It all starts with the owner. The Redskins play in an ugly stadium, built before the owner acquired the team, but the price gouging on every good and service, the lack of decent transportation, the terrible sound system, and exploitative ersatz ceremonies make everything seem even uglier. Little reason the team doesn't play better at home than when on the road.

And the owner's choice of the top executive, surely one of the real reasons for Gibbs' sudden and unsettling departure last year, has been proven a failure in a remarkably short time, as the new coach is not demonstrating cool command and the draft choices have been a remarkable bust. No one drafts a punter, but it is inexcusable to draft a punter who can't kick. The place kicker can't kick well either, and almost every team has found someone who can. And the special teams were hurt by the cut of Torrance, which apparently was driven, as were many other decisions, by wanting to avoid cutting more of the dreadful draft choices.

Read more »

Eddie Jordan is a classy, well-spoken, and ethical person, if his innumerable exposures to the media over the years are even remotely accurate in conveying his character.

He should not have been fired.

Ernie Grunfeld should not have paid more than $100 million for Gil Arenas, who doesn't play and who was seriously injured when he was signed. He should have let Arenas go elsewhere. He should have gotten a back-up for BH as soon as the seriousness of the wrist injury was revealed. He should have long ago gotten rid of Etan Thomas. He should have found a legitimate young point guard; we had Steve Blake and he let him go, only to retrieve Juan Dixon who can't play in the NBA.

Read more »

The hockey team has the best player in the world, and still is mighty disappointing.

The football team was manhandled by the Steelers. The general manager drafted three receivers to beef up the catching capability and none of them can play. The Steelers stacked the line and stifled the offense.

The baseball team did everyone a favor by not drawing audiences. And their stadium is really ugly.

Read more »

Betsy and I were there. We were bowled over by the meaning of the event, much more than we thought we would be. We are quite confident Barack will be a great President, since he has just run the single best Presidential campaign in the history of our country.

Barack Obama's percentage of the popular vote will not be very close to his percentage of the electoral college vote. Although he will win both, why is it good for democracy if the two percentages diverge?

Although Democrats have widened the battleground in a wholly admirable manner, this election will be the third in a row to raise the question of the wisdom of the electoral college in modern America.

When an election precedes the census by only two years, the deviation between the electoral college and popular vote result is potentially the greatest.

Read more »

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

The Wizards truly and deeply stink.
As I said last year, it was a big mistake to sign Arenas. Then he got hurt. Then it was a huge mistake not to bring in Elton Brand. Then Haywood got hurt. And the result is the team is awful to watch: no one who is left seems to know how to play. The good players are lost on the court; shooting from bad spots and not stopping to gain their balance. There is no coherent defense. A lost season. I predict: lottery bound.

Is a lot of money. Is more than the average middle class family can expect to earn in nearly three years. Is a lot of money to have campaign contributors give you for clothes, haircuts, and make-up.

The story of Governor Palin's "lifestyles of the rich and famous" make-over is so astoundingly at odds with the narrative of her authenticity, her "hockey mom" self-depiction, her "Joe sixpack" affinity that it can't fail to stun even her admirers.

I'm sure it's not comparable but for the record my haircuts cost $15.

Read more »

Here's a contribution from my friend Peter P. Swire:

As a professor of both banking regulation and technology policy, there are striking similarities between the anti-regulation positions of John McCain in these two key sectors. Under the pressure of the current financial crisis, McCain has recently backed off of his laissez faire positions and admitted that the government must play a greater role in housing and financial markets. His unrepentant positions on technology policy, however, reveal the intellectually flawed approach to government regulation that has led both to the financial mess and to mistakes in technology issues such as broadband deployment, net neutrality, and privacy online.

Read more »

Elections aren't decided until after the World Series, according to the old axiom. The Series seems to last longer every year, but it's an old saw worth heeding, particularly now.

The McCain camp is playing every divisive card they can find, or make up. Some Americans are pro-America, others are not. Anyone who wants to register everyone to vote could well be investigated by the incumbent government,even if the law doesn't permit the Justice Department to try to influence the outcome.

Read more »

What do we think about the FBI investigating Acorn?
What do we think about the lawsuits in Ohio that aim to bar voters from the polls?
What do we think about the robo-calls ripping through the key battleground states with the transparent purpose of discouraging voters from going to the polls?

Isn't there a better way to run a democracy in the most widely and deeply informed large society in the world?

As it happens, when I went into government in 1993 I started reading Krugman and have now read almost all of his books and almost all of his popular writing. I haven't read all his scholarly papers!

As a policy maker and inveterate if occasional adviser to policy makers, I have never found an economist who made more sense, gave more guidance, provided more timely and useful advice than Paul Krugman.

All praise to him and the committee that singled him out for the Nobel: a noble choice indeed.

There's no doubt that the general crisis of confidence in the American economy -- most clearly manifested by the seizing up of even the most normal lending activity --- will translate to a downturn in the GDP and a sad increase in unemployment.

There's no doubt also that in the short-run some federal spending in support of ready-to-go infrastructure and state and local budgets will make for a less cold winter economically than would otherwise be the case.

Read more »

John McCain isn't the first Presidential candidate to seek votes by appealing to hatred, racism, and fear. He won't be the last. But almost always that has been a surefire way to obtain less than 40% of the votes. The McCain-Palin approach increases the possibility that the Republican Party will be defeated down to the bottom of each statewide ticket, as most Americans find repugnant these blatant attempts to plumb the depths of the human soul.

For those who choose this walk on the wild side of politics, the usual result is electoral disaster and a lifetime gig as a talking head on the rightwing cable shows. Governor Palin, even if she is caught short by Troopergate or the Taxman, can count on television as her ticket out of Alaska. I see her going from an interview by Greta von S to a seat on Greta's side of the table. And watch out Katie Couric, the Governor may not have shown a big heart but I'm sure it's filled with revenge. Doubtlessly, Sarah Palin will play Tina Fey on SNL. Probably she will fill in for Pat Buchanan on the Rachel Maddow show -- indeed she is more or less following in that nativist's political footsteps, although she was a mere child when Buchanan began his own long odysssey through the Heart of Darkness. (Nixon and McCain have proved to have a great deal more in common than anyone would have thought.)

Read more »

My writer friend in Los Angeles, Jeff Levin, has had a vision of the next Palin news story:

PALIN AGREES TO INTERVIEW SELF

By Jeffrey Levin
Disassociated Press

WASHINGTON (DP) - Following on the heels of the McCain campaign issuing a report clearing Gov. Sarah Palin of any wrongdoing in the so-called Troopergate affair, the campaign is now dealing with the demand that Palin submit to more interviews.

Read more »