Archive for August, 2015

The system… (1) is (2) isn’t…rigged.

Some time ago I described two competing tendencies in the Democratic Party: a populist tendency, most vocally represented by Elizabeth Warren (and now, by outsider Bernie Sanders) and a centrist tendency, probably best exemplified by Bill Clinton.   Populists are appalled ...

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Trump and the Art of Demagoguery

One thing you have to say about Donald Trump: he is a brilliant demagogue,* perhaps the most effective demagogue, on a national level, we have ever seen in this country. I’ve been scratching my head, and haven’t been able to ...

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Fallacies of False Equivalence

I’ve written before of the tendency of our mainstream media to engage in false equivalence—the compulsion to demonstrate impartiality and objectivity by saying “both sides are to blame,” when, demonstrably, the blame really lies far more on one side than ...

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Talking About Abortion

Katha Pollitt begins her op-ed. column today with an excellent question: “Why does the pro-choice movement so often find itself in a defensive crouch?” She is reacting to the apology issued by the president of Planned Parenthood for the PP ...

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Trump

It is by now incontestable that that Donald Trump is the clear popular front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, with polls showing him preferred by around 25% of Republican voters.   In a very crowded field, 25% pretty much guarantees him ...

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