tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57122052011-12-14T18:54:45.450-08:00"John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it."Rousseaunoreply@blogger.comBlogger2221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1138742144969650672006-01-31T13:06:00.000-08:002006-01-31T13:15:45.056-08:00

Blah blah, let's see where this takes us. Anyway...Chaffee voted against Alito. Good on him for actually representing the views of his state. There's been a lot of discussion about him and NARAL, and I'm glad to see he's not wholly an empty suit.Kerry's filibuster attempt. Clearly the definition of lame, and yet...I am unimpressed by arguments that since he made the call from Switzerland, he is

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1138266162915377172006-01-26T00:29:00.000-08:002006-01-26T01:02:43.020-08:00

One of the reasons it's so annoying to see political hay made out of legal decisions, is because legal arguments are very complicated and generally have a lot more going on that just the policy at hand.For instance, the most recent SCOTUS ruling on federal action against the Oregonian referendum on assisted suicide. They struck down attempts at federal intervention (at least by the executive

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1138085575580676992006-01-23T22:47:00.000-08:002006-01-23T22:52:55.593-08:00

The right wing is getting a lot of hey from this offer of Bin Laden asking for a truce or whatnot. It shows Bush's war is working, and it has implicit connotations of liberals who would seek peace. Here's what I think the proper liberal response would be.Would we make a truce with Lee Harvey Oswald, or the DC sniper? No.Would we make a truce with Stalin or Pol Pot, or if possible Hitler?

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135803567079574382005-12-28T12:59:00.000-08:002005-12-28T12:59:27.096-08:00

TAPPED and MyDD are mentioning Congressional salary, raises, and why it’s silly that we pay the legislative branch so little. One of the commentators depicts an interesting point. http://www.mydd.com/comments/2005/12/27/18428/723/10#10 With this topic, people should just expect a feingold plug... so here it is: One of the very few such spoilsports is Senator Russell Feingold, a

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135708855182836822005-12-27T10:37:00.000-08:002005-12-27T10:43:54.660-08:00

There’s been a decent amount of posting about how the Democrats, by even getting angry at the FISA scandal, are taking Republican bait ( Ross, PPI, etc). The idea is that to the public you can never be viewed as “too extreme on National Security”. If there was graft or stupidity sure, but simply breaking some civil liberties in order to find Osama bin Laden will always… well not be appreciated,

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135272957672106212005-12-22T09:34:00.001-08:002005-12-22T09:35:57.686-08:00

Sherrod Brown is becoming the most likely winner of a Democratic primary in the Ohio Senate Race. How unfortunate then, that he voted for the ANWR provision in the most recent House of Representatives vote. On background, the House Defense budget bill had ANWR oil drilling thrown in at the last minute (as a clear violation of budget procedure of course), and Democrats were put at risk of

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135272924609194572005-12-22T09:34:00.000-08:002005-12-22T09:35:24.623-08:00

Sherrod Brown is becoming the most likely winner of a Democratic primary in the Ohio Senate Race. How unfortunate then, that he voted for the ANWR provision in the most recent House of Representatives vote. On background, the House Defense budget bill had ANWR oil drilling thrown in at the last minute (as a clear violation of budget procedure of course), and Democrats were put at risk of

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135027145107018722005-12-19T13:18:00.001-08:002005-12-19T13:19:05.110-08:00

Good posts on FISA scandal: Crooked Timber listing the various rhetorical devices used to cover up this scandal. Yglesias describes how this is the sort of thing you get when all you ever need in an argument is “my motivations are pure”. Shrug. All I can feel is once again ire at people who trust in the limits set by legalisms. If the people of the country feel torture and

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135027137781754352005-12-19T13:18:00.000-08:002005-12-19T13:18:57.783-08:00

Good posts on FISA scandal: Crooked Timber listing the various rhetorical devices used to cover up this scandal. Yglesias describes how this is the sort of thing you get when all you ever need in an argument is “my motivations are pure”. Shrug. All I can feel is once again ire at people who trust in the limits set by legalisms. If the people of the country feel torture and

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135027046043754282005-12-19T13:14:00.001-08:002005-12-19T13:17:26.056-08:00

Sullivan is taking a break, and has two center-right bloggers covering for him. I really don’t get why so many people respect Douthat, but that being said, the first posts are good. Especially endearing to see all these intellectual right-wing dismissals of the War-on-Christmas stuff. It’s very reminiscent of all the intellectual right-wingers who doubted Bush in 2004 and felt he had veered too

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1135027001512824112005-12-19T13:14:00.000-08:002005-12-19T13:16:41.526-08:00

Sullivan is taking a break, and has two center-right bloggers covering for him. I really don’t get why so many people respect Douthat, but that being said, the first posts are good. Especially endearing to see all these intellectual right-wing dismissals of the War-on-Christmas stuff. It’s very reminiscent of all the intellectual right-wingers who doubted Bush in 2004 and felt he had veered too

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1134755161006558802005-12-16T09:42:00.000-08:002005-12-16T09:46:01.016-08:00

A somewhat liberal friend of mine commented that he reads NRO's the Corner because it's quick and to the point. "Liberals can't express themselves in anything less than three paragraphs, while most of the posts on the corner are two sentences."Now they're much to be said for thoughtful commentary, and I personally want long and evidence-backed pieces. But I believe there's a lot of diversity in

