Blog: TAPPED

ADOLESCENTS WHO THINK THEY KNOW BEST. Not to be petty about this, but aren’t Michael Hirsh‘s metaphors all backwards here? He argues that “the Democrats, ostensibly the party poised to exploit this GOP civil war, don’t seem to remember what it is like to behave as adults. They resemble nothing so much as ill-adjusted adolescents, […]

IRAQ SAFER THAN D.C. My roommate got mugged last night right in front of our house and someone was shot and killed across the street about a month ago. So is Peter King right that Iraq is less violent than Washington, D.C.? I doubt it. King says he calculates the annualized Iraqi civilian death rate […]

CHOOSE YOUR SELLOUTS. I always think articles about Harold Ford are interesting, because he’s an interesting guy, and yesterday’s piece in The New York Times was no exception. But they never seem to get at what is, to me, the essential oddness of Ford’s political persona. The basic Ford narrative is that he’s an ambitious […]

AN OFF-BEAT ARGUMENT FOR D.C. STATEHOOD. File this one under more evidence of the Bush administration’s cynical politicization of what should be apolitical national security issues. Whenever public pressure to actually protect the homeland wanes, the administration seems to find out a way to subvert security. Today, for instance, The Washington Post reports: The Department […]

WHO WOULD JESUS WHACK? Occasionally you hear about all those broadly supportable progressive issues on which rapprochement with the Christian right will be had. This worldview presupposes that the evangelical movement’s partisan identification is the result of the right convincing them that they hold more areas of policy agreement. Which may, in part, be true. […]

THE END OF SUPPLY-SIDEISM. Chris Suellentrop notes that Republicans are beginning to abandon supply-side economics, one of the most overdue exoduses in economic history. Evidence comes from Bush‘s former chief economic adviser Greg Mankiw, who writes that “some supply-siders like to claim that the distortionary effect of taxes is so large that increasing tax rates […]

TAPPED BOUND. Many TAPPED readers, I�m sure, will be happy to learn that Linda Hirshman will be guest-blogging with us for two weeks starting next Monday. Hirshman�s outstanding critique of �choice feminism,� which appeared in the Prospect�s December issue, helped spark a very heated debate about women, work, and the domestic glass ceiling. Hirshman has […]

SOME PAULSON SKEPTICISM. Reaction to Henry Paulson‘s appointment as Treasury Secretary has, thus far, been boringly positive. Fortunately, Max Sawicky rides to the rescue with a strident critique. –Matthew Yglesias

MORE ON IRAN. In addition to Garance and Laura Rozen‘s comments, it’s worth heeding cautionary notes from both Kevin Drum and Ivo Daalder that Condoleezza Rice may be (whether in deliberate bad faith or not) putting too many demands for Iranian concessions on the table as preconditions for negotiation. That concern notwithstanding, as The Washington […]

SOME PROGRESS, FINALLY. The United States, after much pushing, has finally acceded to engaging in direct talks with Iran, on the condition that it abandon its nuclear enrichment activities. This is the necessary next step in the diplomatic dance, but marks a dramatic departure from the Bush administration’s approach toward Iran over the past six […]