Ezra Klein

Congratulations are in order to Matt Yglesias, who’s closing down his site and thus reducing my competition. … … … Okay, he’s really just moving. Scared you though, didn’t I? Matt’s been bought out by Josh Marshall’s TPM Cafe, where he’ll have a solo site hosted on their servers and backed by the increased credibility […]

Wow. Excuse my lapse into Brad DeLongism, but the Washington Post’s Jim Vanderhei is getting shrill: The campaign to prevent the Senate filibuster of the president’s judicial nominations was simply the latest and most public example of similar transformations in Congress and the executive branch stretching back a decade. The common theme is to consolidate […]

Democrats voted to reject cloture on Bolton, in other words, they’re filibustering him until they get the NSA intercepts and other documents that have thus far been withheld. Looks like the opposition party has decided against going quietly into the sweet night. Good for them. Indeed, I think this may be more important than it […]

There was a time in this country when corporations sought not to cut and run from pension plans, shift health costs onto employees, and shortchange their workers. Indeed, their was a time when companies sought to invest in their workforces, under the assumption that their workforces would respond in kind. This comes from page 23 […]

Via The Carpetbagger we get a Roll Call article on Wesley Clark’s continuing efforts to insinuate himself into the national Democratic structure as the go-to guy on national security. As The Bagger says: The implications in the 2008 race are obvious, and the article notes that Clark is continuing to cultivate his relationships with key […]

Kenny Baer’s got a piece over at TNR raising the alarm over erosion in the Jewish vote. According to exit polls, there really isn’t any erosion in the Jewish vote, but as Baer convincingly argues, that may not actually be true. In any case, it doesn’t matter. At this point, it’s really not about keeping […]

David Corn sat in on Dick Durbin explaining the filibuster deal and he’s come out with a good write-up of the senator’s rationale. Durbin’s disappointed, so those of you who found the halfway measure distasteful can rest easy in Dick’s arms. But he’s also resigned. According to him, we didn’t have the votes to stop […]

John Thune’s victory over Tom Daschle was won, in large part, on the rationale that a South Dakota senator allied with the White House could do more for the state. The centerpiece of the claim was that Rove’s enmity towards the then-minority leader would spur him to close Ellsworth Air Force base, while Thune’s election […]

This week’s New Yorker has a fawning profile on McCain, one of those looong cover stories underscoring his deep commitment to honesty, noble way, rugged good looks, and long-lived mother (I’m not kidding). Strangely enough, it also had something very interesting. When McCain ran in 2000, he received Gary Bauer’s endorsement. Bauer, of course, is […]

“It’s become time to define a Schwarzenegger Republican. A Schwarzenegger Republican is a Bush Republican who says he’s a Schwarzenegger Republican.” That’s Warren Beatty giving the commencement speech at the Berkeley School of Public Policy. I consider myself something of a sucker for good oration. And indeed, I’ve got the speech compendiums to prove it. […]