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1134752684158650982005-12-16T09:02:00.003-08:002005-12-16T09:04:44.176-08:00

Just using this TAPPED article to bring up a counter-intuitive point about campaign finance. A SCANDAL-RIDDEN WEEK. It hasn’t been a good week for Republican candidates, a surprising number of whom are now beset with some serious campaign finance scandals. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, who has pressed for stricter campaign finance regulations and who has pledged not to accept any

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1134752659230570602005-12-16T09:02:00.002-08:002005-12-16T09:04:19.243-08:00

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/12/index.html#008652> Just using this TAPPED article to bring up a counter-intuitive point about campaign finance: A SCANDAL-RIDDEN WEEK. It hasn’t been a good week for Republican candidates, a surprising number of whom are now beset with some serious campaign finance scandals. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, who has pressed for stricter

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1134752605380091062005-12-16T09:02:00.001-08:002005-12-16T09:03:25.400-08:00

> Just using this TAPPED article to bring up a counter-intuitive point about campaign finance. A SCANDAL-RIDDEN WEEK. It hasn’t been a good week for Republican candidates, a surprising number of whom are now beset with some serious campaign finance scandals. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, who has pressed for stricter campaign finance regulations and who has pledged not to accept any

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1134752585597030222005-12-16T09:02:00.000-08:002005-12-16T09:03:05.613-08:00

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/12/index.html#008652> Just using this TAPPED article to bring up a counter-intuitive point about campaign finance. A SCANDAL-RIDDEN WEEK. It hasn’t been a good week for Republican candidates, a surprising number of whom are now beset with some serious campaign finance scandals. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, who has pressed for stricter

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1134579162350696432005-12-14T08:52:00.000-08:002005-12-14T08:52:42.363-08:00

Second Amendment fans are fond of telling how average home-owners protect their family and property with their constitutionally protected firearms. Just recently, one Cory Maye was woken in the middle of the night by a man busting through his bedroom door with no warning, and to protect his wife and daughter he shot the man dead. Unfortunately for Cory, that man was a police officer, who was

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1133890517230077132005-12-06T09:30:00.000-08:002005-12-06T09:35:46.646-08:00

Your concern about your client’s popular work is entirely understandable, indeed even adorable. It would be quite worrisome for Our Master if the church was able to spread through these entertaining books and associated baubles., and every movie ticket sold for the Chronicles of Narnia was one less soul who would be joining us in the ever-after. But do you not think we have dealt with this before

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1132248514150397812005-11-17T09:23:00.000-08:002005-11-17T09:28:34.193-08:00

A man who can write in one sentence “racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,” is not a man who only hates judicial activism. It’s been pretty clear that the Administration and Specter are trying to paint this guy as an enigmatic intellectual who could go any way on Roe v Wade, and now that’s fallen apart. I think that’s

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1132076136786849792005-11-15T09:28:00.000-08:002005-11-15T09:38:01.076-08:00

A few of you caught on the Daily Show last night that the White House is on the defensive about pre-war claims regarding WMD in Iraq.The Bipartisan Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Report "Did Not Find Any Evidence" Of Attempts To Influence Analysts To Change Intelligence. "Conclusion 83. The Committee did not find any evidence that Administration officials attempted to coerce, influence

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1131643237036218572005-11-10T08:58:00.000-08:002005-11-10T09:21:01.460-08:00

Yesterday TAPPED predicted that this would happen. House Republicans scrapped ANWR from their current budget billThis may sound like a good thing, but it is not. The reason this was scrapped was because it already passed the Senate version. Being in the Senate version, it will be relatively easy for the Conference Committee that reconciles the House and Senate Bills to put it back in the final

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1131558135523197082005-11-09T09:40:00.000-08:002005-11-09T09:42:15.536-08:00

Glad to see the blogosphere is finally re-vamping up on the torture issue.Neil’s got a post about the uselessness of pro-torture laws. It’s not very useful and even if it was, it’s not like Jack Bauer won’t do it anyway.For some weird-ass reason, conservative bloggers talking about torture issues are still discussing the Amnesty International report’s use of the word “gulag”. This was like five

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1131464606134328862005-11-08T07:35:00.000-08:002005-11-08T07:43:26.176-08:00

The Supreme Court has taken up an indefinate detainee case. Yay.The new Chief Justice Roberts has previously ruled on this case, as a DC Appeals Judge. he ruled for the government. It can be assumed that Alito would rule the same way. Boo.But, Roberts has recused himself from the case, because of his previous affiliation. Yay.And as much as I disdain a defender of torture, I have to say I really

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1131388802415645062005-11-07T10:34:00.000-08:002005-11-07T10:40:02.450-08:00

Reading Ezra’s site on the new California Ballot measure, and the endorsements he linked to, there seems to be this idea that there could be ideal voting districts. We want multiple things from voting for Representatives, but mainly competition and representation. As a democracy we recognize huge rates of incumbency are bad and in order to have a responsive government we need one that throws out

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130877262266302242005-11-01T12:32:00.000-08:002005-11-01T12:44:41.743-08:00

Matt and Ezra thinks it’s silly that Arlen Specter, senior Republican Senator from Pennsylvania and Chairman of the judiciary committee, seems to like Supreme Court nominee Judge Alito. Specter campaigned as pro-choice in Pennsylvania, and they believe that Pennsylvanians would find Alito’s pro-life positions very unpopular.The only real evidence we have of Alito being pro-life of course, is that

