Month: January 2008
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How Obama is like George W. Bush
Here’s an unlikely comparison that seems to be becoming a meme: how Barack Obama is like George W. Bush. First, Texas Monthly editor Paul Burka drew the analogy in a Saturday NYT op-ed: By losing the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Barack Obama found himself sharing common ground with an adversary whose politics he has
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Chris Wallace asks about tax cuts & revenue
Via Greg Mankiw, I just found out that Fox’s Chris Wallace pressed Rudy Giuliani and John McCain on their unsupported claims that tax cuts increase revenue during the Republican debate Thursday: WALLACE: Mayor Giuliani, you announced plans for a big tax cut yesterday. And you have been run-ning ads that say reducing taxes actually will
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Unity ’08: Done?
The ill-fated Unity ’08 third party “movement” finally realized what I (and many others) have been trying to tell them for a long time — it’s not going to work: At the current moment, we don’t have enough members or enough money to take the next necessary step – achieving ballot access in 50 states
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Noonan peddles HillaryIs44.com again
Back in June, I criticized Peggy Noonan for asserting without evidence that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is behind the site HillaryIs44.com. Well, she’s at it again. In her WSJ column yesterday, Noonan again asserted that Clinton’s campaign is responsible for the site (via Instaputz): if we are to believe the new voice will be a softer,
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Sunstein defends prediction markets
University of Chicago law prof Cass Sunstein has a useful post defending prediction markets like Intrade against critics who bashed them for failing to foresee Hillary’s win in New Hampshire. As he correctly notes, long shots sometimes do win: Intrade had Clinton at about 8% likely to win, and 8% of the time, 8% chances
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What Huckabee and MIMS have in common
During the latest Republican debate, Mike Huckabee tried to deflect criticism with this little joke: Mr. Huckabee, for his part, responded with trademark humor. “The Air Force has a saying that says if you’re not catching flak, you’re not over the target,” he said. “I’m catching the flak; I must be over the target.” The
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Brooks wishes away the supply-siders
David Brooks claims today that “continual tax cuts can no longer be the centerpiece of Republican economic policy” due to the fiscal gap: Supply-side economics had a good run, but continual tax cuts can no longer be the centerpiece of Republican economic policy. The demographics have changed. The U.S. is an aging society. We have
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Marshall on “stolen” elections: Then and now
Via Politico’s Ben Smith, Josh Marshall correctly casts doubt on online rumor-mongering about the Democratic primary election in New Hampshire being stolen. But as I pointed out last October, he made a similarly unsupported claim of a stolen election, accusing former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell of “helping steal the 2004 election” — a
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Bloomberg is polling
Even after the Obama surge took the wind out of the stillborn draft-Bloomberg movement, the hype continues. AP reports that the New York City mayor is polling to test the waters for a possible independent candidacy: Adding to the most wide open presidential campaign in a half-century, associates of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg disclosed
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Outdated anti-Hillary propaganda
This Newsmax Google ad appeared in the left sidebar a little while ago: More timely agitprop, please! Update 1/10 10:03 AM: I got an email (PDF) promoting the same Newsmax “poll” on the GOPUSA email list yesterday afternoon. Maybe they think conservatives will say “no” and be motivated to subscribe to Newsmax to get negative