Kevin Drum

MY LAST POST….This is it: my final post for the Washington Monthly. Starting tomorrow I’ll be blogging at Mother Jones. Here’s the URL to bookmark: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum Also starting tomorrow, this blog will be taken over by Steve Benen of the Carpetbagger Report and Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings. They’re two of the best in the business, […]

FLAT EARTH ECONOMICS….Here’s another passage from David Leonhardt’s piece about Obama’s economic agenda: There have now been two presidents in the last 30 years — Bush and Reagan — who cut taxes and promised that deficits would not follow. But the deficits did come, and they went away only after two other presidents — George […]

HOUSES….I have to say that the McCain campaign’s response to the “how many houses does he have?” dustup really has been hilarious. Roundup here. Most bizarre response here: “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.” Roger that. You can almost smell the flop sweat, […]

CALORIE COUNTING….Via Ezra, here is Jacob Sullum arguing that we shouldn’t force restaurants to conspicuously post the calorie counts of their meals: In a 2007 survey of California voters, 84 percent said they thought the government should force restaurant chains to display calorie numbers on their menus and menu boards. That may happen soon: The […]

JOHN McCAIN’S HOMES….This is just straight-up DNC propaganda, but it’s still pretty funny. As a friend remarks, “This is heaven sent for the Dem Convention. Couldn’t you just see Ann Richards (RIP) running with this line?”

OBAMA’S ECONOMICS….In a New York Times Magazine piece running this weekend, David Leonhardt does a good job of describing Barack Obama’s economic worldview, which is dominated by a mindful friendliness toward market solutions for economic problems (Cass Sunstein calls him a “University of Chicago Democrat”). Examples include his proposals on healthcare, housing, education, and 401(k) […]

WINGNUT WELFARE….TPM reports that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has hired Hans von Spakovsky as a “special assistant.” How heartwarming. This means that the guy reponsible for the infamous purging of the voter rolls in Florida before the 2000 election (just one among many of his greatest hits) will now be helping out with […]

TERRORIST PROFILING….The British security service, MI5, has concluded an exhaustive investigation into domestic terrorism and says that it’s impossible to draw up a profile of a “typical” terrorist: The sophisticated analysis, based on hundreds of case studies by the security service, says there is no single pathway to violent extremism. ….They are mostly British nationals, […]

McCAIN’S HOMES….John McCain isn’t sure how many homes he owns? Could be anywhere from four to ten, I guess, and liberals are predictably kicking up a fuss. But look: it’s easy to get confused about this stuff. I’m not even sure how many homes I own. You’d think the answer would be one, but a […]