Twitter roundup

Twitter roundup (5/12-5/18) Brendan Nyhan May 18, 2011 at 6:41 PM
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	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @willwilkinson Romney and cognitive dissonance http://econ.st/ijVlaW
	Romney and cognitive dissonance May 17th 2011, 19:21 by W.W. | IOWA CITY FOR my money, the most interesting thing about Mitt Romney's health-care speech last week wasn't his struggle to defend Romneycare and distance it from O...
	May 18, 2011 at 4:05 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Never thought I'd see this. RT @benpolitico: Obama campaign hawking long-form t-shirts http://is.gd/SzEVxq #notparody
	Get your Made in the USA T-shirt today The ridiculous birth certificate controversy might never go away -- so let’s have some fun with it. Get a limited-edition Made in the USA T-shirt featuring a picture of the President’s birth cer...
	May 18, 2011 at 3:48 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan "[Cornell] West’s ego, not the health of American democracy, is the wounded creature in this story" http://j.mp/ihqYbZ
	Cornel West v. Barack Obama | The Nation
	May 18, 2011 at 2:06 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Update: Jacksonville City Council candidate endorsed by MC Hammer has a narrow lead going into expected recount http://j.mp/jhbscw
	Please Hammer don't endorse 'em - Brendan Nyhan A friend currently living in Jacksonville reports on the latest in C-list celebrity endorsements. Apparently, MC Hammer thinks City Council candidate Kimberly Daniels is "too legit to quit" (ima...
	May 18, 2011 at 1:48 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Generic Ballot Polling Review at Stochastic Democracy http://bit.ly/kv0MlS
	Stochastic Democracy: Generic Ballot Polling Review With renewed   media  focus on House Generic Ballot polling, it's a good idea to see how things have shifted since the election: The past two months of Generic Ballot Polling. For a fu...
	May 18, 2011 at 12:49 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan .@mattyglesias (who should do poli sci) on how the status quo bias of the political system empowers judicial activism http://j.mp/ihaxrQ
	Yglesias » Affordable Care Act Litigation And Judicial Review May 16th, 2011 at 6:20 pm I've long been a bit skeptical of the merits of American-style strong judicial review as an institution. The practice is associated with some important human rights gai...
	May 17, 2011 at 7:46 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Boston Review symposium on fixing Congress with many contributions from political scientists -- recommended http://j.mp/mtafbt
	Boston Review — New Democracy Forum: Fixing Congress Since 1975, an award-winning forum for political, cultural and literary ideas.
	May 17, 2011 at 4:26 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Via John Sides, @leedrutman summarizes new poli sci research into the effects of anger and anxiety http://j.mp/jkO6c3
	Anger, Politics and the Wisdom of Uncertainty | Miller-McCune It's the (Alleged) End of the World as We Know It Was Osama bin Laden's Burial Handled Correctly? Sensory Deprivation Boosts Musicians' Skill Level Religious Affiliation and Brain Shrinkage Less...
	May 17, 2011 at 4:09 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Dear Bill Clinton: even an independent government agency is not going to be effective at stopping rumors http://j.mp/iK2bYI
	Bill Clinton: Create Internet agency - Jennifer Epstein Bill Clinton doesn't like all the misinformation and rumors floating on the Internet. And he thinks the United Nations or the U.S. government should create an agency to do something about it. "I...
	May 17, 2011 at 4:07 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Krugman weighs in on the disappearing Tax Foundation blog post RT @NYTimeskrugman: Apparatchiks http://nyti.ms/igSeKs
	Apparatchiks - NYTimes.com Memory holes don't work like they used to.
	May 17, 2011 at 1:52 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan MT @marklotto That @nytimes ran 50+ pieces about Trump in last 2 months goes unmentioned in this media scolding piece http://nyti.ms/iNxrKM
	Trump Bows Out, but Spotlight Barely Dims - NYTimes.com Donald J. Trump brought attention to a media culture that seems to give attention to the most outrageous voices.
	May 17, 2011 at 12:59 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan FrumForum's @Noahkgreen reports that a followup Tax Foundation post was also deleted http://j.mp/lJr96S Alternate copy: http://j.mp/myzIQ3
	Why Did Think Tank Kill Journal Critique? | FrumForum A very large hat-tip goes out to blogger Brendan Nyhan who has noticed that the Tax Foundation has deleted a blog post on their site which was very critical of an editorial graphic published in ...
	Where the Taxable Income Is, Continued | OcTaxLaw.com Yesterday I wrote a post about a chart that appeared in a Wall Street Journal editorial last month. The chart was nonsense for a variety of reasons, but it
	May 17, 2011 at 12:57 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Dog bites man. RT @SteveKornacki: I was right, Chris Matthews was wrong http://bit.ly/j6xXsH
