Ezra Klein

As Brad notes, moving from wage-indexing to price-indexing would result in a huge benefits cut. Had someone retiring in 2005 chosen a price-indexing system, his benefits would be 60% less than his fellow retirees, and his gas bill would go unpaid. So we should certainly oppose it on those grounds. But one thing that I […]

• Al Franken is running in Minnesota. • In a presidential head-to-head, Hillary Clinton beats John Kerry 51-34%. In Massachusetts. That’s gotta hurt.

The Training Wheel strategy makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe somebody should appoint Justin Logan to something and let him try and implement it. I should clarify this though and say it only makes sense in context of the constraints Bush has already placed on himself. It’s self-evident that we need to set […]

Not only is Bush a cold-hearted, callous dolt whose idealistic fog can’t even be penetrated by a woman working three jobs, he’s also wrong. He calls that uniquely American? Bullshit. I live in California and can assure you it’s at least partially Mexican. By the way, I like Greg’s game: choose your own answer to […]

Early in Bush’s first term, a friend of a friend had, through family connections, gotten a few minutes in the Oval Office with the guy. Bush, he said, was exactly as you’d expect. When he found that his guest was Californian, he leaned back in his chair and sighed, “You know, i just don’t get […]

Via Steve Clemons, Marty Sieff’s analysis of what Dean means for Hillary Clinton is quite good. His basic point is that Hillary will stroll to reelection in 2006 (adding evidence to the theory is her tremendous approval numbers and her easy lead in head-to-head match-ups with Giuliani) while Dems across the country fight it out. […]

Dude, seeing surveillance photos of your kids at school is a pretty convincing rationale, if you ask me.

In Minnesota, Mark Dayton has decided not to run for another seat, making the 2006 map considerably harder than it was yesterday. On the other hand, I’ve long heard rumors that Paul Wellstone’s son David wants to run for the Senate. The word on him is good and his father’s legacy would make him a […]

Brad Plumer’s noticed a problem: I’m a bit confused as to what Congressional Republicans think would make for a better budget. It seems that the two primary objections from President Bush’s own party are: cuts to particular programs, and the yawning federal budget deficit, which the budget doesn’t really cure. Okay. But then a sizeable […]

Damn, that’s a cool painting.