Month: August 2010

Leonhardt reads the jobs report and finds some glimmers of hope. Avent's analysis is similar:

All things considered, the view is of an economy that continues to recover, adding private employment and utilising (and paying) existing workers more. But that recovery is facing stiff headwinds from two sources—the drawdown in government activity associated with the end of stimulus and continued cuts at the state and local level, and the burden of large pool of marginally attached workers and long-term unemployed. The economy will probably manage to weather this period and continue its moderate expansion. But for the moment, the situation does look uncomfortably unclear.

Megan:

The long-term unemployment number worries me greatly.  I had a conversation with a friend the other day who was pushing back on my support for 99+ weeks of unemployment benefits; at some point, he said, these people have to get jobs, and helping them grow the gap on their resume is not a good long-term strategy.  I'm not convinced that many of these people could find jobs–some people are undoubtedly coasting, but really, how far can you coast on $300 a week?

Volokh wonders how the Prop 8 ruling might impact DOMA.

Blumenthal compares dueling polls on the Bush tax cuts:

What these seemingly contradictory results imply … is that a large number of Americans are hazy on the details of whose taxes were cut when George W. Bush was president, whether those cuts were intended to be temporary or permanent, what impact they have had on the deficit and the terms of the current debate. As such, their reactions to poll questions on the subject may vary widely depending on the language used and the options offered.

If you want to produce a poll finding that supports your side of the tax-cut debate, you probably can, but the voice of "the people" may not be as clear as some headlines make it out to be.

This is an extremely insightful post.

Frum doesn't believe that same-sex marriage initiatives helped Bush in 2004:

Of the 5 states in which George W. Bush’s vote rose MOST between 2000 and 2004, not one had a same-sex marriage initiative on the ballot. Of the 10 states in which Bush’s vote rose LEAST, three had such an initiative. Some say Ohio was tipped to Bush by a same-sex marriage initiative. But Bush won Ohio in 2000. Measured by increase in the Bush share of the vote, Ohio ranked 41 out of 50.

Serwer picks up on a rhetorical sleight of hand:

Kristol isn't the first person to invoke "decent Muslims" whose decency is predicated on their opposition to religious freedom for other Muslims. Sarah Palin memorably asked "peaceful Muslims" to "refudiate" the project, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said that opposition to the community center "will not and should not insult any decent Muslim because decent Muslims should be as opposed to Islamic extremism as you and I are.” By this definition, "Islamic extremist" is a label that applies to the kind of Imam who helps the FBI reach out to the American Muslim community after 9/11 and says "[f]anaticism and terrorism have no place in Islam."

Packer defends his article:

The main criticisms of the piece have come from Republicans, and their argument (for example, David Frum’s—still doing the hard work of keeping both sides honest) is that what looks to the left like obstruction is really only the minority party reflecting the public’s reservations about Obama’s agenda, and, beyond that, fulfilling the Senate’s constitutional mandate. I would answer that, on health care, for example, where the public was truly divided and, by some polls, increasingly skeptical, the Senate Republicans should have tried to negotiate a less sweeping bill.

Instead (as Frum himself famously pointed out), they shut down negotiations altogether, leaving Olympia Snowe as the lone party holdout, and not for long. They weren’t trying to legislate better; they were trying to prevent any legislation at all. The same with the stimulus bill and financial reform. As Michael Bennet told me, the Senate isn’t on the level: the amount of bad faith is staggering (and yes, there’s plenty on the Democratic side as well). And the daily toll of legislative blockage is also staggering. The filibuster has become the everyday norm in this Senate—which has nothing to do with the constitution, moderation, the saucer that cools the coffee, or anything else written and said two hundred twenty years ago.

Kanye West's tweets get the New Yorker cartoon treatment.

Today on the Dish, we parsed Prop 8. Andrew chose conviction, Allahpundit prickled, Kerr downplayed, and Boaz blew Hinderaker out of the water. Obama disappointed; Drum doubted; and Drudge played dirty. There was wonder over Judge Walker, calculations for Justice Kennedy, and predictions for the Supreme Court in toto. Your thoughts, both personal and legal, here.

On the nation, Andrew attacked the tax cuts; in legislative accounting, Frum pushed Packer and Douthat joined in. Exum stood up for the Mosque on 1st amendment grounds, TNC and Kain volleyed on abortion and slavery, and the audacity of Breitbart's cadre continued.

Wikileaks won't go the way of Napster; Ignatius and Andrew weighed in on Iran sanctions. Goldberg and Walt assessed risk for Lebanon and Israel, while one congresswoman learned the AIPAC lesson the hard way, and Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation seemed farther away than ever.

Dogs needed defense, and humans did too. Clive Thompson forgot the phone; art went postal; Basil Marceau went viral. Prisoners aged and pseudo-Palin got zombified, while Gingrich edged closer. Bristol's feminism took a turn towards Todd, in the world according to Cottle.  VFY Budapest Window here, MHB here, and FOTD here. D.C.'s Real Housewives got the hate and Paul Rudd had the hair.

— Z.P.

And by the way, the photograph of the alleged body-scan? A hoax. So this was a lie illustrated by a hoax. Sometimes a lesbian joke is worth it, I suppose.