	War Room: I was right, Chris Matthews was wrong My betting career, such as it is, is marked with humiliating failure. I liked San Diego State to win this year's NCAA tournament, loved Penn State in the 2009 Rose Bowl, and have bet more than o...
	May 16, 2011 at 7:20 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Zogby claims 11% have doubts OBL is dead, 8% not sure; group skews right and downscale. Caveats apply given the source.http://j.mp/mjh6Rm
	The Daily Number - 19% - WWW.THEDAILY.COM
	May 16, 2011 at 5:35 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan "Should Political Scientists Care More About Politics?" http://j.mp/lsx8Z1 See also @smotus: http://j.mp/iIkIT9
	Should Political Scientists Care More About Politics? — The Monkey Cage Archon Fung says yes in his review of Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s Winner Take All Politics for the Boston Review, and name-checks Lee Sigelman. One might think that the counterweight would c...
	Enik Rising: Are political scientists under-engaged? Via Henry Farrell and Archon Fung , here's a notable quote from the late great Lee Sigelman: If "speaking truth to power" and contributing directly to public dialogue about the merits and demeri...
	May 16, 2011 at 12:55 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan "Antipathy to traditional role of the Fed is...one of the worst intellectual developments... in recent memory" http://j.mp/jVgCW4
	Ryan Avent on Why We Would All Be Better Off without Today's Republican Party - Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality with Both Hands RA: >Monetary policy: Conservatives chasing bad ideas: MIKE KONCZAL notes that the nomination of esteemed economist and Nobel prize winner Peter Diamond to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governo...
	May 16, 2011 at 12:53 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Surprising level of elite interest MT @jonward11 if Daniels gets in it makes TPaw's route tougher http://j.mp/iRuh9k (via @benpolitico)
	The Anti-Romney Primary: Tim Pawlenty Waits For Mitch Daniels To Decide WASHINGTON – Tim Pawlenty is in limbo. Two events over the next couple of months will go a long way to determining the former Minnesota governor's chances of winning the Republican presidentia...
	May 13, 2011 at 4:53 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan .@gothamist on Huckabee video of how "Reagan saved America from dangers of debt & knife-wielding thugs in disco t-shirts" http://j.mp/jAOOkq
	Video: Mike Huckabee's History Cartoon Warns About Dangers Of Disco: Gothamist For far too long innocent children growing up in Obamerica have been brainwashed to believe that they should feel guilty for being such awesome Americans. Mike Huckabee is pretty fed up with wha...
	May 13, 2011 at 4:47 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan .@jonathanchait on Romney's "Al Gore Problem": http://j.mp/mF9jFK Here's my take on his Gore-like coverage (from March): http://j.mp/fKqu4i
	The "Al Gore Problem," Defined | The New Republic Dana Milbank compares Mitt Romney to Al Gore: This is a perfect demonstration of an Al Gore problem, but I'd define the problem differently. An Al Gore problem is what happens when the media for...
	Is Mitt Romney the Al Gore of 2012? - Brendan Nyhan The media's coverage of Mitt Romney is showing signs of the pathologies that afflicted its coverage of Al Gore in the early stages of the 2000 presidential campaign.
	May 13, 2011 at 4:32 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @GrahamDavidA: It looks like @JRubinBlogger is trying to muscle in on Gail Collins' turf with Romney dog jokes: http://j.mp/lbQ7yX
	Jennifer Rubin's Twitter the only idea dumber than this speech was strapping the irish setter to the top of the car
	May 13, 2011 at 4:26 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @GrahamDavidA: I personally would like @SarahPalinUSA to prove she knows the words to "Rapper's Delight" w/ a primetime FNC rendition: http://j.mp/kksbzN
	Sarah Palin: Common Invitation To White House Lacked 'Class And Decency' (VIDEO) Sarah Palin took issue with the White House inviting Grammy Award-winning rapper and actor Common, born Lonnie Rashin Lynn Jr., to a poetry event hosted by the first lady on Wednesday night.
	May 12, 2011 at 4:11 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @GOP12: Huntsman starts quest to beat Romney by making same mistakes Romney did in '08--shift right, poll everything http://bit.ly/mUb8DC
	GOP 12: The Mitt Romney in Jon Huntsman From Melinda Henneberger's new interview with Jon Huntsman:
	May 12, 2011 at 4:10 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Useful comparison to McCain muddling through on immigration RT @SteveKornacki: Why health care may not doom Romney http://bit.ly/lZamIg
	2012 Elections: Why healthcare may not doom Mitt Romney after all Fact No. 1: That "ObamaCare" and its individual mandate represent a freedom-killing abomination is an article of faith to today's Republican Party base. Fact No. 2: Mitt Romney, who entered the ...
	May 12, 2011 at 2:41 PM

