Twitter roundup

From my Twitter feed (8/15-8/24) Brendan Nyhan Aug 26, 2011 at 6:16 PM
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	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan What happens when poli sci helps rethink the modern campaign? Highly recommend new @sissenberg e-book on Perry '06/'10 http://t.co/STkloNH
	Rick Perry and His Eggheads: Inside the Brainiest Political Operation in America, A Sneak Preview from The Victory Lab There are no customer reviews yet. Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
	Aug 24, 2011 at 12:13 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Fascinating RT @DLeonhardt Rick Perry, scientist: my chat w/@victorylab about Perry's empirical approach to campaigns http://t.co/b5GjUMN
	Rick Perry's Scientific Campaign Method - NYTimes.com A conversation with the author Sasha Issenberg about how the Texas governor's campaigns have been shaped by rigorous social science testing.
	Aug 22, 2011 at 2:03 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan MT @RyanLizza "48% of Republican voters [in IA] believe Barack Obama was born in the United States but 32% still do not" http://t.co/2tQXsiH
	Public Policy Polling: Perry takes the lead in Iowa Rick Perry is the new leader in Iowa: The race is pretty close four ways in Iowa but Rick Perry is the new favorite among Republican voters in the state. Among announced candidates he's at ...
	Aug 23, 2011 at 4:13 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @normative: The Cult Of The Presidency In Action http://t.co/BVBtAqH
	The Cult Of The Presidency In Action | The New Republic Gene Healy has written about what he calls "The Cult of the Presidency," and I've written about his concept as well. It is a pervasive mentality that views the president as a kind of national fa...
	Aug 22, 2011 at 4:56 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan For once, I agree with Robert Samuelson: Save the Statistical Abstract of the US! http://j.mp/npsfVc
	Don’t kill America’s databook If you want to know something about America, there are few better places to start than the "Statistical Abstract of the United States." Published annually by the Census Bureau, the Stat Abstract...
	Aug 22, 2011 at 3:55 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Imputation of nefarious motives: @delong says "Republicans in Washington are trying to make the country weaker & poorer" http://j.mp/nfMTaq
	A Colossal Failure of the American Political System That Republicans in Washington are trying to make the country weaker and poorer is a bad thing, but not a surprising thing: anybody who has been paying attention to the evolution of the Republic...
	Aug 22, 2011 at 2:21 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @Student: That's right. The problem with Carter was how the news media wrote about him. No rabbit metaphor, no Reagan: http://t.co/rAbG8oy
	Obama dangerously close to a 'Killer Rabbit' moment To our readers: Registration is required before your comments can be posted. Constructive and respectful comments related to the topic of the story are welcome; abusive, crass or vulgar comments...
	Aug 21, 2011 at 7:08 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @LudovicSpeaks: “@ppppolls: Most of the stuff Obama's done that supposedly made the left mad didn't really. But I think debt deal did: http://t.co/XzOiuyU”
	Aug 20, 2011 at 1:24 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Cook: "Ind. Voters...Required to Win General Elec." http://j.mp/rbpkVl False: Indies backed PV loser last 3 close elecs. http://j.mp/onXNBg
	Memo to the GOP: Independent Voters Are Required to Win the General Election The 2012 presidential election is shaping up to be one of oddest in memory and potentially far more dramatic than one might guess. Obviously, the general election is still more than 14 months aw...
	Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » Setting the Record Straight: Correcting Myths about Independent Voters Alan I. Abramowitz, Senior Columnist July 7th, 2011 There they go again. The presidential campaign season is barely under way but already pundits and pollsters are making misleading claims about...
	Aug 19, 2011 at 1:54 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan First Read on Obama interview: "It’s all about independents, stupid" http://j.mp/nDz3Fx Once again, false: http://j.mp/onXNBg
	First Read - First Thoughts: What Libya means for Obama The Libya news is good for Obama, but remember that bin Laden bounce didn't last long. Why? It's still the economy … Obama acknowledges vulnerability. … His compromise argument vs. Boehner -- al...
	Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » Setting the Record Straight: Correcting Myths about Independent Voters Alan I. Abramowitz, Senior Columnist July 7th, 2011 There they go again. The presidential campaign season is barely under way but already pundits and pollsters are making misleading claims about...
