Ezra Klein

Early in Bush’s first term, a friend of a friend had, through family connections, gotten a few minutes in the Oval Office with the guy. Bush, he said, was exactly as you’d expect. When he found that his guest was Californian, he leaned back in his chair and sighed, “You know, i just don’t get […]

Via Steve Clemons, Marty Sieff’s analysis of what Dean means for Hillary Clinton is quite good. His basic point is that Hillary will stroll to reelection in 2006 (adding evidence to the theory is her tremendous approval numbers and her easy lead in head-to-head match-ups with Giuliani) while Dems across the country fight it out. […]

Dude, seeing surveillance photos of your kids at school is a pretty convincing rationale, if you ask me.

In Minnesota, Mark Dayton has decided not to run for another seat, making the 2006 map considerably harder than it was yesterday. On the other hand, I’ve long heard rumors that Paul Wellstone’s son David wants to run for the Senate. The word on him is good and his father’s legacy would make him a […]

Brad Plumer’s noticed a problem: I’m a bit confused as to what Congressional Republicans think would make for a better budget. It seems that the two primary objections from President Bush’s own party are: cuts to particular programs, and the yawning federal budget deficit, which the budget doesn’t really cure. Okay. But then a sizeable […]

Damn, that’s a cool painting.

Wow. This LA Times op-ed is quite brave. It’s from an Iranian blogger who spent 36 days in jail for criticizing the regime on her website. Having confessed to her sins, she’s now awaiting trial, which probably won’t go well for her either. With all that swirling around her, publishing this critique in a major […]

Remember that time when the Bush administration silenced an actuary and lied $100 billion off the cost of Medicare reform so Congress would pass it? That was fun, even quaint. But this is a brave new second term world, baby! And $100 billion bucks ain’t shit to these guys, so now they’re saying they lowballed […]

The semi-finals are ending this week. I’m up for “Best Writing” and if you feel like throwing me a vote, I won’t hold it against you.

This is crucial.