Tag Archives: politics

Matthew Yglesias on Paul Ryan’s Taste for Wine

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Jonathan

Matthew Yglesias has an interesting post about why Paul Ryan’s recent sipping of expensive wine actually can be related to a substantive policy issue. Yglesias’ argument is as follows (I critique the argument below the summary): ———————— 1. Paul Ryan … Continue reading →

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Chris Christie: a Sinner

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Jonathan

According to Chris Christie’s wife, “her husband’s family responsibilities preclude a run for the presidency.” According to many Republicans, Christie represents our country’s best hope for getting off of the path to ruin that Obama has charted for us. And … Continue reading →

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Who’s taking hostages?

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Jonathan

A typical hostage-taker says “I will kill some innocent people unless you give me a bunch of money.” According to Paul Krugman, Republicans are hostage-takers. The only things setting them apart from typical hostage-takers are that they demanded money for … Continue reading →

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1967 Borders

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Jonathan

(Sunday 1am: update below) There has been a lot of discussion about Obama’s endorsement of Israel and Palestine’s returning to “1967 lines with mutually agreed [land] swaps.” Conservatives (e.g. Charles Krauthammer) interpreted Obama’s statement as basically just an endorsement of returning to 1967 borders, … Continue reading →

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This is what lying is (according to Whyte)

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Jonathan

Here is a good example of a case where we should make someone bet money to prove how sure they are of something, an issue discussed in the previous post. David Brooks writes: But, remember, the debt-ceiling limit has to … Continue reading →

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Why don’t liberals care about poor people in other countries very much?

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Jonathan

Jonathan Cohn says, when discussing whether we should extend the Bush tax cuts (which we ultimately did, temporarily): But this debate isn’t just about budget arithmetic. It’s about morality, too. And I’m not sure that part of the debate is … Continue reading →

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