Twitter roundup

From my Twitter feed (4/25-5/2) Brendan Nyhan May 2, 2011 at 5:56 PM
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	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @MysteryPollster: A look back: Obama will see a bounce, but likely to be temporary http://j.mp/ieYwqV (with my guess of 5-10 pts)
	Obama Approval Rating Likely To Rise After Osama Bin Laden Killing WASHINGTON -- While the killing of al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden lacks true historical precedent, polling following similar events suggests that President Barack Obama will enjoy a bounce ...
	May 2, 2011 at 4:39 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @SteveKornacki: 5/91 story: "Most [D's] are reluctant to run against Bush, who looks practically invincible after the US victory in the Persian Gulf war"
	May 2, 2011 at 2:21 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @alexlundry: Today's happiness is nothing compared to my sorrow on 9/11/01
	May 2, 2011 at 12:08 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Still way overpriced at 65 - people seem to forget Bush 41's experience http://j.mp/iN42iP RT @tylercowen: Obama up to 68 on Intrade.com...
	Intrade - Barack Obama to be re-elected President in 2012 is 68.5% probable THE Leading Prediction Market. Trade political futures and tap into the wisdom of crowds.
	May 2, 2011 at 12:07 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @smotus: This is roughly same point in Obama's presidency as Gulf War victory was in Bush 41's. #allvictoryisfleeting
	May 2, 2011 at 11:36 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @dbernstein: My long post about media, academia & politics, prompted by Greg Marx, @BrendanNyhan, John Sides & Shanto Iyengar essays: http://ow.ly/4KME5
	Media, Academia, & Politics The terrific political-science journal The Forum has three interesting essays in its new issue, dealing with politics and media. In one, Greg Marx, formerly of the Columbia Journalism Review, co...
	May 2, 2011 at 11:26 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Epic mixed metaphor "flimsy...argument — that if we allow fat cats 2 gorge, crumbs will surely fall — is losing traction" http://j.mp/izfjXo
	Silliness and Sleight of Hand - NYTimes.com Suspicions of the president have moved from the theoretical to the theological.
	Apr 30, 2011 at 7:53 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Connecting again? Noooo! MT @DrewHampshire: Romney asked lot of q's of customers @ gas station... Connected well. (via @jmartpolitico)
	Apr 30, 2011 at 12:13 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan .@daveweigel's useful birtherism history: http://j.mp/jjLOya A key resource along with @adamserwer's birther lexicon: http://j.mp/myGrHn
	Obama's birth certificate: The issue will last as long as his presidency. President Obama did not end the "birther" movement today. Hours after the president released his long-form birth certificate—years after releasing the short-form one that proved he was a citizen...
	A Birtherism Lexicon Libertarian billionaire David Koch isn't a birther, exactly; he just thinks the president is a Marxist who got all his ideas from his father: David agreed. “He’s the most radical president we’ve...
	Apr 29, 2011 at 2:01 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan *Someone* is keeping his eye on the ball. Econ. weakness is #1 political story. RT @ezraklein: The story driving 2012: http://wapo.st/khaHm0
	Wonkbook: The story driving 2012 - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post Posted at 07:24 AM ET, 04/29/2011 The most important story in the 2012 election is not Donald Trump, or the White House’s inexplicable decision to feed the birther madness, or whether Haley Barb...
	Apr 29, 2011 at 12:23 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Republican consultant: "For the GOP's sake, birtherism has to die" http://j.mp/ioPLyJ
	For the GOP's sake, birtherism has to die | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/29/2011 By Matt Mackowiak What should go without saying must be said: With this week's release of President Obama's birth certificate, I hope - for the sake of my fellow Republicans - that a death certi...
	Apr 29, 2011 at 12:16 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @MysteryPollster: My deep dive on "birther" polls: Not "taking hold" with indy's, dividing GOP http://t.co/SXjJmPr”
	Apr 28, 2011 at 10:31 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Smart @jbouie piece on how Obama's political trajectory could end up looking more like Bush 41 than Reagan http://j.mp/iMPUg2
	Who Does Obama Want to Be When He Grows Up? Barack Obama hearts Ronald Reagan. We saw it during the 2008 presidential election, when he praised Reagan's ability to change the political landscape, and we saw it most recently, in his speech...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 8:00 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan More cable news coverage of Trump and birth certificate/birthers than Afghanistan and the deficit in last 6 weeks http://j.mp/lpHnXa
	Trump Saturation Coverage Simply Reflects Classic Media Bias During yesterday's press conference, President Obama immediately understood where he needed to lay blame for the month-long political apprentice series starring Donald Trump: with the star himse...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 7:43 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan I continue to love the @mattyglesias concept of the replacement-level pundit http://bit.ly/kiB2ht Original post here: http://j.mp/jpYfV1
	http://bit.ly/kiB2ht
	Yglesias » Replacement-Level Punditry Jon Chait disagrees with me about Juan Williams: Matthew Ygelsias applauds the firing because Williams is a mediocre, “replacement-level” commentator. That strikes me as a total dodge. Most comm...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 5:37 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Trump secures coveted Joey Lawrence endorsement http://cl.ly/6JqF Next: Mario Lopez! (via @jbouie)
	Donald Trump For President, Says Joey Lawrence Of 'Blossom' Woah! While a number of award winning actors have hit out against Donald Trump in recent days, the potential GOP presidential candidate has at least one Hollywood supporter: former "Blossom" sta...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 5:18 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan PS Another satisfied customer! "Maybe I would (go into politics)," Lawrence added. "I minored in ... political science” http://j.mp/jiYU5v
