by Dan Nexon | 10 Oct 2008 |
My side of the blogsphere seems to think the video of a McCain supporter mouthing off about socialists and hoodlums is an indictment of McCain himself.When I watch the video, I see McCain affirming the man's anger but trying hard not to endorse his views. McCain, in fact, says he will work with "anyone" to solve the current crisis. Although I find the accusation that the contemporary Democratic party and its Presidential nominee are...
by Dan Nexon | 10 Oct 2008 |
I've been curious about the accusation--which can be found in almost any comment thread on a media website--that Obama wrote a "foreword" for the William Ayer's book, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of the Criminal Court. The rumor is obviously false, as the book doesn't even have a foreword (but does have two five-star reviews. I wonder how long that's going to last). So where did the rumor come from?The best I can tell is that Obama...
by Dan Nexon | 9 Oct 2008 |
When Obama's participation in an anti-redlining lawsuit is characterized as a "smoking gun" for his culpability in the current crisis, I know that we're through the looking glass.The bizarreness of attempts to blame the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and ACORN for the current subprime crisis is so totally bizarre that it raises an important question: is the point of all of this to (1) simply find some way, no matter how warped, to blame Obama...
by Dan Nexon | 9 Oct 2008 |
the peoples of the advanced industrial countries could live in Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate - already the world's highest - has soared to 231,000,000%, newly released official figures for July show.The rise - from 11,200,000% last month - was largely due to increases in the prices of bread and cereals.A landmark power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has failed to ease the...
by Dan Nexon | 9 Oct 2008 |
When a polling organization conducts a mere 300 interviews each day for a national tracking poll, this is what you get: the potential for one day of outlier polling to produce phony movement. Or, to quote Brad DeLong (who we really should be linking to more):...the Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll [is] an undersampled daily poll designed to produce a whole bunch of spurious three-day climbs in one candidate's relative vote share followed by a...
by Peter | 9 Oct 2008 |
Brad DeLong reveals the secret to success in your career:B People Hire C People, A People Hire A People, A+ People Boast that They Have A+++ People Working for Them...Wise words. Heed them.
by Randy Waterhouse | 8 Oct 2008 | Featured
Hello loyal Duck readers. I wanted to briefly introduce myself as the newest member of the Duck. I am a longtime friend of the site that has decided to start posting rather than just commenting on the great insights of colleagues.A little truth in advertising: my real name is not Randy Waterhouse. For fans of a certain author you will immediately notice that it is a pseudonym. Unfortunately, my current employer does not allow for employees to...
by Dan Nexon | 8 Oct 2008 |
Brad DeLong finds... uh... fault with McCain's "game changer."His conclusion?There's a big difference here: Democrats want to prevent depression and support the financial markets by investing taxpayer money in banks with troubled assets. Republicans want to give taxpayers money away to the shareholders and managers of banks with troubled assets.I would say that this is unbelievable, but I do believe it.My guess, however, is that most...
by Dan Nexon | 8 Oct 2008 |
Erik Erickson at RedState thinks he's found an Obama gaffe:Barack Obama suggests we need to consider moral issues in intervening with combat forces. He mentions intervening in the Holocaust and how we should have done that.Um Senator, we did intervene in the Holocaust. It was called World War II.I guess you hadn't heard of that, kind of like you hadn't heard of Bill Ayers.I hate to say it, but Mr. Erickson just had a moment of profound...
by Dan Nexon | 8 Oct 2008 |
The conventional wisdom was that McCain needed to "take it to Obama." McCain even signaled that he'd take the gloves off. But Obama swung first and was, in many ways, the more aggressive of the two. I'm not sure what to make of that.1) I'm hearing a lot of people saying that McCain was more aggressive. I don't think that's true. I think his demeanor was more aggressive, and his attacks (with one exception) more personal, and that's an important...
by Dan Nexon | 8 Oct 2008 |
9:35 -- ..... zzzzzzz .......... zzzzzzzzz ...... huh! wazaht? Oh, yeah. Isn't it amazing how each year the campaigns come up with an even worse format than they used the last time?9:40 -- Obama gets animated... on tax policy.9:41 -- My big question is whether McCain's constant references to the 1980s make him seem Mavericky, or just really old.9:42 -- Oh, Peter's already doing this. I guess I'll stop now.9:44 -- The candidates fiddle while...
by Peter | 8 Oct 2008 |
Why, o why do I subject myself to this exciting town hall styled 'debate'? Is boring, and my prediction is that it stays boring, and in the grand scheme of things, doesn't do all that much. And yet, I feel compelled to watch and blog. I guess it gives me something to do while my brisket is in the oven. Mmmmmmmmm brisket!McCain is good in this format, its his strength. He's hitting many of the same themes of the last debate. Obama is decent as...