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130870431349054142005-11-01T10:39:00.000-08:002005-11-01T10:40:31.363-08:00

Yglesias et al are paying attention to the hysteria regarding the HPV vaccine – a newish vaccine shot to stop women from getting cervical cancer, and men from transmitting it. I’m not sure why it’s come up today, but it’s the topic du jour.In particular, lots of conservatives are furious at the idea of mandatory child vaccination. And lots of liberals are sad that a need to insist their kids will

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130865704429610962005-11-01T09:14:00.000-08:002005-11-01T09:21:44.466-08:00

“The key thing to remember about Bush's nominees: they are all completely craven with respect to the executive's powers in wartime. And wartime is now defined as: for ever.”Liberal blogs really like bashing him these days because they think he likes to kill brown people, and any opinion shared with him must immediately be searched out for conservative influence. He also says really mean things

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130863332373993892005-11-01T08:39:00.000-08:002005-11-01T08:42:12.396-08:00

Other things that everyone should see.We found that justices vary widely in their inclination to strike down Congressional laws. Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, was the most inclined, voting to invalidate 65.63 percent of those laws; Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, was the least, voting to invalidate 28.13 percent. The tally for all

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130796462329941872005-10-31T14:06:00.000-08:002005-10-31T14:07:42.346-08:00

Short Version: He supports strip searches of ten-year old girls without warrant.We will have more Justices who are from Trenton, NJ, than who are of the fairer sex.Long Version: You ever heard the phrase “it’s all over but the shouting”? This is what that meant. I respect that Sirota is more qualified and less-cronylike than Miers was, but that’s simply a matter of meeting the bare minimum

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130779298191676532005-10-31T09:21:00.000-08:002005-10-31T09:21:38.193-08:00

In light of the Supreme Court nomination and arguments going on about Democrats in congressional races, I thought it was apropos to make a few predictions about what I think will happen over the next two years.1. Justice Alito will be confirmed despite a fierce battle where most of the public sides with Democrats but doesn’t care enough to convince the moderate Republicans to betray their party.2

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130778923597382822005-10-31T09:15:00.000-08:002005-10-31T09:15:23.620-08:00

We switched from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time Sunday night. Switch your clocks back an hour if you haven’t done so yet.Talking about this the morning after, a couple amusing comments were made. One was a grape that it’s weird that Congress can just pass a law and declare what time it is.Another was that it was really weird driving through Australia, because there were places that had 15

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130774621430678662005-10-31T08:00:00.000-08:002005-10-31T08:03:41.513-08:00

Responding to Neil here. First of all, you gotta have EW comments, so your friends can respond on your blog without the same atmosphere as ezra's. I'm really proud of you for having a long conversation with Sirota about this and sticking up for party unity, but didn't feel like adding anything at this late date.Anyway, I really like the first comment in response to your hackett v brown post. it

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130440259369028982005-10-27T12:10:00.000-07:002005-10-27T12:10:59.403-07:00

Liberal blogs are wondering what to expect now that Harriet Miers has “withdrawn”. (I agree with TAPPED here that really the media should call a spade a spade – Bush released her).My feeling: more chaos. You see, there’s a fundamental contradiction going on. It went on with Roberts, but didn’t spiral out of control. For Miers it did spiral out of control. Here are the two parts:1) There is a

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130437739579956132005-10-27T11:27:00.000-07:002005-10-27T11:28:59.596-07:00

The Onion helps us celebrate the anniversary of the passage of the 18th Amendment. It made all alcohol illegal, which created such problems that it’s the only amendment to be directly repealed.When looking on the noble history of the Constitution I think it’s important to keep episodes like this in mind. In our current political world the FMA was partly defeated by the argument that it would be

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130183580169125812005-10-24T12:52:00.000-07:002005-10-24T12:53:11.873-07:00

In order to gain perspective, everyone should read this on the Democratic Party and this on the Tory Party. (That’s in England. Where Labour leader Tony Blair won the past 3 elections. He’s on the left.)England and America are probably the two most culturally similar countries to eachother that they could find. Yet in one country the media acts like the right is completely dead, and in the other

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1130183123161891242005-10-24T12:43:00.000-07:002005-10-24T12:46:04.776-07:00

Kind of interested in this NYT memo about the whole Judith Miller affair. I wish we had dealt with the controversy over our coverage of WMD as soon as I became executive editor. At the time, we thought we had compelling reasons for kicking the issue down the road. The paper had just been through a major trauma, the Jayson Blair episode, and needed to regain its equilibrium. It felt somehow

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1129739140546474592005-10-19T09:24:00.000-07:002005-10-19T13:01:11.120-07:00

The National Review is pondering the nature of the Harriet Meirs battle.I actually think this is a profoundly significant signal in the ongoing -- and at times somewhat lamentable -- transformation of the GOP into a populist party. For example, I've written many times about how liberals don't understand that Fox News' popularity has had less to do with conservatism and more to do with populism

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1129659776310403252005-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:002005-10-18T12:00:26.216-07:00

