Many thanks to everyone for their emails and comments in response to my request for feedback on the Twitter roundups. Enough people seem to find them useful that I would like to keep them, but I want to try to make the blog more useful to those who don't. As a first step, I'm now posting all the roundups below the fold to make the home page more readable. Per people's requests, I will try to make them shorter and more frequent. I would also like to create an RSS feed that excludes them but haven't been able to figure out how to do so. If you know how to make that happen, please email me.
 From my Twitter feed (9/7-9/16)Sep 16, 2011 at 2:00 PM | |
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 | RT @j_a_tucker: John Sides debunking the myth of Obama’s “Jewish Problem”: http://t.co/zmgo1qjT at @monkeycageblog |
| Obama’s “Jewish Problem” — The Monkey Cage Nate Silver tweets these three things: It's worth remembering that this exact same narrative emerged in 2008. Here is a NY Times article from May 22, 2008, with the headline "As Obama Heads to F... | |
| Sep 16, 2011 at 12:01 PM | |
| RT @ezraklein: Voters care about the economy -- not policy, and not performance: http://t.co/iOAWTfT |
 Voters don’t award points for effort After yesterday's discussion about the role that policy plays in securing or undermining a party's election chances, Vanderbilt political scientist Larry Bartels e-mailed a paper (pdf) he had wr... | |
| Sep 14, 2011 at 5:21 PM | |
| RT @ezraklein: Do special elections predict general elections? Yes, say political scientists: http://t.co/eNMRQNc |
| http://t.co/eNMRQNc Do the New York and Nevada special elections have anything to say about the upcoming election in 2012? Well, maybe. | |
| Sep 14, 2011 at 5:20 PM | |
| Bachmann threatening to become the Jenny McCarthy of the HPV vax - not good RT @RyanLizza Me on HPV, Perry, & Bachmann: http://t.co/9TIJXA6 |
 News Desk: HPV, Perry, and Bachmann HPV is an acronym for human papillomavirus, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls "the most common sexually transmitted infection." Some twenty million Americans carry the v... | |
| Sep 13, 2011 at 6:28 PM | |
| RT @cerenomri: RT @AmerAcadPeds: AAP statement on HPV vaccine: This is life-saving vaccine that protects girls from cervical cancer http://ow.ly/6ttGz |
| http://ow.ly/6ttGz | |
| Sep 13, 2011 at 11:57 PM | |
| My debut in comic form http://t.co/zx4LS9K courtesy of The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone of @onthemedia http://t.co/qECtGOi |
| http://twitpic.com/6kevuu/full | |
 The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media 12 of 12 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars We get the media we deserve, June 6, 2011 This review is from: The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media (Hard... | |
| Sep 13, 2011 at 5:06 PM | |
| .@ezraklein draws on political scientists Larry Bartels and @smotus: "The unique importance of the 2012 election" http://j.mp/oVH1gE |
 The unique importance of the 2012 election You hear it every four years: This is the most important election in a generation. So if I say it to you about 2012, you'll probably tune me out as just another hyperbolic pundit. Which is why I... | |
| Sep 13, 2011 at 1:49 PM | |
| RT @GeraldFSeib: Perry faces same underlying question Reagan did in 1980: Is he electable? My look at similarities, differences: http://t.co/F2xVC97 |
 Perry Battles Same Doubts Reagan Did It was appropriate that the first Republican presidential debate in which Rick Perry appeared was at Ronald Reagan's presidential library last week, for it is the Reagan precedent that offers th... | |
| Sep 13, 2011 at 12:07 PM | |
| MT @RyanLizza Nice Balz summary of recent PoliSci on tea party. Good reminder it's simply new label 4 very conserv GOP http://t.co/7dNMLBw |
| What the tea party is — and isn’t - The Washington Post The tea party movement came into public consciousness sometime in the early months of President Obama's tenure in the White House. Ever since, it has been an object of fascination, fear, scorn a... | |
| Sep 12, 2011 at 11:25 AM | |
| Winner likely gets credit for "saving" economy MT @smotus: 2012 is the most important election in a generation http://t.co/lOUvLQk |
| Enik Rising: What's at stake in 2012 Saying that an upcoming presidential election is the most important election in a generation is a classic hack trope. That said, the upcoming presidential election is the most important election... | |
| Sep 11, 2011 at 2:30 AM | |
| Must-read overview @monkeycageblog: "What Can Presidential Speeches Do? A Dialogue" http://j.mp/oFySle |
| What Can Presidential Speeches Do? A Dialogue — The Monkey Cage Q: So, Obama's jobs speech was a barnburner. Surely this will pull Obama's approval ratings out of the doldrums, no? A: Presidential speeches don't really move the president's job approval ratin... | |
| Sep 9, 2011 at 5:39 PM | |
| RT @alexlundry: The Information Arms Race, how candidates are using data and predictive analytics to win your vote: http://t.co/0cpiy7F |
 The Information Arms Race - The Data Issue - GOOD A dozen graduate students visiting from New York are gathered in Alex Gage's office, just outside Washington, D.C. They've come to learn about the business side of political campaigning. Gage ha... | |
| Sep 9, 2011 at 4:43 PM | |
| What would happen if everyone voted? Interesting paper exploiting introduction of compulsory voting in Australia http://j.mp/qCqh1E |
 Turnout Matters: Evidence from Compulsory Voting in Australia by Anthony Fowler :: SSRN Number of Pages in PDF File: 40 Keywords: Turnout, Political Participation, Australia, Compulsory Voting Fowler, Anthony, Turnout Matters: Evidence from Compulsory Voting in Australia (April 20,... | |
| Sep 9, 2011 at 1:15 PM | |
| Bravo to the NYT for debunking the myth of the all-powerful presidential speech: http://j.mp/ndG3TP Major progress here. |
 For Obama, a ‘Moment’ Speech at a Time of Great Obstacles to Change Enshrined in the mythology of the American presidency, there is something called a moment speech, an address to the nation so forceful and eloquent that it changes the way the country feels abou... | |