	Aug 22, 2011 at 3:15 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @kwcollins: .@mattyglesias on causal inference, donations, and interest group influence: http://t.co/bywq0RT Having backers doesn't mean you're corrupt
	Everybody Benefits From Something Tim Carney’s piece on Rick Perry as cowboy corporatist attacking him as a crony capitalist makes a number of good points, but I did want to raise a question about the general method often used i...
	Aug 19, 2011 at 1:57 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @GrahamDavidA: With faux-uproar abt Obama's vacay everywhere, here's my story frm last August on faux outrage against O, Bush, Clintons: http://j.mp/ouAuw3
	A Short History of Presidential Vacation Outrage The only thing worse than having to work while lots of people are on vacation must be having to work in the press pool covering people on vacation. Because just as predictable as the pundit mach...
	Aug 19, 2011 at 12:04 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Very cool idea RT @MysteryPollster: Introducing the HuffPost-Patch Power Outsiders Poll of influential GOPers in IA/NH/SC huff.to/oUj2nt
	Aug 17, 2011 at 6:50 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan CAP doubles down. Old pattern: http://t.co/S33IWjB RT @thinkprogress: @BrendanNyhan Nothing more dishonest than a direct quote. Spinsanity!
	Never trust the Center for American Progress - Brendan Nyhan The intellectual hooligans at the Center for American Progress are up to old tricks. Here's how they present President Bush's Social Security plan in today's edition of their Progress Report new...
	Aug 17, 2011 at 6:49 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @betsylevyp: the psychology of choice: decision fatigue, ego depletion, and 200 blackberrys http://t.co/EdeGQb0
	Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue? - NYTimes.com The very act of making decisions depletes our ability to make them well. So how do we navigate a world of endless choice?
	Aug 17, 2011 at 6:27 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Sad efforts by @thinkprogress to close the "hack gap" by dishonestly flogging the Romney "corporations are people" quote http://j.mp/rf6MuV
	Think Progress: Leave Mitt Romney Alone! | The New Republic Last week, Think Progress caught Mitt Romney saying "corporations are people, my friend." Jon Chait pointed out that Romney was clearly referring to the incidence of corporate taxes-which are ul...
	Aug 17, 2011 at 2:43 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan .@smotus on partisanship: "everyone hates it until they think their side is losing, and then they want more of it" http://t.co/ibNzfAS
	Enik Rising: Obama and Post-partisanship Sean Smith makes some interesting points in this Politico piece . His argument is that many of those on the left now criticizing Obama for not being partisan enough were among those praising him...
	Aug 17, 2011 at 11:24 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @ianrmcdonald: Mark Cuban and Howard Schulz leading my "Sucessful business people who talk about politics like 3rd graders" list. http://t.co/vYGJbBf
	We The Insane « blog maverick Why do we allow our elected officials to do the same things over and over again. You know the definition of insanity ? Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. We as a co...
	Aug 17, 2011 at 11:16 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @jonathanshainin: A persuasive slap at the "electability" canard by @jbplainblog: "extremism" in general elex may not hurt too much: http://t.co/rJLEwON
	A plain blog about politics: Is Fed Up a Campaign Book? One of the reasons I've thought Rick Perry was likely to run for president in 2012 is that he published Fed Up -- a book chock full of very conservative policy positions.
	Aug 17, 2011 at 12:16 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Bad signals from Perry about how he would campaign against Obama http://j.mp/ofzyKg http://j.mp/o67vBT http://j.mp/oTXi9g
	Rick Perry And The Campaign That Never Happened | The New Republic While a big part of Rick Perry's campaign pitch is comparing the job growth in Texas to that of the rest of the nation, it seems likely that another aspect will be implying that Rick Perry-a con...
	Does President Obama Love America? Rick Perry: ‘You Need To Ask Him’ - The Note Just hours after presidential candidate Rick Perry said that he would be the kind of president who would be “passionate” about America, the Texas governor suggested that President Obama may not ...
	When Republicans question Obama’s identity, it’s all part of the game - The Plum Line - The Washington Post NBC's Carrie Dann reports that Rick Perry has now taken to claiming that the United States should have a President who is "in love with America." This will not be deemed outrageous or even notew...
