Blog: TAPPED

DONOHUE’S NEXT MOVE. Not surprisingly, the Catholic League is unsatisfied with Edwards‘ statement. This is not over. Not by a long shot. Says Donohue: Edwards said today that �We�re beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can�t let it be hijacked.� I have news for him�the Catholic League�not Edwards�will decide […]

WHAT’S THIS? Who is Chris Bowers accusing, and what is he accusing them of? He didn�t throw us under the bus, and so we can�t let him get thrown under the bus, even�especially�if another Democratic campaign is trying to do the throwing. Inquiring minds want to know. –Garance Franke-Ruta

MINDBOGGLING. I am learning more than I ever wanted to know about government contracting in Iraq from the hearings headed by Congressman Henry Waxman, but I still have difficulty with the last sentence (in parentheses) of this quote from Melinda Henneberger at the Huffington Post: The committee chairman, Congressman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, noted […]

ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT. For DCers, Harold will be debating Edward Gresser of the Progressive Policy Institute tomorrow about deindustrialization and trade. (PPI’s Will Marshall will be moderating.) The basis of the debate is a forthcoming paper by Gresser entitled “Healthy Factories, Anxious Workers: Or, Why Lou Dobbs is Wrong.” Harold would like to make clear that, […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: THE RECRUIT. Some of us had a good chuckle when former megachurch pastor (and male prostitute-hirer) Ted Haggard was pronounced “completely heterosexual.” But, Sarah Posner explains, fundamentalist Christians aren’t laughing. Haggard’s admission of homosexual tendencies only reinforced their belief that gay people are on a quest to convert heterosexuals — […]

QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT. For readers in Connecticut, TAP senior editor Tara McKelvey will be taking part in a human rights workshop at Yale Law School tomorrow. Here’s the relevant info: Belated Justice: The Politics of Restitution for Victims of U.S. Torture Location: Faculty Lounge, Yale Law School (127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511) Date: Tomorrow […]

EDWARDS KEEPS HIS BLOGGERS. His campaign just issued these statements: Senator John Edwards: The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte’s and Melissa McEwen’s posts personally offended me. It’s not how I talk to people, and it’s not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is […]

TACTICAL SHIFT. Good stuff this morning on shifting insurgent tactics and attacks on helicopters. As Josh Marshall notes, the cause seems to be a shift or development in tactics, rather than the acquisition of new weapons. Most of the reports of the crashes have concentrated on small arms fire as the cause. However, Defense Tech […]

NELSON POLSBY, RIP. Political scientist Nelson Polsby died yesterday. The Post‘s obit is here, and I actually endorse everything J-Pod says here (where I heard the news). I’m much more of a skeptic about the structure of American political institutions compared to those elsewhere, but certainly they had one of their ablest — and funniest […]

POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: THE BIG THREE. Harold assesses the speeches of Edwards, Obama, and Clinton at last week’s DNC event: “[B]ecause of the absurdly early start of the 2008 presidential campaign, we have already reached that point where the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates’ messages are becoming apparent.” –The Editors