Scott Lemieux

UNDER THE RADAR. To follow up on Rob and Ezra‘s posts, it’s important to emphasize the extent to which regulatory and judicial activity have become crucial to Republican undermining of various New Deal and Great Society programs. A couple years ago, Brad DeLong and Matt Yglesias pointed out that conservatives achieved power only by largely […]

ONGOING REPORTS FROM THE DEATH OF SATIRE. Tapped‘s own J. Goodrich: “Of course [Joe] Klein is not alone with these feelings. Joan Walsh at Salon points out that other commentators were also relieved to finally find someone that matched their idea of a manly Democrat … Cooties are scary. And girls have them.” Andrew Sullivan […]

TWO SMEARS IN ONE. Brothers Yglesiasand Klein say most of what needs to be said in re: Jonah Goldberg‘s ridiculous Charles Lindbergh smear. Evidently, this is similar to what happened after the release of the Mearsheimer/Walt paper. As it happens, I don’t actually think M/W made their case; granting that assessing the impact of interest […]

THE CLINTON RULES: A CASE STUDY. Atrios details the case of Wayne Dumond–a convicted rapist who was released under heavy pressure from governor and likely Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and subsequently raped and murdered at least one and probably two women. As Atrios says, this wouldn’t necessarily be a massive black stain on Huckabee’s […]

PICK UP YOUR MONEY AND PACK UP YOUR TENT, YOU AIN”T GON’ NOWHERE. As another piece of evidence for the Schmitt/Plumer/Marshall thesis that John McCain‘s presidential campaign is stillborn, I see that in a poll of major right-wing bloggers McCain has a remarkably high “least desirable” ranking, barely less than Republican Lieberman Chuck Hagel and […]

YOU KEEP USING THIS PHRASE “NATIONAL SECURITY.” I DO NOT THINK IT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS. Jonah Goldberg stays true to the Twelfth Commandment of the Republican Party (“Thou shalt smear Democrats as undermining the national interest”): The 11th Commandment for liberals seems to be, “Thou shalt not intervene out of self-interest.” Intervening […]

THE PROJECTION OF THE LEGAL SCHOLAR. Benjamin Wittes asks: Imagine, if you can, all nine justices issuing a single opinion of more than 120 pages — with no concurrences or dissents — in a matter as factually dense, politically charged, and legally difficult as the Microsoft antitrust case. Imagine dissents, when necessary, written respectfully and […]

THE INEVITABLE EXCEPTION: As a quick follow-up to Ann‘s post, I note one case where fashion trivia about a male candidate was an issue: the endless clown show surrounding Al Gore and “earth tones.” (There were some additional rings in the circus, such as Chris Matthews babbling about Gore’s deeply significant choice to wear three-button […]

THE DEAN OF (GREATER) PRESCIENCE. I concede Matt‘s point that alleged crazy moonbat Howard Dean foresaw the consequences of the Iraq War and — more importantly — the exceptionally weak case for the war with considerable (and consistent) accuracy and detail, more so than Gore. (And, like Gore, was relentlessly smeared and vilified for being […]