Congratulations and best wishes to How Appealing’s Howard Bashman on his new venture. Let me just add the hope — which I am sure is shared by many in the blawgosphere — that running his own firm doesn’t detract from his most excellent blog.
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Claremont Review of Books:
RE: David’s post on the Claremont Review of Books. Coincidentally, I subscribed last week after reading my second issue on the USAIR Shuttle to DC. But I used a credit card to subscribe on line.
Time to Raise the Medicare Eligibility Age:
Washington Post: “The White House has concluded that adding prescription drug benefits to Medicare will cost one-third more than the $400 billion advertised by Congress and the administration when President Bush signed the bill into law less than two months ago, federal sources said yesterday.” If the President had shown any leadership on this issue, […]
Claremont Review of Books:
Quite by accident, I recently came across a copy of the Claremont Review of Books. It is a truly excellent publication. The books for review were well-chosen, and the reviews I read (almost all of them) were uniformly interesting and well-written. I can’t think of another print publication I’ve enjoyed as much recently. And although […]
One Last Post on Bush and Liberals:
My posts on Bush and Clinton-hating provoked much ado in the blogosphere, but what struck me most is how many liberal commenters (especially in the comments sections of various blogs) argued, “sure Bush is spending tons of money on discretionary programs,” but (1) it’s still not enough; (2) a smidgeon of it is going to […]
Opportunism:
Yglesias: “Bernstein says liberals hate Bush not because he’s a conservative, but because he’s an opportunist. Delong explains that, no, the problem with Bush isn’t his conservatism, it’s his opportunism. They’re both right.” But riddle me this, Batman: how many politicians who aren’t opportunists get very far in the world? It’s sometimes wearisome, sometimes amusing, […]
Further Reflections on Bush and Clinton-Hating:
Beyond cultural dissonance, what drives liberals so crazy about Bush is that they think, no, know, that deep down he is a very conservative man, with a very conservative agenda, but he refuses to run an overtly ultraconservative adminsitration they can argue and run against. They would love it if he would not only “cut […]
George Bush, Liberal Darling:
For those of you arriving at this post via Brad DeLong or Mark Schmitt, FOLLOWUPS to this post can be found, in reverse chronological order, here, here, and here. Huge increases in spending on education and other domestic programs that are not even within the federal government’s constitutional purview; a new prescription drug entitlement for […]
Fake Nike Ad:
A reader alerted me to a purported Nike ad, using imagery from a terrorist bombing in Israel to sell sneakers. The reader suggested that the ad was likely fake; it was soon forwarded to me by a friend, who assumed it was real. Snopes verdict: fake!
Lieberman Campaign, RIP:
No wonder Lieberman has been doing so poorly thus far. I caught him on Larry King last night, and he was emphasizing how moderate he is, how he is indeed a conservative Democrat, how he loves working with moderate Republicans like John McCain, etc., etc. Joe: this is the stuff for general election campaigns, not […]
Reynolds on Bush’s Vulnerability:
Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit has this to say about President Bush’s prospects for reelection: I’VE BEEN SAYING FOR A LONG TIME that Bush is vulnerable in 2004, regardless of how confident the GOP seems to feel. (Here’s an old post on that, but just enter the words bush and vulnerable in the search window to […]
Liberals, Anti-Communism & Learning to Read:
In an exchange about my post quoting a 1952 Irving Kristol essay, Brad DeLong redefines priase to encompass calling someone a “vulgar demagogue” but “unequivocally anticommunist.” Funny. I always thought to praise someone you had to say nice things about them. I suspect DeLong’s commentary is due, at least in part, to his contemporary opinion […]
Kudos to Delta:
I was scheduled to leave tonight on an 8:05 pm flight to Atlanta (I’m speaking at Emory Law tomorrow at noon, and at Georgia State at 5:00), but the weather forecast predicts heavy snow by that time. I called Delta, and they rescheduled me without demanding a change fee of any sort. Such flexibility with […]
Sunday Song Lyric:
For a slight change of pace, I thought I’d start offering up a song lyric or two each Sunday. For today, I settled on something by one of America’s greatest songwriters of all time, Hank Williams Sr. Although he never saw his 30th birthday, Williams left an astounding musical legacy. He was much more than […]
Strange Syntax:
When Lieberman is asked how his faith would affect his politics, he paraphrases a now-famous Kennedy line, telling voters, “I am a presidential candidate who happens to be Jewish, not the other way around.”So Lieberman is not “a Jewish who happens to be a presidential candidate?” The quote would work if Lieberman would say “to […]