Twitter roundup

	Brendan Nyhan Feb 15, 2011 at 1:59pm From my Twitter feed (2/11-2/15)
	BrendanNyhan Feb 15, 2011 at 1:43pm Take that, Excel -- ABC's Jonathan Karl tries to explain the federal budget using the world's ugliest 3D pie chart http://j.mp/e0AIQc
	Budget Cuts: Where Does the Money Go? - ABC News
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 9:55pm Shuler: Redistricting reform would "lessen...partisan tone" http://j.mp/galOxU In reality, unlikely to have much effect http://j.mp/bk5CVO
	TN Editorial: Fairness, transparency make sense | BlueRidgeNow.com Legislation to reform the congressional redistricting process and make it more transparent makes sense and deserves a serious hearing, although it alone is unlikely to end the nation’s divisive ...
	Exaggerating the effect of gerrymandering - Brendan Nyhan Matthew Yglesias correctly dings Richard Cohen for this passage: Congressional Republicans have made a stand on the stimulus package, just as they did on the original bank bailout when they refu...
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 6:48pm New at NBER: "USA net fiscal stimulus was modest relative to peers despite... having access to relatively cheap funding" http://j.mp/fYNt5w
	Net Fiscal Stimulus During the Great Recession
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 4:38pm Good for Michael Medved: "Obama Isn't Trying to 'Weaken America'" (WSJ op-ed) http://j.mp/gW2nzc
	Michael Medved: Obama Isn't Trying to 'Weaken America' - WSJ.com WSJ op-ed: Michael Medved writes in The Wall Street Journal that conservatives should stop denouncing Barack Obama as an alien interloper and ideologue determined to damage the republic.
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 4:26pm Two cool econ studies supporting the hypothesis that lobbyists "sell access to powerful politicians": http://j.mp/fKnc0W http://j.mp/eKHP9p
	http://j.mp/fKnc0W
	http://j.mp/eKHP9p
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 4:07pm Necessary debunking of @mattbai piece on primaries by @jbouie - perceived electability, not moderation per se, is key: http://j.mp/h6HSBZ
	TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 1:39pm CPAC renews fears that GOP candidates are weak: http://j.mp/fHGMJ1 People forget challengers always seem flawed early: http://j.mp/eB8Pxs
	2012 field falls short at CPAC - POLITICO.com Print View POLITICO covers political news with a focus on national politics, Congress, Capitol Hill, the 2008 presidential race, lobbying, advocacy, and more. POLITICO's in-depth coverage includes video f...
	Presidential challengers usually seem flawed - Brendan Nyhan The Daily Beast's Benjamin Sarlin quotes a series of GOP consultants claiming the party's presidential candidates are "weak": Call it the resurgent Republicans’ Achilles Heel. The GOP may have t...
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 12:40pm Pawlenty's CPAC birth certificate joke (http://j.mp/gEZ28B) is perfect example of @AdamSerwer's "post-birtherism" theory http://j.mp/hecuBw
	Romney, Pawlenty Prep for White House Bids in Wooing Activists Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Former governors Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, two of the more active unofficial Republican presidential candidates, wooed activists in Washington today with attacks on Pr...
	The Plum Line - The GOP's post-birtherism After a Republican congressman from Idaho, Rep. Raul Labrador, made a joke implying that the president wasn't born in the U.S. at CPAC yesterday, Dave Weigel wrote "Striking just how mundane thi...
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 12:45pm Meanwhile, Boehner says "not my job" to tell people Obama born here: http://j.mp/hEw3pP. It's pomo conservatism run amok http://j.mp/efHV9t
	Boehner on Birthers: “It’s Not My Job to Tell the American People What to Think” | The Intersection | Discover Magazine Political Misinformation | Via Think Progress comes this video, in which John Boehner does say that President Obama is an American citizen and a Christian--but does not take a strong stan
	"conservative postmodernism" site:brendan-nyhan.com - Google Search
	BrendanNyhan Feb 14, 2011 at 12:56pm Polls asking people if they will or won't vote for Obama without reference to an alternative are useless, especially now http://j.mp/hmgyUR
	Obama "Very Vulnerable"? | The New Republic The New Republic covers politics, culture, and the arts with a focus on the White House, foreign policy, Congress, Capitol Hill, Wikileaks, the lame duck session, literature, and more.
	BrendanNyhan Feb 13, 2011 at 2:01pm Concerned that its readers have been deprived of Amy Chua coverage, the NYT runs its second review today http://j.mp/gU6Iuh
	Book Review - Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - By Amy Chua - NYTimes.com Amy Chua preaches tough love and high expectations in a memoir about the lengths she went to in pushing her daughters to excel.
	BrendanNyhan Feb 13, 2011 at 1:42pm Ron Paul's win is just the latest example of how the CPAC straw poll fails to predict eventual GOP nominee http://j.mp/esxMPX
	Early primary/straw polls don't matter - Brendan Nyhan The political press is eagerly awaiting the results of the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is supposed to serve as a barometer of the presidential candidate pre...
	BrendanNyhan Feb 12, 2011 at 10:39pm The tireless John Sides reports from his grocery store on why Obama has been so slow on judicial nominees http://j.mp/hmzMqV
	The Monkey Cage: The Empty Bench, Vetting, and What We Want from Leaders

