Brendan Nyhan

Month: February 2005

  • Hillary’s abortion speech

    In case you missed it, Will Saletan’s take on Hillary Clinton’s abortion speech is an absolute must-read. I’m pro-choice, but the way most pro-choice politicians talk about the issue makes me nuts. It ends up sounding pro-abortion because of the way that the abortion rights lobby has pulled the party to the left on the

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  • New specifics on the phase-in scam

    The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities nails the phase-in scam I wrote about before, which was described by a “senior administration official” in a briefing today: The senior official said the borrowing costs over the first ten years — 2006- 2015 — would be $664 billion without interest costs, and $754 billion when interest

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  • Kaus on Kerry

    Sometimes Mickey Kaus’ more-cynical-than-thou attitude drives me nuts, but I have to agree with his take on John Kerry’s insufferable performance on “Meet the Press”: Patriot of the Week Award goes to Sen. John Kerry for appearing on Meet the Press and being just as petty, negative, solipsistic (“I laid out four steps”), self-serving, inarticulate

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  • Frist’s inappropriate metaphor

    Call me crazy, but I don’t think heart surgeons should be saying things like

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  • CJR guide to Social Security spin

    Thomas Lang of CJR Daily has posted a nice guide to Social Security buzzwords and spin for the State of the Union tonight. Reporters may never figure out how to cover this issue properly, but hope springs eternal. In any case, it’s well worth a read.

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  • MoveOn misleading again

    MoveOn.org, which frequently engages in misleading tactics, is up to old tricks. First, today’s New York Times features a print ad from the group that claims “George Bush said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and a ‘mushroom cloud’ was imminent.” Bush did use the phrase “mushroom cloud” to try to scare the public,

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  • News I can use

    I just got a “breaking news” email from ABCNews.com — here it is in its entirety: PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL SEES HIS SHADOW, INDICATING SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER Where would we be without the Internet?

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  • George Allen and the noose

    It looks like George Allen is

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  • Social Security phase-in gimmicks

    The emerging cliche that the White House is running Social Security from the same playbook as tax cuts and the war in Iraq is proven right once again. Today’s Washington Post suggests that the administration is looking at proposing a phase-in of its private accounts plan. This would do little to reduce the overall transition

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