Yesterday, Indiana governor and possible presidential candidate Mike Pence-a conservative’s conservative by any measure-announced that he had come to an agreement with the federal government to accept the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid. Like other Republican governors, he wanted to change the plan a bit, just to make sure poor people knew that getting […]
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Posted inPaul Waldman
Photo of the Day, British Silliness Edition
View image | gettyimages.com The photo of this guy swimming with a Dalek on his head was apparently taken at some sort of whimsical British swimming competition, but the context is really irrelevant. The point is, this is a guy swimming with a Dalek on his head. Godspeed to you, good sir.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Kochpublican Party
In my Plum Line post today, I take a look at the announcement that the Koch brothers and their allies plan to spend $889 million (an awfully specific number) on the 2016 elections. My guess is they’ll blow through that and make it to $1 billion, what with their can-do American entrepreneurial spirit and all. […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Bobby Jindal’s Doomed Crusade
Flickr/Gage Skidmore Bobby Jindal has been something of an odd man out in the emerging 2016 presidential race. While people like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio (not to mention Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney) get headlines for their every contemplation of the race, Jindal is largely ignored by the national media. Yet for years he […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Charts of the Day, Declining Deficit Edition
If you’re like me, you can’t wait for an excuse to head on over to the historical tables of the president’s budget and grab some data to make a couple of graphs. O.K., so you’re not like me in that respect, because you’re not a weirdo. But I am, so when I saw that the […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Photo of the Day, Snowstorm Edition
View image | gettyimages.com This one is from 1910, in New York City. So you people with your plowed streets, ergonomic shovels, and fully functioning wifi should just shut up and be thankful you don’t live a hundred years ago.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
News From Elsewhere
Republicans have now reached the point where they agree that things like inequality and wage stagnation are important, and they should discuss them with voters. Which isn’t a bad first step, but I’m skeptical about whether they can take the obvious next step. That’s the topic of my Plum Line post today: The current Republican […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Fictional “No-Go Zones” Could Be the 2016 Campaign’s Next Culture War
Have you heard about the “no-go zones”? If not, just ask the uncle you dread seeing at Thanksgiving; by now he’s already gotten a dozen chain e-mails about them. Despite having been widely debunked, this little nugget of misinformation is showing remarkable resilience. In and of itself that’s nothing new; one poll earlier this month […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Sarah Palin Achieves Peak Palin, and It’s Spectacular
View image | gettyimages.com I know a professor who can turn to a teaching assistant on the way down to the classroom and ask, “What’s today’s class about?” and then upon hearing the answer, walk in and give a flawless and fascinating three-hour lecture without notes, and without a hint of hesitation or uncertainty anywhere […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
A Republican Sister Souljah Fantasy
This weekend, no fewer than eight potential Republican presidential candidates, along with some party media stars like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Donald Trump, will head to Des Moines for the Iowa Freedom Summit, an event organized by anti-immigrant nincompoop and member of the U.S. House of Representatives Steve King. In my Plum Line Post […]
