Uncategorized
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Ann Althouse on Eric Alterman
For those of you who enjoyed this, this, and this, see Ann Althouse for another example of Eric Alterman dissembling in his attacks on a critic. Pretty soon he’s going to be busting out his resume…
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Bob Somerby the psychiatrist
One of my biggest problems with modern punditry is the way that commentators repeatedly accuse their opponents of being mentally ill. I’ve been writing about it since this piece on Spinsanity back in 2001. The worst offender is Charles Krauthammer, an actual psychiatrist who repeatedly accuses his opponents of mental illness, but there are many
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Klein & Gingrich on Democratic unity
When Ezra Klein and Newt Gingrich agree, watch out! Klein wrote the following on his blog yesterday about the threat that Hillary Clinton’s new superdelegate strategy will rip the party apart: Put another way: If Hillary Clinton does not win delegates out of a majority of contested primaries and caucuses, her aides are willing to
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The McCain “Maverick Myth”
Paul Waldman has another take on John McCain’s exaggerated “maverick” persona: But is John McCain really a maverick? A look beyond the media’s repetition of the word at McCain’s actual record suggests that the answer is no. In fact, McCain is a reliable conservative, and if not a perfectly loyal Republican, at least a reasonably
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WSJ notes “Juan McCain”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board, which opposes efforts to crack down on immigration, notes the ugly nickname for John McCain that I flagged a couple weeks ago: The Arizona Senator will never please the talk-radio and Internet voices who now refer to him as “Juan McCain.” He shouldn’t try. Most Americans agree with him.
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John McCain: Problem solver
I love John McCain’s take on how to solve the deadlock in Congress on warrantless wiretaps: Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential hopeful, weighed in on the debate. When Mr. McCain learned that the House had voted down a 21-day extension and that the powers were likely to lapse at midnight Friday, he
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Penn: Obama hasn’t won “significant” states
Via Josh Marshall, Mark Penn is spinning again — check out this silly quote: “Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn’t won any of the significant states — outside of Illinois?” Chief Strategist Mark Penn said. “That raises some serious questions about Sen. Obama.” As I’ve shown, it’s true that Obama has not done
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What is Mark Penn talking about?
Mark Penn, the pollster who serves as Hillary Clinton’s chief strategist, is a notorious spinner, but does he really expect us to accept the sort of claims he’s making to justify Hillary’s electability? In a memo touting Clinton’s electoral strength, Penn claimed that “Hillary Clinton has withstood the full brunt of [the “GOP attack machine”]
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Ron Paul’s “NAFTA superhighway” myth
Factcheck.org debunks one of Ron Paul’s pet conspiracy theories: Paul claims that a secret conspiracy composed of the Security and Prosperity Partnership and a cabal of foreign companies is behind plans to build a NAFTA Superhighway as the first step toward creating a North American Union. But the NAFTA Superhighway that Paul describes is a
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The incoherence of John McCain
For those of you who haven’t yet read Matt Welch’s McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, Jon Chait’s new TNR story on the ideological incoherence of the supposed “straight talker” is well worth a read. (See also Welch’s critique of various endorsements of McCain by newspaper editorial boards.)