Blog: TAPPED

THE NERD PATROL GETS RICH. This isn’t necessarily surprising, but it’s nice nonetheless. A recent study analyzing government funding for scientific research found higher returns than previously thought, with grateful scientists filing patents and founding start-ups at a surprisingly rapid clip. That’s instructive, as the primary driver of this bit of economic growth is the […]

THE BOMBTHROWERS’ LEARNING CURVE. One more brief thing on Amy Sullivan‘s piece. On the question of Gingrich-style bomb-throwing and oppositional PR tactics, Amy emphasizes the degree to which Democrats have improved in the last year without getting much credit for it. While I’m on record calling out the Democrats for some residual lameness on the […]

THE BIG STORY: STILL WAITING TO BE TOLD. Before this point gets lost in the din of the latest leak disclosures, it needs to be said, as loudly as possible, that the big story has yet to be told, and in that regard, Murray Waas‘s previous scoop about Karl Rove is even more important — […]

JUST POSTED ON TAP: IF THEY HAD A HAMMER. Terence Samuel thinks the Democrats could stand to learn a thing or two from Tom DeLay. So now�s that moment, at the end of the fund-drive, where the hosts say you only have five more minutes to join. That�s not entirely true in our case, but […]

PODHORETZ FLOATS FLIMSY RIGHT-WING PUSHBACK ON LEAK STORY — AND PUNTS. The emerging right-wing spin about the leak revelations was perfectly captured in John Podhoretz‘s column today in the New York Post. Since these arguments are certain to be aired again and again in coming days, they need to be debunked, and quickly. And it’s […]

THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. If you ask me, the real problem with the Anna Nicole Smith nipple cover is that it doesn’t show enough skin. If you look at Eugene Delacroix‘s original, Liberty Leading the People, the entire right breast is exposed along with a considerable portion of the left. –Matthew Yglesias

A FEATURE, NOT A BUG. Michael Tanner, Cato’s health policy director, is not happy (PDF) about the Massachusetts plan: Individual mandates cross an important practical and philosophical line: once we accept the principle that it is the government�s responsibility to ensure that every American has health insurance, we guarantee even more government involvement with and […]

DEMOCRATIC “DISARRAY” — COMPARED TO WHAT? I’ll join with others in strongly recommending Amy Sullivan‘s bracingly counter-intuitive argument that the Democrats don’t actually suck. Amy is very right here. Much of her focus is on the mainstream media narratives that continue to portray Democrats as invariably weak, divided, and feckless. But MSM cluelessness is an […]

CHANGES AT THE NEW REPUBLIC. Can I just say, as a twenty-something male, that I’m quite pleased with TNR‘s transformation under the leadership of Frank Foer? Last week, not only did I have a piece in the magazine, but the cover featured an Anna Nicole Smith nipple slip. This week, we get a stylized Paris […]

DING-DONG, THE BILL IS DEAD. Looks like the immigration “compromise” is dead in the water. Good. Democrats and a handful of Republicans blocked the GOP’s efforts to amend the legislation into an unrecognizable mess by a 60-38 vote, and now the whole thing’s off the table. Just more evidence for Amy Sullivan‘s contention that the […]