BrendanNyhan David Kopel at Volokh Conspiracy takes down absurd "Obama the Muslim" column in Human Events http://j.mp/ctilNo- BrendanNyhan Given role of economy in elections, why is Obama so passive on Fed. appts.? If stagnation continues (or worse), he's done http://j.mp/bungK2
- BrendanNyhan "Laredo Truthers" provide a classic example of resisting corrections of misinformation http://j.mp/bL0fEk http://j.mp/arT6fHRight-Wingers Stand By Their Fabricated Mexican Drug Cartel Raid Story | TPMMuckraker According to anonymously-sourced reports pushed by right-wing blogs last week, members of Mexico's notorious Zetas drug gang crossed the border into Texas and, "in what could be deemed an act of war," seized two ranches near the border town of Laredo. The situation was dire, wingers warned, but a government enforced media blackout kept knowledge of the raid from the general public. Really? No, not really. Here's the thing: the "raid" never happened.
- BrendanNyhan Loathsome @kausmickey contrarianism on Weekly Standard NYC mosque smear http://j.mp/bDQd9V See Wright's takedown for more http://j.mp/9DfiEyA Mosque Maligned - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com The strange, dark strategy to demonize the people in favor of building a mosque near ground zero.
- BrendanNyhan What's the Matter w/Kansas doc out http://j.mp/aLjtMR See Bartels objections to book http://j.mp/bYiAfz & Frank response http://j.mp/bcAiWxWhat's the Matter with Kansas? reviews at Metacritic.com Read what all the top critics had to say about What's the Matter with Kansas?, which garnered a Metacritic METASCORE of 56, for Mixed or average reviews.Thomas Frank answers Larry Bartels - Brendan Nyhan Last month, I linked to a paper (PDF) by Princeton's Larry Bartels taking issue with Thomas Frank's bestselling What's the Matter with Kansas? I focus on four specific questions inspired by [author Thomas] Frank’s account: Has the white working class...
- BrendanNyhan The final stage of What's the Matter with Kansas debate for moviegoers RT @tofias Bartels responds to the response http://j.mp/bI8SjT
- BrendanNyhan RT @PollsAndVotes Post-recession 4 quarter avg: Reagan 7.8%, GHWB: +2.6%, GWB: +2.3%, BHO: +3.2% http://bit.ly/9IbheM
- BrendanNyhan RT @PollsAndVotes Avg qtrly GDP growth: RR1: 3.3%, RR2: 3.7%, GHWB1: 2.01%, WJC1: 3.3%, WJC2: 4.3%, GWB1: 2.3%, GWB2: 1.21%, BHO: 1.18%
- BrendanNyhan 2010 forecast from @smotus: Democrats will lose 40-50 seats in the House and lose control of 7-10 state legislatures http://j.mp/9yxE1F
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August 02, 2010
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About Me
I am the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Duke University and have served as a RWJ Scholar in Health Policy Research and a faculty member in the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. I also tweet at @BrendanNyhan, contribute to The Upshot at The New York Times, and am a co-organizer of Bright Line Watch. Previously, I served as a media critic for Columbia Journalism Review, co-edited Spinsanity, a non-partisan watchdog of political spin, and co-authored All the President's Spin. For more, see my Dartmouth website.
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Brendan cites the "Laredo Truthers" as "a classic example of resisting corrections of misinformation," and he's right. But contained within the TPM essay to which he links is another misperception that is perversely resistant to correction. TPM describes the San Diego Minutemen as "anti-immigration." That's untrue. Minutemen are anti-illegal immigration, and that's true of both the national organization and the San Diego offshoot. Look at the San Diego Minutemen website and see for yourself.
La Rasa and others on the left always seem to conflate opposition to illegal immigration with opposition to immigration--so often, in fact, that it's hard to conclude it's anything other than intentional.
In 2006 the New York Times made the same mistake. After I wrote to the Public Editor, the Times published a correction. But the misperception (smear? lie?) persists. To the ramparts, Brendan!
Posted by: Rob | August 02, 2010 at 01:13 PM
Brendan is a harsher critic of President Obama than I am. I'm willing to grant that Obama would like a stronger economy for the sake of all Americans, although I think his actual economic approach has been counter-productive. Brendan OTOH portrays Omama as caring about the economy only for the sake of his party's election results.
Posted by: David in Cal | August 02, 2010 at 02:01 PM
I don't have strong feelings about the New York City mosque, but Wright's defense of Hamas is repulsive. He argues:
1. Hamas aren't really terrorists because Arabs lost some land in a war that they themselves had begun 60 years ago. That standard would justify terrorism today by South Korea against North Korea.
2. Hamas aren't really terrorists because they won an election. Hitler won an election.
3. Hamas aren't really terrorists because they're attacking Israelis, rather than Americans. Apparently Israelis (or Jews) are subhumans whose murder doesn't matter.
4. Hamas aren't really terrorists because they've temporarily stopped attacking Israeli civilians. That's unfortunately not the case. E.g. today's Christian Science Monitor reports Rocket attacks on Israel and Jordan highlight how Hamas could use Sinai
Rocket attacks against Israeli and Jordanian resort towns on the Red Sea are believed to have come from Egypt's Sinai, raising fresh concerns about militant activity – possibly including Hamas – there.
5. Hamas aren't really terrorists because there are a number of Arabs and Muslims, including Americans, who in one sense or another support Hamas and who aren’t dangerously radical from an American POV. How does Wright know these Hamas supporters aren't dangerous to the US? Isn't that what he was setting out to prove? Also, if Hamas is merely dangerous to Israel, see point #3 above.
Posted by: David in Cal | August 02, 2010 at 08:52 PM