Liberal Talk Radio

More reactions to Obama’s speech, food stamps and the economy, and finally: the battle for Basra.Links Mentioned: Foodstamps on the rise … Kristof on erroneous beliefs … Crack and the CIA … Basra.

Sorry folks, we’re about 24 hours behind schedule with this week’s podcast. The Prof and I were both out of town.

As seemingly every Times columnist this week argued against Clinton continuing the charade, several of us wondered where Clinton apologist Paul Krugman stood on the matter. Now we know: Mr. McCain, we’re told, is a straight-talking maverick. But on domestic policy, he offers neither straight talk nor originality; instead, he panders shamelessly to right-wing ideologues. [...]

There’s something poetic about the news that India’s Tata Motors is buying the Land Rover and Jaguar brands from Ford. The Land Rover was the car that was used to conquer, colonize and maintain british control over India, and now it’s owned by an Indian company. We are truly in the post-colonial era. Photo: Winston [...]

A new site that will do for political media consultants what Redfin did for real-estate agents: Political campaign season is upon us and that means one thing: really bad political ads on TV. There are 50,000 public elections every year in the United States. And an estimated $3 billion will be spent on political TV [...]

Well, when you put it that way: A. J. Truilizio, a retired boiler operator in Johnstown whose favorite comedian is Jay Leno, said he was convinced that if a woman or a black man was elected president, “Leno won’t be as funny, you know?” He added, “It’s like, nothing you can say doesn’t offend somebody [...]

After successfully keeping the story alive for like two weeks now, she finally admits that perhaps some words were “misspoken”: As part of her argument that she has the best experience and instincts to deal with a sudden crisis as president, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton recently offered a vivid description of having to run across [...]

I found myself watching Who Killed the Electric Car? last night, and it’s quite an interesting little movie. One thing that’s hinted at in the film, but not really fleshed out, is the idea that electric cars are a really, really disruptive technology. Like any disruptive technology, they create a whole new class of winners [...]

Would Barney Frank ever have been able to talk about regulating the banking sector had it not been for Bush’s Bear Stearns bailout? That’s why Bush may be the most progressive-liberal president since, uh, Jimmy Carter. (Sorry, Bill!) Unconvinced? What about John McCain running around Europe pandering about Kyoto and torture and “reestablishing diplomacy”? Karl [...]

Krugman explains: America came out of the Great Depression with a pretty effective financial safety net, based on a fundamental quid pro quo: the government stood ready to rescue banks if they got in trouble, but only on the condition that those banks accept regulation of the risks they were allowed to take. Over time, [...]