Lot’s of blogs are busy ( Tapped LRC Sullivan, Yglesias somewhere) being amused at right-wing martyr Bruce Bartlett, who was just fired from his think-tank for writing a book criticizing Bush “Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy”, as emblematic of the collapse among the intellectual right-wingers, regarding disagreement on discretionary spending and

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128715419676007472005-10-07T13:02:00.000-07:002005-10-07T13:03:39.683-07:00

In response to Neil’s questions on Hackett in the post below, I’ve been reading about the Hackett-Brown match-up. I feel bad for Hackett, because I’m pretty sure he really didn’t want to get in a primary battle and had a preference ordering: Run against DeWine > Don’t Run > Run Against Brown. So because of that, there are lots of posts about who would be better to run in Ohio, the respected

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128695519471906472005-10-07T07:31:00.000-07:002005-10-07T07:31:59.476-07:00

My roommate asked me today why everyone’s new constitutions (Afghanistan, Iraq, EU) are book-length-features, when we could make due with two or so pages. This comparison has certainly been remarked upon in the rightblogistan, generally as a subtext for how much better we are.I tend to think the short Constitution was from a naïve and rather good-willed time, and we are the exception not the rule

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128542584933829212005-10-05T12:52:00.000-07:002005-10-05T13:03:05.010-07:00

I'm increasingly amused when I read things like this from Tapped trying to figure out what Miers feels. In trying to read the tea leaves of what we can prove this person believes, no one is even pretending to make the distinction between "what is good policy" and "what is constitutional law".It's something we supposedly fetishize when we discuss Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s attitude on judicial

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128537094495012452005-10-05T11:31:00.000-07:002005-10-05T11:31:34.503-07:00

http://warrenreports.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/4/12433/3089Remember when I said maybe Hackett wasn’t the best fit for the richest congressional district in Ohio?Yeah, well he’s a great fit for the state of Ohio as a whole. So it’s good to hear he’s running. Mike DeWine is also a good guy (one of four Senators to back McCain in 2000) and so I gotta say I’ll be proud to have either of them

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128450213384771362005-10-04T11:22:00.000-07:002005-10-04T11:23:33.390-07:00

Ezra’s having an argument over whether to endorse Miers, who seems to not be a liberal nightmare. And from a policy perspective, I totally dig that. She doesn’t continue the Scalia tradition that scares many liberals. She does however continue the Michael Brown tradition of being an unqualified crony rather than experienced and decisive. Which I rambled “I’d rather a brilliant conservative than a

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128439759269142972005-10-04T08:28:00.000-07:002005-10-04T08:29:19.270-07:00

Presidents appoint cronies. Yeah, it’s sad. And I really wish we could stop it, like having candidates discuss who their appointees might be before the election, not getting to swear them in without question afterwards. And I of course feel W has been worse on this than recent presidents, but it is not at all new. Really, this is how things are done and it’s usually unremarked.Kennedy made his

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128438689918019172005-10-04T08:11:00.000-07:002005-10-04T08:11:43.090-07:00

Can we please shut up about things like thisIS BUSH SECRETLEY PROCHOICE?Miers won't be liked by Democrats and isn't liked by Republicans; she's a longtime Bush loyalist with no paper trail. Which may be why they picked her. While it's dropped off recently, there's long been talk about Karl Rove's single-minded obsession with constructing an enduring Republican majority. That means, among other

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128438594130827962005-10-04T08:07:00.000-07:002005-10-04T08:09:54.140-07:00

Lots of thoughts on the new SCOTUS nominee. The three things you should read first are:TLaura’s post on the embarrassing Bush, not the terrifying oneThat is, Miers represents one side of Bush, and it's the relative good side -- the side that has Cheney rushing out on Limbaugh to calm the rubes, the bizarre, clueless, politically oblivious side, the self-absorbed but supremely un-self-aware,

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128363726008978072005-10-03T11:21:00.000-07:002005-10-03T11:22:06.016-07:00

It’s politically centrist and hip to say that the Pledge of Allegiance reference to God is constitutional and you need to get over it. Even the Daily Show has mocked Neudow’s case. I don’t really buy the “it doesn’t matter” (every school child has to say it every day in view of their peers, and it’s irrelevant?), but the emphasis has been on how legitimate “under God” is.Since a) a large majority

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1128005602686620452005-09-29T07:52:00.000-07:002005-09-29T07:53:22.693-07:00

Regarding Michael Brown’s testimony, some rantage over at >LewRockwell.com:So this Federalism thing is really convenient. Any time the State really blows it, the Feds can blame the locals and vice versa. Michael Brown, the canned FEMA chief has informed us that it was all the fault of the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. Fortunately, we can rest easy because Brown tells us "I know

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127933278514720422005-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:002005-09-28T11:47:58.610-07:00

Last night I tried to check out the new Geena Davis show, Commander in Chief. The Achenblog has a good review here I am sure the creators of the show are fully credentialed liberals who believe they are advancing the cause of women in politics. But what's next, President Geena breaking a nail catastrophically during a state dinner? The show has to somehow get beyond its own gimmick of a woman

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127853282132975322005-09-27T13:29:00.000-07:002005-09-27T13:34:42.216-07:00

The latest fun target for the liberal blogsphere has been the FBI’s announcement that they plan to focus on obscenity laws more. Not child-pornography, which is already heavily attacked, but pornography that apparently is disqualified because of its obscene content, and yet generally flies under the radar without trouble. This is the stuff that falls under Justice Potter-Stewart’s famous “I’ll

