Scott Lemieux

ONE LIFE. I also agree with Ezra about this. There is, of course, no “correct” choice for dealing with a such a tragedy, and had Edwards dropped out of the race to take care of his wife it would be entirely beyond criticism. But the same, I think, is true of the choice they did […]

CLINTON NON. To hop into the debate, I pretty much fully endorse the arguments of Matt, Sam, and Ezra. In particular, I would like to highlight the apercus that ” nobody is entitled to a presidential nomination on account of unfair treatment at the hands of scoundrels, and liberals should avoid the danger of judging […]

COULD 2001 HAVE BEEN THE NEW 1937? Matt replies here to my post from yesterday about the 2000 election. There seem to be two separate arguments he’s making here. On the less important issue of whether Gore squandered an opportunity because he failed to “propose a particularly ambitious domestic agenda during the 2000 campaign,” I […]

BLAME WHERE IT BELONGS. I think I’m a little more sympathetic to the overall premise of Matt‘s argument than Ezra, although to me it’s not so much about the war (arguably the greatest period of progressive policy-making in American history, after all, happened during the escalation of the Vietnam war) as a straightforward story about […]

WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK ABOUT DESTROYING THE UNIO… I MEAN, THE CHILDREN? Kevin Drum has an excellent rejoinder to Megan McArdle‘s offer to support any and all liberal remedies, including “double spending per student” (with, presumably, commensurate tax increases I’m sure McArdle and her conservertarian friends will enthusiastically support!) if liberals will agree to bust […]

THE GOODRIDGE BACKLASH? In response to my point that Mickey Kaus‘s nominal support for gay marriage was empty because he never finds any means of achieving it acceptable (the only meaningful difference between people who are flat-out reactionaries and people who support social change unless it might cause social conflict or affect entrenched interests is […]

THE INEVITABILITY OF ANACHRONISM. I wholly endorse Ezra‘s argument here, and also strongly recommend Sandy Levinson‘s book (although, as is often the case, his diagnosis is more convincing than his remedies.) Obviously, to defend an institutional feature as irrational and undemocratic as the electoral college (even though it produced a constitutional crisis in the third […]

PROFOUND LEGAL COMMITMENTS THAT HAPPEN TO MIRROR THE GOP PLATFORM. I’m working on a piece about Jan Crawford Greenburg‘s new book, so I was interested in this take by John O. McGinnis. I agree that it’s a good book, although obviously to me her credulous acceptance of self-serving arguments made by conservatives is more a […]

JUDICIAL CONSERVATISM AND LEGAL INDETERMINACY. I’m a little puzzled by this Sasha Volokh post, in which he cites an article by Mike Seidman pointing out that the indeterminate nature of legal materials has produced conservative results as the federal courts have become dominated by Republican appointments and then uses it as a “gotcha” against CLS […]

THE CENTRAL PROBLEM OF PURGEGATE. As the story expands, it’s worth returning to this post by Josh Marshall, which in addressing the inevitable tu quoque rejoinders lays out the central problem with this particular series of firings. Presidents are, of course, entitled to set law enforcement priorities, and Bush may fire U.S. Attorneys for reasons […]