Entries categorized as ‘The Partisan Mind’
Megan McArdle points out a delicious piece of partisan hackery.
Back in 2005, President Bush proposed privatizing Social Security. This was one of his few good ideas. But because of poor salesmanship, it was less than popular. Nothing came of it. Rather than press on, The New York Times urged him to cave in, in accordance with the peoples’ wishes.
This year’s health care bill is similarly unpopular. Now The New York Times is urging President Obama to press on, against the peoples’ wishes.
Go read her whole post. It’s great.
Categories: The Partisan Mind
Tagged: megan mcardle, new york times, new york times editorial, partisan, partisan hacks, partisanship, the atlantic
Sarah Palin, on her Fox News debut, said she thought that Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks until 2008 campaign handlers informed her otherwise.
That would be seven years after the attacks.
Not as off base as the truthers. Still jaw-dropping to read.
One wonders why Democrats put so much time and effort into attacking her. If I were a Democratic party strategist, I would be lending active support to her 2012 candidacy.
It doesn’t matter how much Ms. Palin learns about the issues between now and then. And I place no doubts on her IQ. You don’t get to be governor unless you have something going on upstairs. Sarah Palin has to be the easiest general election kill since at least John Kerry.
Categories: Elections · Political Animals · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: 2012, 2012 election, democratic strategist, democrats, fox news, presidential election, republicans, sarah palin
Today’s quotation of the day from The New York Times daily email:
“I’m a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. I want the Democrats out of my pocket and Republicans out of my bedroom. The one word I would use for what’s going on in Washington is embarrassing.”
RON VAUGHN, who provides health insurance to his 60 employees at Argonaut Wine and Liquor in Denver.
Categories: Pith · Political Animals · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: colorado, democrats, health insurance, new york times, partisans, partisanship, quotation, quotation of the day, quotes, republican, The Partisan Mind
Bill Easterly’s surprisingly Hayekian take on Afghanistan is worth a read:
News sources say that President Obama will choose “escalate” with additional troops for Afghanistan in his speech at West Point tonight. I and many like-minded individuals find this disastrous.
“Like-minded” means that critics of top-down state plans for economic development are also not fans of top-down state plans for military development. If the Left likes the first, and the Right likes the second, that just shows you how incoherent Left and Right are.
Categories: Development Economics · International · Philosophy · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: afghanistan, afghanistan war, bill easterly, hayek, war, william easterly
When Republicans are in the White House, Paul Krugman thinks budget deficits are bad. When a Democrat is in the White House, deficits are no problem at all.
Correctly noting in 2005 that the Bush deficits were “comparable to the worst we’ve ever seen in this country,” Krugman worried that investor confidence would wilt under the difficulty of paying back such massive obligations.
Now that President Obama has tripled the Bush deficits, he has a column poo-pooing deficit worriers as “being terrorized by a phantom menace — a threat that exists only in their minds.” Investor confidence will be just fine.
Would he be so sanguine if a Republican president ran up a $1,400,000,000,000 budget deficit in his first year in office? The party in power has nothing to do with whether deficits are good or bad. Deficits are either a problem or they aren’t.
Krugman’s partisanship is regrettable. What’s more regrettable is that it is taken seriously. Such is the tragedy of the partisan mind.
Categories: Economics · Spending · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: bush, bush deficits, obama, obama deficits, partisan, partisan hackery, partisan politics, paul krugman
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled out “you lie!” at President Obama while he was presiding over a joint session of Congress. His outburst has been good for $2.7 million in campaign contributions over the last two months.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) raised $114,108 in one day after labeling the other team’s health care proposals as a way to “die quickly.”
Such hyper-partisanship is regrettable. But there is a reason politicians indulge in it — voters like it. Why else would it be so good for their campaign war chests?
Sometimes I think the saddest part of democracy is that the people get what they want.
Categories: Elections · Political Animals · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: alan grayson, campaign, campaign contribution, election, fundraising, hyper-partisan, joe wilson, partisanship, rep. grayson, rep. wilson, voter
September 16, 2009 · 1 Comment
People are often surprised to hear how similar President Obama’s policies are to President Bush’s. They shouldn’t be. One may be a Republican and the other a Democrat, but make no mistake. Bush and Obama are two peas in a pod.
-Bush signed a $700 billion bank bailout bill. Obama continued the policy. And he extended it to other sectors, such as the automobile industry.
-Bush tried fiscal stimulus twice while in power. With some help from the Bush team, Obama oversaw the largest fiscal stimulus bill in history. There is occasional talk of another.
-Bush started two land wars in Asia. Obama could end them. Instead, he is committing more troops to Afghanistan.
-Bush oversaw Medicare part D, the largest expansion of government’s role in health care since 1965. Obama also would like to expand government’s health care presence.
-And now, we have the PATRIOT Act. The bill was perhaps the largest expansion of executive power in seventy years, and the Bush administration’s signature legislation. Now that Obama has inherited all these cool powers, turns out he likes the PATRIOT Act, too. So he wants to extend some of its expiring provisions.
Predictable. Still disappointing.
Categories: Executive Power · Political Animals · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: bush, civil liberties, Executive Power, national security, obama, patriot act, Security Theater
Rep. Joe Wilson is under fire for yelling “you lie!” at President Obama during his health care speech last night.
Now, all politicians lie. It is their nature. So Rep. Wilson’s assertion, tactless as it was, is technically correct.
But Rep. Wilson is a politician too, and therefore a teller of lies. So, when calling another man a liar, could he have been lying himself?
The mind boggles.
Categories: Political Animals · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: joe wilson, lying, obama, Political Animals, politicians, rep. joe wilson, truth
Of all the people who believe that President Obama is not an American citizen, how many are Obama supporters? Any?
Is this a coincidence?
Categories: General Foolishness · The Partisan Mind
Tagged: barack obama, Birthers
