Month: December 2005
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Reporters’ fixation on personality
Matthew Yglesias makes an important point on Tapped: I read Newsweek’s story on Bush in a bubble with interest, and so should you. The basic storyline is something we’ve read before at occasional rough spots for the president, but this article adds some new details. To me, though, the most interesting thing is that this
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New York Post accuses Howard Dean of “sedition”
On Wednesday, I denounced a New York Post editorial which attacked Howard Dean for saying “The idea that we’re going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong.” The Post editorial not only got Dean’s quote wrong by omitting the exculpatory word “unfortunately” (as Michael Koplow pointed out in a
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More on the Treasury junk chart
Today, the NYT’s Edmund Andrews further devastates the Treasury Department’s junk chart claiming President Bush’s tax cuts stimulated impressive job growth, which I debunked last week: THE Bush administration has begun an aggressive campaign to reassure Americans that the economy is doing well. It is highlighting the jobs numbers, which have shown steady gains since
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A great headline: “Rabid beaver chases couple”
Via fellow grad student Jacob Montgomery, this Durham Herald-Sun story takes “dog bites man” stories to a whole new level: Rabid beaver chases couple BY ROB SHAPARD : The Herald-Sun [email protected] Dec 7, 2005 : 9:36 pm ET CHAPEL HILL — A local couple got a little closer to nature than they wanted when a
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Lessons for Kaus: Parties elect presidents
Today, Mickey Kaus asks, “Is antiwar sentiment in the Democratic primaries going to be so great that maybe Hillary would be well-advised to run for president as an independent?” Answer: No. It’s almost impossible for independents to win the presidency. Not long ago, I tried to explain this to Kaus when he hyped a McCain
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Up is down alert: Robert Bork edition
Via Brad DeLong, Reason’s Jacob Sullum shares Robert Bork’s horrifying definition of censorship as freedom (reminder: this man was almost a member of the Supreme Court): The December 19 issue of National Review, marking the magazine’s 50th anniversary, includes a feature in which 10 people offer suggestions on “How to Increase Liberty in America,” to
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David Drier and the WSJ push supply side nonsense
Defending tax cuts the House passed yesterday, David Drier spouted the standard falsehood of supply-siders everywhere: “By cutting taxes, you grow the economy, and you generate an enhanced flow of revenues to the Treasury,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Rules Committee. Revenue is not enhanced by tax cuts; it is reduced
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Dick Cheney’s illogic
Dick Cheney can’t resist linking 9/11 and Iraq, no matter how nonsensical the claim: Some have suggested that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein, we simply stirred up a hornet’s nest. They overlook a fundamental fact: We were not in Iraq on September 11th, 2001, and the terrorists hit us anyway. Here’s Holly Martins at
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Up is down alert: Samuel Alito edition
Ah, the twists and turns of the changing party line. Remember, up means up … until it means down. When President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, he repeatedly described her as a conservative. During his October 8 radio address, for instance, he said, “Harriet Miers will be the type of judge I
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Vicious attacks on Dean’s dissent
In a political sense, Howard Dean chose his words poorly when he said that “The idea that we’re going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong.” But this is a gaffe in the Kinsley sense — when a politician tells the truth. It’s virtually indisputable that “winning” the war