Happy Birthday to Stephen Strasberg, 24.
And some good stuff:
1. Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, SEK actually reads the Bachmann et al. complaint about creeping Sharia in the State Department and is, shall we say, less than impressed. It's true, you know; Bachmann really is the inferior crazy.
2. Dave Weigel explains the "magic word gaffe." Excellent concept...but it's not the name I would have chosen.
3. All political junkies will enjoy the amazing 19th century parties map, available at Mapping the Nation author Susan Schultan's blog. Via Seth Masket, who makes a great point about the stability of the Democrats and Republicans. A big part of that was the trade off with the Australian ballot and then eventually primary elections; the parties gained government support in exchange for what eventually would be some real loss of control of their nominations (although after several decades, they did learn how to regain it, but of course in very different ways). Other thing to note: the 19th century absence of Majority Leaders in the Senate.
how about the ambiguous pronoun gaffe?
ReplyDeleteIf Bachmann gets to make up crazy conspiracy theories, I think I should be able to do the same. It's pretty clear that Michele Bachmann is the fifth Cylon. If not that she could be a changeling and the real Bachmann could be on some asteroid prison deep in the Delta quadrant having to fight jem'hadar ultimate fighting style everyday. Anyway, I'm going to write a letter demanding an massive investigation.
ReplyDeleteBachmann being the 5th Cylon would have been so much more satisfying than the actual denouement.
DeleteDr. B,
ReplyDeleteHow about 'dog whistle' gaffe? Its only a gaffe at a pitch that opposite partisans can hear.
I want to capture the idea that only those with attenuated hearing/understanding see it as a gaffe, and the dog-whistle has been used for that.
What better name did you have in mind?