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Archive for March, 2009

Perhaps They Were Right To Make Limbaugh The Face Of The GOP

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Politics, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh

Based on a new CBS News Poll, it seems that the White House was being politically smart when it engaged in a strategy to make Rush Limbaugh the public face of the Republican Party:
Over the past few weeks, the White House has been casting right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the head of the [...]

New Poll: Obama Would Crush Palin

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under 2012 Election, Barack Obama, Politics, Sarah Palin

Yes, it’s early to be talking about 2012 matchups, but this can’t be good news for Sarah-boosters:
A new Public Policy Polling survey shows President Obama would crush Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a hypothetical 2012 presidential contest, 55% to 35%.
(…)
“The key reason Palin would lose to Obama by so much is that even though she [...]

More Evidence Of The Phoniness Of The “Tea Party” Movement

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Economics, Politics

Jason Pye, who participated in the original Atlanta Tea Party and was interviewed by Neil Cavuto as part of Fox News Channel’s coverage of the same, passes along word that Newt Gingrich has jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon:

As Jason notes, Gingrich is hardly the person to lead a movement that is supposed to be [...]

National Debt Hits Another Record In 169 Days

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Economics, Politics

According to the Treasury Department’s Debt to the Penny Calculator, the National Debt first passed the $ 10 trillion mark on September 30, 2008, after having passed the $ 9 trillion mark on September 28, 2007.
In less than half the time it took to get from $ 9 trillion to $ 10 trillion, we’ve already [...]

Rick Santelli: Forget The Bonuses, It’s The Bailouts That Matter

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Credit Crisis, Economics, Politics

Rick Santelli is back, and he’s pointing out the rather obvious fact that we should spend more time worrying about the trillions of dollars that have been wasted on bailouts, and less time bloviating over $ 165 million in AIG bonuses:

H/T: Hot Air

Obama Administration Looking To Avoid Chapter 11 For Chrylser, G.M.

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Auto Industry, Barack Obama, Business, Economics, Politics

Not surprisingly, it looks like the Obama Administration does not have the political courage to do what’s necessary to restructure the auto industry:
The leaders of President Barack Obama’s auto task force are focused on restructuring General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC outside of bankruptcy court, despite suggestions from some experts that a Chapter 11 filing [...]

Beer And Liberty: An American Revolution

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Individual Liberty, Right to Contract

Reason.tv takes a look at how removing restrictions that protected large breweries revitalized the art of brewing in the United States:

When Jurors Twitter, Blog, And Google

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Facebook, Internet, Legal, Technology, Twitter, iPhone

An interesting article in the New York Times details the problems that Judges are confronting now that jury trials have entered the information age:
Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judge’s [...]

Defending The AIG Bonuses

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Credit Crisis, Economics, Politics

It is probably the most unpopular position to take right now, but there are some economists and pundits out there saying that the AIG retention bonuses currently causing outrage in Washington and across the punditsphere were actually a good thing.
Yesterday in The New York Times, for example, Andrew Sorkin notes that allowing the government to [...]

Washington’s Phony Outrage Over The AIG Bonuses

by Doug Mataconis @ Wednesday, March 18th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Credit Crisis, Economics, Politics

As the outcry over the AIG bonuses continues to build in Washington and the company’s CEO appears gets dragged before a Congressional committee hearing show trial, it’s becoming fairly apparent that all the outrage and feigned surprise we’re hearing from both side of Pennsylvania Avenue is little more than phony political posturing.
For one thing, we [...]

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