Why do liberals love Elizabeth Warren so much? It’s because of her actual record and positions, of course, and also because she is very talented at taking complex issues and presenting them in ways that are easy to understand without dumbing them down. It’s also because she has a kind of nurturing warrior thing going […]
Article
Posted inArticle
High Stakes
This is a fateful week for financial regulation and the financial system. European leaders are trying to reach a consensus on how to give Greece some breathing room to salvage its economy and to recapitalize the continent’s banks. Since the banks are heavily invested in Greek bonds, the more relief the Europeans give Greece, the […]
Posted inArticle
Smoked Out
As the fallout over the Bank of America debit-card fees shows, smart regulation has to be matched with aggressive consumer education.
Posted inArticle
Block the Vote
Flickr/Vaguely Artistic My feature from the November issue is up on the homepage today. Republicans, after gaining control of many state legislatures in 2010, have undertaken a coordinated effort to suppress voting rights. Photo-identification laws have been the splashiest measures passed, but a slew of subtler changes pose just as large a threat. My piece […]
Posted inArticle
What Herman Cain Understands About Conservatives
Politico reports on this exchange between Herman Cain and conservative radio host Neil Boortz: Boortz, at the tail end of the interview, asks Cain how he’d do in a debate against Obama: “It would almost be no contest.” Ticking off ways he could compete with Obama, Boortz says that Cain would be able to talk […]
Posted inArticle
Unfortunately, We Now Have to Take Herman Cain Seriously
When a candidate from the party you dislike has no chance at all of being successful, it’s hard to get too worked up about him or her. Yes, Rick Santorum is repellent, but how mad can you get at him? It’s not as though he’ll have the power to affect millions of lives anytime soon. […]
Posted inArticle
The Masculinity Patrol
Over at The Huffington Post, Soraya Chemaly absolutely nails one of the great injustices of childhood (and adulthood, although it’s less visible by then): the masculinity patrol. She makes a fabulous proposal: National Let Your Boy Be a Girl Day: Because every other day of the year they have to make sure they are NOT […]
Posted inArticle
Rick Perry Still Has a Chance
With a full three months before the first Republican presidential contests, there’s still a lot that can change in the race. For now, however, Mitt Romney is riding strong in New Hampshire, a crucial primary state. According to a new poll released by Harvard University and the Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm University, Romney […]
Posted inArticle
The Need-to-Know Presidency
Here, courtesy of Think Progress, is Herman Cain doing a little preemption for when future interviews reveal him to be not particularly knowledgeable about the kind of stuff a president needs to know: Yes, he said, “Ubeki-beki-beki-stan-stan.” And it’s good to know that before he departs for a state visit to a foreign country, he […]
Posted inArticle
ObamaneyCare Part Deux
Despite a long history of ideological heterodoxy, Mitt Romney has managed to move through the Republican nomination process unscathed by conservative attacks. To a large degree, you can say that Romney has been blessed with terrible opponents. Lower-tier candidates like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have never posed a threat to the Romney juggernaut, while […]