Month: October 2004
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No on Goebbels analogies
From a profile of Jeb Bush and his political power in Florida: Lew Oliver, chairman of the Republican Party in Orange County, a key swing area that includes Orlando, calls criticisms of Bush’s role in the electoral process “a seriously bum rap.” “As usual,” Oliver said, “the Democrats crawl around telling lies like Joseph Goebbels.”
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“One of several constituencies to deal with…”
Here’s Ari Fleischer on the White House view of the press in The New Republic: [T]he Bush administration does not regard the media as having a special role but rather as just “one of several constituencies to deal with,” says former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. “It doesn’t set them apart as more important.”
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Uh, because it’s illegal?
This dumb Slate article gives the wink wink, nod nod treatment to people voting twice (italics in original, bold added): At the same time, the Florida fiasco also made it clear how imperfect the vote counting process is—like “measuring bacteria with a yardstick,” in mathematician John Allen Paulos’ phrase—and sends the signal that your vote
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Best political sign ever
I saw this sign yesterday on my way home and took a picture of it this morning (it’s at the corner of Vickers and University in Durham, NC): Is it serious? Or a parody of our ridiculous political debate? You be the judge. Update: Hey Tapped folks! Hope you’ll check out the rest of the
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The real poll numbers
UNC’s Jim Stimson, the leading political science expert in public opinion time series data, has a running tally of presidential trial heat polls on his website that you should check out. Here’s the latest graphic — as you can see, it looks like Kerry is trending upward, though still slightly behind Bush: It’s based on
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Important news from Nedra Pickler
In an AP story today, Nedra Pickler offers this fascinating critique of John Kerry’s speaking style — when he says the line “I’ve got your back,” he doesn’t sound enough like a football player in the huddle: Kerry’s style is illustrated by a story he’s been telling recently on the campaign trail about a woman
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How nasty is this?
Karl Rove yesterday (washingtonpost.com): “They had to roll Clinton out of the operating room and onto the campaign trail in order to basically help Kerry with the weaknesses he has among core Democratic constituencies,” Rove said, taking liberties with his depiction of the former president as a near-invalid.
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The folly of judicial elections
The New York Times had a disturbing article on judicial elections on Sunday. The upshot is that they are increasingly indistinguishable from the rest of our politics – nasty, partisan and money-driven: Judicial elections, which used to be staid and decorous affairs, have been transformed this year into loud and vicious fights, fueled by money,
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Check before you fact-check
For much of the last year, Fred Kaplan at Slate has been the go-to guy for debunking misleading GOP attacks on John Kerry’s voting record on defense. He’s partisan, but does the hard work other reporters often don’t to get to the bottom of some complicated legislative issues. That’s why his article Friday on Bush’s