Texas Governor Rick Perry doesn’t have a particularly long list of contrasts between him and the last Texas governor to become president: “I am Rick Perry and he is George Bush,” Perry declared as he marched through the Iowa State Fair, surrounded by reporters. “And our records are quite different.” Asked what the biggest difference […]
Adam Serwer
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Mass Incarceration And Diminishing Returns
The ACLU’s latest criminal justice infographic tries to dispel the notion of causation between an increase in the prison population and a decline in the crime rate. New York has seen its prison population decline along with its crime rates, while Indiana saw its prison population increase with a much more negligible dip in the […]
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CCR Report: S-Comm Harms Law Enforcement
The Center for Constitutional Rights, a foe of the Obama administration’s “Secure Communities” Program, has released a report arguing that the program should be ended. The expected objections to the program “excessively punish[ing] marginal populations” are contained in the report, but it also includes testimony from law enforcement officials like former Manhattan District Attorney Robert […]
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Still Moar Economic Determinism
I know, I know. But populism isn’t a cure-all, and it’s worth pointing out that with all the Harry Truman comparisons that the economy helped rescue Truman, and his reelection isn’t proof of the power of forceful rhetoric: Harry Truman, who ran against an unpopular “do-nothing Congress” like the one we have today, is kind […]
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Correction Of The Day: Spymaster Moses
The New York Times has a pretty cool feature story on a summer camp for Jews of color, which I kind of wish had existed when I was growing up. The story also featured this awesome correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of spies Moses sent to report on the Promised […]
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Presidents And Wearing The Uniform
According to Texas Governor Rick Perry, he’s running for president because “I want to make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of the United States respects highly the president of the United States.” He later “clarified” by saying that “If you polled the military, the active duty and veterans, […]
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Giving Aid And Comfort To The Economy
Texas Governor Rick Perry gives his opinion of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American […]
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If By “The District of Columbia” You Mean “College Educated White People”
The problem with economic commentary posting that DC is insulated from the recession and that said insulation gives policy-makers an unrealistically rosy view of the economy is that it basically ignores that an entire segment of the city isn’t insulated from the recession. So here’s Catherine Rampell: In every state, a majority of residents think […]
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Judging Is Fine, It’s A Free Country
Michele Bachmann told David Gregory on Meet The Press yesterday that she doesn’t “judge” gays and lesbians. But oh she does: “It’s sad,” she continues. “Any of you who have members of your family that are in the lifestyle – we have a member of our family that is – this is not funny. It’s […]
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Moar Economic Determinism
My post for Greg today is on Obama’s recent dip below 40 percent in the Gallup Daily tracking poll–and how the administration should ignore the daily numbers and worry more about the economy: What should worry the Obama administration is the reason Reagan won and Bush lost — economic growth. Strong economic growth in the […]