Comments

[David in Cal]

Matt Yglesias and Brendan believe that judicial activism is on the increase because of America's "unusually cumbersome legislative process." But, is our legislative process really unusually cumbersome? I think not. Just look at all the revolutionary legislation that has been passed recently (for better or for worse).

I came of age during the Eisenhower Adminstration. The only memorable act of Congress during those 8 years was the interstate highway system. Compare that with all that Congress has done in the last few years: Expansion of Medicare to prescription drugs, going to war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, TARP, Obamacare, an enormous "stimulus" that will probably result in a permanent increase in federal government spending, passing and then retaining the Bush tax cuts...to name a few. ISTM that Congress has actually been quite active.

[David in Cal]

Brendan, thanks for the link to that odious Krugman column. There are so many lies one hardly knows where to begin.

the Wall Street Journal had a deeply dishonest editorial claiming that taxes on the rich can’t help with out budget problems. (Are you surprised?)

Of course that's not what the WSJ said. That would be ridiculous. They said that taxing the "millionaires and billionaires" (a group that the President had referred to) at 100% of their AGI still wouldn't be enough to balance the budget. And, they supply figures to prove this point. Krugman doesn't dispute this allegation. BTW Krugman doesn't do his readers the courtesy of supplying a link to the WSJ editorial that he's misrepresenting.

Note also that although Krugman calls the editorial "deeply dishonest", he doesn't specify a single example of dishonesty, not even shallow dishonesty.

...chart accompanying the editorial was a classic case of how to lie with numbers

A famous book that everyone should read is How to Lie With Statistics.

That book describes "classic" cases of how to lie with numbers, such as a "gee whiz" graph that cuts off the bottom to make changes appear more dramatic. Or, using 3-dimentional pictures using 1-dimensional ratios to exaggerate differences in magnitude. But, the WSJ chart isn't in that book. The point of the chart is that the amount of money earned by the "millionaires and billionaires" was only a small fraction of the total income. Any revision of the bins would show the same thing. Note also that Krugman doesn't say what revision he thinks would make the chart fair.

Then there Krugman's implication that the Tax Foundation withdrew their article for malign reasons. The Tax Foundation has said that they withdrew the article because its content was incorrect. So, Krugman is also accusing the Tax Foundation of lying. Yet, Krugman has no evidence of why they withdrew the chart. His accusation sounds like those who accused Mr. Obama of withholding his LFBC for malign reasons and lying about the reasons.

The right is saddled with Jerome Corsi and World Net Daily; the left is saddled with Paul Krugman and the New York Times op-ed pages.