Blog: TAPPED

This week’s Newsweek magazine features the cover on the right, which has not too surprisingly stirred outrage from conservatives (see here and here for some reactions) saying that the liberal media are out to get Michele Bachmann. Are they right? Yes and no. The charge some are making that the photo and headline represent sexism […]

There’s a Republican presidential debate coming up this Thursday, and watching all the discussion of Michele Bachmann‘s and Rick Perry‘s religiosity, it made me wonder whether we’re likely to see a repeat of this: It was somewhat heartening to see even Mike Huckabee say that everything in the Bible shouldn’t be taken literally, even if […]

If his press conference this afternoon was any indication, President Obama wants the world to know that American debt is still safe. “The markets continue to believe that our status is AAA. … Warren Buffet said that if there were a quadruple-A rating, he’d give us that.” While Obama disputes the downgrade, he doesn’t actually […]

(Flickr/Gage Skidmore) Michele Bachmann has officially arrived. She’s on the cover of Newsweek, and the article of the day is Ryan Lizza’s long profile of her in The New Yorker. If you’re a close student of all things Bachmann there won’t be all that much surprising there, but Lizza offers an especially good detailing of […]

The debt-ceiling debacle had Democrats and Republicans arguing over tax breaks and spending cuts on social programs like Medicare and Social Security. But, under the radar, both parties put higher education on the chopping block once again. As part of the budget deal, starting June 1 next year, the government will stop paying interest on […]

If you wanted to start, say, a software company, you could do it with a little bit of money borrowed from your uncle, and then spend a lot of time working on your product; if things go well, you can hire a second employee, then a third, and slowly build your way up. Starting a […]

The July employment report isn’t bad, but that doesn’t mean it’s good, either. On the bright side, total private-sector payrolls increased by 154,000, a massive increase over the 18,000 jobs created in June. What’s more, the June numbers improved as well; after revision, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the economy created 46,000 jobs […]

If you’re a Republican presidential candidate, chances are that a few years ago you supported cap-and-trade as a market-based means of reducing carbon emissions to deal with climate change, but today you have to say that that approach was misconceived. But just how far do you have to go on this? One approach is to […]

Responding to Paul’s post about Rick Perry‘s identity politics, Kevin Drum writes: For the record, I don’t think Perry can win the Republican nomination, and I know that he can’t beat Obama in a general election. I’d love to see him try, though. With respect to the Republican nomination, I’m not sure about Perry’s prospects. […]

With Republicans beginning to focus their efforts on passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and further spending cuts via the “super committee,” it’s natural to wonder what plan – if any – Democrats have for the coming months. At a meeting this morning with liberal bloggers, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi explained her […]