Sam Rosenfeld

PELOSI VS. HASTERT. In his New York Times web column, Carl Hulse argues that there is a stark contrast between the leadership style of Nancy Pelosi and that of her predecessor Dennis Hastert in that Pelosi seems to have abandoned Hastert’s “majority of the majority” doctrine, where only bills that had majority support from the […]

TODAY IN TAP ONLINE. In his column this week, Terence Samuel discusses the disillusionment of the antiwar movement as one of its iconic figures throws in the towel: With some effort, the most determinedly optimistic among us may be able to find some upsides to the messy U.S. involvement in Iraq; but, in general, the […]

LIKE A CAT? Sorry, a bit more Friday-and-unserious blogging: As several fellow TAPPEDers know I shave about once every two weeks and generally sport a scraggly not-quite-beard, but I figured I knew what there was to know about facial hair. But Mitt Romney‘s kid reports that his beard would “shed”? Beards shed? Is that common […]

B-H B.S. Recall that David Ignatius wrote an op-ed last week championing the Bush administration’s trial-balloon interest in resuscitating some of the Baker–Hamilton Commission’s recommendations for Iraq, and wagging his finger at “partisans” like Nancy Pelosi and the president himself for standing in the way of a bipartisan solution to the Iraq “impasse.” Now that […]

ELEPHANT HUNTING. I’m admittedly biased because I have written a couple of pieces (as has Ezra) for Ryan Sager’s new online politics site at the New York Sun — not to mention, Sager’s book about Republicans’ increasingly dicey status in the Interior West, The Elephant in the Room, is an obvious complement to arguments from […]

MITT ROMNEY, CYBORG. This, from Bruce Reed, made me laugh out loud multiple times. –Sam Rosenfeld

DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE. I think Christopher Orr has the goods here regarding Joe Klein and John Kerry. –Sam Rosenfeld

ON THE SUPPLEMENTAL. Some folks have asked, why the silence on TAPPED (and TAP Online) regarding the grim endgame to the Iraq supplemental fight in Congress? Fair enough! It’s been a travel week for a lot of us and I, for one, am trying to catch up; we do have a piece going up hopefully […]

GPS TRACKING? The body of one of the three missing U.S. soldiers was found south of Baghdad in the Euphrates River yesterday. The soldier has been identified as 20-year-old Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. “Hassan al-Jibouri, 32, said he saw the body with head wounds and whip marks on its back floating on the river Wednesday […]

DEADLIEST “FRIEDMAN UNIT” YET. Sadly, it’s official: With eight days still to go, May 2007 caps the deadliest six-month period for America of the entire Iraq war — 540 dead, and counting. May also ends the first six-month period during which at least 80 American service personnel (never mind contractors) died every single month. It’s […]