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127833245690698982005-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:002005-09-27T08:00:45.696-07:00

Serenity was an utter blast, what can I say. I doubt anyone who has seen the TV show was even considering not going. Seriously, this is the type of niche film that should charge $20 tickets because they have a hardcore audience, and not much casual audience.So should people who haven’t seen the show Firefly bother to see it? Well the character exposition, is done quite well and lets you know what

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127767913183417142005-09-26T13:51:00.000-07:002005-09-26T13:51:53.330-07:00

Every time people compare recent FEMA chief and crony Michael Brown and Clinton’s successful FEMA chief James Lee Witt, I think “why shouldn’t this sort of thing be an issue in elections.” And then I think of one particular Gore flop during the 2000 election.In early summer, Gore expressed his concern for hurricane victims and said he had personally gone to visit the disaster zones with FEMA

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127747885154902452005-09-26T08:17:00.000-07:002005-09-26T08:34:39.226-07:00

If anyone ever mentions that poor people are voting Republican because of cultural issues, tell them to >read this and actually bother to find evidence next time.>Supposedly good news on Cotton SubsidiesYglesias points out that currently we neither have the accountability of a Parliamentary system, but also suffer from the party discipline of one, a “worst of both worlds” that has rarely affected

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127746107287680782005-09-26T07:48:00.000-07:002005-09-26T08:32:31.266-07:00

Thanks to the fine people at Grace Hill Publicity I’m going to see Serenity later today. (If this falls through and the people at are not so fine, then I shall vituperate loudly.)Joss Whedon- the Oscar and Emmy-nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel-now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127509367209718512005-09-23T14:02:00.000-07:002005-09-23T14:16:35.916-07:00

I like John Roberts, the public-relations persona we see in committee. He seems a smart guy who you could have a lot of fun discussions with. He’d certainly be great at playing boardgames where you have to follow the strict rules for the larger purpose of a difficult exercise. And he has a good wit with mock-humble irony. He’d fit in very well with my friends.Which is why I can’t imagine for the

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127507119498280572005-09-23T13:23:00.000-07:002005-09-23T13:31:48.073-07:00

The song and dance about judicial reticence is pretty absurd. It may seem I’m a bit late to the party in pointing this out, but I’m sure the issue is going to come up again soon anyway. Especially if the next Justice isn’t as clean-cut and as easy a pass as Roberts.I’ve been reading through the transcripts of Roberts hearings, and the degree to which he refuses to answer questions is pretty clear

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127504595568478292005-09-23T12:42:00.000-07:002005-09-23T12:43:15.573-07:00

Yglesias and others are watching the budget-cutting process with a close eye. I must say I’m glad Republican leaders are at least thinking about how to pay for Hurricane Recovery, which was not in evidence in our President’s speech last week.The most amusing line so far has been the Republican Study Group saying “just give us a copy of the appropriations bill, some red pens, and a quiet room”.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127504384806549362005-09-23T12:27:00.000-07:002005-09-23T12:39:44.896-07:00

Trolls and people foolish enough to feed the trolls over at Ezra's today. The comments have degenerated into people saying A) Democrats ideas are badB) So bad that no one votes for themC) That more people vote for them doesn't count because that's not the way the game is played.Here's one troll continuing that, and my amused response.As for JR,Total votes for Democratic candidates for US Senate,

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127420496867159882005-09-22T13:21:00.000-07:002005-09-22T13:21:36.873-07:00

That just makes me think of this, the best website for a television show ever (warning, major geeking ahead).But really it’s about blog-readers who don’t comment dropping a line to say hi.So, lurkers, today is your day.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127401684925552952005-09-22T08:07:00.000-07:002005-09-22T08:15:54.323-07:00

Machines are not going to replace human labor anytime soon. Why?Long Answer: The Solow Growth Model.Short Answer: Human labor is really goram cheap.Long Answer Redux: I don’t know if Ezra or Neil took much economics, so I can’t say I blame them. But positivist lackeys at TechCentralStation have no excuse.The SGM is, right or wrong, the fundamental assumption for how economic growth happens.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127335537115817592005-09-21T13:44:00.000-07:002005-09-21T13:45:37.123-07:00

Just because I find this interesting.The comments at TPMCafe Yglesias are really informative about the backgrounds of the East German Communists (Linkspartei) and why coalition with them is difficult. When living members of the party have had your friends shot, I guess it’s a big deal.Also, apparently Germany has its own Upper House that isn’t nearly as powerful as our Senate, but can block

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127315050513666232005-09-21T08:03:00.000-07:002005-09-21T08:52:43.126-07:00

Woo hoo! Civil Service Reform!Via TAPPED and Ezra (sorry, Internet was down yesterday) I saw the Talking Points Memo and Washington Post articles on other Bush-n-friends cronies who are getting nominated to important government posts. The Bush administration is seeking to appoint a lawyer with little immigration or customs experience to head the troubled law enforcement agency that handles those

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127159910777694482005-09-19T12:58:00.000-07:002005-09-19T12:59:51.696-07:00

Musing about political polarization, lack thereof, and the chicken littles who worry about either paradigm.http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2005/09/political_polar.htmlThe best response to “Bush is a man of integrity” is this email I found on Andrew Sullivan’s site saying “A man whose government is filled with incompetent cronies, and who values loyalty above merit is no