	Joey Lawrence: Trump for Prez! Chances are longtime television actor Joey Lawrence won’t be voting for President Obama in 2012, and he isn’t afraid to say so. “Obama was something fresh, and new, and people wanted to put thei...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 5:21 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Excellent @dbernstein article on how birtherism filled the void in conservative marketplace for reasons to hate Obama http://ow.ly/4J3i0
	Birth of Birtherism I've been following the so-called birther story from its earliest days, so naturally I took interest in yesterday's big news of Barack Obama finally producing the other birth certificate. A lot ...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 5:14 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @pwire: Even after seeing Obama's detailed birth certificate, 28% still have doubts... http://pwire.at/l8gPsn (via @loujacobson)
	Large Number Still Have Doubts on Obama Birthplace Looking for a political job? Start your search at Political Job Hunt. A new SurveyUSA poll finds that of those who have seen President Obama's newly-released detailed birth certificate, 71% are ...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 12:04 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Includes a quote from me on how misinformers won today RT @politifact: Birthers not persuaded by Obama's release http://bit.ly/joGhDF
	PolitiFact | Birthers not persuaded by Certificate of Live Birth Orly Taitz is a leader among those who question President Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president. For three years, the California dentist/lawyer and others have filled the Intern...
	Apr 28, 2011 at 12:02 AM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Dear pollsters: Please repeat the *same* birther question you used last time when estimating birth certificate effect. Nothing new before.
	Apr 27, 2011 at 9:41 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @hardsci: Oldie but goody: birtherism, cognitive dissonance. and the persistence of belief (blog post) http://t.co/7fwd5kD
	Birtherism, cognitive dissonance, and the persistence of belief « The Hardest Science As the Arizona legislature debates a bill to demand proof of citizenship from presidential candidates, Slate has a new piece about why the “birther” movement won’t go away (which I came across t...
	Apr 27, 2011 at 9:19 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @jmartpolitico: Too much cable in w wing? RT @jaketapper: Was b certificate really the "dominant" story in the media 2 weeks ago... http://abcn.ws/jpz4oS
	President Obama Tells Untruth in Birth Certificate Press Briefing - Political Punch ABC News' Jake Tapper reports: The president said he was prompted to act “two weeks ago, when the Republican House had put forward a budget that will have huge consequences potentially to the co...
	Apr 27, 2011 at 9:12 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan I asked a while back about Trump hurting ratings - wow MT @JoshuaGreen: "Celeb Apprentice" audience most liberal on TV http://bit.ly/loBwnW
	Trump's Birther Antics Are Driving Away His Liberal Audience - Joshua Green - Politics - The Atlantic He may be dumber than you think: Exclusive research reveals "Celebrity Apprentice" viewers are the most Democratic in primetime TV.
	Apr 27, 2011 at 8:52 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Paul O'Neill gets ugly: people "threatening not to pass the debt ceiling are our version of al Qaeda terrorists. Really" http://j.mp/lyF5gk
	Ex-Bush official: Those who would block debt hike are like al Qaeda to block a debt-ceiling increase to terrorists. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill compared lawmakers trying to block raising the debt ceiling to
	Apr 27, 2011 at 7:43 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @jbouie: Read my not-timely-but-good analysis of President Obama's decision to release his birth certificate: http://cl.ly/6JTu feat. @brendannyhan!
	The Birth Certificate: Why Now? President Obama has finally released proof that he is, indeed, an American: I should say, at the outset, that President Obama will not, as he said he intended, quell the
	Apr 27, 2011 at 6:15 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @benpolitico: @byrontau checks in w/Orly Taitz & Phil Berg, who have new theories of why Obama's illegitimate ready http://is.gd/Y5bdsK
	Birthers unmoved - Ben Smith The theories about President Barack Obama's birth — as we reported last week — have evolved over time from the idea that he was a Muslim to the modern incarnation that he was smuggled into the U...
	Apr 27, 2011 at 4:29 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @sethmnookin: LAT: PBS/MacNeil gives autism vaccine theory "currency current science simply does not warrant" http://lat.ms/hh6lxW
	A PBS series injects doubt back into the autism issue It's been nearly 16 years since Robert MacNeil stepped down as co-anchor of public television's much-celebrated "NewsHour." Who would have thought his return to the show in recent days would bri...
	Apr 27, 2011 at 4:28 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Ha! Jerome Corsi birther book due out 5/17 RT @Prof_BearB: Man, am I glad I didn't write this book. http://amzn.to/gq4wC4
	Where's the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President Amazon.com: Where's the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President (9781936488292): Jerome Corsi: Books
	Apr 27, 2011 at 4:12 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @davidfrum: My take on FF, "The Birther Disgrace" http://bit.ly/gSlWjP
	http://bit.ly/gSlWjP Even for the small band that sustained the phony controversy until now, the birth certificate so-called issue ends today.
	Apr 27, 2011 at 2:42 PM
	BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @normative: #facepalm MT @brianbeutler: Fox headline: "WH Releases What it Says Is President Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate" http://t.co/wlaMI5f
	FoxNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News Breaking News, Latest News and Current News from FOXNews.com. Breaking news and video. Latest Current News: U.S., World, Entertainment, Health, Business, Technology, Politics, Sports.
	Apr 27, 2011 at 1:35 PM
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Comments

