Klein/Singer - Political Consulting on the Cheap

It's True. We're Not Geniuses We never were. I ...

2003-06-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's True. We're Not Geniuses

We never were. I just wanted to publicly thank Ezra for his invitation to come over here. This move will now be my third move, from my own blog, Left in the West, to Ezra's blog, EzraK, to a new blog with Ezra and Joe Rospars (of That Other Blog), Not Geniuses.

I move far too often in real life, but I think I may more more on the web.

Honestly, though, if you like our writings, we now also have a kick ass template. Come enjoy it.

New Blog! Not Geniuses This blog is no more....

2003-06-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

New Blog! Not Geniuses

This blog is no more. Matt Singer and myself, along with Joe Rospars, are now posting at Not Geniuses. Update your bookmarks, if you're a blogger, update your rolls (and give us a plug)...come over and love and validate us.

In case you forgot, Not Geniuses, Not Geniuses, Not Geniuses, Not Geniuses, Not Geniuses...See you there.

So let me get this straight. Republicans hate edu...

2003-06-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

So let me get this straight. Republicans hate education?

Matthew Yglesias has a great post on how to judge the actual cost of our war in Iraq. It all goes back to Parmenides' Fallacy, whether or not we judge futures based on the past or on other possible futures. Bush wants us to judge it based on the past, isn't it a better world without Saddam, while Democrats are going to have to fight to judge it based on other possible uses for that money and manpower (wouldn't it be better to have schools with money, allies who like us and a green on the terror alert scale?).

Out of Touch We've all heard about the rather-h...

2003-06-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Out of Touch

We've all heard about the rather-humorous situation where GW managed to tip over an untippable Segway.

Kinda funny, but it's probably something any of a number of us would have done. Frankly, I was more disturbed by the notion that he owns a Segway, a device that strikes me as rather ridiculous.

But it turns out it's a gift from his college student twin daughers.

Now, unless they're damn good day traders, I'm wondering how two college students could pay for several thousand dollar gift.

Ya know, back when I was six years old and there was really no legal way for me to truly earn my own money, mom and dad would give a little bit of money so I could buy a gift for them on special occasions.

But, frankly, doing it when you're in your twenties is ridiculous, especially when we're talking about things as expensive as Segways.

Nicholed and Dimed Wisconsin political reporter...

2003-06-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Nicholed and Dimed

Wisconsin political reporter John Nichols, who also writes for The Nation, saw fit to write a column that basically says that Dean's straw poll victory means nothing (via Jerome Armstrong).

Nichols, clearly, is a brilliant pundit, which is why he's been left covering Wisconsin politics (and national politics from his Madison-berth).

Now, I don't want to be harsh here, but doesn't it say something if Nichols' beloved Kucinich, who supposedly has flocks of volunteers, can only pull off a third-place finish with about 7% or 8% of the vote? Kucinich, not Dean, is the Cranston of 2004. The only difference is that Cranston was able to win a straw poll, which, at the rate Kucinich is going, is a feat the Congressman from Ohio will never replicate.

Good Boy! The recent posts (here, here and here...

2003-06-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Good Boy!

The recent posts (here, here and here) on the conservative kids (Shapiro and Williams) seem to be missing the point. To focus on their age is kind of funny, but rings hollow with me - partly because I'm the same age as Ben, and partly because I believe in that blogger egalitarianism that Matt was touting a week or two ago.

What does put me off is the way Shapiro and Williams are brought into the conversation. They are very obvious tokens. Take Ben (please!). Ben seems intrinsically disrespected, he is what you would have if the Neocons genetically engineered a young adult. He is hopelessly out of touch with his own (my) generation. He's not a clever Dinesh D'Souza nor a biting Coulter, he's a really pious conservative Jew who is published in a "don't you wish they were all like that" kind of way. He faithfully swallows the party line and has worth due to his age. He's like the black guy the Republicans throw at the talk shows when they have a borderline racist proposal out there. And Kyle is even worse. He's clearly a bright kid, but a bright 14 year old doesn't mean much when you're dealing with political punditry. His arguments are neither impressive nor incisive. In fact, they tend to be a list of conservative talking points with very little analysis other than a) the liberal media is evil or b) our values stink. He's given a national column only because he's 14 - a good little Christian boy in a suit and tie who reassures conservatives that they're reaching the youth.

Neither myself nor Matt Singer get paid for our writings here. We're not being asked to write columns nor being held up as shining examples of young democrats. But the people who read us do take us seriously, and there is no hint of irony or token-ism in our website or in our interactions. I'd have no problem with these kids if they just wrote, but the emphasis on their biography and age makes their utility clear - anyone know how old maureen Dowd is? How about Ryan Lizza? Yeah, me neither. That's more than can be said about these two.

Funny Thing It's been a good week for links, ma...

2003-06-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

Funny Thing

It's been a good week for links, making us "Marauding Marsupials" in the blogosphere ecosystem. Interestingly enough, we're now ranked above Gary Hart's blog and tied with the official Dean blog. Not that I pay attention to that stuff.

Posner for the High Court? There's some discussio...

2003-06-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Posner for the High Court?

There's some discussion going on between the Volokh Conspiracy, Jack Balkin, and More Prominent Matt regarding what types of legal minds to get on the bench. Now, I'm not an attorney, but one thing that strikes me as necessary is that while a Supreme Court needs people on it who can see a grand design in the Constitution and American law (the brilliant theorists like Posner, whose nomination I would also endorse), but it also needs good managers. Justices need to be able to make smart decisions about which cases to hear. Appellate courts need to be smart about how often they overturn decisions, as does the SC. The 9th Circuit is often discussed in nasty, nasty terms both because of how often it overturns district courts and then, in turn, gets overturned by the Supreme Court. Here in Montana, the Supreme Court is sometimes too willing to overturn decisions, sometimes on multiple occasions in the same case.

In a sense, though, I think Matt makes a point when he makes a cry for mediocrity on the bench. There should be some mediocre judges up there. They should not be Gods of the Law. They should have respect for decisions made by elected officials and by voters. They should be hesitant.

One thing that concerns me with Posner is that he's almost too brilliant. I think it may be better for him to impact the court through his writings than to let him argue in closed door sessions, especially because of his writings on Bush v. Gore (which I agree with, but it shows how shrewd he is, and shrewd is not necessarily what you want in the courts, and I am not being discussed as a nominee).

Somatesthesia Yeah. I don't know what that word...

2003-06-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Somatesthesia

Yeah. I don't know what that word means. That's OK. I'm from Montana. Big words raise bigger eyebrows around here.

But I know this. Somatesthesia is a blog. And I know that it's a blog that currently includes a picture of Dick Cheney holding a sword.

It also has a much nicer template than we could cook up over here.

Well, that's life.

The Return Haikus haven't been coming around as...

2003-06-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Return

Haikus haven't been coming around as much because I haven't been going to my (now defunct) community activism class as much. But here's one anyway:

Kinda pathetic

So sexually frustrated

Poor Ben Shapiro