I’ll be interested in whether Dick Cheney tries to claim real wages are rising again. It is true that the BLS reporting of nominal average hourly earnings is 7% higher than it was as of December 2001, but so is its reporting of consumer prices. We have seen lots of confusion on this score including […]

Since the first Presidential debate covered the national security issue, my review of Bush’s Agenda for America will address chapter 4. The short version of this is “The Best Defense is a Good Offense”. I can see why the authors put the plans for strengthening homeland security towards the end of this document given that […]

Earnings season is getting under way on Wall Street. Over the next few weeks most of the US’s big corporations will be reporting their third quarter profits. Over recent weeks, investors have become pessimistic on the outlook for corporate profits to keep rising. By a two-to-one ratio companies are warning investors that their profits will […]

Paul Bremer, July 2003, on Meet the Press: Tim Russert: Have you asked Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld for more American troops? Ambassador Paul Bremer: No, I have not. I expressed — Tim Russert: Do we need more? Ambassador Paul Bremer: I do not believe we do. I think the military commanders are confident we have […]

I’ve come across a one-stop shop for proving the falsity of the claims of the Bush campaign: the George Bush re-election website! Today the Bush campaign released a new ad attacking Kerry. The web page that supposedly provides the “Ad facts” describes the opening of the ad: Mom Voiceover: 5:30, I need to get groceries…. […]

Why is it so difficult for Condoleezza Rice to tell the truth? The story in the New York Times yesterday in many ways recounted what we learned in this story from two years ago: Evidence on Iraq Challenged: Experts Question if Tubes Were Meant for Weapons Program by Joby Warrick, Thursday, September 19, 2002…There is […]

Registration continues to surge, particularly in urban areas in swing states (also, “the huge gains have come in areas with minority and low-income populations”), which seems almost certain to be good news for Kerry. A record surge of potential new voters has swamped boards of election from Pennsylvania to Oregon, as the biggest of the […]

In 2000, Bush fooled a lot of people into thinking he was a moderate, or at least a “compassionate conservative.” Presumably he won’t be able to do it again, but the amazing thing is that he’s trying. In the 2000 debates, Bush at times criticized Gore from the left: “These folks have had eight years […]

So Saturday Night Live had all summer to prepare the opening scene for tonight’s season premier, plus plenty of material from Thursday’s debate. Having just watched it, however, I can only wonder whether The Daily Show has hired every good writer in New York. AB

Matt Y. pens some: I don’t have a great deal to say, either, except this: Right now would be a bad time to become overconfident. Bush could easily recover some of his poise for the next two debates, though the issue terrain should be more favorable to Kerry. Expectations are so heavily leaning toward John […]