Tim Geithner is gone, and good riddance. I was quite surprised when Matthew Yglesias, who’s usually to my left, wrote Tim an all but gushy send off, “Five Smart Things Tim Geithner Said on his Way out the Door.” Let’s take a look at two of them: The most frustrating part of this work, but…
Republicans to Tea Party: Remember what we said about immigration? Yeah, it was all bullshit.
The Republican Party Establishment, which has been kissing Tea Party ass for the past four years, is up on its hind legs and shouting again. All the “experts,” like Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol, agree: we need to learn to speak Spanish! Florida Senator Mario Rubio, whose name even sounds Spanish, is the self-anointed leader…
Acela Republicans Unite! You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Egos!
Yeah, like that’s going to happen! David Brooks, who’s been pretty damned tired of being a member of the, well, the Yahoo Party, wants to be able to go to a party and have a glass of decent port* without getting an earful of Jesus at the same time. So now he wants to have…
Ben Webster—“Perdido”
Ben Webster in Germany in 1972, not long before his death, with Oscar Peterson, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and drummer Tony Inzalaco, featuring an excellent bass solo from Pederson. Posted by erwigfilms
Pseudo-New Yorker
Legal humor here. “You never change, Charlie. And thank God for that!” “The idea is, the things we take to be real are only shadows, shadows cast by a flame in Plato’s cave. Makes you think, doesn’t it?” “OK, Charlie, you are one tough nut. But this one will make you laugh.” “So he says,…
Krauthammer doubles to right
As the few who read this blog know, there are few people I dislike more than arch neo-con Charles Krauthammer. But, as a stopped clock is right twice a day, so Krauthammer is right twice a decade. In a recent column, he whales away mightily at President Obama’s Second Inaugural, accusing the President of “clinging…
Paul Ryan: Pretty but Dumb
Republican pretty boy Paul Ryan gets thoroughly hoisted, if not on his own petard then Ezra Klein’s, who ably dissects Paulie Boy’s duck and weave, bob and bounce, shuck and jive performance before a gaggle of reporters at a recent shindig organized by the Wall Street Journal, whose editors probably wish they hadn’t let Ezra…
Republicans Yell at Hillary Clinton a Lot
A Republican fantasy came true on Wednesday—they got to tell Hillary Clinton to her face that she’s a jerk. That’s the sum and substance of the long-sought Senate hearing into the murders of four Americans in Benghazi Libya, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Republicans might have asked her if the murders had made her rethink…
Republicans whine, Vanneman laughs
It’s true: politics is a spectator sport, but a spectator sport with a difference. Even when the home team is screwing up, you can still laugh at the opposition. Never was that old adage, which I just made up, more true than today. I am emphatically not a fan of President Obama, and his second…
Obama, Murderer Of Children, Now Seeks To Be Their Savior
I don’t particularly fault President Obama’s response to the terrible murders at Newtown. I’m sure he felt that the country demanded that he “do something,” and certainly his party did. And I guess I don’t find it too unforgivable that he had children present at the press conference introducing his package of reforms, none of…