	Aug 16, 2011 at 11:53 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan A must-read: @jonathanchait on "Rick Perry And The Return Of Conservative Identity Politics" http://j.mp/o4Iigx
	Rick Perry And The Return Of Conservative Identity Politics | The New Republic If Rick Perry wins the Republican nomination, or even the presidency, one of the less significant but more annoying ramifications will be the return of conservative identity politics. The Bush y...
	Aug 22, 2011 at 2:26 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Perry endorsed "death panels" label in his book Fed Up! http://j.mp/pVWlMi
	The Ten Weirdest Ideas In Rick Perry’s ‘Fed Up’ Rick Perry’s November 2010 book Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington is not a typical “campaign book” from a political candidate. For starters, its forward is written by former Hou...
	Aug 15, 2011 at 2:38 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Nyhan's political dictionary: "psychological barrier" = arbitrary threshold involving round number http://j.mp/qc7xoy
	Obama Begins Bus Tour as Approval Slides Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Gover...
	Aug 16, 2011 at 11:48 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan .@mattyglesias on the failures of the Green Lantern theory of the presidency, particularly in explaining Bush's 2nd term http://j.mp/rt6ESx
	Looking Back At The Bush Administration I was on the radio yesterday with Drew Westen and something that came up was the surprisingly persistent myth that George W Bush was some kind of legislative steamroller who somehow coerced Cong...
	Aug 17, 2011 at 7:55 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan See also my all-too-relevant posts from '09 on Green Lantern theories of the presidency http://j.mp/gehWkI http://j.mp/bAxvbv
	The Green Lantern theory of the presidency - Brendan Nyhan Matthew Yglesias pinpoints an important -- and absurd -- meme in which liberals blame Obama's legislative compromises on a lack of will (see, for instance, Kos and Hamsher on health care reform)...
	The political version of Green Lanternism - Brendan Nyhan Jon Chait debunks a second species of presidential Green Lanternism at his TNR blog. Rather than asserting that the president's failure to achieve a policy goal is a result of insufficient will,...
	Aug 17, 2011 at 7:56 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @jbouie http://t.co/TbJAlSi Obama used the "bully pulpit" to defend liberalism this afternoon. Of course, no one paid attention.
	If the President Defends Liberalism and No One Listens, Does It Matter? In their despair over the debt-ceiling deal, liberals have admonished President Obama for his failure to use the "bully pulpit" and take his case to the public. Political psychologist Drew Weste...
	Aug 16, 2011 at 1:42 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @theprospect: Obama doesn't have a "vision" problem. He has a "crappy economy" problem. @jbouie discusses: http://t.co/F7SxtFR
	The Vision Thing At Politico, Glenn Thrush explores President Obama's vision problem, or his alleged inability to articulate a unified message for the country. Taking a page from discontented liberals, Thrush co...
	Aug 15, 2011 at 6:43 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan USAT economist survey forecasts 2.5% GDP growth in Q2 '12 http://j.mp/pNO5yw Closest comps: 2004 (2.6% in Q2), 1976 (3%), 1956 (3.2%)
	Economists' outlook darkens: See 30% chance of recession - USATODAY.com The chances of the economy slipping into another recession have risen significantly, and forecasts for economic growth and job gains over the next year have been substantially downsized, accordi...
	Aug 15, 2011 at 2:35 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Using USAT forecast for GDP growth Q4 '11-Q3 '12, @smotus forecasts Obama getting <51% http://t.co/JIsI8PX Closest comps are '60, '68, '04
	Enik Rising: Using economic projections to make vote projections When I'm asked whether I expect President Obama to get reelected, I often look around to see if there's an economist nearby to tell me how the economy is going to be doing next year. Well, here ...
	Aug 15, 2011 at 8:55 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Meme: Truman as model for Obama http://j.mp/pGBDZQ Reality: Truman enjoyed much stronger growth than Obama will http://j.mp/asTJTj
	What Obama Can Learn From Truman | The New Republic With an economy seemingly on the precipice of a renewed recession, an angry conservative movement that regards him with disdain, and a disillusioned liberal base disappointed in his first term, ...
	The misleading story of Harry Truman's comeback - Brendan Nyhan It's boring to point out that divided government is bad for President Obama, so journalists and commentators have been trying to make silly up-is-down arguments about why GOP control of Congress...
	Aug 16, 2011 at 11:39 AM

