Ezra Klein

I haven’t said anything on the Lebanon/Syria situation because I don’t know anything about Lebanon or Syria. I do, however, know enough to recommend Praktike’s comments on the matter. And by the way, are you reading Liberals Against Terrorism? Cause if you’re not, you should be. Even Haggai’s hanging out there now.

Will the prime minister be Jafari? Chalabi? A third candidate? I don’t know, but I know who to ask: A close aide to al-Sistani, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alliance leaders will visit his office in Najaf to get his blessing for their choice for prime minister. If they cannot agree, al-Sistani will […]

Mark Schmitt’s post on the narrow missions of foundations reminded me of something Nick Confessore wrote a few weeks back in his New York Times Magazine expose of Bush’s tax plans (behind the archive so no link): Within Republican circles, Norquist’s job is to organize other organizations, making sure the different branches of conservatism are […]

This is a very, very stupid poll. If George Washington came back from the dead and tried to capture the presidency, I’d vote for Bush as well! Why? Because he knows who Osama bin Laden is. And he has likely heard of the internet, not to mention Medicare. And his context isn’t centuries old. The […]

You should read Ed Kilgore’s comments on the latest salvo in the abortion battle, wherein Carol Tobias of the National Right to Life Committee firmly rejected Hillary Clinton’s call for compromise. As Ed notes, hardcore anti-choice folks don’t see a moral difference between birth control and abortion procedures, forcing them to explain that publicly drives […]

Well this is brilliant. We’re outsourcing the war to incompetent soldiers from poor countries with shoddy human rights records. And, just like with regular outsourcing, the manpower is being massed through a byzantine web of contractors and subcontractors and no one can figure out what country’s laws, if any, these guys fall into. In addition, […]

Matt’s asking the big questions: If Jimmy Carter is truly a traitor, yet as an ex-president he still gets top-level intelligence briefings, is the Republic safe? I expect that George W. Bush is feeding him misinformation so Carter will mislead his superior (code name: Jesus), but how can we know the tricky devil isn’t seeing […]

If you haven’t been already, you should really be checking out the newly-launched Campus Progress. As the kids say, it’s the shizzle. Update: While you’re there, you really have to check out “So Speaks Some Guy With a Website“. Brilliant.

This may be a blessing in disguise. The Muslim Scholars Association, a hardline, highly-influential Sunni group, has offered their participation in the government if US troops set a timetable for withdrawal. It’s a demand we obviously can’t meet as is, but were the Shi’as and Kurds to announce that the path was now for the […]

So I thought it was a good idea. You know, a fun one. I’d write a review of Hugh Hewitt’s new book, Blog, get a byline and a check, go home happy. I mean, the book isn’t really long or anything, is it? Well, no, it’s not. But it certainly the most distasteful piece of […]