Mori Dinauer

I love this streak of petty authoritarianism that runs through some conservatives. Rick Santorum doesn’t like decisions coming out of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals? Get rid of the entire circuit! What a wonderfully relativistic universe of law and order! I can play this game! I thought Citizen’s United was a terrible decision, so […]

Rhodes Cook: “When it comes to presidents and reelection, two things seem clear. If they appear to be in control of events, they win. If events seem to be controlling them, they lose.” This is just another way of saying that the fundamentals matter, in this case the state of the economy. Whether they deserve […]

Contrary to the blathering of some Republican hack, the Obama administration can “do” very little about the evolving situation in Egypt. Personally, I think the writing’s on the wall for Mubarak, and probably in no small part because he knows his options for retaining power are increasingly limited to outright oppression, a little of which […]

Needless to say, none of the five reasons Chris Cillizza gives for why John Huntsman “can win” the Republican nomination are persuasive. But that’s what happens when pro/con lists are thoughtlessly applied to situations like this. I’m more curious as to why Huntsman himself thinks he could prevail (if he actually plans on running). Prepping […]

It’s Friday, so time for some more irresponsible 2012 election blogging. Apropos of this Jonathan Bernstein post and Steve Kornacki‘s counterexample on the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire, I’d add a point. Since delegates are awarded proportionately in the Republican primaries, skipping the early contests makes little sense. But more to the point, Romney […]

Kathleen Parker thought it was noteworthy that the the president’s speech about American Exceptionalism didn’t actually use the term “exceptional,” so in an exclusive interview with John Boehner, she asked him about it. Replyeth the speaker: “They’ve refused to talk about America exceptionalism. … They reject that notion.” I assume by “they” Boehner is referring […]

Of all the criticisms of the SOTU, the most irritating is the charge that the president didn’t express sufficient solidarity with protesters in Egypt or any number of a bazillion other places around the world. For one thing, as Daniel Larison says, this wasn’t a “State of the Empire speech.” Yet across the board, from […]

Mitch McConnell explains the governing strategy of his political party: “If the president is willing to do what I and my members would do anyway, we’re not going to say no.” In other words, McConnell doesn’t believe in politics. You know, give and take, compromise, deal-making — all that stuff. I’m surprised he believes in […]

John Heilemann‘s long New York magazine cover story on the retooling of the Obama presidency is a good read, but it’s still just a well-honed version of the old “Obama needs to reconnect with the country” narrative we’ve been seeing for the past year. I’m perfectly willing to concede that Obama’s personal popularity has had […]

Once you start talking about next year’s presidential election, it becomes your go-to source on a slow news day. So it behooves me to endorse Michael Crowley‘s theory about Rudy Giuliani teasing another presidential run. And I have to mention Mitt Romney keeping his distance from the Tea Partiers. Got to talk about what inspires […]