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127157691318602832005-09-19T12:18:00.000-07:002005-09-19T20:43:30.256-07:00

Oh, and conservatives need to SHUT UP about the German electoral result. It was disastrous for them. What, why, darling Angela Merkel won the highest percentage of the vote? Well, while that’s a nice symbol, in parliamentary systems that often doesn’t mean much. The narrative before the election: Gerhardt Schroeder was the Social Democratic Chancellor who ran on pro-EU, anti-American

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1127147735726885932005-09-19T09:35:00.000-07:002005-09-19T09:58:24.910-07:00

Logan Feree has made a cool graphical representation of the Senate on the Left vs. Right plus Libertarian vs. Populist scorecard. Looks cool. I’m very interested in the forces that have pushed the Democrats towards Left-Centrism while pushing the Republicans towards Far-Right-Authoritarianism.Also, Radical Geek as a cool “International Ignore the Constitution Day”Unfortunately she only argues the

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126735197638852912005-09-14T14:59:00.000-07:002005-09-14T14:59:57.643-07:00

Why doesn't anyone ask about Bush v. Gore? What he would have ruled.Or rather, did he accept the majority decision as in any way good law? Does he think it's acceptable that the justices (both Dem and Repub) threw law to the side when choosing a President was on the line? Everyone seems to have accepted that, but I don't see how this is in any way a good thing to encourage, especially for http://

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126642739197584032005-09-13T13:18:00.000-07:002005-09-13T13:18:59.233-07:00

Really good >post at TAPPED about the lack of accountability in our current political system, particularly with regards to this administration.And Matt has a thoughtful post about the importance of being thoughtful and technocratic oriented when making your policy proscriptions. He does it more from the “look at those poor Republicans, stuck to bad ideas they trumpeted because of short-term

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126627977945805812005-09-13T09:12:00.000-07:002005-09-13T09:12:57.953-07:00

Every two years (Every congressional session), the US Congress votes on a bill like this one to ban partial birth abortion. Every session the Democratic Senators say that this bill does not have an exception for the health of the mother, and ask that it be added. The Republicans say no, it passes, and the courts over-rule it because it does not have an exception for the health of the mother.Every

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126626680517420822005-09-13T08:49:00.000-07:002005-09-13T08:51:20.543-07:00

http://www.freedomdemocrats.org/node/224 >Logan found a helpful survey.States where pro-life outnumber pro-choice: Indiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Idaho, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, and North Dakota (Tied).States with a pro-choice majority that voted for Bush: Nevada, Colorado, Alaska, Florida, Wyoming, Arizona, Iowa, New Mexico,

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126210573991675312005-09-08T13:12:00.000-07:002005-09-08T13:16:13.996-07:00

Yglesias has a great post on the fallacy of these "national greatness" politicians.Francis Fukuyama's much-misunderstood book The End of History isn't really about how there isn't going to be any more history. Instead, the thesis was that the forces of liberal democracy were now so strong that there wasn't going to be any more capital-H History -- just somewhat banal problem-management.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126209501442554012005-09-08T12:57:00.000-07:002005-09-08T22:21:04.490-07:00

One of the reason’s I don’t personally blame Bush for every death in New Orleans is stuff like this:The Naval Medical Center in San Diego's Balboa Park was shut down to accommodate a visit by President George W. Bush Aug. 30, RAW STORY has learned, forcing patients to cancel chemotherapy treatments and hundreds of scheduled patient visits. "The pharmacy is closed. The emergency room is closed.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126204543484954362005-09-08T11:35:00.000-07:002005-09-08T11:35:43.490-07:00

Now this is the sort of thing progressives should really be getting behind in Ohio.From NYT:The Ohio secretary of state announced yesterday that a series of election-related constitutional amendments had qualified for the November ballot, including one intended to strip Republican elected officials of their control over drawing legislative districts.The amendments are sponsored by Reform Ohio Now

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126199137253854792005-09-08T10:05:00.000-07:002005-09-08T10:05:37.260-07:00

I’m glad people are >finally realizing that Senator Santorum (R-PA) isn’t a conservative, so much as a populist (or authoritarian, or communatarian, as is your bent). The man supports higher minimum wage, ending the death penalty, and protectionism. On the conservative side he is indeed very outspoken, but only on social authoritarian issues. In fact, his recent pronouncements on creationism in

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126190402973357392005-09-08T07:38:00.000-07:002005-09-08T07:40:02.980-07:00

I hate to score cheap political points off humanitarian disaster, so I’m going to make it clear that I don’t believe crank about the response to Katrina being slow because of federal-state-local confusion (ie federalism).http://www.freedomdemocrats.org/comment/reply/207http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524In fact FEMA is authorized to just ignore the Constitution when it

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126123601080982352005-09-07T13:06:00.000-07:002005-09-07T13:06:41.090-07:00

Yay Democracy: A brief comment on the subject of this game, which, apparently, it's a bad idea to play. First off -- it's not a game. Assigning blame is a deadly serious matter. It's also integral to any sort of viable social practice. The criminal justice system relies on assigning blame to various people and punishing them. So does the civil tort system, and so does the non-criminal regulatory

