Author Archive | David Bernstein

And speaking of leadership, why didn’t John McCain set up a meeting with House Republicans, announce he was firmly endorsing the “bailout” bill, and tell them it was crucial to his campaign and the future of the country for the bill to get passed. For that matter, why didn’t Obama do the same with the […]

Speaker Pelosi’s speech before the House today was remarkable, but not in a good way. She was trying to round up votes for a bailout package that shes claims to believe is essential for the stability of the American economy. She can’t, and doesn’t want to, pass the bill without a substantial number of Republican […]

Harvard and Stanford are joining Yale in moving to a pass-fail system of grading. One cautionary note: When I was a first-year student at Yale, many of my classmates, myself included, applied for Summer jobs at big law firms. Unlike second-summer jobs, first-summer jobs were difficult to acquire. Firms hired Yale first years in the […]

“It’s pretty disappointing to see that given that the government is now plotting the single largest power grab in our lifetimes, the Libertarian blogosphere is hardly as up in arms as one would expect.” I suspect the bailout is a bad idea, on a variety of grounds. Hans Bader has a summary of, and links […]

That’s what McCain said at the debate, but he didn’t articulate his meaning well at all. Let me give it a shot. Let’s say Congressman X is an idealistic young Congressman. Some constituents in his rural district ask him to get federal funding for a new emergency room in a local hospital, because the nearest […]

Here’s a quiz: which of the following law schools has not a single faculty member who is a member of “Law Professors for McCain?” Chicago, Duke, Harvard, Michigan, Penn, Texas, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Yale Click for the answer (show) Chicago. Vanderbilt has 4, Michigan 3, Harvard and Yale 2, Duke, Penn, and Texas 1. Chicago has […]

Back in August, I noted allegations that Amnesty International had sent out a press release condemning an official Israeli report on a shooting death in Gaza, apparently without having actually seen the report. I added: Early yesterday morning, I emailed Amnesty’s press contact for the Middle East, Nicole Choueiry, and introduced myself as blogger for […]

Slate: But the fact remains that this is a nasty and untrue rumor about Sarah Palin that’s been circulating for weeks. If you’re an Obama supporter who gets frustrated that people still believe he’s Muslim or won’t put his hand on his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance, you should understand the frustration that Palin […]

In a brief post earlier today, I wrote that it was heartening that both McCain and, to a lesser extent, Obama, are talking about cutting federal spending. Various commenters suggested that I was being naive in thinking that either candidate will cut spending if elected. The commenters miss my point, so let me clarify. I’m […]

I was happy and surprised to hear, for the first time since Reagan, a major party presidential candidate actually talking about cutting federal spending. And his opponent didn’t really disagree (and, indeed, Obama has recently talked about taking a hard look at all current federal programs). I’m not a fan of either candidate, but this […]

The latest poll shows Jews supporting Obama over McCain by 57% to 30%, with 13% undecided. Back in February, I suggested that McCain started with a base of the 25% that Bush received in 2004, would almost certainly do better because he is a more attractive candidate to Jews, and Obama less so, than were […]

As co-blogger Jonathan reports below, the Obama campaign has sicced its lawyers on t.v. stations that might air a well-sourced NRA advertisement that correctly points out Obama’s longstanding anti-gun record. The proper response to such attempts to infringe on the First Amendment is to make sure that the video in question receives the widest circulation […]

Rabbi Joshua Maroof of Magen David Sephardic Congregation in Rockville at a kosher fundraising dinner for McCain: “Our Rock and Our Redeemer, we ask you to help the American people make the right choice for their future and to elect John McCain and Sarah Palin as the next president and vice president of the United […]

On January 16th, the New York Times reported that “the leaders of nine Jewish groups released an open letter on Tuesday condemning what they called ‘hateful e-mails’ that they said spread lies about Senator Barack Obama’s religious beliefs and his intentions.” As I’ve pointed out before, despite allegations that there was an anti-Obama email campaign […]

Not surprisingly, other industries are flocking to the federal government for bailouts, including the homebuilding industry. So it’s worth reminding ourselves what the homebuilders did with their profits during the boom times; instead of saving money for the inevitable rainy day, they not only overinvesting in overpriced land options, but provided obscene compensation to their […]