February 8th, 2010 11:43am
Pat Cunningham
 
Ezra Klein NAILS IT.
An excerpt:
At this point, I don’t think it’s well understood how many of the GOP’s central health-care policy ideas have already been included as compromises in the health-care bill. But one good way is to look at the GOP’s ” Solutions for America” homepage, which lays out its health-care plan in some detail. It has four planks. All of them — yes, you read that right — are in the Senate health-care bill.
But, of course, the Party of No doesn’t really want a health-care bill. The Repubs are opposed to anything that might possibly make President Obama and the Democrats look good. They are the living embodiment of the rule-or-ruin approach to politics.
UPDATE: Steve Benen has MORE on this matter.
February 8th, 2010 10:57am
Pat Cunningham
 
I’m not sure there’s a logical answer to this question, but I’ll ask it anyway:
Why was there a difference between Democratic and Republican respondents in a pre-game survey on which team they favored to win the Super Bowl?Â
As the poll numbers (HERE) showed, Democrats strongly preferred the New Orleans Saints, while Republicans narrowly went for the Indianapolis Colts.
The Saints, as you no doubt know by now, came away with a 31-17 victory (which, I’m proud to say, was very close to the PREDICTION I made more than nine hours before the game started).
But I still can’t figure out why Republicans were more inclined than Americans in general to favor the Colts. Perhaps you have a theory in this regard.
February 7th, 2010 11:08am
Pat Cunningham
 
Peter Beinart NAILS IT.
An excerpt:
Conservatives keep saying that Obama doesn’t really believe we’re at war; that he sees terrorists as mere criminals, not the epic evil-doers that they really are. But here’s the irony: It’s precisely because he doesn’t see the terrorist threat as quite so epic that al Qaeda is falling apart.
To understand why, it helps to understand that al Qaeda is one of the weakest enemies America has ever faced. In their day, the Nazis and communists each ran a great power. (In the case of the communists, two). What’s more, during the Depression, vast numbers of people across the globe—including some of the most famous intellectuals in the United States and Europe—believed the fascists and communists could build societies that were more prosperous and dynamic than their democratic competitors. Barely anyone has ever believed that about al Qaeda. Not only have the jihadists never controlled a powerful country, but no one really believes that if they did it would be anything other than a basket case. To millions of people, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia once offered compelling visions of modernity; Taliban Afghanistan never did.
February 7th, 2010 10:19am
Pat Cunningham
THIS is pretty funny.
UPDATE:Â More reaction HERE.
February 7th, 2010 09:48am
Pat Cunningham
Â
Is there anything more ridiculous than the argument that cold weather and heavy snow are proof that global-warming theories should not be taken seriously?
Consider, for example, the NONSENSE peddled in connection with yesterday’s big blizzard out East.
February 7th, 2010 09:04am
Pat Cunningham
 
Actually, I like both these teams. And, yes, I recognize that the Colts are favored by 5.5 points at this writing.
But I figure the New Orleans players are the more motivated group as their city still struggles to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Any Applesauce readers who win wagers on the basis of my prediction will be expected, of course, to pay me my customary commission of 10 percent.
February 7th, 2010 08:33am
Pat Cunningham
 
Frank Rich TAKES NOTICE of the generally muted response by right-wingers to a declaration by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that gays should be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military.
An excerpt:
As more gay people have come out — a process that accelerated once the modern gay rights movement emerged from the Stonewall riots of 1969 — so more heterosexuals have learned that they have gay relatives, friends, neighbors, teachers and co-workers. It is hard to deny our own fundamental rights to those we know, admire and love.
But that’s not the whole explanation for the scant pushback in Washington to Mullen and his partner in change, Defense Secretary Robert Gates. There is also a potent political subtext. To a degree unimaginable as recently as 2004 — when Karl Rove and George W. Bush ran a national campaign exploiting fear of gay people — there is now little political advantage to spewing homophobia. Indeed, anti-gay animus is far more likely to repel voters than attract them.
February 7th, 2010 07:56am
Pat Cunningham
February 6th, 2010 12:03pm
Pat Cunningham
HERE’s the kind of thing your average teabagger would fiercely denounce if a liberal group did it.
February 6th, 2010 11:07am
Pat Cunningham
Steve Benen SAYS congressional Democrats are poised to go on the offensive against the emerging Republican budget plan, which calls for privatizing Social Security and ending Medicare as we know it.
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