Ezra Klein

Great post by Matt on parental notification laws. Like Kevin Drum, who he’s responding to, I had mixed feelings on the issue, but then my girlfriend unmixed them using almost exactly the same line of reasoning Matt utilizes here. So go get demixed.

I think Kevin Drum gets it mostly right on the Michael Walzer piece: To a large extent, despite the triumphalism of the right, liberalism has won most of the big debates in this country. Sure, we’ve only gotten 80% or 90% of what we set out to get half a century ago, but it’s hard […]

Commenting on the British elections, Sullivan writes: I also fear that the battering of Blair means a future Brown government will keep increasing spending and so hamper Britain’s post-Thatcher renaissance. I’d happily vote Tory this time on those grounds alone. Of course, no one on the Labour left in Britain is proposing the kind of […]

Ahmad Chalabi’s going to be Iraq’s oil minister? You kidding me?

Sigh. The Weekly Standard is right. The gas tax is actually a bad idea. I’ve advocated for it in the past, and many have done the same recently, but it’s a poor way to deal with the energy crisis. The gas tax fails because it penalizes folks for conditions outside their control. We generally imagine […]

So the new Bush energy plan (not, to be clear, the atrocious energy bill). It’s not really bad, just kinda lame. I mean, yes, we do need to break through the impasses that are keeping nuclear energy plants and liquid natural gas terminals from being built. And the hybrid car subsidy is certainly a good […]

I’ve really been remiss in not plugging the site’s first advertiser, Obey the Pure Breed. You guys should do me a favor and check the site out, it’s really very funny. And in honor of the dog-theme and the Papillon section, and in expectation of you all visiting the site (preferrably through this link), I’m […]

Digby has an interesting response to my rebuttal to Kos (got all that?). Digby’s point is that the Republican definition — smaller government and lower taxes, family values, and a strong national defense — is a stance, not a legislative agenda nor a statement of class/constituency solidarity. Instead, it lays out a set of principles […]

Julia on political centrists: This is like saying that you drive mid-size cars because you own a Civic and a Hummer. This is like saying that Michigan has a temperate climate because it’s 95 in the summer and -10 in the winter. It’s like saying you’re a moderate drinker because you drink nothing Monday through […]

Bob Dole, in today’s New York Times (italics mine): In the coming days, I hope changing the Senate’s rules won’t be necessary, but Senator Frist will be fully justified in doing so if he believes he has exhausted every effort at compromise. Of course, there is an easier solution to the impasse: Democrats can stop […]