Mori Dinauer

Is it too much to ask that the intellectual space given to political insiders be contingent on actually producing thoughtful and realistic speculation? James Andrew Miller argues that Obama could foster “party unity” by offering Clinton the first dibs on the next Supreme Court vacancy: If Obama were to promise Clinton the first court vacancy, […]

Today’s Gallup numbers indicate that despite Obama‘s “Appalachia problem,” the presumptive Democratic nominee, unsurprisingly, is hardly dividing the party. In addition to leading Clinton by 16 points as the preferred presidential nominee amongst Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, he also leads or ties with Clinton in most demographics and is improving rapidly among all groups. Between […]

Yesterday Jordan flagged this George Packer retrospective on the conservative movement, and I thought this George Will observation stood out: Once the principled levity had died down and it came time for questions, I asked whether the conservative movement was dead. “It would be a sign of maturity if conservatives would stop using the phrase […]

Salon has an article up today that summarizes the transition of Karl Rove from disgraced Bush adviser to prized political analyst for Fox News. The article notes that in the three months since Rove went on the air to offer sage observations, the network has not acknowledged once the informal advisory role plays in the […]

The problem with Bill Kristol is not just that he’s shameless partisan hack, but that he is a profoundly unimaginative one. Take today’s GOP strategy memo column, perhaps his worst to date, in which he argues that John McCain is an “exceptional” candidate who transcends the GOP brand. As evidence Kristol cites the fact that […]

Ted Kennedy was hospitalized on Saturday after suffering a seizure. He appears to be fine now, although will remain at the hospital for observation and testing. Nancy Pelosi took a surprise trip to Iraq on Saturday. Although she stated that the war “must end,” it’s clear that nothing is ending until at least Inauguration Day, […]

Since I argued yesterday against Jim Webb for VP, I suppose I ought to argue in favor of someone else. And the best choice I see is Bill Richardson. If Richardson were running for the U.S. Senate seat in New Mexico, I wouldn’t want him in the VP slot for the same reason as Webb […]

I realize it plainly says “Senator John Edwards endorses Barack Obama” but doesn’t this image on Obama’s web site look like a pair of running mates? Discuss. –Mori Dinauer

Jim Manzi, at the Corner: This is pure emotionalism. Global warming doesn’t come close to threatening “a whole way of life”. Its expected impact is to make a much richer world 100 years from now ~3 percent poorer. Protecting ourselves against the outside risk of much worse effects mostly requires some prudent investments in fallback […]

Let’s see. First the Times ran an “op-classic” on Sunday, a 1990 think piece on the wisdom of invading places like Myanamar. On Wednesday, Robert Kaplan pondered the wisdom of such an intervention on humanitarian grounds, prompting Josh Marshall to remark, “But I have an even simpler idea. Why don’t we not invade any more […]