Sadly, this KY resident expects to see McCain win this state in November. So leaves the question: can we still unload the downticket tripe on that day? It would seem that Lunsford has to hang the Bush/Cheney albatross around McConnell's neck extra-firmly, for McCain will likely be given far too much credit in this state for any daylight he can pretend to show between himself and Bush.

Posted at July 19, 2008 6:02 PM in response to Even GOP Senate Leader Is Worried About Re-Election

As a KY resident, I feel it is my responsibility when a clown like McConnell sits in Congress, determined to undermine his constituency.

Lunsford was Chuck Schumer's pick, not mine, and despite the latter's immense bankroll, we almost managed to put a usable Dem on the ticket. Nonetheless, its gotta be Lunsford this November, so we hope to train him to win a political race in KY for once. To read that Lunsford is already within striking distance is heartening news, but here in KY, the race does not yet exist. Root for us, we'll need it.

Posted at June 17, 2008 8:59 PM in response to Poll: Senate GOP Leader Barely Ahead In Re-Election Race

Am I the only one to remember Sam Pierce? He was Reagan's HUD secretary, and he, too, was sacked after the looting of HUD under his direction was discovered.

Now that the pattern of HUD under Repub presidents as party ATM machine is established, I wonder when any member of the punditry will see fit to take this stroll down memory lane. Or shall this fit of shock and outrage over the crimes of Jackson waft away in the breeze without the Repub history of criminality concerning HUD ever being pondered publicly?

Posted at May 19, 2008 8:15 PM in response to At HUD, Silence is Golden

I would compliment Prof. Etzioni for making a sensible suggestion as to this latest Repub attempt to limit poor voters from the ballot box, but this week's newspapers also carried an item about how Florida, for one, has forced the League of Women Voters to suspend its voter registration drive. Thus my concern is: how could the access to voter IDs be any less onerous than voter registrations? The answer, of course, it could not be, so when Florida decides to discourage voter registration whatever will prevent the Sunshine State from doing as well to voter IDs?

Posted at May 3, 2008 12:10 PM in response to Supreme Court tilts election, big time

Ethan Jennings misses a basic point concerning Israel. It's existence as the one locale where Jews can be in control of their political fates is the fundament of the Zionist dream. The reason that Abbas and Olmert both discuss "two-state" solutions is because the Israeli Jews cannot accept life in a state where their identity as Jews has no meaning. Those who say that the Arab birthrates far exceed Jewish ones are doomsayers, but in a secular "Israeli/Palestinian" state they presume, with reason, that the "Israeli" will eventually vanish. Such a sstate could no longer be a home to any Jew in the world who feels oppressed in his country of origin.

Yes, the Israelis and Palestinians must learn to live with each other. If, however, "good fences make good neighbors" then the fences must be retained.

Posted at May 3, 2008 11:58 AM in response to The Holocaust and The Occupation

Tough call. The posters on either side here have good points. Letting the investment banks strangle on their own worthless paper would be a gratifying sight, but would it likely bring about another Great Depression?

Trouble is, last time it took the Great Depression to bring the bankers to heel, to raise a Roosevelt to the presidency and to initiate the New Deal. Another depression would suck massively, but if that is it takes to clear the brush in order to rebuild a solid financial system...

I fear that there are holes in my knowledge of history. Wasn't the banker's cartel controlling the money supply (you know it as the Federal Reserve) established before the crash of '29? And if so, why did the Ben Bernanke of the day let his fellow bankers jump off of roofs instead of bailing them out? Hoover, rightly, got the blame for failing to act against the crisis, but I gotta wonder, did he really have the power to do much about the crash?

It would be tragic to need a depression to wipe that smirk off of Robert Rubin's face, but does anyone have a less painful tool to wield?

Posted at April 21, 2008 2:55 PM in response to George Will Moves to the Left of the Democrats

As a Kentuckian who is desperate to send McConnell off to his next teaching/lobbying gig, I, too, am displeased that Bruce Lunsford is being foisted upon us. His track record of backing Repubs as often as Dems bothers me, and his odor of perennial candidacy makes him a sure-fire loser. Perhaps Schumer is observing the old Senate custom of not targeting the opposing party's leadership, which the Repubs abrogated back in 2004 with their campaign to unseat Daschle.

So here in KY we still have a card full of primary opponents to Lunsford, a few of which sound like just what we oughta be sending to DC. But no, the DSCC is on the guy who is certain to lose in November, and deservedly so. I was so hoping that this year we here in KY could repair the damage that our Senatorial selection(s) have done to the nation. Apparently both parties prefer that the damage continue to be done. Sigh.

Posted at April 9, 2008 12:47 PM in response to Dems Exceptionally Well Positioned To Expand Majority In Senate

I gather that TPM is now officially Obamaniac. For successive weeks now I have read assorted TPM hacks express outrage over Krugman. Today, in a column which is nearly entirely spent demolishing McCain's non-healthcare proposal, Krugman does at its very end mention that Clinton's plan approaches universality to a degree that Obama's does not. This, MJ Rosenberg, is what is known as a "fact", and to demand thunderbolts from heaven be rained down upon he who dares to utter it is hardly worthy of someone who would claim journalistic credentials. You are supposed to be in favor of the presentation of facts. Is it beyond your comprehension to entertain the possibility that Krugman criticizes Obama's healthcare plan in hopes of the latter dropping its voluntary nature?

I must have missed the MJ Rosenberg article wherein he explained that St. Barack is perfect in every respect, and that no criticism of any of his (sorry...His) planks can be valid. I did catch last week's TPM offering where the author, Taplin, assaulted Krugman for failing to include Pres. Clinton in his recitation of the fools who brought upon us the subprime mortgage crisis, when in fact Krugman did indeed nail Clinton in that very same column.

This Edwards supporter admits to liking Obama's looks electorally at least as much as I do Clinton's, but I also gotta align with Krugman on Obama's healthcare plan. The idea that only those in need of healthcare should bother buying insurance for it is a recipe for a disaster as large as what American healthcare is right now, and if anybody can get Obama to imagine healthcare universality, that person will be a hero, even if it is a TPM-pronounced demon from hell such as Krugman.

Posted at April 4, 2008 8:58 PM in response to Losing Paul Krugman

I'll quote Krugman from the new column:

"In retrospect, it’s clear that the Clinton administration went along too easily with moves to deregulate the financial industry"

Like I said...

Posted at March 24, 2008 7:16 PM in response to Paul Krugman's Hypocrisy

Does the Cafe have anyone they could send to read Krugman columns that is the least bit literate? Taplin's One Big Complaint about the column is that Krugman forgot to mention Clinton's part in financial deregulation.

I happened to read Krugman's column a few minutes before stumbling across this TPMCafe post, and find myself startled to assure Taplin that Krugman did, indeed, mention Clinton, by name, in the column.

Of course the Clintons are two faces of the Devil himself, and of course Krugman is a demon from Hell, since he was once spotted daring to criticize St. Barack, which, without perfect recitation of the Lord's Prayer both before and after the attack is proof of demonic possession.

Sorry, Taplin, but to the Crime of failing to denounce a President Bill Clinton maneuver of the past, I am a witness to Krugman's innocence.

Posted at March 24, 2008 7:12 PM in response to Paul Krugman's Hypocrisy