Brendan Nyhan

Month: August 2010

  • Twitter roundup

    From my Twitter feed (8/13-8/16) BrendanNyhan with 1 source BrendanNyhan Non-GZ non-mosque before used as wedge: Ingraham 12/09: “I can’t find many people who really have a problem with it” http://j.mp/cxQgJ2 How the “ground zero mosque” fear mongering began – Ground Zero Mosque – Salon.com A viciously anti-Muslim blogger, the New York Post and the

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  • Abramowitz and Ornstein bust midterm election myths

    Political scientists Alan Abramowitz of Emory University and Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute have a must-read op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Post busting five myths about midterm elections: 1. Midterm votes foretell future election results. 2. It’s an anti-incumbent year. 3. The president’s message is crucial. 4. It’s all about the economy. 5. Midterms

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  • Judis vs. Judis on presidents and the economy

    Back in January, I predicted the birth of a thousand “Why Obama is failing” narratives: It’s time to lay down a marker on punditry about the Obama White House. During the next eleven months, it will become increasingly obvious that Democrats face an unfavorable political environment and that President Obama’s approval ratings are trending downward.

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  • Twitter roundup

    From my Twitter feed (8/12-8/13) BrendanNyhan with 1 source BrendanNyhan Keith Olbermann makes a vicious reference to Bill O’Reilly’s physical abuse as a child http://j.mp/biNexr Keith Olbermann – Bill O’Reilly – Jennifer Aniston | Mediaite Last night, Bill O’Reilly made a flimsy argument that Jennifer Aniston (of all people) is a threat to America for

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  • Twitter roundup

    From my Twitter feed (8/11-8/12) BrendanNyhan with 1 source BrendanNyhan Jonah Goldberg amusingly struggles to distinguish his offensive smear book from Kos’s http://j.mp/b1wKCS Judging Books by Their Covers – The Corner – National Review Online Jonah Goldberg writes on NRO: Okay, so about Kos’s cover. I think it’s hilarious, though not really for the reasons

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  • Twitter roundup

    From my Twitter feed (8/9-8/11) BrendanNyhan with 1 source BrendanNyhan Hard to say Obama has slipped w/base by comparing approval to vote share @markos @openleft http://j.mp/cSIFO3 Diff. concepts and populations Daily Kos: Inartful 3 days ago BrendanNyhan .@markos claims no 10-point boost from #hcr due to intense coverage http://j.mp/buoqUy Reality: Legislation rarely moves numbers that

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  • Gibbs vs. Green Lantern-ites on Obama presidency

    The Hill reports this morning that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs “blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.” It’s understandable that Gibbs and others in the White House are frustrated. While sophisticated critiques exist of Obama’s failure to take the initiative at critical points on

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  • Kos seeks to become the Jonah Goldberg of the left

    Markos Moulitsas, also known as “Kos” and the founder of the Daily Kos website, has a new book coming out in the Michael Moore/Ann Coulter genre called American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right. As you can guess from the title, it expands his feeble-minded smears of conservatives

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  • Twitter roundup

    From my Twitter feed (8/6-8/9) BrendanNyhan with 1 source BrendanNyhan Highly recommended @mattyglesias column on how economic downturns feed xenophobia and illiberal behavior http://j.mp/bUuG9Y Anchor babies, the Ground Zero mosque and other scapegoats Politics always seems to get a bit off-kilter when the temperature goes up. But instead of the familiar silly-season stuff of years

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  • The Federal Reserve and the 2012 elections

    It’s shocking to me how little attention is being given to the Federal Reserve by the Obama administration and its supporters. Consider the following list of statements: 1. The economic downturn has been severe. The history of financial crises suggests that recovery may be long and difficult, particularly if the US enters a deflationary spiral.

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