Blog: TAPPED

“WHA’HAPPENED?” If you are one of those people who makes a very good living by making offensive comments (and if you are such a person, welcome to Tapped!), life must seem quite arbitrary. One minute you’re rolling along, gleefully encouraging politicians and journalists who should know better to laugh along with you, or saying that […]

WORST EVER. The question, “Is George Bush the worst president ever?” was asked and answered a few months ago, and now Bush is just playing like Hank Aaron in his last days, trying to put the record further out of reach. The other day as we were driving past the vice president’s mansion, my daughter […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: WHAT RUDY BELIEVES. As a free preview from our upcoming May print issue, Michael Tomasky‘s cover story on Rudy Giuliani is availabe to non-subscribers. Mike, who covered Giuliani throughout his years as New York’s mayor and during his abortive Senate run, shares his thoughts on a man whose preferred -ism […]

MSNBC DUMPS IMUS; EXPERT PANELS STILL BOYS’ CLUB .. Don’t get me wrong; I do see real progress in MSNBC’s dumping of its “Imus in the Morning” simulcast, even if it does give us the sad spectacle of a senior member of radio royalty suddenly dethroned for doing pretty much what he has always done. […]

BROOKS V. BROOKS. I’m genuinely baffled by this David Brooks column. It’s an elegiac meditation on the strength, resilience, and wisdom that together make-up John McCain‘s character. It’s clearly the product of time spent with the candidate, time that left Brooks profoundly impressed, respectful, and above all sad that McCain’s fortunes seem so dim. Brooks […]

CRAZY CHENEY. At Foreign Policy‘s blog, Blake Hounshell muses on whether or not Dick Cheney retains the upper hand in intra-Bush administration fights over foreign policy, mentioning today’s Washington Post piece about all these generals’ lack of interest in the awesome new “war czar” post, due to their belief that Cheney retains the reins and […]

SCHIP ON THE SHOULDER. The Children’s Defense fund held a conference call for bloggers today to discuss the All Healthy Children Act, which has been introduced in the House. They’ve been promoting this legislation through a faux child-for-president campaign. The legislation looks at combining Medicaid for children with the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to […]

POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: MALICIOUS INTENT. The Bush administration’s fox-guarding-henhouse staffing approach is by now well understood regarding many executive offices and functions. Our own J. Goodrich examines the dynamic as it pertains to women’s health and reproductive policies. –The Editors

HEALTH CARE TRAVELOGUES? I’m not sure I share Kevin‘s lament about how little in-depth reporting there is on other country’s health systems. Part of the reason is that you can’t do much besides cherrypick data when offering these articles. Comparing across populations can be something of an apples-to-oranges problem, with the health characteristics, lifestyle imputs, […]

CLINTON BACKS THE WOMEN AGAINST IMUS. The Hillary Clinton campaign asks supporters to send messages of support to the women of the Rutgers basketball team. Clinton writes: This year the Rutgers women’s basketball team defied the odds and lived up to their dreams, providing inspiration to every little boy and girl beginning to pick up […]