Ezra Klein

Nikki Finke has a blistering column lauding the heroes and assaulting the hacks from the last week or two of Katrina coverage. Her final question — whether the media can sustain its new assertiveness — seems to have been answered today, with the answer being No. Sam Rosenfeld’s been all over it, so I’ll send […]

11 GOP congressmen just voted against the $51 billion relief package for flood victims. Another way of phrasing that sentence is there are 11 GOP Congressmen in the House of Representatives who no longer want their jobs — Democratic challengers should be gearing up to take them.

I’m going to second Brad Plumer on this: compared to the historical screw job Herbert Hoover’s been tagged with, Carter got off easy. If we’re resuscitating reputations around here, there’s no better place to start than the best crisis administrator — both foreign and domestic — this country’s ever seen.

Brad’s got an important post on the whole lot of nothing being done in Darfur. As bad as Katrina is, Sudan is much, much worse. And there’s no Geraldo or Cooper holding up the limbless children and screaming at their anchors to pay attention to these dying, suffering people.

As you probably know, Arnold has turned his full governating force against the homosexuals, promising to veto the gay marriage bill as soon as it lisps its way atop his desk. Shame on him. But in this case, it’s less the bigotry (or in his case, the opportunism and fear of Tom McClintock) and more […]

Remember when Clinton’s high-priced haircut allegedly (which is to say “didn’t, but the right said it did”) choked up traffic at LAX? Well Bush, fresh from beating Ronald Reagan’s two-term record for most days spent on vacation, has easily assumed first place in the “Massive Inconveniences Caused By Presidential Whim” category as well: The Naval […]

Meyerson: But these are chronic conditions, and even many of us who argue for universal health coverage have grown inured to that distinctly American indifference to the common good, to our radical lack of solidarity with our fellow citizens. Besides, the poor generally have the decency to die discreetly, and discretely — not conspicuously, not […]

Matt on the CBS poll: 58 percent disapprove of Bush’s handling of the hurricane, and just 38 percent approve. But consider this — only 20 percent say the federal government’s handling of the disaster was adequate, while 77 percent say it wasn’t. 24 percent say FEMA’s response was adequate and 70 percent disagree. How is […]

Just watching “Journeys With George”, and this line from Bush’s speech really jumped out: We need a standard-bearer who is the voice of those who live on the outskirts of poverty. Boy do we ever.

Oh my god…I don’t even know what to say about this. You really have to click it, though — I’ve never heard anything quite so…awe-inspiring.