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Robert Bluey on the Gore “police state” quote
I just spoke with Robert Bluey about his Human Events Online story from last week, which misleadingly trumpeted an upcoming Al Gore speech under the headline “Al Gore to Attack Bush ‘Police State.’” As I wrote, the decision to put “police state” in quotes suggested that Gore would use the phrase in his speech, even
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My encounter with Susan Schmidt
Washington Post reporter Susan Schmidt has been in the news lately for soft reporting on the Jack Abramoff scandal. So I thought it was worth mentioning my own run-in with Schmidt, who first became notorious for her slavish devotion to publishing spin from Ken Starr’s office during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which leads the website
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Elections are the key to judiciary
There’s an emerging consensus among Matthew Yglesias, Chuck Schumer, Noam Scheiber, and Dan Gerstein (sub. required) on the lesson of the Alito defeat: namely, that it is nearly impossible for a party that does not control any of the branches of government to defeat Supreme Court nominees (particularly given the Democrats’ structural disadvantage in the
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WSJ smears wiretap opponents
The latest attack on dissent comes from a Wall Street Journal editorial on January 7, which casually suggests that opponents of warrantless wiretaps want to help Al Qaeda. Its subtitle: “Bush critics seek war-powers loopholes to benefit terrorists.” The text of the editorial includes a similar suggestion: No one would suggest the President must get
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Harry Reid compares Abramoff/DeLay to the mob
Via Atrios, Harry Reid has gone overboard in a Houston Chronicle op-ed, comparing the Abramoff/DeLay corruption scandal to organized crime: In 1977, I was appointed chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. It was a difficult time for the gaming industry and Las Vegas, which were being overrun by organized crime. To that point in my
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Gore doesn’t say “police state”
After making the groundless suggestion that Al Gore would attack the Bush “police state” during his speech in Washington, DC today, Matt Drudge is now running the prepared text of Gore’s speech, which does not include the phrase “police state.” Unsurprisingly, Drudge fails to note the discrepancy. Update 1/16: Thanks to Jon Henke for pointing
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Predicting 2008: Insiders vs. futures markets
The Washington Times’ Inside the Beltway column (free registration required) touts PoliticalDerby.com’s subjective power rankings of the 2008 presidential contenders. Notably, the site ranks George Allen #1 among Republicans based in large part on Ed Gillespie’s support: News that uber political guru Ed Gillespie has joined Team Allen has given the Virginia senator a significant
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More third party dreaming from Andrew Sullivan
Apparently, the dream will never die — here’s another email from an Andrew Sullivan reader pining for a third party (see the first here): I’ve always voted for Democrats, but like you, I’ve grown distrustful of the current direction of the party. I’ll never be a Republican (the religious fundamentalists are anathema to me), but
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Unsupported Gore quote bounces around echo chamber
Here’s a case study in the workings of the conservative echo chamber. Today, Human Events Online published a story headlined “Al Gore to Attack Bush ‘Police State.’” By putting the phrase in quotes, Human Events suggests that Gore used it or is going to in his speech. However, the article itself, which quotes from a
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Duke prof Chemerinsky testifies on Alito
Erwin Chemerinsky, the Duke law professor who I’m TAing for this semester, testified in the Alito hearings today — here’s the summary on the Washington Post’s nomination blog: Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at Duke University Law School, then addressed the impact on the Supreme Court of Alito replacing Sandra Day O’Connor, particularly on crucial questions