Seth Masket

Steve Greene takes issue with claims by Mike Huckabee and others that gun violence is a result, in part, of our society having “turned away from God.” Steve takes the time to actually apply some data to the question, noting that the U.S. is one of the more religious nations in the world but nonetheless […]

A common reaction to the tragic events that unfolded in Newtown, Connecticut, is a sense of helplessness. If you’ve watched this and other mass shootings this year and believe some sort of policy change is necessary, but you’ve so far only heard politicians ducking the question or saying that now isn’t the time to discuss […]

Charlie Cook expects that 2014 will be a tough election for Democrats due to the “six-year itch.” The 2014 vote is what’s known as a “six-year itch” election, with the party holding the White House usually losing a substantial number of House and Senate seats in the sixth year of its tenure. There are a […]

I saw “Lincoln” the other night. This is a very good and very rich film — it contains a great deal of detail, both in the script and on the screen — and I’d like to see it again soon to look for things I missed the first time around. Much has already been written […]

Mitt Romney joined Barack Obama for an undoubtedly awkward lunch last week. According to a White House statement, “They pledged to stay in touch, particularly if opportunities to work together on shared interests arise in the future.” Will they work together on such future opportunities? Not very likely. But has little to do with their […]

Yesterday at the Monkey Cage, Josh Tucker complained that analogizing $6 billion in campaign advertising to $6 billion spent on potato chips is improper. Jonathan Bernstein defended the analogy, arguing that it promotes numeracy by helping people understand large quantities. I’m going to take Bernstein’s side here, but not just for the reasons he articulates. […]

Why do people of different parties seem to have such a hard time understanding each other and reaching agreements? It may be, in part, because they belong to completely different organizations. This is one suggestion of a new article, “The Organizational Affiliations of National Party Convention Delegates,” written by Michael Heaney, Dara Strolovitch, Joanne Miller, […]

If you want to understand American gender relations in the 1960s, skip “Mad Men” and tune into classic “Star Trek.” I recently re-watched “The Enemy Within” with the kids and it was an eye-opener. A brief synopsis: due to a transporter malfunction, Kirk is split into two identical beings, a “good” Kirk who has the […]

In an editorial Monday, the Denver Post defended the Electoral College, writing, Until such time as candidates regularly start landing in the Oval Office despite having lost the popular vote, there is little reason to change course on the Electoral College. I suppose this all depends on what we mean by “regularly,” but in four instances — […]