[David in Cal]

In a Dashiell Hammett story, the Continental Op looks at a sign in a bar — "ONLY GENUINE PRE-WAR AMERICAN AND BRITISH WHISKEYS SERVED HERE" — and begins to count the lies. I thought of this when reading Ezra Klein's statment:
high gas prices tend to trick people into thinking inflation, which is actually worryingly low, is out of control.

Let's count:

1. People are right to see rising gas prices as suggestive of inflation, since gas prices are a component of the cost of living index.

2. Inflation was quite low for the first 11 months of 2010, so inflation for the year 3/31/10 to 3/31/11 isn't terribly high. However, the month to month inflation was almost a 6% annual rate for the four month period 11/30/10 to 11/30/11. Given the continued rise gas prices and food costs in April, 2011 chances are that April's monthly inflation will also be in that range.

3. Those of us who are worried about inflation don't think it's currently out of control. Klein's "out of control" creates a straw man.

4. It's true that some believe that the current inflation rate will come down automatically, because they believe it's due to temporary causes. But, it's preposterous to call inflation of nearly 6% "worrying low." If the 6% inflation continues, everyone will be concerned about how high it is.

(Historical note: Richard Nixon took the radical step of imposing wage and price controls when inflation was believed to be dangerously high. It was then 4%.)

