The Hollywood Liberal

Winthrop/ETV: Obama Just Ahead in North Carolina, Virginia
A new Winthrop/ETV poll shows Sen. Barack Obama with one point leads in North Carolina and Virginia.

North Carolina: Obama 45%, McCain 44%

Virginia: Obama 45%, McCain 44%

Late Late Nite FDL: Slow Blues
Oscar Peterson and Count Basie – Slow Blues.

What’s on your mind tonight?

Oscar Peterson and Count Basie – Slow Blues.

What’s on your mind tonight?

The Long Road Ahead — Are You Ready for the Worst the Economy Has to Offer?
Are we headed for a deflationary period followed by a tidal wave of inflation?

Greenspan Follies: The World Is as Ayn Rand Would Have Predicted
Alan Greenspan has finally acknowledged that he may have made some mistakes in allowing an $8 trillion housing bubble to grow unchecked. (Look for rivers flowing upstream.) This modest act of contrition should be welcomed, but analysts have been far…

Confessore in the Times … Four Spitzer administration officials violated the state’s ethics law when they used the State Police last summer to gather travel documents they hoped would tarnish Joseph L. Bruno, then the State Senate majority leader, according…

The Week In Blog: Truth and Taxes Edition

The latest edition of The Week In Blog is up at Bloggingheads.tv featuring the Heritage Foundation’s Conn Carroll and myself discussing Palin’s wardrobe, Obama’s tax plan and the upcoming conservative movement soul-searching. Watch it below.

Greenspan: De- regulation ‘a mistake’
Facing a firing line of questions from Washington lawmakers, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman once considered the infallible maestro of the financial system, admitted on Thursday that he ?made a mistake? in trusting that free markets could regulate themselves without government oversight.

Bachmann: Obama isn?t ?anti-American,? but his views are.
Still on the defensive over her McCarthyite comments that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) “may have anti-American views,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said on Dennis Miller’s radio show today that she doesn’t believe “that Barack Obama is anti-American.” Bachmann confused her own message later in the show when she said she was “concerned he may have […]

Still on the defensive over her McCarthyite comments that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) “may have anti-American views,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said on Dennis Miller’s radio show today that she doesn’t believe “that Barack Obama is anti-American.” Bachmann confused her own message later in the show when she said she was “concerned he may have anti-American views.” Listen here:

Bachmann’s contradictory statement is reminiscent of when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told CNN that she wasn’t going to call Obama a socialist, but then added that his policies “sounds like socialism.” Coincidentally, some right wingers are already contemplating a “Palin/Bachmann 2012” dream ticket.

Deliberations Halted In Sen. Stevens’s Trial
Jury deliberations in the corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) were halted yesterday and might not resume until Tuesday to accommodate a juror whose father has died, according to the federal judge presiding over the case.

A Crowded Endorsement Game
Not so long ago when you wanted to make a personal endorsement of a candidate for office, even for president of the United States, the ritual was simple. You stuck a sticker on the back bumper of the family car or put up a cardboard sign in the front yard. But that’s not enough if you’re a big-enough shot to get a little ink in the morning paper for your solemn announcement, or a mention on a cable-TV shout show. If you’re Colin Powell, a distinguished former secretary of state, you might even get to Page One and make a splash on the Drudge Report. A former secretary of state’s endorsement might actually be of interest to someone besides the endorser’s wife and kids. If not the kids, at least the spouse.

Casualty of the Surge
WASHINGTON — The dramatic success of the surge in Iraq is not a central issue in the current presidential race. It did, however, set its shape — and may help determine its outcome in an unexpected way. John McCain won the nomination of his party, in large part, as a vindicated prophet. After visiting Iraq in the summer of 2003, he argued on “Meet the Press” that “the men and women in the military are doing a superb job. … The problem is that they don’t have enough resources. There’s not enough of them, and we are in a very serious situation, in my view, a race against time.” McCain added, “Time is not on our side. People in 125-degree heat with no electricity and no fuel are going to become angry in a big hurry. The sophistication of the attacks on U.S. and allied troops have increased. And what we do in the next several months will determine whether we’re in a very difficult situation or not.”