Paul Waldman


Recent Articles

Three Reasons a GOP Landslide Won't Happen

Come November, Democrats will still be stronger than the troubled GOP.

(White House/Pete Souza)

While most of those in the business of predicting elections are smart enough not to offer a specific number of seats they think the parties will gain or lose, there is fairly wide agreement on this proposition: Come November, the Democrats are doomed. They'll hold the Senate, but the House is all but lost. Charlie Cook, probably the most popular of this group, has for months been saying things like, "It's very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don't lose the House." Others have been only somewhat more pessimistic about the ruling party's chances.

R.I.P. Man On the Silver Mountain.

Katie Couric may not mention it tonight, but head-banging just lost one of its greats: Ronnie James Dio, lead singer for such bands as Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio, passed away at age 67. He had the perfect voice for a particular brand of heavy metal, the one that spent a lot of time on occult imagery, swooping vocals, and somewhat ridiculous lyrics. The bands Dio sang for were the kind mocked in This Is Spinal Tap ("Stonehenge, where the demons dwell/Where the banshees live, and they do live well"), and yes, it was all kind of silly. But in retrospect, sort of sweet, too.

The Future of Parking.



When asked why he spent so long looking for a parking spot instead of going to a garage, noted philosopher George Costanza replied, "A garage. I can't even pull in there. It's like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free?"

Politics Is Hard.

Prior reports have told us that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was less than enthusiastic about Obama's decision to essentially stake his first term on an ambitious effort to comprehensively reform the nation's health-care system. Today, Greg Sargent gives us some more detail, from Jonathan Alter's upcoming book:

No Broadband For You! Next!

A few years ago, municipal broadband seemed like a progressive's dream. Instead of relying on the likes of AT&T and Comcast to deliver high-speed internet to people at a reasonable price, towns and cities could just do it themselves. But some of the high-profile projects didn't go so well. The most ambitious plan -- to turn Philadelphia into a giant wireless hotspot with low-cost access for everyone, courtesy of of a partnership between the city and Earthlink -- turned into something of a boondoggle, and eventually was dismantled.