Over at New York, Jonathan Chait points me over to the New York Times, where Harvard big-shot Gregory Mankiw is holding forth on the wonders of Robert Downy, Jr., noting that Bob’s latest performance as “Iron Man” was so abfab that the $50 mil Downy got up front for the film doesn’t upset people—“ when…
Search Results for: Jonathan Chait
The National Review explains: “We’re not racist! We hate white winos too!
Jonathan Chait has an excellent piece at New York magazine, making the same point I did last week; Republicans aren’t waging a “war” against black voters. It’s merely a sustained, unrelenting skirmish—kind of a skirmish to the death. Jon catches the National Review with its pants, morals, and intellect at half mast, “explaining” why the…
Ramesh and Yuval, less than generous, less than ingenuous
Ramesh Ponnuru and Yuval Levin have a heavy rap on how to replace Obamacare over at the National Review, a piece that occasioned less than reverent comment on the left, to which Ponnuru and Levin respond, rather tartly, here. The piece has drawn some critical responses in the past few days — from Ezra Klein,…
Paul Ryan: Pretty but Dumb
Republican pretty boy Paul Ryan gets thoroughly hoisted, if not on his own petard then Ezra Klein’s, who ably dissects Paulie Boy’s duck and weave, bob and bounce, shuck and jive performance before a gaggle of reporters at a recent shindig organized by the Wall Street Journal, whose editors probably wish they hadn’t let Ezra…
George Will, tying himself in knots, yet failing to score a touchdown
I find myself agreeing with George Will more often than I like. We are a one on free trade, for example, as well as campaign “reform” (aka incumbent protection and First Amendment reduction). I also admire his early criticism of President Obama’s decision to expand the war in Afghanistan, although his massive silence on civil…
James B. Stewart, lying on behalf of truth
Over at New York magazine, Jonathan Chait takes a long poke at Rep. Paul Ryan. Although I often find Jon a bit knee-jerky, when it comes to Ryan, our knees jerk in perfect time. Chait points, among other things, to the near-worshipful reception that Ryan often receives in the press, as a sort of political…
Why work? Why marry?
Over at New York magazine, Jonathan Chait has a nice take on various discussions floating about the blogosphere about 1) why the white working class is so fucked up and 2) why they won’t vote Democratic. The notion that the white working class is fucked up has been pushed earnestly by AEI-style conservatives who seem…
As a patriotic American, it is your duty to make Ralph Douthat happy
Well, it is. Ralph himself says so in this post, directed at wiseguys Jonathan Chait and Daniel Larison, who have been making fun of Ralph’s continuing obsession with asthmatic lardbutt Chris Christie. Getting just a wee bit testy with Jon and Dan for not agreeing with him about Chris, Ralph lets fly with the following…
Freedom’s just another word for not having to take questions from you assholes
Continuing his “Dubya got it right” approach to handling the press, President Obama celebrated the signing of a bill to promote freedom of the press around the world this Monday by refusing to take any questions. Today, the President held a “news conference” (notice he didn’t say “press conference”) with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, deigning…
That Jew!
No, it isn’t a new sitcom starring Sarah Silverman channeling Marlo Thomas. It’s a term that Arkansas State Senator, and potential U.S. Senate candidate, Kim Hendren used when referring to Sen. Chuck Schumer: “At the meeting I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see…