Inexact Possibilities: Politics at the Cutting Edge
April 07th, 2010 | Uncategorized | Add your comment
(Faux) Summer Reading
It is way too gorgeous outside in Manhattan (high of 86!) to do any deep political thinking, or work, so I’d suggest you print out the following articles, find a nice bench or spot on the grass, and enjoy some light reading.
- Rachel Slajda at Talking Points Memo has an entertaining post on right-wing paranoia about the census.
- Since the disfunctions of the US Senate have been such a hot topic in these parts, I can’t recommend Jennifer Senior’s New York Magazine piece on the subject enough.
- Is there anything more entertaining than speculating about Supreme Court vacancies? Nope!
- Even though it’s a few week’s old, I’m still recommending Jane Meyer’s remarkably frank takedown of Marc Thiessen’s execrable book to everyone I know.
- Apparently I’ve been mispronouncing Jonathan Lethem’s last name for years.
February 09th, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 comment
Blogs and Pieces
Enough about the “Snowmaggedon” already:
- At the Atlantic, Michael Kinsley makes a great point about the difference between condescension and simply, you know, believing you’re right. Marc Aminder, meanwhile, breaks down Sarah Palin’s paradigm, which is basically appearing as a victim of condescendsion. Imagine that.
- At ThinkProgress, Matt Yglesias throws some cold water on the popularity of the Tea Party movement and tears to pieces Marc Thiessen’s gross dissembling on torture. Thiessen’s angry response is laughable.
- Nate Silver, writing at FiveThirtyEight, proves a point that can’t be made often enough: Obama’s policies have, on the whole, been more popular that not. “[T]he votes taken by the Republican Congress have far more often been out of step with those of the median voter.”
- In New York politics, uncertainty abounds. Governor David Paterson will resign very soon, or he won’t. Hiram Monserrate, who probably slashed his girlfriend’s face with broken glass, may finally be expelled from the State Senate, or not.
- Hipster puppies!