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Palin Last Nail in Republican Coffin?

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Nov. 06 (Opinion) - The whole Palin thing, though, worries me. I take people like George Will and Christopher Buckley and Colin Powell at their word when they say the selection of Palin was very troubling to them. And, to the extent Palin did lack “knowledgability,” it’s not her fault that she was jumped directly from Rookie League ball to the World Series.

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Real America

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Oct. 19 (Opinion) - Sarah Palin caused a bit of a flap earlier in the week when she told a North Carolina crowd that she loved visiting the “pro-America” parts of the country, leading WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin to quip, “No word on which states she views as unpatriotic.” The campaign circulated a longer report, courtesy of WSJ’s Elizabeth Holmes, putting the remarks in context, which Eilperin posted:

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Obama Waffles - Racist or Fair Satire?

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Sep. 14 (Opinion) - Attendees at a Family Research Council convention were buying up "Obama Waffles" like hotcakes before organizers decided they contained images that could be deemed racist and suspended sales.

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U.S. Stationing Diplomats in Iran

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jul. 17 (Opinion) - The fact of the matter is that we have had diplomatic relations with the Iranian government in all but name throughout this period. Indeed, we negotiated the release of our Embassy hostages. Less happily, the Reagan administration engaged in a convoluted and illegal sale of arms to the Iranians in exchange for cash to illegally support the Nicaraguan Contras. And the Bush administration, despite saber rattling, has obviously been talking as well.

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Is it Worth Drilling For More Domestic Oil?

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By Alex Knapp - Jun. 11 (Opinion) - even if we were to open up all of our offshore and onland sites for oil exploration today, it would be at least a decade, if not longer, before that oil started pumping. Meanwhile, over that decade, subsidized consumption in India and China would continue to rise, OPEC fields would continue to be maxed out, refineries would likely still be running at full capacity, and as a consequence, gas prices would still continue to increase at a decent clip. And the consequences of those gas prices rising-more mass transit, more fuel efficient vehicles, more investment in alternative energy sources-would also likely continue.

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McCain Hates War, Loves America

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jun. 06 (Opinion) - Hotline reports that the McCain campaign will launch this ad, titled simply "Safe," today in "unnamed battleground states." (Although I'm pretty sure that the states have names, since I know of no states without names.)...Granting that I'm not the target audience, this doesn't strike me as a very effective spot. For one thing, the delivery is tired. ... More importantly...Is hated war off the table? Or does he love the country enough to go to war to keep it safe even though he hates war? One presumes the latter. But, if that's the case, what's his point?

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Paramilitarization of Police

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jun. 06 (Opinion) - Radley Balko wonders why a catalog selling off duty noveltywear to police officers is doing selling "Death Dealer" t-shirts....Cops, though, aren't trigger pullers by mission. Desensitizing them to violence probably isn't a good idea.

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Goldfarb and McCain

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jun. 03 (Opinion) - I'm only vaguely familiar with Goldfarb's work as a blogger but he's apparently been in the writing business for quite some time, including a stint at Time.com more than a decade ago. One presumes he's qualified to write press releases and carry out other duties associated with the job which, as described by Bill Kristol in the announcement post, is pretty low-vis: "He'll be focusing on their online activities."

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Dissent in the Army

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Apr. 26 (Opinion) - Phil Carter has an interesting debate with his Slate colleague Fred Kaplan about how the assignment of LTC Paul Yingling (of "A Failure in Generalship" fame) to a non-standard artillery assignment squares with SECDEF Robert Gates' admonition to West Point cadets that "as an officer you don't tell blunt truths or create an environment where candor is encouraged, then you've done yourself and the institution a disservice."

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Clinton Wins Big in Pennsylvania, Fights On

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Apr. 23 (Opinion) - On the surface, this is very bad news, indeed, for Obama. He's comparatively weak with the very groups he'll most need in November. Then again, he's currently running against another left-of-center Democrat. That won't we the case in the Fall. For all of the trepidation movement Conservatives feel about McCain, he's well to the right of both Clinton and Obama on the issues that matter to independents.

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Press Bias and Campaign 2008

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Mar. 25 (Opinion) - In reality, all of the remaining major candidates have benefited from this treatment and most of the also-rans did not. The press has the same tendency as the rest of us to filter incoming information through our preconceptions, a phenomenon social scientists call "expectancy bias." Hillary Clinton is the smartest person in the room and has loads of experience. Barack Obama is a post-racial uniter who will heal our wounds. John McCain is a straight-talking maverick who's not at all like other Republicans. Those are simply facts and any evidence which might controvert them must therefore be aberrations to be explained away.

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Republican Support Trending Up?

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jan. 02 (Opinion) - Ed Morrissey thinks these trends reflect public dissatisfaction with the job the Democrats in Congress, particularly Speaker Pelosi, have done, along with a sense that the Democratic presidential field is not ready for prime time. Betsy Newmark credits Congressional Republicans having seen the error of their ways after their 2006 midterm defeat.

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McCain Wins Iowa and New Hampshire Endorsements

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Dec. 16 (Opinion) - John McCain has received all the key newspaper endorsements for the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, despite being a non-factor in the polls in the former and trailing in the latter. The Des Moines Register backed McCain despite his being in 5th place in their own polls; apparently, they're not so much trying to influence the outcome as to go on the record.

