TARP, Baby!
Explaining Paulson's plan better than Paulson.
"[T]he charitable reaction was that it was insane."
P.S.: What does McCain's impulse say about his predictabiity when it comes to Supreme Court appointments? Just a thought.** ... Hey, Cuomo's a lawyer! ...
**A thought George Will already had. ...11:40 P.M.
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"Is Obama really that good a speaker?" Daniel Finkelstein's valued overseas perspective:
I find that too often he can be an empty, rather woolly speaker. Someone who likes the sound of his own voice a bit much.
1:47 P.M.
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Did They Blow the Fit? Honda's new Fit is positioned to be the perfect vehicle for the times--tiny, sporty, roomy, very economical. The 2007 version was all those things (see Seth Stevensons's rave) but also a little ugly. All Honda had to do was correct its few flaws--make it slightly larger, smoother riding and prettier--and they'd have the ideal $4/gallon car. The 2009 version is, according to previews, slightly larger, smoother riding, and prettier. How could they screw up a car by correcting its flaws?
Happens all the time. Making cars slightly larger and more refined seems especially to bring out the Brezhnev in auto engineering bureaucracies. ( See, e.g., VW 412, Volvo 144S, Mazda 3.) ... So has Honda screwed up the Fit? Car and Driver's posted a debate on the subject.My reading: Yes, they have. The new Fit has 10 cup holders, but the steering "has lost on-center feel." Nothing is as important as "on-center feel"! And CD's colloquy includes several cues (e.g., "This is a great car for people who are coming from larger vehicles") that experienced readers will recognize as secret distress codes. ... Used Fits are starting to look less ugly already. ... 3:07 A.M. link
Oxford Town, Red Hook, and Every Other Place Bob Dylan’s Ever Sung About, Mapped
Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off
This Is a Blog Post. It Is Not a “Blog.”
Photograph of John McCain on the Slate home page by Alex Wong/Getty Images.