Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has ended weeks of speculation and entered the race to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker, setting up a potential rematch of the 2010 gubernatorial election.
Continue reading #rsrh Tom Barrett guarantees vicious WI-GOV recall Democratic primary.
From TPM’s report about Current TV (it’s apparently a fringe Internet TV thing) dumping Olbermann:
In an open letter to Current viewers, the company’s founders, former Vice President Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, said the network’s values are “no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann.”
OK. Well, if it’s about values, then…
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who had recently filled in, will replace Olbermann starting Friday night, premiering his new program “Viewpoint.”
…Wait. What?
Moe Lane
I mean, I personally love the Citizens United case. Aside from liking free speech, it seems to be a positive spur to creativity. Check out this latest spy spoof from American Crossroads, with Barack Obama starring as the almost-urbane secret agent trying to fumble-finger the rest of us into giving up our missile defense plans:
For the record: no, really, Vladimir Putin really does go parading around shirtless, and on a horse. (shrug) It apparently plays well in Russia. As does planning to give away the store on missile defense; which should cheer up the President. At least the notion is popular somewhere…
Moe Lane (crosspost)
Ah, the joys of bipartisanship.
Seriously, the Democrats need to start thinking about how this stuff looks to people who aren’t part of their tight little sub-demographic.
Via Jim Geraghty’s Morning Jolt (who, erm, quoted me on this topic, because that’s the way the Internet is) comes this fascinating look into comparative understanding. Or, more accurately, lack of same:
They asked two thousand Americans to describe their political leanings (liberal, moderate, conservative) and fill out a questionnaire about morality, one-third of the time as themselves, one-third of the time as a “typical liberal”, and one-third of the time as a “typical conservative”. The clear answer was: self-described conservatives and moderates were much better at predicting what other people would believe. Liberals, especially the “very liberal”, were by far the worst at guessing what people would say, and especially bad at guessing what conservatives would say about issues of care or fairness. For example, most thought that conservatives would disagree with statements like “One of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenceless animal” or “Justice is the most important requirement for a society”.
Continue reading #rsrh More on epistemic closure among the Left.
John wrote today on the subject of Obamacare: more specifically, John wrote today on the epistemic closure that caused the Left to not notice that there were powerful and persuasive arguments against Obamacare until said arguments descended upon them like a hammer from orbit. For the record, I do not guarantee that Obamacare is going to get tossed in toto: but it looks really, really bad for the individual mandate right now; and the generally feckless nature of the administration’s advocates in oral arguments are not going to fill the Supreme Court with confidence that the legislature can repair this particular train wreck.
Anyway, John Podheretz finishes his article with this:
There will again come a time when liberals and conservatives disagree on a fundamental intellectual matter. Conservatives will take liberals and their arguments seriously and try to find the best way to argue the other side.
And the liberals will put their fingers in their ears and sing, “La la la.”
Continue reading #rsrh John Podheretz is giving away the game, here.
Damn. Just saw this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APl9fRFmdC0
The man was a damn fine banjo player. And the Pacific Ocean is kind of wet.
I have been informed – by people who actually know this stuff, intimately – that the judges will gather together, indicate how they intend to vote on this decision (non-binding), and then proceed to start up with writing the opinions themselves.
I have also been informed that the first law about knowing Supreme Court decisions in advance is that you do not talk about Supreme Court decisions in advance; and that the second law about knowing Supreme Court decisions in advance is that YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SUPREME COURT DECISIONS IN ADVANCE. The reaction that I’m seeing, from my colleagues and friends who follow the Supreme Court, at the very idea that a decision could be leaked ahead of time is… repugnance. Apparently that sort of thing is simply not done. It’s wrong. Dirty.
So I figure that it’s sixty/forty that somebody on the inside will tattle to the administration by the end of the week.
