Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Marco Rubio Needs to Travel More. Seriously. [Updated and lightly edited.]

Mr. President, I still live in the same working-class neighborhood I grew up in. My neighbors aren’t millionaires. They’re retirees who depend on Social Security and Medicare. They’re workers who have to get up early tomorrow morning and go to work to pay the bills. They’re immigrants, who came here because they were stuck in […]

John Boehner Says Defense Spending Is the Problem with the Economy. Awesome. – [UPDATED]

Politico’s Glenn Thrush reports this morning that Republicans believe the GDP report showing the economy is shrinking gives them political “leverage” over Obama, since bad economic news is terrible for the President. But Thrush notes that this shouldn’t be the case, since the contraction was the result of spending cuts, which in theory should undermine […]

Harry Reid Throws Down the Gauntlet In Front of … Obama. Hurray. [UPDATED]

Obama pushed forward despite strong reservations expressed by top congressional Democrats — especially Reid — who privately described it as a “bad deal” that would increase Republican leverage in future budget fights. … Reid figured Democrats could get a more favorable agreement if they waited. When Reid saw an offer that Obama had considered pitching […]

Did Romney Begin to Reverse-Etch-A-Sketch Today?

CINCINNATI, Ohio — Mitt Romney tried Thursday to borrow the campaign themes that got President Barack Obama elected in 2008. The Republican nominee repeatedly promised “big change” in Washington, a fresh phrase for him and one that he used more than a dozen times in a 20-minute speech at a rally that kicked off a […]

Richard Williamson and John Bolton are Jewish! Recent converts, apparently. [Updated.]

Are Richard Williamson and John Bolton—two of Romney’s three main foreign-policy advisors, and reportedly the two most influential—Jewish?  Really? Or are they simply under the influence of Dan Senor and other manipulative neocon Jews?  Sorta like Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld were. Oh, please. —- WARNING: Every word of the above post except the last […]

Individualism vs. Collectivism: Thanks For the Ammunition, Ann

Ann Romney said in an interview airing Wednesday that her husband has no plans to release additional tax returns, saying “it’ll just give them more ammunition” and insisting that “there’s nothing we’re hiding.” “We have been very transparent to what’s legally required of us. But the more we release, the more we get attacked, the more […]

Two Important Op-Ed Pieces Today

I want to draw AB readers’ attention to two of the most important op-ed pieces I’ve read in a while.  They address entirely different, but profoundly important, matters. One is Elizabeth Warren’s piece today in Politico, called Stop riggingsystem against small business. The other is Bill Keller’s column today in the New York Times, called […]