The Importance of the Deficit

In commenting about John McCain's budget plans, Matthew Yglesias threw out this comment: Given the present circumstances, I can't think of any good reason for a presidential candidate to be promising to that we'll be at balanced budgets in four years. It would be nice to see the deficit on a decreasing trajectory rather than an increasing one, but achieving short-term ...

Defunct Blog Increasingly Influential

John Sides and Eric Lawrence begin an LAT piece on the importance of political blogs, "Who listens to blogging heads?" thusly: Daily Kos. Little Green Footballs. Talking Points Memo. Instapundit. Firedoglake. Captain's Quarters. These are among the thousands of political blogs that are increasingly a factor in U.S. politics. Given that Ed Morrissey shuttered the last of those months ago to join ...

Obama Plunges in Newsweek Poll!

Newsweek has released a new poll and is excited by the huge change: "Glow Fading? The latest NEWSWEEK Poll shows Barack Obama leading John McCain by only 3 points. What a difference a few weeks can make." This is quite amusing in that pretty much everyone agreed that the June 20th Newsweek poll was an outlier. No matter. In ...

Throwing Sister Souljah Under the Bus

Publius thinks it's time to ban the phrase "Sister Souljah" moment, not just because it's hackneyed but because it has been misused. The more benign interpretation is that a Sister Souljah moment occurs when a candidate criticizes some group or idea nominally aligned with that candidate. In short, it’s criticizing your own coalition – or some idea valued by your coalition ...

John McCain’s Message

Daniel Strauss sat through a session at the center-left New America Foundation yesterday and came away with an epiphany about John McCain's campaign: "It's what he's saying, not how he says it." Jeremy Rosner observed, A lot of people have noted he's just very incoherently between the right and the center, between offshore drilling and $300 million prizes for new electric ...

Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama’s Cohones

Jesse Jackson's statement that Barack Obama's "talking down to black people" makes him so angry that he "wants to cut his nuts out" has caused quite the stir. Charles Hurt of the NY Post has the most concise report: In a vulgar tirade caught on tape by Fox News, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said he wanted to "cut his [Barack Obama's] nuts ...

Blogrolls, RIP

Duncan Riley laments the demise of the blogroll. Once upon a time in the land of the blogs, the blogroll reigned suprmeme. Everyone had a blogroll, and it was a great way to discover new and interesting blogs. But somewhere along the way blogrolls fell out of favor, and you don’t seem them much at all today. [...] Unlike other areas of blogging, ...

Congress Banning Social Media?

As if to prove Robert Heinlein correct, the House Administration Committee is, apparently with honorable intent, considering effectively banning the use of popular social media sites, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook by Members. Soren Dayton couches this in partisan terms: "In typical fashion, House Democrats are trying to pass rules that stifle debate and require regulation." In fact, though, it appears ...

Google Walking Directions

Google Maps is beta testing a new "walking directions" feature, Alex Chitu reports.  Apparently, it's just being tested  out on a small number of randomly selected users. Since I wasn't among those selected, I was a bit dubious since I was unable to personally verify, let alone test, said service.  A quick search of another of Google's products, its ubiquitous ...

John McCain ‘Love’ Ad

John McCain's latest ad, "Love," contrasts himself with those dirty hippies who spent the summer of 1968 on sex, drugs, and rock and roll rather than being tortured for their country. The voiceover: It was a time of uncertainty, hope and change. The "Summer Of Love." Half a world away, another kind of love — of country. John McCain: Shot down. Bayoneted. Tortured. Offered early ...