Category: The Dish

The audacity of cynicism:

Ross considers McCain’s something-for-everyone economic policy:

This is almost certainly a wiser approach than campaigning as the prince of budgetary rectitude and nothing else, but by leaving McCain without a signal theme, it runs the risk that the media will end up deciding which aspects of his program get highlighted, and what narrative he ends up saddled with. If he’s lucky, the press will highlight the populist themes and proposals, and portray him (once again) as the heir to Teddy Roosevelt. If he isn’t, though, they’ll peg him as a flip-flopping opportunist — or worse, as George W. Bush redux.

Budgetary rectitude would have been enough for me after the last seven years – and more effective a contrast with Obama. The gas tax holiday idea has to be one of the more depressing of the season.

More polls; less movement. The only poll that matters will be April 22. But if "Bittergate" fizzles in Pennsylvania, it will be a huge embarrassment for the media. We made this much of a fuss about this little? What else are we getting wrong?

My grandmother was right: it actually can alleviate minor depression.

Little old ladies for Obama:

Looking at Gallup data, Dave Weigel makes this observation:

The salience of the tax issue at the federal level is slumping. Americans are still irritated by taxes at the state level, but less so: You can finesse their frustration by making payment simpler and persuading them that their services are worth the cost. If this doesn’t grant a mandate for Democrats to seize power and rates rates, it doesn’t promise much political benefit for anti-tax Republicans, either. Not in the short term.

Glenn Greenwald and Megan McArdle have at it on Bloggingheads.

A suitably cantankerous debut. Ezra Klein on "J Street":

With 1/100th AIPAC’s budget, the organization is not likely, as some are hoping, to prove a quick counterweight to the existent Israel Lobby. But they are a new Jewish voice that honors and shields those who would express their support for Israel by seeking peace, rather than supporting conflict.

Noah Pollak with the neoconservative perspective:

So what does J Street want? A “comprehensive negotiated peace between Israel and all its Arab neighbors.” Well, what if some of those neighbors — Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas — don’t want the same thing? This is a forbidden thought. A similar litany of foggy platitudes surrounds other issues: “You make peace with your enemies, not your friends” (i.e., Israel should negotiate with Hamas.) The list goes on; to save time, imagine roughly the editorial positions of The Nation magazine in the mouths of lobbyists.

A critique of the man of steel.

Mickey entertainingly unloads on Microsoft.