Scott Lemieux

Apparently Apparently “states’ rights!” pandering pays off! A “pro-heritage” group has placed ads in favor of Huckabee and against McCain and Romney. (The former can’t be happy; you flip-flop on the acceptability of the state displaying swastikas Confederate flags to straight-talkingly pander to morons and you can’t get any credit!) In fairness, I think Yglesias […]

Mike Huckabee: And you also have states that not only practice abortion, but if Roe v. Wade is overturned, we haven’t won the battle. All we’ve done is now we’ve created the logic of the Civil War, which says that the right to the human life is geographical, not moral. I think that’s very problematic. […]

The NYT warns us not to count America’s Mayor(TM), Rudy9/Giuliani11 out: Mr. Romney’s victory here means three different Republican candidates have won each of the first three major contests. The race moves to South Carolina and Nevada this weekend with no clear front-runner and two credible candidates, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New […]

I agree with I agree with Ezra that Rush Limbaugh announcing a war against not only Huckabee but McCain seems significant — barring some miracle like Fred Thompson being discovered alive the GOP establishment is going to rally around Romney, although McCain’s background is substantially more conservative on balance. (McCain, apparently, can’t be forgiven his […]

Hopefully most readers of this site are well aware at this late date that “judicial activism” in ordinary political discourse means absolutely nothing more than “judgifying conservatives don’t like.” Still, claiming that it’s unacceptable “judicial activism” for judges to adjudicate breach of contract disputes takes things to a new level of vacuity. Apparently, according to […]

Responding to Tim Noah‘s review of Jacob Heilbrunn‘s new book about the rise of the neocons, Spencer Ackerman reminds us that Dick Cheney didn’t suddenly morph into a radical with extremely nutty and dangerous foreign policy views in 2001; rather, his views have been quite consistent over time. For that matter, the same is true […]

Publius, while accepting the validity of grievances against the frequently sexist coverage of her campaign, tries to make the case against Clinton. To me, #1 remains the most persuasive. I think Obama might have a marginally more progressive domestic policy, but the differences are narrow enough that this could be mistaken. But it’s hard for […]

A blogger at Swampland (via) is inventing a mythical catfight between Pelosi and Clinton because…another (male) member of Congress endorsed Obama. I’m serious. Expect her on the Times op-ed page — if it’s still in business — within the decade unless they decide to give it to Althouse or Camille Paglia instead. The first commenter: […]

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, involving an Indiana law requiring the presentation of government-issued IDs to vote. It is virtually certain that the Alito-fied Court will reject the challenge to the law. A couple points: As public policy, the law is an extremely bad one, burdening […]

Since I fell for the spin myself, I should note that Since I fell for the spin myself, I should note that Rudy! did not in fact skip New Hampshire; he spent more time and money there than anyone except Romney. Which makes his barely finishing ahead of Ron Paul especially embarrassing. And then there’s […]