“Stakhanovite1 liberalism” was a labored term of abuse worked up by the late William F. Buckley to ridicule overproducing liberals. Coal miner Alexsei Grigoryevich Stakhanov was made a “Hero of the Soviet Union” by Joseph Stalin in recognition of his exploits with a jack hammer and his example was used to encourage others to overfulfill…
Search Results for: Jonathan Chait
Avik Roy, silently blowing both his own horn and the Republican Party
There was a time, not so long ago, when I praised Republican health care “expert” Avik Roy for his outspokenness on House Speaker Paul Ryan’s atrocious health care “plan” to repeal and replace Obamacare: “it’s curious”, Avik observed, “that extending tax cuts [to the rich] was a higher priority for the House than addressing the…
Avik Roy Couldn’t Like the Senate Republicans’ Health Care Bill More if He Had Written It Himself!
Back in the day, conservative health care maven Avik Roy put the wood to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Obamacare replacement legislation, remarking after Paulie “improved” the bill to meet Republican criticism, “it’s curious that extending tax cuts was a higher priority for the House than addressing the fact that the bill will make insurance unaffordable…
Poor, Pitiful Paulie Ryan, from policy wonk to policy wank in six weeks
If you’ve been hatin’ on House Speaker Paulie Ryan as long as I have, seeing Paulie finally take the beatdown he so richly deserves is schadenfreude beyond a Paulie hater’s wildest dreams. Perhaps the best of the many, many drubbings Paulie has received is administered by the hitherto unknown (to me) Philip Klein, who hangs…
When Republicans collide: Trump versus Congress
Remember back during the primaries when we Democrats felt all we needed to do was stand back and watch while the Republican Party destroyed itself? That didn’t work out so well, did it? Now we’re at Round 2. President Trump’s “budget”, such that it is—a 9.2% increase in defense coupled with a 9.2% cut for…
The Republican Party: Civil War or Hostile Takeover?
Over at New York Mag, Jonathan Chait has an unfortunately challenging and well-argued piece, strongly suggesting that my cozy analysis of a Republican Party sliding inexorably into ever-increasing disarray is not, you know, accurate.1 Chait sees Trump, or, rather, Trumpism, as similar to one of those Alien critters that first infects you and then sort…
What Doth Ryan Want?
I am one of the least known, yet most vociferous members of the Anti-Ryan Club, which is led, more or less, by Paul Krugman and Jonathan Chait. As both Paul and Jon will tell you, Paul Ryan will say and do just about anything, as long as it allows him to maneuver himself into the…
Fuck you, New York Times
On Wednesday, May 27th, the New York Times, for which I have a paid digital subscription, ran an “opinion” piece by Republican hit person Peter Wehner, titled “Have Democrats Pulled Too Far Left?”, which rattles through a predictable series of semi-truths and falsehoods regarding domestic issues, politely and nicely dissected by Jonathan Chait here. Well,…
Obama Administration randomly shoots itself in the foot, three times
If a rabidly anti-Semitic terrorist attacks a kosher deli, knowing it’s a kosher deli, and starts killing the people inside because he hopes they’re Jews, well, those are random acts of terrorism, according to President Obama, along with Jen Psaki of the State Department, and Josh Earnest of the White House, all of whom apparently want us to believe…
Libertarian Rag attacks Obamacare for applying free market principles to health care
“Reason” magazine is in fact one of my favorite sites, and I urge all 17 of my readers to check it out, but sometimes one’s schadenfreude can run ahead of one’s “reason.” Here, Reasonette Robby Soave chuckles over the plight of Harvard profs who suddenly discover that, thanks to their man Obama, they have to…