Paul Waldman

Brad DeLong passes along some choice words from Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul, the newest star of the GOP: Q: You want to be a senator from Kentucky, which is a relatively poor and unhealthy state. What do you propose to do to enrich the lives of Kentuckians, if you are elected senator? A: […]

You no doubt remember the story of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two reporters who were detained last year by the North Korean government. They had some advantages in getting their release secured — their boss at Current TV was Al Gore, a somewhat influential guy, and Ling’s sister is Lisa Ling, a well-known […]

Following up on Monica’s and Adam’s posts below about the crazy right-wing reaction to the fact that Rima Fakih, a Muslim-American from Michigan, won the Miss USA contest, I have a question: Why are beauty pageant contestants asked for their opinions about hot-button political issues? Apart from giving right-wing bloggers justification for railing about the […]

Here we go again: Another “family values Republican,” Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana, has been caught having an affair with one of his (female) aides. But so far, the story lacks the zazz you really need for it to become a front-pager. Like tickle fights. Why did this happen? One explanation is that Indiana is […]

(Flickr/Tim Pearce, Los Gatos) Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided that the indefinite detention of “sexually dangerous persons” after they have completed their sentences is constitutional. In case you weren’t aware of it, in recent years, many states have established procedures whereby officials can, at the end of someone’s prison sentence, place them in some kind […]

Katie Couric may not mention it tonight, but head-banging just lost one of its greats: Ronnie James Dio, lead singer for such bands as Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio, passed away at age 67. He had the perfect voice for a particular brand of heavy metal, the one that spent a lot of time on […]

(Flickr/MattJP) When asked why he spent so long looking for a parking spot instead of going to a garage, noted philosopher George Costanza replied, “A garage. I can’t even pull in there. It’s like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free?” There […]

Prior reports have told us that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was less than enthusiastic about Obama‘s decision to essentially stake his first term on an ambitious effort to comprehensively reform the nation’s health-care system. Today, Greg Sargent gives us some more detail, from Jonathan Alter’s upcoming book: The book, Jonathan Alter‘s The […]

A few years ago, municipal broadband seemed like a progressive’s dream. Instead of relying on the likes of AT&T and Comcast to deliver high-speed internet to people at a reasonable price, towns and cities could just do it themselves. But some of the high-profile projects didn’t go so well. The most ambitious plan — to […]