Michael Tomasky's Blog, page 73

Michael Tomask: Kagan hearing check-in

As we established back in the Sonia Sotomayor days, none of us is consumingly fascinated with these kinds of confirmation hearings. If a conservative leaves the court and Obama can replace him with a liberal, shifting the balance of power, that will be interesting and much more intense. But the current business seems pretty pro forma, and the reviews so far say that Elena Kagan is handling herself with aplomb.

The interesting exchange took place between Kagan and Oklahoma Republican Tom...

Michael Tomasky: Sharron Angle, the hits keep coming

Every day brings a new surprise from Sharron Angle, the tea party/GOP Senate nominee in Nevada. From HuffPo, a recent exchange she had with a conservative radio shot:

Manders: I, too, am pro life but I'm also pro choice, do you understand what I mean when I say that.

Angle: I'm pro responsible choice. There is choice to abstain choice to do contraception. There are all kind of good choices.

Manders: Is there any reason at all for an abortion?

Angle: Not in my book.

Manders: So, in other words...

Michael Tomasky: Irish austerity and the US

As I rather presciently noted to you last week, in advance of the Toronto summit, the UK and the US (now, Europe and the US) are at loggerheads about the whole fiscal situation. Obama argued in Toronto for more stimulus, but Europe held firm. Cut cut cut.

This wasn't because they don't like Obama, or he gave everyone naff (did I spell that right?) DVDs that didn't play on their sets, but rather, obviously, because their own banks are telling them they have to cut to remain solvent.

Today comes ...

Michael Tomasky: Does Joe Manchin hold finreg's fate in his hands?

Things are looking temporarily grim from the Democratic point of view on the finreg front. Republicans Scott Brown and Susan Collins, who voted for the bill as it emerged from the Senate the first time, are now on the fence. And Democrat Russ Feingold says he's going to vote against it.

This is the week for this kind of game of chicken, so no one should believe these postures can't possibly change. I find it fairly difficult to imagine that if the Democrats have 59 votes, Feingold will really ...

Michael Tomasky: Off-topic post on two matters for you to sound off on

Matter the first: It seems fairly obvious to me that FIFA should introduce both instant replay and some kind of electronic device to detect whether the ball crossed the plane of the goal, a la hockey. After this World Cup, I have trouble understanding who would even defend the current system. Is it just the usual reactionary, hidebound, fear-of-any-change nonsense, or is there some better reason?

American football has been immeasurably improved by the introduction of the instant replay rules. ...

Michael Tomasky: GOP wrecking the economy

Writing on TPM Cafe, Theda Skocpol (pronounced SCOTCH-poll) of Harvard just comes right out and says it, and boy does she say it:

The public has no idea what is going on, and just blames Democrats, who appear to be in charge in DC. Now it is happening gain with vital public spending for national economy recovery -- state aid, unemployment relief, and adjustments in taxes and Medicare payments. This legislation is not just important to this or that group. It matters for keeping any semblance...

Michael Tomasky: Obama still a furriner, say 24%

From Think Progress, I see that a new poll finds 24% of Americans still thinking that Obama was born outside the United States.

It seems that 63% rate him as having been born in the US, while the 24% breaks down this way: not sure which country, 11%; Kenya, 6%; Indonesia, 2%; someplace else outside the US, 5%.

The question they apparently don't get to here is whether all these people disapprove of this. The percentage of Americans who know that the president has to be a native-born citizens is ...

Michael Tomasky: More on Byrd and race, and the here and now

Reading through the last thread kind of amazed me.

In his earlier years, Robert Byrd was a racist. No one denies that. Then, by about 1970, he was not. He changed. So for the last 40 years of his life, or more than half of his adult life, he wasn't a racist. What's so complicated? People change. Our friend Wiki put it quite nicely at 3:35.

What conservatives are angry about here is this alleged double standard, expressed by gwillikers:

If a Republican who had been a Klan member and had screwed...

Michael Tomasky: Robert Byrd

Robert Byrd has died. The West Virginian is the longest-serving senator in United States history, having been elected to a staggering nine terms, the last one in 2006, and he served more than half a century in the body.

Democratic defenders of Byrd point to highlights such as his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war and his support for the Panama Canal treaty in the late 1970s as evidence of his progressive bent. Detractors point to his opposition to civil rights in 1964 and his brief...

Michael Tomasky: Well, if you're that interested in Journolist, okay...

When I posted the Journolist/Dave Weigel piece Friday, I feared it was going to draw something like nine comments. I see now (it's Sunday afternoon) that it's nearing the century mark. So if you're all that interested in the subject, here are three more points.

First of all, re the immediate problem here, which some of you seem confused by. It was an off-the-record list. Now you scoff and say naive and impossible, but the fact is that 99% of the time, that admonition worked. It broke down a...