The Clueless Leading The Uninformed

It’s fundamental cluelessness about how the economy works, and a demonstrable inability to conceive of foreign policy in anything but the crudest terms. ~Julian Sanchez No, he’s not talking about John McCain, but he very well could be.  As you might have guessed, he’s talking about Palin.  This takes us back to what I was saying below.  [...]

Now It All Makes Sense

Governor Palin’s every comment was scrutinized by the media and judged against what Jefferson or Lincoln might have said. ~Fred Thompson Yes, if not for the unfair Jefferson/Lincoln standard they imposed on her, she would be doing just fine.  Now we know why Palin has been doing so badly in those interviews–the standards we are using to [...]

Yes, McCain Was Wrong On Pakistan

I think that all of them would agree that, while there were a lot of things wrong in Pakistan during the years leading up to the 1999 military takeover, Pakistan was not a failed state as we normally define such states. I am on record as stating publicly that, having come to Pakistan from Liberia [...]

Re-Branding Bailout Won’t Help

The whole reason for the urgency is that people genuinely are concerned that a financial collapse will spark a deep recession that will cause a lot more pain in Muncie than in Manhattan. But you sure as hell wouldn’t have known that. ~Ezra Klein It depends a great deal on who he means by “you.”  [...]

Beware The Responsible, Serious People

Some politicians and government officials are making reckless charges of greater financial turmoil in the absence of a bailout. These grossly irresponsible statements may cause short-term market losses as investors try to second-guess how other investors will respond, but the assertion that the stock market’s health – especially in the long run – depends on [...]

About The Debate

James paraphrases Ross on the presidential debate: So but for the one thing he needed to do in the debate to win, McCain won. Perhaps this is simply my bias against McCain, but I just don’t see it.  Why does Ross think that, all things being equal, McCain would have been considered the winner?  This is [...]

Populism In A Crisis

My take on the potential and the flaws of populist backlash politics is up at Culture11.

Ve Belief In Nuthink?

Shortly after the bailout legislation was shot down in the House, someone Arnold Kling said, “David Brooks is not going to be happy.” ”David Brooks must be horrified.”  He had no idea: And let us recognize above all the 228 who voted no — the authors of this revolt of the nihilists [bold mine-DL]. They showed [...]

Aftermath

Ross discusses possible scenarios following the failure of the bailout.  The idea that the House GOP can really be blamed (credited?) with the defeat of the bill seems strange to me.  No doubt many people will blame (or credit) the House GOP with defeating it, because far too many on the Democratic side were unwilling to [...]

Palin And Hamas

The issue here is not that Palin didn’t know the answer. There are many possible answers to this question, some of which are right and some of which are wrong. The issue here is that she didn’t know the question. Because she was apparently ignorant of the subject, she endorsed Hamas’ victory, and, in essence, [...]