Paul Waldman

Marc Ambinder makes a useful comparison between the Tea Partiers and the Netroots: The Tea Party movement has been very successful in finding and running candidates for Senate because of the political economy of scale. But the gap between the threshold level of acceptability between the party and its activist base is wider than the […]

Not to pile on or anything, but I just had to pull out this quote from a TPM story about our new friend Christine O’Donnell: “During the primary, I heard the audible voice of God,” she said. “He said, ‘Credibility.’ It wasn’t a thought in my head. I thought it meant I was going to […]

The battle within the Republican Party over Christine O’Donnell, erstwhile anti-masturbation activist and newly minted GOP candidate for Senate in Delaware, appears on the surface to be between party insiders who are pragmatic and reasonable, and Tea Party outsiders who are idealistic to the point of stupidity. After all, they just threw over a guaranteed […]

If you watch local morning “news” shows — I’m not judging here, but just so you know, doing so puts your very soul in mortal danger — you may have seen various “consumer advocate” types come on and tell you about some awesome new products out there. But guess what? As James Rainey of the […]

To add something to what Jamelle said below about the National Journal poll showing that the GOP issue agenda isn’t particularly popular, it’s not much of a surprise. The Democrats usually have the advantage on issues; as I’ve been writing for some time, that’s why, roughly speaking, Democrats run campaigns with the slogan “Please read […]

Been wondering about whether you completely understand the nature of the competition between The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal? This video from Next Media, the Taiwanese company behind that computer animation of Tiger Woods fighting with his wife that swept the Internet a few months ago, should clear it up. Or maybe […]

Not to harp too much on Dinesh D’Souza‘s incredible Forbes cover article about how all of Barack Obama‘s presidency can be explained by the fact that his absent father injected him with an ideology of “Kenyan anti-colonialism” that to this day determines his every decision, but this bit of wingnuttery actually can be instructive for […]

Successful political leaders know how to read the prevailing winds and rush to the front of the parade that is passing by. And few people do this with more seriousness than Newt Gingrich, who somehow manages to remain a key Republican figure despite having left the speakership of the House in disgrace after scandals both […]

Lots of people noticed that in his speech in Cleveland earlier this week, President Obama mentioned House Minority Leader John Boehner eight times. This may or may not mean that turning Boehner into a villain is a key part of the White House’s strategy going into the fall elections. But if it is, can it […]