Blog: TAPPED

FROM ONE GULF TO ANOTHER. There’s been some talk on the blogs about how Arab and Muslim support for the cash-strapped Hamas-led Palestinian Authority is quite low in the grand scheme of things, but just how low it is comparatively speaking is really driven home when you look at the incredible generosity of a number […]

THE BEAST ONLY GROWS HUNGRIER. Maybe I’m just dense, but did we really need a serious academic paper to explain that when conservatives cut taxes, government doesn’t necessarily shrink? After all, a quick glance at George W. Bush‘s tenure reveals a nice pattern of massive tax cuts tilted towards the rich followed by huge entitlement […]

WHAT A MESS. A front-pager (at least online) at The New York Times details the predictable decline of medical services in the Gaza Strip under the economically sanctioned Hamas-led Palestinian government, and outlines the increasingly dire predictions of the World Health Organization for the long-term health of the Palestinian medical infrastructure. Meanwhile, gun-battles between rival […]

THE IMMIGRANT ROCK. The Washington Post has a notably good history of the immigration debate today. From Germans who saw no reason for linguistic assimilation to Jewish communities that served as hotbeds for socialism to Italians who lagged in educational attainment, the various arguments being trotted out to prove that, no, Mexicans are different, were […]

THE HAYDEN CHOICE. Bush‘s choice to run the CIA, General Michael Hayden, is provoking some Republican opposition from members of both congressional Intelligence committees who don’t want to see a military officer put in charge of the agency. If there’s anything that can provoke GOP congresspeople to buck the administration, it’s probably squabbling over turf, […]

IS THE CLOCK TICKING FOR KARL ROVE? Today’s Washington Post piece on Karl Rove reminds us just how implausible Karl Rove’s Plamegate story has always been. It appears Patrick Fitzgerald is very skeptical of Rove’s claim that he forgot his conversation with Time reporter Matthew Cooper about Valerie Plame because Rove was up to his […]

HATING ON HILLARY. I’d take Matt‘s critique of Hillary Clinton a little further than he did. Liberal distaste for Clinton is not a mere reaction to her ceaseless triangulation and ideological timidity, but a frustration at her blithe unwillingness to make the most of her position on the public stage. She is that rarest of […]

THE SUBSTANCE FACTOR. Prog blog king Markos Moulitsas had a Washington Post Style section article raising some doubts about Hillary Clinton‘s presidential aspirations over the weekend. Ed Kilgore‘s penned a response that I think is effective on some scores. I feel like Markos’ efforts at critique were somewhat hobbled by the way the activist blogger […]

THE W. CENTER FOR POLICY EXPERTISE. Elisabeth Bumiller reports that George W. Bush wants to start a think tank along with his presidential library after he leaves office. I’ll let commenters supply the appropriate jokes here as I finish my coffee. –Sam Rosenfeld

HANDS DOWN. Can I just say that my best moment as editor of The American Prospect came — no-brainer here, dude — when I parred the 16th at Rock Creek last summer. It�s a fierce Par 4 — just a slight dogleg left, but a ribbon-thin fairway with dense spinach on both sides and a […]