Month: October 2007
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Bush: A strict constructionist … sometimes
Here’s an interesting contradiction that I mentioned to my class on the presidency — the Bush administration claims to support strict constructionist judges, yet its vision of untrammeled executive power relies heavily on a sort of inferential constitutional interpretation that it otherwise decries. (Think, for instance, about the constitutional basis for warrantless wiretapping, sweeping claims
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The exploitation of Iraq misperceptions
The NYT’s Janet Elder details how the conservative group Freedom’s Watch is continuing the political exploitation of misperceptions about Iraq: Some conservative political groups, seeking to continue the policies of the Bush Administration, are capitalizing on the murky understanding of some voters about who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and why the United States
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Is Hillary the most polarizing candidate?
Ezra Klein links approvingly to a post on the blog Liberal Oasis that claims Hillary Clinton is “no more polarizing than other Dems”: Here’s some poll data that I don’t believe has received much attention. *** ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL. Sept. 27-30, 2007 “If [see below] wins the Democratic/Republican nomination for president would you definitely
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Pete Stark’s Iraq smear
When are Republicans going to defeat crazy old Pete Stark (D-CA), who keeps saying things like this? Representative Pete Stark, the California Democrat who is chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, told Republicans: “You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up
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RNC opposition research on Hillary
Marc Ambinder’s RNC inbox tells the story of modern opposition research: The war against Hillary is already 24/7 more than a year before the general election. Also, we know who the RNC thinks the Democratic nominee is going to be.
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Misleading “poor kids first” rhetoric on SCHIP
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has issued a must-read analysis of the SCHIP debate that reveals the emptiness of White House claims that we should put “poor kids first.” As it turns out, the SCHIP bill is structured to do just that, and the Bush administration’s policies are not (shocking!). CBPP notes that
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Ponnuru: Tax cuts reduce revenue
All hail Ramesh Ponnuru, reality-based conservative, who is challenging supply-side myths on National Review’s blog The Corner. Here is his first post on the subject: “What’s A Republican?” [Ramesh Ponnuru] The New York Sun asks, and offers a list of unifying ideas. The top item on their list concerns taxes. Reductions in top marginal tax
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NYT finally does SCHIP fact-checking
After terrible coverage of President Bush’s misleading claim that the SCHIP children’s health insurance bill covers kids from families making up to $83,000, the New York Times finally breaks the issue down almost two weeks later: Mr. Bush said Monday that the bill would expand eligibility for the program up to $83,000. But Senator Orrin
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McArdle spiked for anti-Laffer claim
Via Mark Thoma and others, the libertarian blogger Megan McArdle, who was last seen claiming that supply siders have “been rather thin on the ground lately,” had a review spiked for admitting that tax cuts don’t increase revenue: A conservative publication, which I will not name, just spiked a book review because I said that
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WSJ suggests Pelosi wants Iraq failure
In the latest attack on dissent, the Wall Street Journal editorial board suggests Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “foreign policy intrusions” may be “consciously intended to cause a U.S. policy failure in Iraq”: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, famous for donning a head scarf earlier this year to commune for peace with the Syrians, has now