Andrew Sabl

I have to take exception with a post by Mark Kleiman from last Saturday. In it, he slammed George Will, channeling a book by Claremont professor Charles Kesler, for claiming Barack Obama was part of “a conspiracy against the Constitution embracing Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and LBJ.” Actually, the Will/Kesler thesis has something to it. Obama […]

The Republican convention contained a lot of claims, but the claims that were true weren’t substantive, and the claims that were substantive weren’t true. Those hungry for a serious piece of conservative argument should turn to Reihan Salam’s post on what the parties really think, and don’t always say, about public goods and whether the […]

I couldn’t believe it when I heard that Ann Romney’s convention speech doubled down on a gaffe from her past: the claim that she and Mitt had very little money when they were going to college: We were very young. Both still in college. There were many reasons to delay marriage, and you know? We […]

A few months ago I argued that one reason Republicans handled the contraception issue so incompetently was that public opinion on premarital sex was strongly divided by age and party: older Republicans, and nobody else, overwhelmingly regard sex outside marriage as inherently wrong. Mitt Romney has a similar problem regarding Bain. According to a Gallup […]

When kids grow up, their parents often start pressuring them to get married (or de-facto married or whatever equivalent is on offer) and have kids. Those who don’t pressure, almost always hint. If the adult children don’t feel like marrying, their parents are willing to give ground. The son- or daughter-in-law is optional. The grandkids […]

I’m tempted to put David Waldman’s post on yesterday’s Daily Kos up for the Onion Award for headlines that say it all: “Mitt Romney is a ‘businessman’ like the Hamburglar is a rancher.” Another line in the piece is almost as good: “[F]orget running government like a business. Romney doesn’t even really know how to […]

Alec MacGillis’s article on why hedge fund managers have turned fiercely against President Obama has deservedly gotten a lot of attention (see the commentary from Rich Yeselson). I take MacGillis’ main point to be that hedge fund managers’ fury is based more on self-image than on self-interest. It’s not just that the hedge fundis resent […]

“Climate conspiracy, meet Occam’s razor.” In a tweeted graphic with that headline, Brooke Jarvis pretty much renders further words on the former, and further illustrations of the latter, irrelevant: Via grist.org (by way of another blog but I lost track of which) [Cross-posted at The Reality-Based Community]

After reading a transcript of the Republican debate last night, I think the media should ask a very simple question: “Leaving aside questions of government policy and abortion, do you personally think that the invention of effective birth control technologies—condoms, the pill, diaphrams—has been a good thing for society?” (I’ve phrased that to leave out […]

This morning’s New York Times contains an essential, shocking article by Michael Winerip on the level of writing needed to earn a passing grade on New York State’s high school leaving exam. This year, for the first time, the exam has teeth: any student who doesn’t score at least 65 on the exam in English […]