All That Is Necessary

Category: Uncategorized

  • A Surprise: Hitchens Endorses Obama

    Christopher Hitchens, by far the biggest Iraq War hawk on the nominal Left, has endorsed Obama for President. I have to say I was stunned to see it. Three weeks ago, Hitch’s Slate column was headlined: “Is Obama Another Dukakis? Why is Obama So Vapid, Hesitant and Gutless?” Does Hitchens now plan to wear a […]

  • The Allure of Going Nuclear in the Late Innings

    Losing the Presidential race has to be even worse than losing the World Series. If you lose the World Series, you at least get to put up a banner proclaiming that you were the League Champion for the year. Your hometown throws you a consolation rally, and you start talking about the future (“hey, we’re […]

  • What I Learned from Tonight’s Debate

    Senator Obama and Senator McCain are both left-handed. McCain, God bless him, looks older than he is, especially when he walks around. Moderating a debate is a no-win proposition. Brokaw (whom I mostly like) just seemed like a scold about the format and the clock. Both candidates did fine. I can see either one of […]

  • Bailout Wisdom from Various Sources

    Bill Whittle recently had a very painful medical mishap, which inspired him to refer to “the $700 billion kidney stone the economy is trying to pass.” He prescribes some therapeutic pain: Every decision we make is based on a risk/reward calculation. If we take away the consequences of risky behavior, we will see more of […]

  • Gay Republicans Make Their Peace With Palin

    This article is a response to gay friends who have taken issue, quite civilly, with my support of John McCain for President. (Disclaimer: there is a comment on the article from someone named “Kirk,” who is not me.) While John McCain’s “selection of the Alaska governor has energized the GOP’s socially conservative wing,” it has […]

  • Bullish on (Bank of) America

    So Merrill Lynch, where I toiled for 12 years, faces the end of nearly a century as a private company. At least it’s not like Lehman, an even-older company that was forced into bankruptcy when nobody would assume its liabilities. One of my earliest memories of working at Merrill Lynch is hearing CEO William A. […]

  • McCain Rides the Palin Tide, Part II

    For the first time since I’ve been watching it, the electoral-vote.com map is showing a McCain victory, by the narrowest of margins. I put the EV map in my sidebar with the thought that it makes more sense to count the votes the way the election will be decided — 50 state votes rather than […]

  • His & Her Candidates

    My lovely wife, the self-taught Web Goddess, supports Obama (as does almost everybody we know in our blue-town/blue-state of Maplewood, New Jersey). I support McCain, primarily on the basis of the Iraq war issue. As I’ve discussed before, this makes for some careful-but-substantive conversations as the election drama unfolds. Tempting though it may be sometimes […]

  • So THAT’S Why He Picked Her – What a Speaker!

    I take back everything I said or hinted or even thought about Sarah Palin being a drag on the ticket. She did several things she had to do in her speech tonight: She established that her record of actual office-holding achievement compares very favorably with Obama’s. (Obama’s achievement of winning his party’s nomination for president […]

  • Blog in Haste, Repent at Leisure

    I’m backing off of my knee-jerk, under-caffeinated early morning “Pull the Plug” post. The secession thing doesn’t look like it’s gaining any traction, it just seemed so weird and out of left field and on top of everything else. I’m going to try to suspend further judgment on Palin until the end of the convention.