Most Americans blithely assume that they live in the country that’s the world leader in information technologies. Ours is, after all, home to the most recognizable high-tech corporate brands and the land where the Internet’s fundamental architecture was first worked out. As a CIA assessment puts it, we enjoy “the largest and most technologically powerful […]
Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias is a senior editor at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a former Prospect staff writer, and the author of Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats.
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Foregone Forethought
In the annals of stupid news events, the “controversy” sparked by Howard Dean’s claim that the GOP is “pretty much a white, Christian party” ranks pretty high. Not only did Dean fail to say anything objectionable, but also that remark isn’t something anyone could seriously deny. Nor does it even count as a criticism of […]
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Amsterdam and Alabama
In a decent universe, the failure of the proposed new constitution for the European Union to gain the allegiance of voters in France and the Netherlands would be an opportunity for pundits to try to help the American people understand something about the politics and policy of European integration. This is an important topic, involving […]
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Stem-Sold
Reacting in part to scientific advances in South Korea, President George W. Bush last week issued the first-ever veto threat of his presidency. If a bipartisan bill aimed at making available federal funding for stem-cell research — and co-sponsored by Representatives Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) — passes Congress, Bush will refuse to […]
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Match Me If You Can
On Friday, Larry Lindsey broke new ground — for someone associated with Bush administration economic policymaking — in his testimony to a House panel on Social Security reform: He proposed something resembling a good idea. Lindsey’s basic pitch is that each worker should contribute 1.5 percent of his or her payroll taxes to a private […]
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Index Fun
Before the Bush administration came out in favor of “progressive price indexing” for Social Security, conservative commentators hailed the wisdom of the White House’s vaguely formulated plan and charged liberals with opportunistic obstructionism in their opposition to the plan. Then the president endorsed “progressive” indexing and … conservative commentators hailed the wisdom of the White […]
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False Gospel
On Saturday night, I celebrated Passover, the holiday commemorating the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery in Egypt, with my family in northern Virginia. On Sunday morning, Bill Frist, majority leader of the U.S. Senate, took to the airwaves alongside a group of evangelical leaders, headed by Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, for […]
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The Bugman’s Swarm
I’m going to come right out and admit that I have no idea why Tom DeLay’s enemies are determined to bring him down. Is it genuine outrage that he seems to have illegally pocketed gifts from corporate allies? One hopes not. It’s trivial compared with the more widespread (and perfectly legal) Republican practice of selling […]
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Failure Buster
Washington is abuzz with talk that the Senate Republicans will deploy the so-called “nuclear option” — in essence, violating the rules of the Senate to eliminate the possibility of mounting a filibuster against a presidential nominee — in order to obtain the confirmation of a handful of President George W. Bush’s appointments to the federal […]
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Past Pessimism
A specter is haunting the Democratic Party: the specter of whiny liberals. A late March poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press contained excellent news on the Social Security front. Support for privatization continues to drop, and opposition continues to correlate strongly with awareness of the issue. And while young people […]
