Fake outrage over Alan Simpson's twist on the phrase "sucking on the government tit."

It's a standard expression. Simpson came up with a brilliantly memorable variation to describe social security: "a milk cow with 3...

Obama "does not believe it is necessary or fair to hardworking seniors to raise the retirement age."

A sentence that was just deleted from Barack Obama's website page about Social Security. Noted by Peter Bray, who asks: "Is he try...

Debate tonight. I'll be liveblogging.

Watch this space. It will be elongated — starting at 8 Eastern Time — with quirky observations and peevish intuitions. I'm very interes...

"Hillary Clinton proposed a $70 economic stimulus package today that would help...."

Whoooa! Just a damned minute! 70 dollars! Take pity on the taxpayer, you crazy tax-and-spend Democrat! IN THE COMMENTS: I say: Maybe it...

Into the movie theater, "Into the Wild."

I saw the movie "Into the Wild" yesterday. This was only the second movie I've seen since arriving in New York in mid-August....

Blogging the Republican debate.

1. It started — like my Fedcourts class — at 4, and I set the old Explorer 8000 to save it for me. So, let's go. Chris Matthews is askin...

"How come 'national service' proponents never talk about drafting the old?"

Great question, by Ilya Somin. [T]he moral case for conscripting the elderly for civilian service is arguably stronger than that for draftin...

Analyzing the text of Hillary Clinton's announcement.

I listened to Hillary's announcement a couple of times, and I just want to say two things about the language. 1. "Basic bargain...

What I think is really going on in the war on trans fat.

William Saletan on the "war on fat": The whole world is engulfed in a war on fat. On one side are health crusaders. On the other s...

If Democrats win the House with candidates who seem more like Republicans...

... what will happen to the party? Democratic officials said they did not set out with the intention of finding moderates to run. Instead, a...

What happened to the "New Democrats"?

Noam Scheiber asks why there are so many more affluent people -- like Ned Lamont -- embracing "economic populism": [T]he number ....

The NYT covers the YearlyKos convention.

And you gotta love the photograph: Yikes... bloggers . They took off their jammies and put on their shorts. They've come out of the hous...

"She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met."

From ABC News : Miers was Bush's personal lawyer in Texas and took on the tough job of cleaning up the Texas Lottery when he was governo...

"This thirst for total control of our government has driven them to things I thought I would never see..."

"...in the United States Senate." So says Hillary Clinton in a letter I received in the mail today. The nerve of George Bush -- ...

Don't retire, get demoted.

John Tierney responds to the criticism he received after he dared to suggest raising the age at which people qualify for Social Security b...

"A wonderfully intentioned system that in practice promotes greed and sloth."

John Tierney notes that Americans feel entited to retire with Social Security benefits when they are only 65 or even 62, even though that h...

What would Robin Hood do?

John Tierney has an op-ed today about Bush's plan to reshape Social Security to give the greatest benefit to the poor: [Democrats] trie...

It's the end of the radio as we know it.

Here 's a piece in the Washington Post about how people in Washington don't listen to talk radio much anymore. The station with Al F...

A graphic portrayal of Republicans.

Here's an interesting NYT graphic attempting to represent the groups within the Republican Party. The sizes of the various elephants ar...

Schiavo politics, judicial politics.

I notice we're not talking about Social Security anymore. It was too tedious to talk about -- too tedious to think about. But everyone c...