Employment charts coming.
November 2, 2011
October 31, 2011
Bush vs Obama: First in a Series
We seem to forget just how bad the situation in this country was prior to the election of Barack Obama. While the economy is far from where we’d like it to be, the notion that the various measures taken by Bush, Obama and the Federal Reserve have not helped is self-evident nonsense. Bush’s TARP, Obama’s stimulus package, the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented actions, and myriad other steps taken by the government halted what had been an economic collapse of historic proportions. Make no mistake, another Great Depression was looming.
I’ll offer some charts over the next few days as a reminder of just how close to the precipice this nation came and just how far we have come since. Today, I note the fact that GDP was collapsing at an 8.9% annual rate by the fourth quarter of 2008 before government action did the yeoman’s work of lifting the economy back above water.
October 26, 2011
October 21, 2011
June 13, 2011
Shocker: Clarence Thomas – Not a Genius
I always assumed that Clarence Thomas was smarter than his critics gave him credit for. Sure, his opinions were largely political and the law took a back-seat to the outcome for him, but I had believed there must be something more to him than simply being another African-American to replace the great Thurgood Marshall. Alas, I may have overestimated him.
NPR reports today on a series of interviews the justices did in 2007, and Thomas does himself no favors.
While other justices discussed authors that have influenced their writing, including important literary figures such as Proust, Stendhal, Montesquieu, Nabokov, Hemingway, Shakespeare, Solzhenitsyn, Dickens, etc, Thomas responds that ‘a good legal brief reminds him of the TV show 24.’ When asked if he would describe himself as a word lover, Thomas replied “Not particularly. … I like buses and football and cars.”[emphasis mine]
He said he doesn’t talk during oral arguments because he views the fast pace of questions to counsel as “unnecessarily intense.”
“I don’t like the back and forth, and I’ve been very clear about that, and I won’t participate,” he said.
He’s like a petulant 4-year old, in both his interests and his demeanor.
May 23, 2011
That About Sums It Up
“There’s just certain wires there that don’t connect.”
– Richard Viguerie on Newt Gingrich
May 19, 2011
May 18, 2011
May 17, 2011
May 13, 2011
May 4, 2011
Via Dave Weigel, the five Republican candidates who will participate in tomorrow’s debate will be Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum.
I have to admit, I am looking forward to that to a degree that makes no sense. Looking over that field of candidates, I’m assuming the debate will either be hilarious or deadly dull. I cannot envision anything in between.
The best comment on the debate belongs to South Carolina GOP operative Bob McAlister, who said
“It’s like a beauty contest where all the women are ugly.”
(Political Wire, citing Real Clear Politics)
May 3, 2011
The Confederate Socialist States of America?
Once again, South, explain yourselves!
WSJ: About 1 in 7 Americans Receive Food Stamps
(h/t The Big Picture, which actually posted some good commentary to go with this, rather than my lazy “Hey, here’s a link!” style of blogging.)
Setting Bush’s Bin Laden Hunting Record Straight
Steven Benen at The Washington Monthly clarifies a few things.
May 2, 2011
Political Wire McCain Quote
From Teagan Goddard’s Political Wire
In July 2008, Larry King asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), “If you were president and knew that bin Laden was in Pakistan, you know where, would you have U.S. forces go in after him?”
McCain said he would not.
“Larry, I’m not going to go there and here’s why: because Pakistan is a sovereign nation.”
I’m guessing he doesn’t still feel the same way…
