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Obama approval: No oil spill effect
In the wake of President Obama’s speech to the nation about BP and the Gulf last night, it’s worth noting that his approval ratings have not been affected by the spill so far. The speech is unlikely to have a significant effect either. I’m laying down a marker on these two points because of the
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Matt Bai: Wrong on presidential approval
In the New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai suggests it is “an ominous sign, historically speaking, for a majority party” when “the president’s own approval ratings fell below 50 percent”: [President Obama] continued to go out and shake his head disbelievingly at “the culture of Washington,” which to the Democrats in the House sounded as
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Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s misleading jobs claim
One of the ironies of the Obama presidency is seeing Democrats use the same tactics they once decried from the Bush administration (attacking dissent, etc.). The latest example comes from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who said the following on Fox Business: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: On the pace that we’re on, with job creation in the last
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed: -More racial codewords on Obama’s “ass to kick” comment — Washington Times columnist calls it “street-gangster language” -Bill Maher even more racially offensive on Obama and BP -A cool network graph showing issue networks of the American left (from friends/colleagues Michael Heaney and Fabio Rojas) –Trailer for new gerrymandering doc seems
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The magical thinking of Fred Barnes
[Updated below with more details on Clinton’s win in 1996] I take it as a given that most journalists know very little about political science. But I still assumed that almost everyone has a basic understanding of the relationship between the state of the economy and presidential election outcomes. Apparently Fred Barnes missed the memo.
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed: –A gruesome convergence of my interests in political misinformation and early 1990s rap –Tomorrow’s Glenn Beck chalkboard diagram today –Anecdotal claims versus data on girls and the hookup culture -Dear New York Times: Any trend that involves Dustin Diamond (aka “Screech”) is, by definition, about to stop being a trend -Howard
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Unsupported DNC claims on health care misinformation
In an op-ed published in late March, I predicted that misinformation about health care reform would persist after its passage: At the White House signing ceremony for health care legislation on Tuesday, President Obama declared, “In a few moments, when I sign this bill, all of the overheated rhetoric over reform will finally confront the
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed: -I love that Larry Kudlow’s radio promo says he was a mid-level bureaucrat under Reagan. Don’t change the channel — he worked at OMB 25 years ago! -Elevating the discourse, Charlie Rangel refers to “terrorists” on Wall Street, Joe McGinniss compares Sarah Palin’s tactics to those of “Nazi troopers,” and Chris
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Newsmax bid for Newsweek is bad news
I’m sympathetic to Ross Douthat’s argument that a center-right version of Newsweek could be a force for good, but his suggestion that Newsmax (a bidder for the newsweekly) could carry out that strategy is lunacy: If Meacham had wanted to play to what seems like Newsweek’s business strength — its large audience outside the Acela
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Ambinder endorses shaming dishonest elites
In a post previewing his remarks at the Personal Democracy Forum, The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder endorses my call (see here, here, and here) to “name and shame” elites who promote misleading information (as well as a similar argument by Robert H. Frank): I subscribe to the Brendan Nyhan/Robert Frank notion that social shaming may well