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The strange world of book reviews
Bizarrely, the New York Times published a review today of Bob Shrum’s book No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner, which was released on June 5. I can understand late reviews of sleepers like The Kite Runner that take a while to gain recognition, but Shrum’s book got a lot of press attention from the
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Robert Samuelson fails first grade math
Even philosophy major Matthew Yglesias is offended by the mathematical failings of Robert Samuelson, who writes that “If you move to a home 25 percent larger and then increase energy efficiency 25 percent, you don’t save energy.” But as Yglesias points out, 1.25*.75=.9375, which is less than 1. Ouch. PS Yglesias later noted that “irrespective
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The sounds of silence on Spitzer
The liberal blogosphere has been very quiet about the predicament of NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who seems determined to create an awkward parallel to the White House: Gov. Eliot Spitzer vowed on Wednesday to fight any State Senate inquiry into his administration’s internal operations, even as Republican senators were laying the groundwork for an investigation
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The myth of the “Do-Nothing Congress”
Did you know the famous “Do Nothing Congress” of 1947-1948 actually accomplished a great deal? I didn’t. When I interviewed him for my dissertation, National Journal’s Carl Cannon pointed me to this piece of his (NJ sub. req.), which debunks the myth: By 1948, while running for his own election, Truman denounced his rivals as
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Kimberley Strassel on “truth”
The latest in conservative postmodernism — WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel defines “truth” as what White House officials tell Congress in private not under oath: Mr. Conyers, of course, has yet another honorable option: to take up the White House on its offer of making top officials available for questioning in private, and not under oath. If
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The lame debate over Michael Moore’s “Sicko”
My friend and former Spinsanity co-editor Ben Fritz and I have written a new column for the site on the debate over Michael Moore’s “Sicko.” Here’s how it begins: The mainstream media has started fact-checking Michael Moore one movie too late. As veteran fact-checkers of Michael Moore, we should be taking a victory lap in
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NYT op-ed fails Civics 101
No one understands that it takes sixty votes to pass non-budget legislation in the Senate because of the filibuster. Apparently this ignorance extends to the editors of the New York Times op-ed page, who let Jean Edward Smith write the following in a piece about changing the number of seats on the Supreme Court: If
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The futility of speculating about motives
Matthew Yglesias makes a crucial point that all pundits should take to heart: I spent a lot of time puzzling over Bush’s sincerity or lack thereof with regard to his idealistic rhetoric before the war, and in retrospect it was all wasted time. It’s interesting to wonder how it’s possible — or if it’s possible
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The lame debate over Michael Moore’s “Sicko”
By Ben Fritz and Brendan Nyhan The mainstream media has started fact-checking Michael Moore one movie too late. As veteran fact-checkers of Michael Moore, we should be taking a victory lap in the wake of “Sicko.” The liberal icon’s latest film has been aggressively fact-checked by major outlets including CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, the Associated Press,
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Boehner: No free will on SCHIP
According to House Republican leader John A. Boehner, offering SCHIP coverage that is superior to available private insurance options amounts to “[d]ragging people out of private health insurance”: Top House Republicans objected to the House Democrats’ plan to finance their proposals, with increases in tobacco taxes and cuts in subsidies for private health plans serving