Tax Attacks… If I were a politician or candidate looking for an anti-corporate-welfare issue to champion, one that would resonate with ordinary voters and small business owners; that would increase government revenues progressively; that would win the support of most academic economists and newspaper editorial boards; and that would put my crony-capitalist political opponents in […]
Paul Glastris
Paul Glastris is Editor in Chief of the Washington Monthly, founder of the magazine’s alternative college rankings, and president of the Washington Monthly Institute. He was previously a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and a correspondent and editor at U.S. News and World Report. He is a co-founder of the National Vote at Home Institute and co-author of two books, “The Other College Guide: A Roadmap to the Right School for You,” and “Elephant in the Room: Washington in the Bush Years.” He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Slate, and other publications.
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
Tax Deform
Tax Deform… C-SPAN the other day broadcast a conference by the New America Foundation on tax reform. It was an informative, timely program, full of wise ideas about how to alter the tax code in just and economically efficient ways. But what struck me about the conference, at least the portion of it I saw, […]
Posted inMagazine
Editor’s Note
Meanwhile, liberals are left with the feeling of not just having been beaten, but conqueredand by an opponent who, given his record of spectacular policy failures, should have lost. Yes, Democrats did plenty of things right. They waged a united fight, raised a lot of small-donor money, and began to build a new opposition infrastructure. […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
LOSE STINGERS
LOOSE STINGERS… Thousands of Iraqi surface to air missiles are now missing, according to The New York Times. Note that we are hearing about this now, after the election, from unnamed government officials talking on Friday, so as to bury the news in the Saturday papers. This is hardly surprising, because the news is very, […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
DIAGNOSIS
DIAGNOSIS… There’s a lot of speculation out there that the Democrats’ loss this week will spark a vicious new civil war between the party’s left and center. While that could happen, so far I see no clear signs. Quite the opposite, in fact. Looking at the exit polls, progressives are suddenly talking about how they […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
HELP WANTED
HELP WANTED… Here’s an idea: Bill Clinton for DNC Chairman.
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
AMONG THE THUGS
AMONG THE THUGS… So, it seems the GOP has won the first legal battle of the 2004 election. This morning, a federal appeals court overturned a federal district court decision blocking voter “challenges” in Ohio. Now, thousands of Republican lawyers will descend on mostly-minority precincts in an apparent attempt to guard against fraudulent voters but […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
BACK TO OHIO
BACK TO OHIO… Pundits have long argued that Ohio is the new Florida, the state most likely to decide the 2004 election. You hear less of that talk right now, with so many other states surprisingly in flux. But Ohio is clearly one of the top battlegrounds. And it remains hard (for me at least) […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
FUN FACTS
FUN FACTS… From two Boston Globe columnists, two interesting poll numbers I’d not seen on which groups are predisposed to believe falsehoods about Iraq. There’s this from Ellen Goodman: As recently as two weeks ago, the Harris Poll showed that 41 percent of Americans still link Saddam Hussein with the hijackers. What’s more disheartening is […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
STAN THE MAN
STAN THE MAN… An email from Kerry campaign pollster Stan Greenberg that came my way today. It’s got an obvious buck-it-up spin to it, but I also think it’s basically right. Here’s an excerpt: The stability in this poll reflects the overall stability of the race for president. This past week, George Bush polled 47.9 […]
