It's going to be a short one tonight -- mostly because a few big news items are sucking up all the oxygen in newsrooms and nothing much else is being reported. So bear with me, here's the news...
Julian Assange has turned himself in to British police. In case you missed it, my take on Diane Feinstein and Joe Lieberman on Wikileaks: they suck. Mastercard and Visa join Paypal in cutting off service to Wikileaks -- but giving to the KKK is still cool. A Pirate Bay founder has a way for people to donate to Wikileaks, if they so desire.
NYT's David Leonhardt agrees with me that the Obama-GOP tax deal is probably better than most people expected and takes it a step further, saying, "This deal looks an awful lot like a second stimulus." Steve Benen agrees. Don't get too excited though; the first stimulus wasn't nearly large enough and this one would be even smaller. I'm still saying we could've done better. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Speaking of Steve Benen, he and Ezra Klein agree that this tax deal shows that, despite their rhetoric, Republicans are more willing to compromise than they'd like people to think. After all, Obama got more than expected out of it, didn't he? Still, Benen sees this as an exception, not the rule: "The point is, tax cuts are unique in the GOP worldview. Republicans were willing to make a deal on this issue because the policy at stake was extremely important to them. Will they consider being equally constructive the next time there's a policy debate, and the outcome is largely irrelevant to them? I have my doubts."
Mary Landrieu and Bernie Sanders take up basically the same economic argument. World to surely end soon.
Big Dick Cheney is now officially a fugitive from justice.
Finally, RIP Elizabeth Edwards.
Julian Assange has turned himself in to British police. In case you missed it, my take on Diane Feinstein and Joe Lieberman on Wikileaks: they suck. Mastercard and Visa join Paypal in cutting off service to Wikileaks -- but giving to the KKK is still cool. A Pirate Bay founder has a way for people to donate to Wikileaks, if they so desire.
NYT's David Leonhardt agrees with me that the Obama-GOP tax deal is probably better than most people expected and takes it a step further, saying, "This deal looks an awful lot like a second stimulus." Steve Benen agrees. Don't get too excited though; the first stimulus wasn't nearly large enough and this one would be even smaller. I'm still saying we could've done better. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Speaking of Steve Benen, he and Ezra Klein agree that this tax deal shows that, despite their rhetoric, Republicans are more willing to compromise than they'd like people to think. After all, Obama got more than expected out of it, didn't he? Still, Benen sees this as an exception, not the rule: "The point is, tax cuts are unique in the GOP worldview. Republicans were willing to make a deal on this issue because the policy at stake was extremely important to them. Will they consider being equally constructive the next time there's a policy debate, and the outcome is largely irrelevant to them? I have my doubts."
Mary Landrieu and Bernie Sanders take up basically the same economic argument. World to surely end soon.
Big Dick Cheney is now officially a fugitive from justice.
Finally, RIP Elizabeth Edwards.