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Income Level is Not Social Class

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:54:55 -0800

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Nov. 27 (Opinion) - Statistical sleight of hand is often performed on these numbers by those with an agenda, such as the recent much-hyped Heritage Foundation study asserting that Democrats are the party of the rich because they represent the Congressional Districts with the highest income. As Julian Sanchez and others have pointed out, this is completely meaningless, merely telling us what we already know (Democrats are concentrated in the cities and the affluent coastal areas) in a misleading way.

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Democrats Demand Colleges Stop File Sharing

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:17:28 -0800

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - I can understand the music industry's frustrations over file sharing, since their business model has long revolved around packaging songs people want with nine others that they don't. Ditto the movie studios, who want to control the release dates of DVDs so as to make it more likely people will pay $9 each to watch flicks in crowded theaters while consuming ridiculously overpriced snacks. I can even understand why Congress, which is empowered to protect intellectual property rights, would pass legislation making it illegal to "share" copyrighted music. But why on earth is it the responsibility of universities to monitor how students are using the Internet?

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Dumbledore Gay, Says J.K. Rowling

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:05:45 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Oct. 21 (Opinion) - After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." "Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

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War Declarations

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:18:04 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Oct. 07 (Opinion) - Mario Cuomo argues that the Webb-Clinton proposal to demand President Bush get a congressional declaration of war before taking military action against Iran is redundant because Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution already requires this. Further, "Because the Constitution cannot be amended by persistent evasion, this mandate was neither erased nor modified by the actions or inactions of timid Congresses that allowed overeager presidents to start wars in Vietnam and elsewhere without making a declaration." The Supreme Court has long since rejected Cuomo's interpretation of the Constitution; indeed, Congress itself did so formally with the 1973 War Powers Act. FindLaw does an excellent job summarizing the relevant case law.

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SCHIP Sliding Toward Socialism

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:31:57 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - The current health care payment mix is economically irrational but it's the status quo and benefits from inertia. Any attempt to change the system will invariably disadvantage a lot of people. There's an overwhelming consensus that society should guarantee that those who can't help themselves -- especially children -- some minimal standard of health care. But each incremental expansion brings into question where precisely to draw that line. And someone has to pay for it, after all.

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The Real Crime is What's Legal

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:30:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Aug. 18 (Opinion) - Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy. Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings -- all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.

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John Edwards Accidentally Made Millions from Katrina Victim Abusing Subprime Lenders

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:30:00 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Aug. 17 (Opinion) - Edwards generated most of his wealth as a trial lawyer, but last year his principal employment was as a senior adviser to Fortress Investment, a large hedge-fund operator, for which he received $479,512. His and his wife's investment in Fortress Investment Fund III (Fund D) totaled between $1 million and $5 million.

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Perceptions of Iraq War Starting to Shift?

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:59:18 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Aug. 06 (Opinion) - Michael Barone argues that a major op-ed last week by Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack, which argued that there are signs that the Surge is working, has "shake[n] up Washington and change[d] the way [the Iraq War] is viewed." That would be astounding, indeed, given how few people read NYT op-eds, that the piece was widely an almost uniformly lampooned, and that even O'Hanlon and Pollack concede that the progress is only on the military side with nary a glimmer of hope on the much more important political-diplomatic side, which features an Iraqi government taking a month-long vacation for no apparent reason.

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Bush Ruining Conservatism?

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:55:10 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Aug. 05 (Opinion) - Steve Bainbridge, guesting for Andrew Sullivan, has a longish post claiming that George W. Bush has "set back the conservative movement for years, if not decades, by betraying conservative principles," most notably by a lack of fiscal discipline and a wasteful war in Iraq. Interestingly, the vehicle he chooses for this is a Russell Kirk speech about George H.W. Bush referring to the first Gulf War, which seems simply bizarre in its original context but prudent in the present.

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Democrats Force 'Real' Filibuster on Iraq

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:20:08 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jul. 17 (Opinion) - I'm not a big fan of the filibuster as it has evolved in recent years. The ability of a vehement and sizable minority to stop legislation is extra-constitutional but nonetheless a longstanding tradition and a means of preventing major policy swings being shoved down our throats on thin consensus. Unfortunately, two things have undermined the practice's legitimacy: The increasing use of the filibuster for relatively trivial matters, including votes on presidential nominees, and the doing away with the need to actually filibuster to kill the bill; a mere threat of a filibuster generally suffices. Indeed, the latter has contributed to the former.

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Do Democrats Want to Lose the War on Terror?

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 07:58:23 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - Jun. 24 (Opinion) - There is a genuine and growing belief, as demonstrated by the continuing boom in sales of books like Patterson's and Moore's, that people on the other side of the political aisle are not simply in disagreement or misguided or wrong but genuinely bad people. That notion is more dangerous to the country than all our external enemies combined.

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Britain to Repeal Magna Carta

Sun, 27 May 2007 07:56:38 -0700

Outside the Beltway - By James Joyner - May. 27 (Opinion) - Blair has been one of the most eloquent spokesmen for the need to fight back against the Islamist terrorist threat and he has taken reasonable steps to make it harder for them to foment violence in the UK. Giving police virtually unlimited discretion in harassing British nationals, however, takes a giant leap past undermining the very principles which make the U.K. worth saving to begin with.

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