Mori Dinauer

Bruce Bartlett fleshes out the one scenario in which the U.S. could default on its debt: Congress fails to extend the debt ceiling. Since Republicans will certainly gain seats in the Senate in the fall, there will be that many more votes against doing so (this from a party that’s shown no interest in deficit […]

It’s impossible to take Republicans seriously on clean energy when they simultaneously propose fleets of electric cars and deny that wind power has “anything to do with reducing America’s dependence on oil.” At least proposing electric cars is kinda-sorta a plan, but it’s not a whole lot better than the default Republican position of denying […]

The radicalization of the Republican party has consequences beyond fringe candidates. There are policy outcomes, like Lindsey Graham surveying the Republican base and concluding that the party should vociferously oppose any effort to put a price on carbon emissions. Not that this lets Graham off the hook. “The title [Milton Friedman‘s Free to Choose] says […]

As long as only one party is serious about addressing climate change, and the public remains convinced we can do this without cost, we should expect worst-case climate scenarios over the next century. Ezra Klein has a few ideas about what to do in the wake of Lindsey Graham‘s abandonment of his own bill. The […]

As Monica noted earlier, this year’s uncertainty doesn’t give us a lot to talk about on an otherwise busy Election Day. Indeed, John Sides quantifies the incumbent re-election rate this year at 76 percent. But I suppose we could kill some time making meaningless comparisons to the 2008 presidential primary field. The open liberal disenchantment […]

The evolution in the past decade from “we don’t torture” to “I’d totally waterboard KSM again” is depressing. Is it only a matter of time before human experimentation is considered something every American should be proud of? Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t taking action that disrupts a country’s “whole way of life” — as […]

The effort to make routine White House job offers into “Obama‘s Watergate” illustrates how much better the right wing is at “working the refs” in the press. Consider the success master fixer Karl Rove has had in creating total amnesia about his own efforts to use the executive branch to further the interests of the […]

It’s true, as Joshua Green writes, that sometimes the best and the brightest fail to give sound advice. But what is the alternative to relying on experts? Sycophants? Partisan hacks? Industry flaks? Unfortunately, we have to have faith that presidents have good judgment, that they will consult a variety of experts who disagree on a […]

One problem with charting Barack Obama‘s success in selling government as a force for good is that no matter how successful he is with the general public, he’s not going to convince Republicans. Since Ronald Reagan, the GOP has transformed itself from a party made up of different strains of conservative thought to one almost […]

Greg Sargent has been assiduously following a hollow new meme: that Barack Obama needs to show more emotion when dealing with the Gulf catastrophe because only then will people feel like something’s being done. One might note that this isn’t even a real criticism of the administration’s role in the disaster — indeed, vital regulatory […]