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126117850415844622005-09-07T11:30:00.000-07:002005-09-09T12:40:24.183-07:00

Neil has opened the question of how important it is to nominate a Southerner for Democrats, come hell or highwater, with an electoral chart of Carter’s 76 victory highlighting all his Southern victories. One of the commenters points out that in that chart the north can be looked on as just as sectionalist and objecting to Southern politicians, but the general concept is still important and I’d

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126116037023995252005-09-07T11:00:00.000-07:002005-09-07T11:00:37.030-07:00

So we have a major humanitarian disaster, federal screw up, and three SCOTUS nominations happening at the same time, all without warning. The news cycle generated by the hurricane is going to warp political debate regarding the nominees – one party trying to use it to stall, the other party trying to get nominees through while no one’s paying attention.Does anyone disagree that replacing justices

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1126107875186329272005-09-07T08:43:00.000-07:002005-09-07T08:46:17.140-07:00

I really wish more students of the Constitution had to read things like this. (I know my class didn’t have to.)A 1954 memorandum from clerk William Rehnquist to his boss, Justice Jackson: "A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases":After the Civil War, business interest came to dominate the court, and they in turn ventured into the deep water of protecting certain types of individuals against

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1125687047419651482005-09-02T11:48:00.000-07:002005-09-02T12:02:34.426-07:00

So there’s theories that Judicial Review isn’t a counter-democratic force, because rarely do courts really overrule the legislature. In fact, for their most controversial decisions they usually are backing up what the legislature wants to do, but just can’t do for institutional or political reasons. My favorite line from the article: “A generation of Supreme Court analysis has been done as if

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1125502473740774602005-08-31T08:33:00.000-07:002005-08-31T08:49:22.803-07:00

Zimbabwe is seen as the epitome of democracy gone amuck. A charismatic revolution leader sweeps into office, consolidates power, and uses every trick in the book (goon squads, outlawing political opponents, destroying the economy of opponents, biased judges) to stay in power while still having an electoral process. While in power he has denied private property, human rights, and free speech.The

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1125085540700311422005-08-26T12:44:00.000-07:002005-08-26T12:45:40.706-07:00

If you don’t know who Christopher Hitchens is, he’s supposed to be a very eloquent, intellectual, left-wing defender of the War in Iraq. In fact most left pundits have been upset at how trashy he’s gotten as he defends the war and mocks people who think it’s a mistake – enough that he’s a source of controversy (he now has a column at Slate.com , for instance). Much like AndrewSullivan.comHe’s

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1124206632147211132005-08-16T08:36:00.000-07:002005-08-16T08:37:12.156-07:00

Can anyone tell me what happened to Left to Right a blog of academics, a favorite pointed out to me by Neil? It used to post all the time with really provocative thoughts on various issues. Now it rarely has anything, and besides things like comments turned off and a rotating cast of characters, it posts things like this:Marital rights generally go hand-in-hand with parental rights. Any legal

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1124135334709138712005-08-15T12:48:00.000-07:002005-08-15T12:48:54.720-07:00

Slow news weekend (not counting atrocities and political despair in Iraq, which our media doesn’t). So the pendulum of attention has shifted back to the federal judiciary.Justice Rally II (The Quickening!) was yesterday, although it didn’t get much hoopla. Nor did it throw much hoopla around, such as towards SCOTUS Nominee Roberts. I think this is in part because the conservative establishment

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1124123010801383242005-08-15T09:15:00.000-07:002005-08-15T09:23:30.810-07:00

“Black people are bad neighbors. They all live in the ghetto downtown, and look how crappy it is. I can’t let them live in my neighborhood, because then it would become just as bad as those areas.”Ha, what a bad argument that was. It perpetuated racial divisions, and consigned a large part of American society to poor and socially-immobile areas. And it was based on horrible logic that 30 seconds

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123861161544128322005-08-12T08:38:00.000-07:002005-08-12T08:39:21.553-07:00

>Interesting review of “What if We Don’t Act Now?”, a series of essays by historians about alternative-history theories, and what events would have happened if key event X had not taken place. I enjoy alternative fiction, and I also have little respect for “great man” theories of history, so it’s interesting to me.The reviewer writes about how this field enraptures conservative historians and

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123708387856611332005-08-10T14:10:00.000-07:002005-08-12T09:34:54.543-07:00

I’m going to continue yesterday’s post about “nested open-minded-ness.” Being tolerant and all Enlightenment-y isn’t just important on the broader world stage or in choosing a political wing in America; it’s also important when defining our own political party. [Addendum: Even more relevant in response to NARAL's rather out-there ad accusing Roberts of defending violent extremeists. But hey, when

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123687874493943692005-08-10T08:29:00.000-07:002005-08-10T11:36:06.396-07:00

Kos, Neil, and Ezra are discussing NARAL’s renewed plea for principled support of the right to choose.I entirely understand why NARAL endorsed Chaffee (R-RI) so early in the cycle. As I posted here, a lot of liberal single-issue groups have done better than their counterparts because they are willing to cross party lines. Their issue matters more to them partisan success. This has resulted in a

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123620688988675352005-08-09T13:51:00.000-07:002005-08-09T13:51:28.996-07:00

