Sam Rosenfeld

GROVER NORQUIST’S EERIE PRESCIENCE. Today in The Washington Post, Grover Norquist argues not only that “Karl Rove changed history,” but that his vision “of the modern Republican Party as the dominant governing power” will “come sooner for his life and work.” (Norquist implies that the Democrats’ current hubristic overreach during their brief moment in the […]

REMEMBER THE DISASTROUS FOREIGN POLICY DOCTRINE AND ALL THE DEAD PEOPLE. The much-hyped Matt Scully takedown of his old colleague, former Bush speech-writer-turned WaPo columnist and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Michael Gerson (not, alas, available in full to non-subscribers), offers a hilarious, gossipy portrait of an apparently shameless (and heretofore effective) credit-hog and self-promoter, […]

THE IRAN CONNECTION. Ezra and Matt express skepticism about the new Michael Gordon-penned piece on Iran’s supply of bombs used against U.S. troops in Iraq. Gareth Porter has written recently about another such story of Iranian meddling that rested on pretty thin evidence. –Sam Rosenfeld

IVO DAALDER. Jon Chait links to this op-ed by Robert Kagan and Ivo Daalder proposing a “Concert of Democracies” to lend legitimacy to American interventions. Matt raises some compelling objections to the notion, but the broader merits of the concept aside, this from Chait caught my attention: “[The op-ed is] interesting not so much for […]

ELEVATING THE DISCUSSION. The AP’s David Yepsen did indeed get in a quick acerbic dig at yesterday’s GOP presidential debate after Rudy Giuliani said his plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure would be to cut taxes. It didn’t seem like it registered among any of the contenders, though. Giuliani’s answer typified the rock-hard commitment to vacuous […]

TNR LIIIIIIIES! Michelle Malkin and co. vindicated re. Beauchampgate! Or, perhaps not… Special bonus salaciousness here. UPDATE: Eventheliberal Scott Lemieux concedes that his initial suspicions of Stephen Glass redux were wrong. –Sam Rosenfeld

PROFILES IN COURAGE. Matt and Kevin Drum disagree a bit about the plausibility of the scenario outlined to Mike Crowley by Mystery Republican Senator X: On Iraq, this senator said he expects that, come September and the Petraeus-Crocker report, the White House will announce “a transition to a new approach.” He thinks that will involve […]