Blog: TAPPED

Today, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed his state’s latest anti-abortion bill (the Legislature recently tabled a bill that could classify killing an abortion provider as “justifiable homicide). Anti-abortion laws are generally insulting to women’s intelligence, but this law is especially so: It increases the mandatory waiting period to obtain an abortion from 24 hours […]

Paul Waldman asks whether Republicans are just idiots and says, “It’s natural to vilify one’s political opponents, but Republicans do it whether they’re in power or not.” Mark Warren says that white Americans must embrace racial justice as their own cause if we hope to achieve widespread equity.

I knew it was official when I received an e-mail from Glenn Beck denouncing Obama’s “war for oil” in Libya. It’s like déjà vu in Wonderland — the same, but all turned around. All of the sudden the same Republican hawks who were complaining that Obama was not taking military action to protect the people […]

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez recently lost her bid to deny driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. The bill died in the state Senate, and Martinez, whose state is one of only three to allow undocumented immigrants licenses in the first place, has vowed to fight on. The story of the licenses is interesting on its […]

No fewer than three news articles this week detail how hard it is for women, both students and professors, at elite campuses. The New York Times reports that MIT, which made an effort some years ago to correct for a lack of female professors on campus, has made gains in recruiting and honoring female professors. […]

Newsweek informs us that when it comes to policy knowledge, Americans are dolts. No real surprise there, though some of the particular results are alarming (29 percent can’t name the vice president, for instance). But as these articles often do, it tries to end on a hopeful note: For years, Stanford communications professor James Fishkin […]

The Kaiser Family Foundation released its latest poll about health-care reform, and they’re trying to dig deeper into opposition to the individual mandate, which remains just about the only specific feature of the Affordable Care Act a majority of Americans dislike. They tested a couple of counterarguments, to see whether explaining a bit about the […]

Tim Pawlenty‘s media consultant continues to bring the drama: Tim Pawlenty Exploratory Committee for President of the United States Visual Announcement from Tim Pawlenty on Vimeo. Are you ready to charge up that mountain to the future? To thrust your sword into failure’s gut, to stomp on doubt’s skull, to take your mace and bash […]

Eric K. Arnold at The Media Consortium has a new biweekly feature rounding up articles on the world of media policy. It’s a good roundup, and we’re not just saying that because TAPPED made the cut. The post is linked above and also posted below: Welcome to the Wavelength, your bi-weekly field guide to the […]