Ezra Klein

The Times, unwilling to buy Bush’s idealization of Chile, has run a stake through the heart of that comparison. The article on the failings of Chile’s privatization system is excellent all around, but this is the money quote: “It is evident the system requires reform,” the minister of labor and social security, Ricardo Scolari, said […]

Via Kriston, I see Doubleday is taking fire for their decision to publish an al-Qa’eda Reader. The book would consist of translations of tracts penned by the organization’s leaders with all profits going to charity. Of course, the usual outcry is emerging, and it’s only a matter of time till O’Reilly pops a blood vessel […]

Michael nails this one nicely. Generally, the US government works off a speak no evil policy where, if they’re not talking about a problem, it doesn’t exist. It’s quite convenient, actually, appearing as less an oligarch’s callousness than a child’s sweet, blissful ignorance. The government couldn’t have done anything, they didn’t even know! Which brings […]

I love this post. It’s perfect.

Nicholas Thompson’s case for Chief Justice Scalia is persuasive, but a tad optimistic. While I agree that, given Scalia’s predictability, intelligence, and symbolic value to the right, we’d benefit from a trade that put him in Rehnquist’s place and filled his vacancy with a moderate, what in Bush’s history or character makes Nick think such […]

Doug Feith has quit. Oh happy day! The prime incompetent amid a sea of pretenders, he distinguished himself as an omnipresent voice for incompetence, playing a crucial part in fucking up of the invasion, and occupation, of Iraq. To quote Suellentrop: Of all the revelations that have surfaced about the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal so […]

So, as Jesse finds out, the Cato and Heritage Social Security calculators are totally misleading. But the real question is, why don’t liberal organizations have similar, albeit less lie-filled, calculators online? Why isn’t the DNC hitting their list with a calculator letting them see what the Bush plan could do to their retirement? Why isn’t […]

via Josh Marshall, this cartoon says it all.

Da Moose is right, Hillary is making the sweet moves. If Bill’s enormous charisma and obvious potential gave him the credibility to cross liberals on key policies (or symbols), Hillary’s position as bugaboo of the right and liberal icon is allowing her to assume unorthodox stances on issues where progressives desperately need some creative repositioning. […]

Brad’s got a good post on the ironically named Copenhagen Consensus, Bjorn Lomberg’s blue-ribbon panel to determine the most cost-effective forms of environmental activism. His point — that it’d all be well and good if governments would actually follow the recommendations rather than just use them to knock down spending on global warming prevention is […]