Dan at >AndrewSullivan.comWhen gays and lesbians express disgust or contempt for, say, the Pat Robertsons of this world, we’re accused of being intolerant—and isn’t that hypocritical of us? After all, isn’t tolerance what we’ve been asking for? How can we refuse to tolerate Pat Robertson?But as Manji points out, being intolerant of intolerance is not the moral equivalent of being intolerant.Yes

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123602133967859672005-08-09T08:36:00.000-07:002005-08-09T08:42:13.986-07:00

Matt has cute citations of Constitutional problems today. First, angst over the lack of DC representation now that Congress is considering renaming 16th Ave to Ronald Reagan Ave.Next, there’s pondering why do we have an election day on a weekday that most people don’t get off. I personally believe universal voting is the ultimate solution, as the government should represent the preferences of all

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123517367317037202005-08-08T09:02:00.000-07:002005-08-08T09:46:24.870-07:00

Inspired from Dev @ FD.orgPeople are seeming to get it finally, be it Hillary, Yglesias, or guest blogger Michael Lind on TPMCafe. Many elites believe that moving to the center requires giving up the authoritarian/populist leanings of your party, and being a libertarian moderate. The media loves the socially liberal Republicans (Giuliani, Spectre) and the economically libertarian Democrats (

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123175820259625482005-08-04T10:16:00.000-07:002005-08-04T10:17:00.266-07:00

The National League of Cities just endorsed a measure to give Washington DC a seat in the House of Representatives, balanced by an extra seat in Utah, until the next census revamping. So that’s a nice step.Let’s be clear about what I mean when I say compromise. As a moderate and someone afraid of myopic extremism, I very much like practical compromises. But for our system to work, there must be

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123098182799550912005-08-03T12:41:00.000-07:002005-08-03T12:43:02.806-07:00

Dangerous chemicals on trains may or may not be the target of terrorist attacks.In most states and cities, they could be banned from coming too near central population centers.Not in DC!.Since the DC City Council lacks the authority to ban it (it's interstate commerce) and lacks any clout in Congress to get anything done about it.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1123091439145651392005-08-03T10:47:00.000-07:002005-08-03T10:50:39.163-07:00

TAPPED has a sad rant about our current infrastructure spending (ie, the massive Energy and Transportation bills that just passed Congress). It's not that we spend too much, we spend less than most Western nations, just how the money is distributed is the result of congressional partisanship, committee placement, and seniority.Ie, cities (on a per capita basis) get screwed.I really think I should

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121968415217310372005-07-21T10:52:00.000-07:002005-07-21T10:53:35.226-07:00

Tokenism isn’t a good way to solve society’s problems of inequality, but it generally is a good sign of commitment to diversity or a particular group. In particular, when factor’s affecting a groups membership are so extreme that they don’t have one member of group Y, then it’s a generally a sign that those factors are out of control. I certainly have yet to hear anyone prominent who claimed “I’m

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121962049367333802005-07-21T09:02:00.000-07:002005-07-21T09:09:13.616-07:00

I want universal healthcare. I believe all the normal liberal lines about it. Risk-pooling is efficient, not a government monstrousity. Keeping citizens healthy is a basic function of government, and not something left to consumerist fate. Perverse incentives drive costs up (lack of preventative care, emphasis on unnecessary procedures). Costs are spiraling upwards faster than GDP or inflation.

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121875484308692162005-07-20T09:02:00.000-07:002005-07-20T09:12:55.256-07:00

Bush's nomination of Roberts is surely part of a broader agenda: Get rid of the women on the Supreme Court, overturn Roe, overturn Brown v. Board of Education, and finally, overturn Marbury v. Madison. The conservatives will not be happy until they have a Supreme Court with the courage to rule itself out of existence. Nowhere in the Constitution, as I recall from the time I glanced at it in the

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121800814665545732005-07-19T12:19:00.000-07:002005-07-19T12:20:14.676-07:00

By the way, the far left corners of the blogosphere have been crowing [porn star] Carey's appearance at the dinner will prove to be a "messaging disaster" for the GOP, tarnishing their pro-family image, muddying their morality machine, and in general reminding average Americans that Republicans are hypocritical hedonists who get squeamish about gay marriage but love the idea of threesome with a

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121796921236207452005-07-19T11:13:00.000-07:002005-07-19T11:15:21.253-07:00

If my step-dad reminds me of Bush, then Bernie reminds me so much of my grandmother. Bernie is a certain type of conservative intellectual who denies any partisan affiliation, and then a) defends everything in terms of conservative ideology and b) has relentlessly anti-Democrat rhetoric. (There’s a passage in Al Franken’s book where he defeats Bernie so soundly on a talk show that a caller calls

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121353832014489532005-07-14T08:08:00.000-07:002005-07-14T08:10:32.023-07:00

Both Brad's post on stalled Social Security reform and Neil's post on Supreme Court justices demonstrate the damage being done to modern politics by the "conference committee".

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712205.post-1121352837829627692005-07-14T07:52:00.000-07:002005-07-14T07:53:57.836-07:00

Poor Neil tried to start a discussion about a truly moderate Supreme Court nominee possibility, Ed Prado. The post quickly got taken over by trolls saying Bush could appoint whoever he leaks because that’s what people elected him to do.Did they? Something you don’t want to see in a nice democratic system is randomness. Do we elect Presidents for their Supreme Court justices? Bush’s first term

Rousseaunoreply@blogger.com0