Month: April 2009
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Specter’s switch: Not a game-changer
Can we put a moratorium on the phrase “filibuster-proof majority”? Yes, Arlen Specter’s defection means that Democrats will hold sixty seats in the Senate once Al Franken is eventually seated. But the phrase “filibuster-proof” falsely implies that the party will have no problem passing its agenda through the Senate. In reality, as more sophisticated pundits
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Obama on the torture counterfactual
Advocates of “enhanced interrogation techniques” tend to cite evidence showing that a detainee provided information after being tortured as if proves their case. But as I noted a few days ago, the key question in the debate over the efficacy of torture (which I abhor under any circumstances) is whether detainees provide more useful intelligence
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The torture counterfactual
I’m repulsed that we’re even discussing whether it’s acceptable to waterboard someone 183 times, but the key point in the debate over the effectiveness of torture (as one of Diane Rehm’s guests pointed out Thursday) is whether the “enhanced interrogation techniques” generate new intelligence that would not have been obtained using conventional techniques. It drives
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Reconciliation and legislative sustainability
Max Baucus makes a misleading claim about the effect of the use of the reconciliation process on the sustainability of health care reform in today’s New York Times: Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee, said Friday that he would prefer not to pursue health legislation through the reconciliation process.
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Most mundane political tweets ever
Matt Bai chronicles the agonizingly banal Twitter output of our political elites: Some politicians use Twitter — or, in many cases, have their staff members use it — as a vehicle for their daily message or as a kind of running travelogue. (“Back from Belgium,” Representative Darrell Issa of California tweeted last month. “They make
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Politifact wins a Pulitzer
As a former fact-checker, I don’t always agree with Politifact, but it’s a great sign for journalism that they won a Pulitzer last week. Reporters need incentives to go beyond “he said”/”she said” reporting and counter political spin. The Pulitzer committee’s decision is a step in the right direction.
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Leave no pollster behind: Mark Penn edition
Is it possible that Mark Penn, one of the leading pollsters in America, is a quantitative illiterate? Penn’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed interpreted a Technorati poll of bloggers in an obviously absurd manner, claiming that “It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year.” In fact, the
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Chait on Rove’s hypocritical Obama criticism
TNR’s Jon Chait offers the definitive take on the bizarre hypocrisy of Karl Rove’s Obama punditry: The depiction of Barack Obama that has emerged from some quarters of the American right is that of a Bush-like figure. He is irresponsibly running up deficits and covering them up with budgetary gimmickry. Under the guise of healing
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The use of reconciliation 1980-2008
If you follow Congressional politics, you may have heard the beginnings of a debate among the parties about the potential use of the reconciliation process, which only requires 50 votes, as a way for Democrats to avoid a Republican filibuster of a health care bill in the Senate. This is one of those annoying topics
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Offensive sign wars
Matthew Yglesias highlights the presence of offensive signs at “tea party” protests yesterday and notes that “the TV coverage I saw of the parties didn’t make any mention of the presence of so many signs with a clear racial subtext” (see also Dana Milbank’s report on the DC protest). I have to say I’m bored