“J.P. McJefferson Thoughts“ J.P. McJefferson As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the condition of its governing institutions presents a paradox. The American experiment is not collapsing. It is not even failing in the conventional sense. It is, instead, stalled—caught in a pattern of predictable conflict and diminishing returns that sustains conflict without producing […]

I voted for Obama both times. I don’t regret that at all. I think he was among our better presidents, although that’s a pretty low bar. One of the things I fault him for is that he didn’t do much to build the party he led. Looks like I’m not alone. From a paywalled CNN […]

Ever since November 2024, when Donald Trump took over all three branches of the federal government, there has been no shortage of navel-gazing pieces posing as political analysis of why Democrats are unable to get their voters to the polls. One theme has been that the party is been chasing dollars, and to be successful, […]

I’m seeing a lot of doom and gloom navel-gazing about the Democratic Party these days. I’m not a political pundit, but Josh Marshall is, and this ain’t his first rodeo. The weakness, in his eyes, lies with the party leadership and not with the party or its voters. “A lot of the weirdness of press […]

Regarding my commentary on the need for ideology, maybe this will help clarify my position. Ideological Purge: DOGE’s Federal Layoffs Especially Target Agencies Perceived as Liberal Two responses to my discussion questioned what are the policies positions. There were specific issues of concern presented. I was not addressing specific policy at all. That these questions […]

The least trustworthy name in news, buried in the 13th graf: Democratic lawmakers have argued it would be illegal for Trump to unilaterally eliminate a federal agency without consulting Congress. This is not a question of whether something is blue-green, aqua, or cyan. This is a matter of fact. You might think a news organization […]

Since the presidential election there have been claims made that the Democratic Party is not interested in change.  People have noted how the pre-election rhetoric of both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did not match their post election actions.  (I’ve pointed out specific examples in the past). I just heard the following article on Democracy […]

Here’s our offer.  It’s a very good offer.  And a serious one.  Seriously. (Yeah, I’m venting my frustration.) Who, the HELL, is running the House and Senate Campaign committees? My guess: People who have some personal or financial connection to the usual-suspect Dem consulting firms. Or who just can’t even imagine that, y’know, maybe it’s […]

by Robert Waldmann On Ed Kilgore’s thoughts on Peter Beinart. He wrote: he mentions both the Washington Monthly and the New Republic (which he used to edit) as onetime journalistic bulwarks of the soon-to-be discarded Clintonism (and Obamism) that have now “moved left,” I would point out to him the not-exactly-distant-past March/April issue of WaMo […]

Salon writer  Natasha Lennard reports that a sticking point around Social Security stalled ‘fiscal cliff’ back and forth rejoinders between the two parties, but also points out that the topic continues to be on the table (and has been offered by President Obama before these talks a couple years ago).   Notice both parties using the […]