Comments

[David in Cal]

The linked article re Pawlenty's birtherism joke appears in SF Gate (which is a combine of San Francisco's two leading newspapers) and bylined Bloomberg. It includes the quote
He said Republicans should reject, as part of a push to reign [sic] in "reckless" government spending... Who says big newpapers and news organizations are more reliable than one-person blogs?

As quoted in the article, Pawlenty's joke doesn't sound uproarious, but it is in the form of a real joke. He didn't question what country Obama is from, but the President's policies are so weird, Pawlenty wonders what planet he's from. Since this joke defends Obama against the birthers, why does it upset Brendan and Adam Serwer?

They say it's because the comment keeps the birtherism theory alive. That's unconvincing, because the quoted comment specifically denies the birtherism theory. I have two other suggestions:

1. The comment is a harsh criticism of Obama's policies. For many Oabama supporters, any criticism is unacceptible.

2. It uses birtherism in a joke. It may be that birtherism appears so serious that Brendan and Serwer are offended to see it used in a joke.

For those who think birtherism is terribly important, I would suggest comparing it to some other issues that conservatives worry about: Will the high unemployment recession continue indefinitely? Will the President's reckless spending lead to high inflation and weaken the value of the US dollar, thus corroding people's savings? Will Egypt's new government eventually be like Iran's? Will Iran be prevented from gaining a nuclear arsenal?

These are serious issues that could make life significantly worse for all Americans. By comparison, birtherism is a trivial issue that cannot hurt a soul. IMHO it's quite appropriate to use it as joke fodder.

[David in Cal]

Karl's "ugly" pie chart dramatically demonstrates that Obama was exaggerating or virtualy lying when he called his proposed spending cuts "deep."

The New York Times repeated this embroidery as if it were factual news when when they ran the headline, Obama’s Budget Seeks Deep Cuts in Domestic Spending without putting the word "deep" in quotes.

[MartyB]

Again with the "Post-birtherism" shtick?

I guess I was wrong in a previous comment when I assumed you disagreed with this line of reasoning, since it contradicts the conclusions of your own research (i.e. trying to forcefully correct untruths may only reinforce them) and involves two of the spin techniques you consistently decry - Mind-reading / long distance psychological diagnosis.

Brendan Krauthammer - heal thyself! ;-)

[bnyhan]

It's not a psychological diagnosis - it's an observation of political strategy. Leading Republicans are making jokes about it which allows them to raise the issue without endorsing the myth. They're not ridiculing it in order to make the myth go away.

[MartyB]

So you are getting pretty good at reading minds then, since none of what you claim Republicans are doing is knowable any other way.

Let's look at it another way. Since having the myth out there is probably more advantageous to Obama than to the Republicans, (since it makes right-leaning people sound crazy in general),why would they want to keep raising the issue?

This myth won't go away for some people no matter what anyone says, so it seems obvious the best solution is for Republicans to minimize it by making fun of it and thereby making fun of those who believe it.

That makes more sense than your conclusions and doesn't involve assuming ulterior motives.