Sam Rosenfeld

THE WAGES OF INCOMPETENCE. When I run into conservatives, especially neoconservatives, a point I impress upon them with which they either eagerly or grudgingly agree is this: Because of the bungled, too-few-troops, no-occupation-strategy, go-it-mostly-alone approach in Iraq, we may never know for sure whether the grandiose theories of the PNAC�ers like Paul Wolfowitz are visionary […]

TALE OF TWO TEXANS. Inspired by this mash note from Time‘s Blog Of The Year, I remembered that one of the finest moments in Spike Lee‘s masterful HBO documentary on Hurricane Katrina came when Douglas Brinkley — who’s much more shrill, and gratifyingly so, as a talking head here than he’s ever been on Jim […]

FREE ADVICE. Far be it from me to give advice to the good folks at the Republican National Committee, and they’re certainly entitled to risk death and dismemberment in the dungeons of Grand Vizer Kos. But, given the great vehicle that the Internets are for helping us celebrate anniversaries, do the ambitious little GOP drones […]

THIS WEEK IN PANEL BALANCE. Classic Sunday chat show roundtable on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday: George Will, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Fareed Zakaria, and Robin Wright. For those keeping score, that’s a conservative, a neoconservative, a moderate conservative, and a straight news reporter. The subject was the fiasco of American strategy in the Middle East, however, […]

NEWSWEEK ON A ROLL. Gerson is one thing, but this piece on Joe Lieberman by the magazine’s religion columnist truly has to be seen to be believed. As M.J. Rosenberg put it, “Newsweek should be ashamed for publishing a Jackie Mason joke and calling it a column.” –Sam Rosenfeld

THE DIVE THEY DIDN’T NEED TO TAKE. Over the weekend, there was some more dust kicked up about the decisions that The New York Times made concerning the timing of the publication of its groundbreaking story regarding the administration’s domestic surveillance program. Editor And Publisher pretty much argues here that the Times took a dive […]

NEWT’S RETURN. Of all the conservative writers who emerged from The Weekly Standard, Andrew Ferguson by far was my favorite. Which is why I summon up his valedictory to Speaker Newt Gingrich here in the context of Gingrich’s sudden reemergence channeling Charles Martel through the voice of Kermit The Frog. Over the weekend, you may […]

THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT: LIBERAL, ANTI-WAR, AND ELITE. Over at Slate, Bossman Tomasky has a riposte to Jacob Weissberg‘s “Lamont as McGovern” piece. As Mike stresses, the evidence beyond Connecticut of a destructive intra-party revolt against hawkish and/or “moderate” Democrats is basically non-existent. Elsewhere on the Weissberg pushback front, Matt and many others point out […]

FINALLY, THE LIBERAL MEDIA PULLS THROUGH. Greg flags a really noteworthy news article today. Kudos to the press! –Sam Rosenfeld

JOE AND THE STOCK OPTIONS. In between writing a bunch of frightening posts about the bursting housing bubble, Dean Baker took some time out yesterday to remind us of Joe Lieberman‘s ignominious and highly consequential ’90s-era role in getting the Financial Accounting Standards Board to back down from requiring that stock options be treated as […]