Canecittà

Brad DeLong at his finest. Proof positive that the talent’s out there:

I took my completed mail-in ballot to the drop-off bin this morning. So stop robo-calling me already.

President Obama: Trapped in his own ever-so-judiciously-created paradoxes. Mitt Romney: Lie, cheat, steal, and grin: it’s all he knows. The American People: Once again, getting what we deserve. Jesus: Wept.

If the U.S. government had been built as a galley, the Democrats on the port side would now be trying to row, those on the starboard side would be leaning on their oars. The Republicans would be drilling holes in the bottom of the hull. There’d be no one at the tiller.

Patrick Gaspard, Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee, sent me an e-mail message yesterday. In order to close the gap with the Republicans, he says, the Democratic National Committee needs to raise another 35 million dollars this month. I can help the cause at all levels across the country by donating $3.00 (or more, of [...]

Santorum: Any country which can name a nuclear attack submarine the Corpus Christi can probably reconcile itself to the Sanctum Santorum. Non-Catholics, as always, will shake their heads in disbelief, but who cares about them?

Gingrich: Dorian Gray.

From Dani Rodrik’s Europe’s Next Nightmare in Project Syndicate: The challenge is to develop a new political narrative emphasizing national interests and values without overtones of nativism and xenophobia. If centrist elites do not prove themselves up to the task, those of the far right will gladly fill the vacuum, minus the moderation. That is [...]

Today, in the Süddeutsche Zeitung online, an editorial by Heribert Prantly which makes, among others, the following point: In der Spitzenpolitik wurde dieses Referendum diskutiert, als habe Premier Papandreou vorgeschlagen, die Demokratie in seinem Land durch ein russisches Roulette zu ersetzen – und als gelte es daher, dem Premier die Waffe wieder aus der Hand [...]

Listening to Noam Chomsky for the first time can be a little like discovering a new species of orchid sprouting in a Wal*Mart parking lot. We think we know where we are — everything looks and sounds the way it’s always looked and sounded — and then, suddenly, familiar perspectives seem to shift. It’s not [...]