| Sep 9, 2011 at 1:04 PM | |
| Surveys by @SimonJackman, @Vavreck & Enos: "little change in opinion...as a result of Bin Laden’s elimination" http://t.co/AqeFReC (PDF) |
| http://dl.dropbox.com/u/147532 80/VavreckJackmanEnos.pdf | |
| Sep 9, 2011 at 1:28 AM | |
| "How good is published academic research?" from @tylercowen http://j.mp/nYEwb3 (short answer: not very) |
| How good is published academic research? — Marginal Revolution Bayer halts nearly two-thirds of its target-validation projects because in-house experimental findings fail to match up with published literature claims, finds a first-of-a-kind analysis on data... | |
| Sep 9, 2011 at 12:51 AM | |
| .@mattyglesias on new Bartels paper which finds that incumbent parties lost worldwide during '07-'11 "Great Recession" http://j.mp/pDrM1m |
 The Comparative Politics Of The Great Recession Larry Bartels is my favorite proponent of economic fatalist interpretations of political outcomes. One long-time argument of his that I’ve always found persuasive is that students of American po... | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 12:59 PM | |
| NYT gets it right today on ideology and the economy, noting that economy dominates and quoting Sides of @monkeycageblog http://t.co/JXqfWsr |
 Obama Aims Economic Plans at Elusive Independents - NYTimes.com By proposing a jobs package with items that Republicans have supported in the past, President Obama is hoping moderate and independent voters will flock to his camp. | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 11:25 AM | |
| Laudable NYT fact-check on debate claims re: climate change, Soc Sec http://t.co/9XERFAV Test is whether carries over to regular coverage |
 Attacking the Democrats, but Not Always Getting It Right - NYTimes.com The Republican presidential candidates’ arguments ran into factual hurdles during the debate on Wednesday night. | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 11:09 AM | |
Rick Perry is attempting to capitalize on Obama's Jewish Problem with a column pointing out Obama's various errors. It's behind a pay wall at the WSJ but free in the Jerusalem Post at http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=238144
Highlights:
It was a mistake to inject an Israeli construction freeze, including in Jerusalem, as an unprecedented precondition for talks. Indeed, the Palestinian leadership had been negotiating with Israel for years, notwithstanding settlement activity.
When the Obama administration demanded a settlement freeze, it led to a freeze in Palestinian negotiations.
It was a mistake to agree to the Palestinians’ demand for indirect negotiations conducted through the United States. And it was an even greater mistake for President Obama to distance himself from Israel and seek engagement with the hostile regimes in Syria and Iran.
Palestinian leaders have perceived this as a weakening of relations between Israel and the United States, and are trying to exploit it. In refusing to deal with the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, and taking this destabilizing action in the UN, the Palestinians are signaling that they have no interest in a two-state solution. The Palestinian leadership’s insistence on the so-called “right of return” of descendants of Palestinian refugees to Israel’s sovereign territory, thereby making Jews an ethnic minority in their own state, is a disturbing sign that the ultimate Palestinian “solution” remains the destruction of the Jewish state.
The United States – and the United Nations – should do everything possible to discourage the Palestinian leadership from pursuing its current course.
Posted by: David in Cal | September 16, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Gov. Perry said "The science [of climate change] is not settled."
The New York Times says he's wrong, because: "The overwhelming scientific consensus is that global warming is occurring and that human activity — chiefly the burning of fossil fuels and cutting down of tropical forests — is likely to blame." [emphasis added]
Gov. Perry is supported by many eminent scientists who believe that the science isn't settled. E.g., just this week Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever resigned from the American Physical Society because he disagreed with their statement that "The evidence is incontrovertible." Giaever and many others aren't saying that human activity may not be causing climate change, but simply that some uncertainty remains.
In a way, the Times' comment comes closer to supporting Perry than to refuting him. Their word "likely" means that the issue isn't fully settled.
Posted by: David in Cal | September 16, 2011 at 06:29 PM
IMHO an explanation of the Tea Party from a group of (presumably) ultra-liberal Poli Sci Professors is as reliable as an explanation of liberalism from Michael Savage and Sean Hannity. I don't agree that the Tea Party is simply new label for very conserv GOP.
First of all, the Tea Partiers are conservative only fiscally. They're not necessarily socially conservative. Secondly, the Tea Party's view that government spending ought to be reduced is the overwhelming view of the GOP. In fact, lots of Dems, inncluding many who dislike the entity called "Tea Party", actually support the Tea Party's view on government spending. I think what separates the Tea Partiers is their willingness to be active.
I also disagree with the claim disputing that the Tea Party is "a movement driven by principle whose members swore no allegiance to either party." I recall in early days the Tea Party was willing to support fiscally conservative Dems. And, of course, the Tea Party has been running candidates against Republicans who they deem insufficiently fiscally conservative.
The reason the Tea Party isn't supporting Dems now is that there are hardly any fiscally conservative Dems around. A Dem who wanted to reduce spending would have to strongly oppose President Obama's expansionist policies. That's not a position many Dems would feel comfortable with.
Posted by: David in Cal | September 18, 2011 at 08:33 PM