Comments

[David in Cal]

An unfair way to attack a political opponent is to exaggerate something he said or wrote so as to make it sound ridiculous. E.g., through some combination of malice, ignorance and carelessness, Yglasias asserts that Perry had claimed that "All Bank Regulation Is Unconstitutional." Of course, Perry actually claimed that federal bank regulation should be unconstitutional. He doesn't say or imply that state regulation of banks is unconsitutional. Based on this error, I wouldn't trust any of Yglasias's other characterizations of Perry's views without checking the original source.

BTW I think Perry's view is a reasonable interpretation of the originally intended meaning of the Constitution. E.g., I know that in 1869 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Paul v. Virginia that the issuance of a policy of insurance was not the transaction of commerce, and therefore beyond the scope of federal legislation.

However, today's courts take a different view of the Constitution. E.g., they overturned Paul v. Virginia in 1944.

[David in Cal]

Here's another example from Law Professor Ann Althouse of Yglesias smearing a Republican by misstating his views.

Yglesias says:

[Ron Paul is] loudly trumpeting his plan to impose criminal penalties on women who terminate their pregnancies...

However, Althouse goes on to demonstrate that Paul said no such thing.

ISTM that Yglesias ought to be named and shamed along with the birthers, not quoted approvingly.

[David in Cal]

I wanted to give props to Yglesias for his defense against unfair charges of crony capitalism, but found another falsehood in that article, this one smearing libertartarians:

The overwhelmingly dominant vision of libertarianism in the contemporary United States involves the strange view that the owners of industrial enterprises should have an untrammeled right to engage in massive air pollution, notwithstanding the infringement of the property rights of others this involves.

Yglesias calls this supposed libertarian view "strange". It would indeed be strange if that was the dominant libertarian view. I read a lot of libertarian material, and I've never seen that view expressed.

Yglesias gives no source for his sweeping contention. Wikipedia says he has it backwards:

The relative benefits of common law evolving toward ever-finer definitions of property rights were articulated by thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek, Richard Epstein, Robert Nozick, and Randy Barnett. Some libertarian thinkers believe that this evolution can define away various "commons" such as pollution or other interactions viewed by some as externalities. "A libertarian society would not allow anyone to injure others by pollution because it insists on individual responsibility."

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Libertarian_Party

[Metrichead]

Somehow, I knew the latest Truman article from TNR would be referenced here. Give it a week, and here it is.

[David in Cal]

Yglesias refused to correct his error about Ron Paul's abortion comments. Yglesias had written, "[Ron Paul is] loudly trumpeting his plan to impose criminal penalties on women who terminate their pregnancies". Although Yglesias didn't find any comment where Paul had explicitly advocated criminal penalties on women who have abortions, Yglesias argued that "reading between the lines", he could deduce that this is what Paul wants.

If Paul had been "loudly trumpeting" his position, Yglesias would have been able to find explicit statements, not just deductions. In fact, Yglesias's speculation about Paul's underlying position might not even be correct.