Brendan Nyhan

Month: October 2006

  • Dumb journalism watch: Visual details

    Washingtonpost.com’s Dan Froomkin flags two examples of one of my least favorite types of presidential journalism: Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey write for Newsweek: "President Bush looked pained. His hair was grayer than usual, his skin more washed out. The lines under his eyes were deeply scored. If that’s what victory looks like, you wouldn’t

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  • Ideological quotas in academia are wrong

    There’s no getting around the fact that liberals dominate the academy. The question is what to do about it. Some conservatives have called for what would essentially be ideological affirmative action in academic hiring. But Michael Munger, a political science professor here at Duke, has what I think is exactly the right take on the

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  • NYT reporter pushes anti-Pelosi GOP spin

    Is someone trying to be the next Maureen Dowd? The Times op-ed columnist made her name as a reporter by using stylish, slashing rhetoric in news stories, such as her famous lede for a 1994 story about Bill Clinton’s return to Oxford: “President Clinton returned today for a sentimental journey to the university where he

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  • What happened to Josh Marshall?

    Last week, I asked what happened to Josh Marshall, an excellent blogger, who wrote the following about GOP gubernatorial candidate and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell: Helping steal the 2004 election wasn’t enough. Down by double digits and facing a career-ending election, Ken Blackwell accuses Ted Strickland of being pro-pedophile, possibly gay. The

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  • Best fundraising thermometer ever

    The Republican Party is trying to use John Kerry and Ted Kennedy’s recent $500,000 donations to party campaign committees as a fundraising tool to raise $2 million online. An email to supporters today from Sen. Bill Frist (PDF) measures the party’s progress toward its goal with what has to the best thermometer-style fundraising graphic ever:

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  • NYT features snacking op-ed

    I enjoyed today’s New York Times op-ed on the proliferation of unhealthy snacking during children’s activities. But given that we’re losing the war in Iraq, North Korea just tested a nuclear bomb, Iran is actively developing one, and there’s a national election in just a few days, is now the time to be running op-eds

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  • Hillary tries to run up the score in NY

    The Hill reports that Hillary Clinton is spending a fortune in New York even though there is no way she’ll lose: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) spent nearly $7 million from her Senate campaign account last month running for reelection in New York. The figure ranks among the most ever spent by a Senate candidate

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  • More on Bush stumping for Sherwood

    The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank savages President Bush’s campaign trips in support of ethically challenged candidates, which I noted yesterday. Apparently the “responsibility era” hasn’t begun yet: During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer So it has come to this: Nineteen days before the midterm elections, President Bush flew here to champion the

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  • Bob Inglis has a dignity problem

    News.com has posted a list of the worst political websites. They take a lot of easy shots at crackpot amateurs, but don’t miss my personal favorite, Rep. Bob Inglis, whose website features a bizarre Flash animation of him dancing with giant glasses on. Here’s what it looks like: Yes, that is a member of the

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  • Wanted: statistically literate journalists

    Matthew Yglesias slams Gregg Easterbrook for this asinine commentary on the recent cluster sampling estimate of deaths in Iraq: The latest silly estimate comes from a new study in the British medical journal Lancet, which absurdly estimates that since March 2003 exactly 654,965 Iraqis have died as a consequence of American action. The study uses

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