I'm not entirely sure how to interpret Klein's chart showing a 1.5% GDP growth in 1Q 2011. I presume that 1.5% is the annual rate of growth, meaning that the growth during the quarter was around 0.4%. The chart isn't labeled "real" GDP, although that's often the way GDP growth is presented. If nominal GDP growth for 1Q 2011 was only .4%, then real GDP for 1Q 2011 was a decline of around 1%, since inflation for the 1Q 2011 was around 1.4%. However, even if 1.5% is an inflation-adjusted figure, I would agree with Klein that it's not much growth.

[MartyB]

Brendan - Wring that "birtherism" towel to get every last drop!

[David in Cal]

Jamelle Bouie wrote:

I'm not sure that it explains the extent to which birtherism has found a prominent place within the Republican Party. Here's my guess: birtherism is prominent because the president is black. To a depressingly large number of Americans, "blackness" runs counter to this country's identity, and an African American president is, by definition, illegitimate. Short of resigning the presidency, there's really nothing Obama can do to change that.

Criticism of Obama, whether accurate or mythical, is simply politics as usual, not racism.

Note that Bouie has no basis for this guess. Being called a racist today is about as bad as being called a communist 60 years ago. Even today, if some pundit said that Obama was a communist, Brendan would be on this pundit's case, and properly so.

Furthermore, there's are obvious reasons for people to feel that Obama is different. His father was not an American. He spent a considerable part of this childhood in a foreign country with a very different culture. This unusual background, not Obama's race, is why the birther myth has so much staying power.

Furthermore, a comparison with Democrats' treatment of George W. Bush shows that Obama is being treated better on account of his race. Bush was called far worse names than Obama. E.g., Nobody would dare call Obama "chimpy". Yet, Dems often called Bush "chimpy". (84,000 google hits.)

Also, Dems pillaried Clarence Thomas unmercifully. No Dem complained that his liberal colleagues were engaging in racism. It was just politics as usual.

[daniel rotter]

Nobody would dare call Obama "chimpy".

Marilyn Davenport, Marilyn Davenport, Marilyn Davenport, Marilyn Davenport, Marilyn Davenport. Are you a liar or are you just comically misinformed enough to make such a factually inaccurate absolutist claim? Seriously, the Davenport controversy was only about two weeks ago.

"Furthermore, there are obvious reasons for people to feel that Obama is different. His father was not an American."

Pure xenophobia. And your implications to the contrary, raising doubts about the POTUS's country of birth is NOT "politics as usual." Racism...maybe not. Unusual and unprecedented and audacious...yep.

[David in Cal]

If daniel's cite of Marilyn Davenport is meant to imply that the label "chimpy" was used comparably against Bush and against Obama, then I would disagree. Davenport was an unknown local Republican official. She did not call Obama a chimp in public, but in a private e-mail. When a recipient made that e-mail public, it prompted nationwide outrage.

Davenport has stopped answering her front door, but anxious reporters keep coming. Members of the media point cameras at her house from the street, so she's had to lower her shades. A local political blog published her home address and private telephone number, causing her to worry about her safety. She's had to take the phone off the hook because, she says, anonymous people have been leaving voice mail messages calling her "vulgar things like 'whore.'"

She also was asked to resign from her party position. And, Davenport has apologized.

By comparison, the many who called Bush "chimpy" -- not in private e-mails, but publicly -- did not prompt nationwide outrage, were not hounded by reporters, were not called "whores", did not feel threatened, were not asked to resign their jobs, and never apologized.

[daniel rotter]

"--did not prompt nationwide outrage, were not hounded by reporters"

That's because Davenport was a (local) Republican party official. None of the people who called Bush "chimpy" held similar positions in the Democratic party.

...were not called "whores...

How do you know what names they were/weren't called?

"..did not feel threatened..."

How do you know this?

"...were not asked to resign their jobs,..."

How do you know this?

[daniel rotter]

Congressman Trent Franks on Obama: He is an "enemy of humanity."

Yeah, being called "chimpy" is so much worse than being called "an enemy of humanity"