over 70% of the Bush tax rebate goes to the top 40% (average income: $134,000) and less than 10% reaches the bottom 40% (average income: $14,300).

A Bush tax cut primarily benefits the wealthy; that is, those who need it least?

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

I am hoping that this dose of reality finally shoots down the voodoo known as supply-side economics. But I'm not holding my breath.

Posted at January 22, 2008 11:31 AM in response to The Economy Just Keeps Going “Bump!”

maybe Obama should hire a team of private investigators to investigate everything that everyone with whom he comes into contact with on a regular basis - from the pastor of his church, to his drinking buddies, to the store where he does his grocery shopping, hell let's extend it to the friends and associates of his children too - says and does, so that Sen. Obama can distance himself from any person who might have ever said anything stupid in a momentary lapse of judgement, which some fucking prig with a ginormous stick up his ass could construe as being even remotely racist, anti-semitic, or otherwise offensive to the oh-so-tender sensibilities of somebody, somewhere in this vast country of ours.

In fact, I think every presidential candidate should be required to do this in order to satisfy the impossibly pure standards of the Politically Correct Gestapo, whether it be the Jewish branch or the Black branch or the fundamentalist Christian branch. Because of course, none of us have any friends or acquaintances whatsoever who might have once said or done something stupid, and if you do and you don't disown that person immediately upon finding out about it, you're a goddamned racist/anti-semite as well.

Jesus christ, I don't know why anyone would bother to run for political office, having to put up with this kind of ridiculous bullshit.

Posted at January 15, 2008 11:07 AM in response to Playing With Fire: Smearing Obama Among Jews

Abe Foxman would be very proud of Richard Cohen today

(and Daniel Greenbaum too)

By the way, has Cohen yet disavowed sexual harassment in the workplace? Because there is a much, much stronger connection between the two than there is between Obama and Farrakhan.

Posted at January 15, 2008 10:54 AM in response to Playing With Fire: Smearing Obama Among Jews

I agree with the other commenters here, I am not a Hillary supporter but neither am I a Hillary-hater and the media's treatment of her has been abysmal. I realize they don't like her because - until recently - she wouldn't take questions from them, but this is ridiculous. This is 'pack/tribal journalism' at its very worst. They are not there to carry out vendettas for slights, they are there to cover the race because that's their job.

Posted at January 8, 2008 7:09 PM in response to Results Open Thread

this may not be an original observation, but absent some earthshaking event I see Obama getting the nomination. The people supporting non-Obama, non-Hillary Dem candidates, I can see them switching to Obama if/when it becomes a two-person race. I can't see them switching to Hillary. It's the Iowa caucus 2nd-choice voters writ large.

Posted at January 8, 2008 7:05 PM in response to Results Open Thread

I have a hard time harshing on Webb; after all he knocked off George Allen and he's hardly been a Joe Lieberman Democrat. I like Webb and I think it is profoundly unrealistic to expect a junior senator from Virginia to be the next Russ Feingold.

Can we at least wait until we have the White House and Congress firmly in our control before forming the circular firing squad???

Posted at December 23, 2007 12:56 PM in response to Looking Forward: Prospects for Carrying on the Legacies of the Dean and Lamont Campaigns

Curveball 2: Tehran Boogaloo!

Posted at December 5, 2007 6:41 AM in response to NeoCons Go Ballistic on Iran NIE

nope Atrios has this one wrong. That logic does not follow.

I don't have a million dollars, but if I did, I think it would be safe to assume that I'd be keeping it in the bank, not stuffed under the mattress or in the fireplace as kindling.

Likewise, we may know that Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapons program, but if they did I would think we'd have some idea where the facilities would be.

Posted at December 5, 2007 6:40 AM in response to NeoCons Go Ballistic on Iran NIE

Mr. McLaren, you're a voice in the wilderness. So much of modern-day Christianity is shot through with hypocrisy, corruption, insincerity and lies.

You don't need to believe in a deity in order to be a good person.

What's more, deities in general don't really care, in the end, if you're a good person. What they demand is your unquestioning worship.

Posted at December 3, 2007 6:59 PM in response to Christianity as a Global Threat

I don't see how having read Faludi's book or not disqualifies anyone from the general discussion here. We're not just talking about her book. You might as well demand that one must read the entire text of a proposed bill before Congress, before being qualified to express an opinion about whether it would make good law or not.

OTOH I don't see how one can plausibly review a book or film or TV show without having read it/seen it. One can certainly have an idea of what the thesis is - and it might even be correct - but if you're going to put yourself forward as 'reviewing the book (having some authority to speak on the matter)' versus 'some joe with an opinion about what he thinks the book is about (everyone's got an asshole too...)', you really ought to be sure you know what you're talking about.

Posted at November 9, 2007 12:16 PM in response to The Primacy of Palaver