilias Bartolini/Flickr We’re now up to 24 governors who have protested or announced a position of non-compliance or defiance towards federal efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in their states. 23 of these are Republicans; the one Democrat, NH’s Maggie Hassan, is in a tough Senate race against Kelly Ayotte. As explained by News Cult‘s Christopher […]

Louisiana blues musician Tab Benoit is 48 today. Here he is performing “Drowning on Dry Land” in Fairfield, CT,

Very wild day here at PA. Want you to know I read all the comments to Paul’s announcement on my new gig, and I am equally gratified by the praise hurled my way and by the very positive attitude about the new team here. Here are some remains of the day: * At National Journal, […]

If I’ve tried to do one thing consistently during my tenure at PA, it’s to explain the roots of Republican extremism in an ideology of “constitutional conservatism” that basically rejects the power of democratic majorities to promote policies that “violate” a wildly expansive number of individual rights, which conveniently coincide with the material and religious […]

Perhaps because I so resent identification of “Christians” with “Christian fundamentalism” (you know, as in “Christian” music and “Christian movies” and “Christian schools”), I really feel for Muslims who are being indirectly blamed for the barbaric acts and atavistic beliefs of their nominal co-religionists. At The Nation today, Laila Lalami pointed a very direct finger […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr In a commentary today on the domestic political fallout from the terrorist attacks in Paris, Greg Sargent notes that in a field of candidates sounding more shrill every day in tying together Islamophobia and nativism, it’s Donald Trump who really does seem to be leading the way, going so far as to suggest […]

Sorry there was some “confusion and delay” (to quote Thomas the Tank Engine’s boss Sir Topham Hat) this morning, but there was a whole lotta shakin’ going on at the WaMo barn with one issue to promote, another to edit, and the whole “announcement” thing. Here are some midday news/views treats: * Nine governors–all of […]