Dylan Matthews

Nick Kristof‘s column today on autism is a curious beast. While written like a typical, “let’s quote the experts” policy wonk piece, it has a seriously disturbing assumption underpinning it: Autism was first identified in 1943 in an obscure medical journal. Since then it has become a frighteningly common affliction, with the Centers for Disease […]

Andrew Exum is very good at constructing straw men. Responding to Matt Yglesias‘ post noting that many national security think tanks — like CNAS, which employs Exum — are funded by defense contractors, Exum writes: If [Yglesias] thinks this blogger — or anyone else advocating the U.S. military take population-centric counterinsurgency more seriously — is […]

Peter Baker, the White House correspondent for the New York Times, is very worried about the Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo‘s membership in the White House press pool: “This is really troubling,” said New York Times reporter Peter Baker in an email to POLITICO. “We’re blurring the line between news and punditry even further […]

While Peter Beinart‘s foreign policy has improved markedly since he was equating progressives with Truman-era fellow travelers, his conception of what “morality” means in foreign policy still seems to have precious little to do with actual consequences. Here he is attacking the Obama administration for “downsizing” — that is, abandoning a broader “war on terror” […]

In case you haven’t heard, Mike Huckabee has been taking heat this week for having granted clemency in 2000 to Maurice Clemmons, who is accused of killing four police officers in Washington this past Sunday. While everyone from Josh Marshall to Tim Pawlenty has attacked Huckabee for the decision, the criticism struck me as pretty […]

There are plenty of good reasons to be less than satisfied with Obama‘s Afghanistan speech last night. Tim addresses many in his column today, and I expect Adam will weigh in further as well. However, Michael Crowley‘s objection seems off-base: Ben Smith notes a striking omission from Obama’s speech tonight: Although Obama spoke about America’s […]

I have to say I’m far less surprised by Little Green Footballs reactionary blogger Charles Johnson‘s denunciation of the American right than, say, Pam Spaulding is. First off, as Steve Benen notes, Johnson has been denouncing the tea party movement for some time now, and broke with bloggers even more fervently Islamophobic than himself, like […]

Hey all. This is Dylan Matthews, and I’m glad, as always, to be back at TAPPED, guestblogging alongside Jamelle. Let’s get down to business then, shall we? Howard Dean really needs to stop saying things like this: According to Dean, the most important component of the health care bill is the public option. “If we […]

While Maine is set to vote on whether to preserve marriage equality a week from Tuesday, new strides are being made on the other side of the Atlantic: The Lutheran Church of Sweden – the country’s largest – is to conduct same-sex marriages from next month. … Sweden’s government introduced a new law in May […]

Freakonomics and now SuperFreakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner may still be denying claims that they are climate-change skeptics, but Dave Weigel talked to some self-proclaimed skeptics who beg to differ: “It reminds me of what happened when Michael Crichton wrote ‘State of Fear,’” said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy […]