Scott Lemieux

The recently retired Justice O’Connor recently spoke at Hunter College with Justice Breyer, and was asked by a student if there was a vote she regretted casting. After rejecting the student’s suggestion that she choose Bush v. Gore, O’Connor named a case in involving judicial campaigns. She didn’t mention it by name, but I assume […]

I don’t have an enormous amount to add about Obama‘s comment. Evidently, on the merits the controversy is stupid; as Roy says, the comments were a takeoff for politics-of-resentment silliness “in the precise manner Obama described.” And, yes, I wish that Clinton wasn’t discussing it using Page 1 of the Republican playbook, but that’s just […]

Brad DeLong makes a stronger case for Sean Wilentz‘s assertion that Hillary Clinton deserves the Democratic nomination than Wilentz managed, and as he says it remains highly unconvincing. Since I assume the only possible purpose of Wilentz pointing out that given some arbitrary, post hoc changes to the Democratic nominating process Clinton might have done […]

Dana notes that some “high-powered Democratic members of the State Assembly nixed the plan on the grounds that it would disproportionately punish low-income residents of the outer-boroughs, who need their cars to commute.” My question: how many low-income residents from the other boroughs drive into lower or midtown Manhattan rather than taking mass transit? And […]

Via Publius, Sean Wilentz has an exceedingly weak piece arguing that Clinton would be the easy winner in any fair primary system. Now, the primary system is full of irrationalities, so one might think that it would be possible to come up with a decent argument, but alas he fails at the task. Rather, the […]

Bob Somerby notes Michael Gerson once again repeating the Myth of Bob Casey, blubbering about Casey Sr. being “banned from speaking to the Democratic convention for the heresy of being pro-life” without mentioning that Casey refused to endorse the Democratic ticket. (Not that I think that parties preferring speakers who reflect the party’s values, as […]

Although John Yoo certainly deserves all of the criticism he’s getting today and far more, it’s also important to remember that his analysis only meant something because he was telling the President and his subordinates what they wanted to hear. Consider this, for example, from GOP Moral Sage James Dobson explaining why he’s not wild […]

The Yoo torture memos have finally been declassified. Emily Bazelon cites their “glib certainty” as what stunned her, but I’d argue this would be potentially acceptable if its arguments were more plausible and the implausibilities weren’t in service to such reprehensible ends. It’s one thing to, say, confidently assert a very narrow but plausible reading […]

An interesting article from TAP Grand Poobah Bob Kuttner defending Obama’s recent speech and praising its tying of the mortgage crisis to larger structural problems. One thing to add is that crucial to Krugman‘s critique of Obama is that the precise details of the candidate’s policy proposals (as opposed to their general tenor) is more […]

As the primary season drags on, you might be getting tired of always hearing about the same stuff. Fortunately, someone has a brand new idea: Democrats throwing reproductive freedom under the bus! Kinda! Winters ­who is the author of a forthcoming book, “Left at the Altar: How the Democrats Lost the Catholics and How the […]