The Editors

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: TACTICS MAKE PERFECT. We hear a lot of clamoring for the Democrats to nationalize the midterms around a positive, coherent policy agenda. That’s easier said than done, obviously. Tom makes the case for nationalizing the elections tactically, through the use of a few effective gambits across the country that convey […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: MIND THE GAP. Justin Logan discusses the lingering divide between Democratic voters, who by now have come to unambiguously repudiate the Bush doctrine on security issues, and Democratic foreign policy elites, who haven’t quite done so. Simply asking candidates about their views won�t promise much insight as to the way […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: FEAR OF A NINTH PLANET. Matt calls out astronomers for this Pluto crap: Astronomy, clearly, had been progressing just fine in previous decades without a rigorous definition of �planet.� Telescopes, NASA-launched probes, and other instruments were bringing us more and more information about which objects exist in the solar system […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: AGAINST DEMOCRACY. Last week, Shadi Hamid argued (here and here) that, to close the “vision gap” on foreign policy, progressives need to resist the realist temptation and reclaim democracy promotion from the neoconservatives. Today, Spencer Ackerman responds with a call to “uncouple human rights from democracy” and make promotion of […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: IS OUR PRESIDENT LEARNING? Just how bogus, desperate, and perversely counterproductive is the Bush team’s new p.r. push to present George W. as an intellectually minded bookworm? Steve Benen answers. –The Editors

HORSE’S MOUTH PSA. We’re happy to announce a guest who’ll be supplementing Greg‘s work at The Horse’s Mouth until Election Day: Brendan Nyhan, of Spinsanity and All the President’s Spin fame. We expect great stuff from Brendan, and Greg will still be contributing regularly as well, so be sure to check in on the site. […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: FRIDAY REVIEWS. Two reviews today of new films to check out. Tracie McMillan assesses the new PBS documentary on the working poor, Waging a Living, while Alex P. Kellogg recommends OutKast’s vibrant, subversive musical, Idlewild. –The Editors

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: WHAT WOULD LENIN DO? Should progressives seek to shore up the employer-based healtcare system in ways that help employees of companies like Wal-Mart, or are such measures actually counterproductive to the long-term goal of replacing that system with national health insurance? Do things need to get worse before they get […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: AN ACCOUNTABILITY MOMENT. Public outrage; political infighting; the outbreak of myriad corruption, real estate, and sex scandals — Jo-Ann Mort takes us on a tour of the Israeli domestic political scene in the wake of the war in Lebanon. It ain’t pretty. –The Editors

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: DON’T LOOK AWAY. Inspired by a blistering speech from a former U.N. special envoy, Ezra reminds us that pleading futility is a bogus excuse when it comes to the global AIDS crisis. In fact, millions could be saved with just a minimal uptick of commitment from Western countries. –The Editors