Month: January 2005
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A response to Waight and Luskin
My post on The Note’s criticism of Paul Krugman has generated a couple of responses that I should address — one from Ken Waight of Lying in Ponds and one from obsessive Krugman critic Don Luskin. First, let me deal with Waight. He’s a good guy who was always extremely supportive of Spinsanity (including this
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Why do conservatives pretend Republicans aren’t tough?
There’s a bizarre conceit in conservative commentary that Republicans are weak-kneed wimps who are continually taken advantage of by Democrats. Given how ruthless the Congressional GOP has been since Newt Gingrich first took control of the caucus, it’s laughable, but it still persists. Here’s the Wall Street Journal repeating the trope in an editorial arguing
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The Note asks a good question
From today’s Note: What kind of reaction could they have been expecting to the State of the Union other than the one that they got? The White House has seemed strangely tone-deaf lately… It’s now tempting to treat the President’s inaugural address like the 1986 season of “Dallas” that was Pam Ewing’s dream — something
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No on any Clinton or Bush in 2008
US News is carrying this gossip item in its latest issue: Here’s the long shot of the year: Congressional Democrats will OK a constitutional amendment allowing naturalized citizens like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for president if Republicans help kill the 22nd Amendment barring third terms, thus clearing the way for another bid by
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Dowd’s “SpongeBush” disaster
I try to ignore Maureen Dowd’s inanities as much as possible, but
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Dems get smart in the 109?
Here’s encouraging news that Congressional Democrats might stop being so stupid on defense issues: It’s a Senate tradition for the two political parties to advertise their priorities by revealing their top 10 pieces of legislation with a flourish at the beginning of a new Congress. …Democrats intend to make an increase in the size of
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The good and bad of Thomas on MTP
Rep. Bill “Dead Horse” Thomas, the California Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, appeared on “Meet the Press” with Tim Russert this morning to discuss Social Security. There were a couple of good things about the appearance that are worth noting. First, Thomas joined the growing list of conservatives (including Chuck Hagel,
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More bad Krugman criticism
Paul Krugman’s columns are hardly perfect. But his critics cry wolf so often, and make such sloppy arguments, that they shouldn’t be surprised when they’re not taken seriously. Most accusations of dishonesty against Krugman take the form of (1) starting from a different premise than him and then bashing him for (unsurprisingly) reaching a different
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The Economist on “Meritocracy in America”
Don’t miss this extremely valuable story in the Economist on inequality and social mobility in the US. The magazine — which is no bastion of bleeding heart liberalism — has issued an important warning: A growing body of evidence suggests that the meritocratic ideal is in trouble in America. Income inequality is growing to levels
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Great moments in pundit reasoning
Writing in the Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes suggests that the greater length of Bush’s second inaugural address compared to his first is proof that the President’s agenda has expanded: It’s amazing how much the president has expanded his agenda from his initial days in office. His 2001 inaugural address took 14 minutes. His speech last