First Principles

I wish this debate had happened sooner.  Although it definitely helped that there were fewer candidates on stage – it’s not an accident that fewer candidates and no absurd timeclock led to a far more substantive debate than we’ve seen in the past. I haven’t seen a lot of the post-debate spin from other people […]

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The liberal Nevada View had a post in support of President Obama’s “American Jobs Act,” arguing that it’s going to be especially good for Nevada.  That’s not in and of itself isn’t surprising.  But when I read it, I had to wonder – if it’s so good for Nevada, why hasn’t a single member of […]

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I couldn’t live blog tonight, as I had a class to teach.  But I listened to most of it on the radio, and watched the rest on DVR when I got home. I wish the entire nation could have seen Governor Sandoval’s speech last night, in order to contrast it with this one.  Sandoval gave […]

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No, not from me.  From William Saletan at Slate, arguing these midterms were actually a victory for Dems: Politicians have tried and failed for decades to enact universal health care. This time, they succeeded. In 2008, Democrats won the presidency and both houses of Congress, and by the thinnest of margins, they rammed a bill […]

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Well, no big surprises.  He made the same promises that he made a year ago, and the only difference is that now we can be even more sure he won’t keep any of them. The big takeaway from me on this was just how unserious this speech was. 

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Nancy Pelosi’s article calling the Obamacare protesters “un-American” is, of course, ridiculous.  It is beyond parody.  If I wrote it word for word under her name as satire, I would be accused of straining hyperbole to beyond all limits and beyond.  Only slightly less absurd are the “factual” claims she makes in the piece. But […]

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Today, Obama signed the uber-porky federal budget, which is plenty bad enough at a time when the federal government needs more than ever to watch every penny.  But along with it, he included a signing statement declaring that he considered 5 of the provisions he was signing into law unconstitutional, and would not enforce them. […]

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Yesterday in the RGJ, there was a piece by local columnist David Jacobs snarkily noting that neither George Bush nor Congressional Republicans (back when they held majorities) were all that fiscally conservative.  He further suggested that lack of economic smarts helped cause the economic problems we have now. He’s right. So why, then, would he […]

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Embattled Sen. Roland W. Burris’ legal and political problems deepened Tuesday as Democrats in Washington and Illinois signaled that they would support an investigation into whether the senator lied under oath about his appointment to the Illinois Senate seat. So who would have thunk that a guy appointed by an impeached Chicago politician would be […]

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Remember when the bailout had to be passed NOW NOW NOW?  When every second counted?  When every hour that went by meant hundreds of lost jobs that could otherwise be saved?  Obama himself wrote of the urgency of each day: Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more […]

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So Ted Stevens has lost his Senate seat in Alaska, bringing the Democrats that much closer to a veto-proof supermajority. Good.

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I was looking at some old comment threats from the Federalist Society Blog I contributed to frequently in law school.  One of the comments from an avowed libertarian caught my eye.  He said: [P]utting the Democrats in charge of one or both houses of congress can’t possibly make matters worse, with Bush in the presidency. […]

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From Reason Magazine, an excellent and detailed explanation of how the financial sector got into this mess.  I couldn’t agree with the summation more: Congressional leaders have vowed to bring a new proposal for a vote, possibly as soon as Thursday, proving yet again that Washington is fertile ground for really bad ideas. But with […]

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