Uncategorized
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Washington Times reporter bashes Bush
Washington Times national reporter Eric Pfeiffer has written a piece for The New Republic Online that describes President Bush as “a failed oilman before becoming governor of Texas,” says the President “has accumulated a disastrous environmental record,” states that Bush “has aligned himself closely with big business,” and claims that the White House “tolerates little
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Wash. Times: McCain is GOP frontrunner
The Washington Times is an awful journalistic institution, but it’s a pretty reliable source of intelligence on GOP infighting. So their recent story touting John McCain as the frontrunner for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination is a big deal: Some top Republicans at odds with Sen. John McCain on core conservative issues say privately that
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Reviewing the political fundamentals
An overview of the political landscape: Polls 2006 generic ballot: Time (6/27-6/29) — 35% Republican, 47% Democrat USA Today/Gallup (6/23-6/25) — 38% R, 54% D ABC/Washington Post (6/22-6/25) — 39% R, 52% D Diageo/Hotline (6/21-6/25) — 36% R, 41% D Pew (6/14-6/19) — 39% R, 51% D Congress job rating: Time (6/27-6/29) — 31% approve,
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Coulter’s (alleged) plagiarism: Not the issue
I have a hard time getting worked up about the Ann Coulter plagiarism investigation. It’s a relatively minor offense compared with her long record of factual deception and hateful rhetoric, yet it’s the only thing that could get her column killed in the bizarro world of journalistic “ethics.” Update 7/7 5:23 PM: Here’s the full
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Playing “the treason card” since 9/11
Writing behind the Times Select firewall, Paul Krugman describes the assault on dissent since 9/11: But an almost equally important aspect of the project has been the attempt to create a political environment in which nobody dares to criticize the administration or reveal inconvenient facts about its actions. And that attempt has relied, from the
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Drudge on NK missile: “aimed at Hawaii”
Drudge headline: “REPORT: FAILED N. KOREAN MISSILE AIMED AT HAWAII.” The headline of the story Drudge linked to: “N. Korea missile aimed at area off Hawaii.” In the non-reality-based community, that’s apparently close enough. Update 7/7 5:26 PM: Drudge’s headline for the link, which is now small and black rather than giant and red, now
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When Affirmative Action Was White
At last night’s final banquet of the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, which prepares academically promising college juniors from historically underrepresented groups for graduate school in political science, Ira Katznelson of Columbia University (who is the president of the American Political Science Association) gave a fascinating talk about Southern politics that touched on something really important
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Nifong challenger qualifies for November ballot
Lewis Cheek, a county commissioner here in Durham, submitted enough signatures (including mine) to qualify for the November ballot: Lewis Cheek has enough signatures to get his name on the November ballot and run against the district attorney prosecuting the Duke lacrosse case. Now, the question is whether he will make the race. Supporters of
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Bush’s attack on Congress and the press
Today, I hope patriots of every ideological persuasion will read Jane Mayer’s disturbing investigation of the Bush administration’s views of presidential power under the Constitution. I knew Vice President Cheney and his subordinates supported a sweeping view of presidential power, but not to this extent: The Iran-Contra scandal substantially weakened Reagan’s popularity and, eventually, seven
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Can Hillary win in 2008?
James Carville and Mark Penn, who is Hillary Clinton’s pollster, have written an op-ed in the Washington Post arguing that “if [Hillary] runs, she can win.” But as Matthew Yglesias argues, that sets “a mighty low bar”: She can win? Sure. Is she more likely to win than are plausible alternatives? The piece doesn’t say.