Scott Lemieux

Josh Patashnik tries to make the case that Survey USA will look worse after we see which of the dueling polls is closer to being right in California, and makes some good points. I have no idea if he will turn out to be right , but I do think that his analysis makes clear […]

I was happy to see Ted Kennedy endorse Barack Obama, but he apparently did it in at least some measure for a silly reason: There’s more to Sen. Edward Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama than meets the eye. Apparently, part of the reason why the liberal lion from Massachusetts embraced Obama was because of a […]

Bob Somerby defends Bill Clinton‘s invocation of Jesse Jackson following South Carolina, arguing that he “was saying that a major African-American candidate has an advantage in South Carolina, due to its large black electorate” and comparing this to Irish Catholics being proud to vote for Jack Kennedy. I agree that there’s nothing wrong about saying […]

You may recall Ben Wittes arguing that once Mukasey was dutifully confirmed he wouldn’t be able to stonewall because the Democrats would suddenly have more leverage because Mukasey would … need them to accomplish some unspecified things. I was criticized for thinking that this was less than plausible. How’s it working out? Over the course […]

To follow up on what Ezra said: There was no Florida Democratic primary. Although the high turnout in a non-primary was heartening for Democratic prospects in November, the results are wholly meaningless as there was no campaign and no delegates at stake. Changing the rules ex post facto and claiming delegates for a specific candidate […]

On the wonderfully ignominious collapse of Rudy!, I think Noam Scheiber gets it right: “Was Rudy’s strategy flawed, or was it the candidate? I say the latter. Rudy spent a good chunk of time and money in New Hampshire in November and December. The net effect was to move his numbers down.” Right. Claims that […]

Bob Somerby makes a good point about the rush of some pundits to blame Obama losing New Hampshire despite the polls on the Bradley effect. Particularly given that, for example, Harold Ford‘s final vote totals were similar to his poll numbers, the fact that Obama greatly overperformed his poll numbers in South Carolina suggests that […]

In light of the anniversary of Roe, you’ll be thrilled to know that William Saletan has an exciting idea for advancing the abortion debate. The solution is: everyone should just concede that William Saletan is right about everything! To pro-choicers: Talk about abortion the way you’ve been talking about teen sex, embracing an ideal number […]

Maybe I’m forgetting something, but relative to the quality of films this year I would be surprised if this isn’t the best selection of best picture nominees of my lifetime. Granted, it’s marred by Schnabel relegated to a Best Director nomination while Atonement takes Diving Bell‘s rightful place in what I assume (although I haven’t […]

For those who missed it at the time, I wrote an article last year for the anniversary of Roe that sums up some of the most important points that supporters of reproductive freedom need to make as clearly and as often as possible. Most importantly, the real question of abortion policy is whether poor women […]