A lot of knowledgeable people point to the bankruptcy of Lehman as the moment when the financial crisis turned into a near-panic. The reason is not that Lehman had a particularly large market cap, but that it controlled over $600 billion in assets and had a similar amount of debt. That meant a fire sale …
It’s all Al Gore’s fault
This stuff is starting to scare me: The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday. “We are basically looking now at a future climate …
Party like it’s 1992
If you feel like you’re hearing more from Newt Gingrich these days, it may be more than just a bad case of tinnitus (via): [Rep. Eric] Cantor said he had studied Mr. Gingrich’s years in power and had been in regular touch with him as he sought to help his party find the right tone …
Scenes from the Twitter revolution
Good stuff: “To our friends on the ‘Net, what’s up!” Michael Steele is waving at a tiny video camera at the National Republican Club on Capitol Hill. It’s the Republican Party’s first-ever Tech Summit—a gathering of party leaders, wonks, and tech gurus—and the idea of a simulcast must feel rather exciting. […] John Friesch of …
What real bipartisanship means
I had forgotten how bipartisan George W. Bush was (from today’s Washington Post): Bush made an early gesture to encourage bipartisanship: inviting members of the Kennedy family to the White House to see the movie “Thirteen Days.” While we’re on this topic, just for the heck of it: Joe Klein: The thing that Gore has …
A tale told by a wingnut, full of bricks and balls, signifying political failure
In 2007, when then-governor Eliot Spitzer announced his plans to allow illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses, I began receiving mailers like the one above from my county Republican party. Democrats I spoke with said that the fall-out from Spitzer’s plan would destroy Democratic chances in the 2007 county elections, that it would keep Democrats …
A tale told by a wingnut, full of bricks and balls, signifying political failurePost + Comments (87)
Open to suggestions
The GOP is looking for a sequel to last summer’s blockbuster “Drill Baby Drill”, which received mixed reviews: “This year, everyone’s thinking maybe they’ll actually come up with grown-up things to say,” said Republican energy lobbyist Michael McKenna, president of MWR Strategies. “‘Drill, baby, drill’ impeded the conversation. We energy guys hated it.” […] “‘Drill, …