Month: April 2007
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Joe Biden ’08, RIP
I challenge you to watch or read Joe Biden’s rambling, unfocused answers on Meet the Press and support his presidential candidacy. How long until he pulls the plug? Biden’s defense of his position(s) on the war in Iraq was a particular lowlight: MR. RUSSERT: But, senator, there has been an evolution in your thinking because
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Is Brownback right on the death penalty?
In a comment on my post about Sam Brownback’s death penalty position, my friend Ben Fritz (formerly my co-editor at Spinsanity) makes an excellent point: Though I’m not sure if this is what Brownback meant, there are people who we’re not protected from even when they are in prison. Some prison gangs, like the Aryan
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When the passive voice attacks!
Hmm, I wonder who David Brooks has in mind in this passage? Second, there is the corrupting influence of teamism. Being a good conservative now means sticking together with other conservatives, not thinking new and adventurous thoughts. Those who stray from the reservation are accused of selling out to the mainstream media by the guardians
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Inequality in everything: Upgraded prisons
Here’s a disturbing example of what Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution would call “Markets in everything” — “pay-to-stay” upgraded jail accommodations: Anyone convicted of a crime knows a debt to society often must be paid in jail. But a slice of Californians willing to supplement that debt with cash (no personal checks, please) are finding
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Worst-sounding headline ever
Talk about a headline that sounds bad out of context: “Sex Slave Dispute Follows Abe Even as He Bonds With Bush”. It’s, uh, not what you think.
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GOP “surrender”/”appeasement” rhetoric
In the latest series of post-9/11 attacks on dissent, Republicans are trying to discredit the Democratic proposal to set a date for withdrawal from Iraq by describing it as “surrender,” “waving the white flag of surrender,” and “appeasement.” Of course, Democrats are not calling for American troops to surrender to insurgents, nor are they suggesting
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Unity08: No more disagreement
As a joke, another grad student here sent me the canned Unity08 appeal to your friends, which makes the anti-democratic tendencies of the “movement” especially clear: I thought you’d be interested in Unity08, a new citizen-led movement to elect a bi-partisan ticket in the 2008 presidential election in order to put an end to divisive
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More “straight talk” from John McCain
All aboard the Straight Talk Express! John McCain has re-launched his (struggling) candidacy and he’s going to tell it like it is! Oh wait… Mr. McCain at first only hinted that on Thursday he might call for the resignation of Mr. Gonzales. Asked by reporters if he still supported Mr. Gonzales, he responded, “I’ll tell
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Brownback’s strange death penalty position
I don’t know how we’re supposed to parse Senator Sam Brownback’s incoherent position on the death penalty (Hotline subscription required): On the death penalty, Brownback called it “something that I’ve changed on in my career in public life” and now believes that it should be used only when “society can no longer protect itself from
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Mark Burnett, meet the FEC
I don’t understand how this show will pass muster with the FEC: The online social networking site MySpace and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are teaming to launch the search for an independent presidential candidate. The political reality show “Independent” comes with a $1 million cash prize and a catch: the winner can’t keep the