Informed Speculation

…a story comes along that is right up Mickey Kaus’s alley, and he just destroys it.  So it has been with President Obama and his inept handling of the health care reform debate.  Case in point: Obama at a town hall today: “Here’s my promise. …[snip] We will not sign … I will not sign [...]

Okay, I’ve been posting a lot of U2 lately…here’s one from another band that always puts a smile on my face – I love the effect of Trey and Mike singing in the round while Page sings counterpoint…always a very cool thing. The band, of course, is Phish, and the song is Bouncing Around the [...]

Austin is well-known for following goofball ‘natural’ movements, like ‘holistic medicine’ (give me an M.D., please!) and ‘organic’ food.  The continuing gullibility of (mostly liberal) people to buy these services or pay more than market rate is directly related to the propensity to swallow claptrap like ‘fair trade’ and ‘carbon neutrality’.  The point being:  most [...]

Clearly, the attempt to ram through health care reform before the August recess is dead.  That is not in question, and it’s an unquestionably good thing – the last several times we let crisis politics guide us, the outcome was not favorable (think the invasion of Iraq that we were assured was because of nonexistent WMD [...]

When a politician who has everything to lose attacks career professionals who are doing their job, it’s bad enough. When that politician is the President of the United States, it is inexcusable. The Congressional Budget Office is independent and nonpartisan, and it should stay that way. When a president attacks the agency in public, he [...]

I’ve been posting pretty regularly from the amazing 360 tour, U2′s monumental blockbuster making its way through Europe (currently about to do a third night in Dublin).  It was an open question, in my mind at least, whether the epochal masterpiece “Bad” would make an appearance during this tour, given its unique vocal challenges.  The [...]

…for President Obama.  The Senate acknowledged there will be no vote on health care before the August recess, and the president managed to get himself embroiled in a racial controversy by inadvisedly opining on the Gates matter before all the facts are in.  That led to a rare presidential apology, sort of: President Obama tried [...]

I don’t know if it affected you guys, too – but I couldn’t get to the site for quite some time. Sorry for the downtime and lack of posting – more later…

Obama is ratcheting up the pressure, and what’s the result?  More and more prominent Democrats are backing away: “Members have concerns, and they’re not just Blue Dogs,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters today, referring to the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats. “I want to make it very clear that [...]

I’ve been openly skeptical of Al Franken’s ability to remain focused on his new job and not partisanship, so let me just say I am very happily surprised at his first piece of legislation: a bill to provide funding for service dogs for wounded soldiers. My own favorite charity is an organization that provides service [...]

We know one reason President Obama is desperate to get a vote on healthcare reform before the August recess – the reforms he is proposing are increasingly unpopular and likely to die when representatives hear from their constituents (so much for democracy). Now we know another reason – he is sitting on a budget update [...]

It’s the weekend, so let’s have a little fun… U2′s colossal 360 tour continues to roll through Europe, playing to massive crowds in the 90,000 range at every show.  If you’ve never been to a U2 show, let me tell you one thing: you come prepared to sing.  Case in point, from yesterday’s show in [...]

Well, I know the health care reform proposals are sinking fast now – Paul Krugman, cheerleader-in-chief for the Obama administration, has resorted to calling the moderate Democrats who have asked for more time to consider reform “the six deadly hypocrites”. Raise your hand if you think that’s behavior fitting a Nobel Prize winner.  Really, now [...]

I knew, and I said so, that the statement given by the head of the Congressional Budget Office yesterday was a game-changer (see previous post here).  Today, six centrist Senators from both sides of the aisle cited the statement in calling for more time to consider health care reform: Six centrist senators in both parties [...]

Just saw a news flash that perhaps the most celebrated newsman of all time, certainly of the television era, has passed away. Some Americans will never forgive him for editorializing on the air about the unwinnability of the Vietnam War after Tet, and we will see much ink spilled in that vein. Longtime readers know, [...]

If there’s any rationality left in this world, THIS should doom the Democratic health care ‘reforms’: Instead of saving the federal government from fiscal catastrophe, the health reform measures being drafted by congressional Democrats would increase rather than reduce public spending on health care, potentially worsening an already bleak budget outlook, the director of the [...]

I REALLY, REALLY want to go to Las Vegas with Paul Krugman, because you KNOW a big spender like this gets the VIP treatment. Another Democrat proposal for health care reform has gone to the CBO – this time it’s the House’s version – and once more, the ‘cost-saving’ health care reform efforts put us [...]

Yesterday’s post was criticized because it apparently came from someone with insufficiently liberal credentials to be worth hearing from.  How about Michael Kinsley?  Does he count? …[P]eople, even liberals, are starting to get unnerved by the cost of all this. We now talk of trillions the way, even a few months ago, we spoke of [...]

The latest signs that the Democratic health care reform push is coming up short are two: (1) the public option is being increasingly thrown overboard, and (2) there is a growing tendency to engage in plain fantasy regarding funding.  The phrase of the day is ‘soak the rich’, but it’s a complete lie, and it’s [...]

I think I detect a theme here.  Michael Gerson: The jobs report last week opened a long gash beneath the waterline of President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda. Few yet realize it, but a scramble for lifeboats is about to begin. On closer inspection, the economic news, which seemed bad, is even worse. Not only did [...]