Peter Roff 45 minutes ago

Democrats Admit That Their Cap and Trade Bill Is a Job Killer

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

In her remarks bringing the debate over the climate bill to a close, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California urged her colleagues to vote in favor of the cap and trade bill, saying the measure was about four things: "jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs."

She was right—the House-passed version of cap and trade is all about jobs: jobs lost, jobs never created, jobs sent overseas, and, unbelievably, jobs people will be paid for doing long after they cease to exist.

John Aloysius Farrell 10:42 AM ET

Wal-Mart Closer to Paving Over Civil War Battlefield in Virginia

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

A few weeks back, I wrote about the ongoing controversy in Orange County, Va., where Wal-Mart wants to build a "supercenter" shopping mall on the ground where the Union and Confederate armies clashed in the battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War. Here is a disheartening update: A courageous and wise public official has been fired for suggesting that Wal-Mart choose a different site.

Robert Schlesinger July 04, 2009

Sarah Palin Quitting Shows She's No Ronald Reagan

If Sarah Palin truly does plan to stay in politics, her resignation speech should have been a memorable philosophical statement akin to Ronald Reagan's speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign. The Gipper's speech was an eloquent and enduring summation of his political philosophy and while it did little to help his candidate, it catapulted him onto the national political stage and laid out his governing vision. It was known among his staff simply as "the speech" and he would give variations of it for the rest of his career.

If Palin's speech proves memorable, it will be in the way that Richard Nixon's 1962 "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more" speech endures. Palin's resignation speech was a strange hodgepodge, a mix of self-congratulatory horn-tooting, sound-bites and catch-phrases, unexplained political shorthand references ("that liberal 9th circuit!") and awkward ad-libs that left the impression of someone of such towering hubris that she did not think something so mundane as practicing the speech was necessary. When message is secondary to messenger practice may seem a waste of precious time. But Palin would do well to learn a lesson from the Great Commmunicator: Reagan made speech-giving look easy because he was a great natural talent, but also because he worked very hard at it and practiced a great deal. As I recount in White House Ghosts, would sit in the Oval Office as TV crews were setting up around him and quietly re-read his speech.

Political success is about hard work and working hard. And progress is made through compromise. But in Friday's speech Palin dismissed hard work and compromise as … the quitter's way out.

Bonnie Erbe July 02, 2009

Gays Aren't Necessarily Atheists

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

My colleague Dan Gilgoff's latest filing is headlined, "Gays Step Up Efforts to Reverse Gay-as-Godless Stereotype."

I guess growing up in "godless" New York City, I, too, labored under the delusion that most gays and lesbians did not believe in god or go to church, as neither did anyone else I grew up with. I had two experiences, however, within the last 10 years ago or so, that made me realize some gays are extremely religious.

Robert Schlesinger July 02, 2009

Athletes Like Tiger Woods Are Right to Keep Out of Politics

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Jack made a good point this morning about the Tiger Woods-Jim Brown squabble. (Squabble? Has El Tigre actually said anything? Can you have a one-sided squabble?) Brown thinks Woods needs to do more in a social activism sense, and by do more he means speak up—be vocal, take a controversial stand (presumably safe stands are not what he's talking about), get in people's faces. (Be, in other words, Jim Brown.) As Jack (and, in the Post, Michael Wilbon) points out, Woods has made huge contributions—substantive and symbolic—to disadvantaged kids.

But beyond Woods's actual contributions lies the question of whether it makes sense for him to start weighing in vocally on political or social justice issues. And more broadly whether it makes sense for any athlete (or other kind of entertainer) to do so. And there are pretty good reasons for Tiger to keep his political views to himself. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk (now with peacock feathers!) opined last week:

Bonnie Erbe July 02, 2009

The Public is Catching on that Obama's Promises of Change Are Vacuous

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I share herewith some interesting observations offered by my colleague Ken Walsh. Even though recent public opinion polls show the president's popularity at 60 percent or above, America's confidence in his ability to meet the challenges of his time is thinning.

Peter Roff July 02, 2009

Boehner, Republicans Sick the Dogs on the Obama Stimulus Package

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The Republicans are going to the dogs.

With unemployment now at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio released a new video today (embedded below) poking fun at the Obama administration's claim that the stimulus package the president and congressional Democrats rushed into law earlier this year is creating jobs.

In the video, a job-sniffing bloodhound named "Ellie Mae" is shown on the trail of the stimulus, searching the country for the millions of jobs the Obama administration said its trillion-dollar spending bill would create.

John Aloysius Farrell July 02, 2009

Jim Brown is (Mostly) Wrong on Tiger Woods' Social Activism

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Today I am among the many thousand Washingtonians tramping the hallowed grounds of the Congressional Country Club, watching Tiger Woods and some of his friends hit a little white ball over sand and wave and across green fields.

I am drinking a beer and getting sunburned and being properly awed by the talent on display. And I am thinking about a mini-debate begun by the great football player Jim Brown about Tiger's social activism—or lack of it.

Bonnie Erbe July 01, 2009

Media Coverage of Sanford Affairs--TMI

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I don't know about you, but I can't take any more media coverage of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's increasingly chaotic and sorry life. This man is coming apart faster than a clunker car in a junkyard, and it's not pretty to watch.