Thursday, March 7, 2013

Read Stuff, You Should

Happy Birthday to J.R. Richard, 63.

Oh, the good stuff:

1. Conor Friedersdorf asks: who were the radicals in 2002?

2. Partisanship, ideology, and Rand Paul. From Hans Noel.

3. Ezra Klein on what the Obama charm offensive tells us about Obama

4. And a terrific Sarah Binder post about the Rand Paul filibuster.

5 comments:

  1. You forgot the Ezra Klein link.

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  2. I know that you don't agree that the talking filibuster has any value, and certainly the use of talking points in Sen. Paul's little stand was not of any real value. Nonetheless, I think that liberals need to seize the opportunity to try to define Presidential wartime powers in the context of civil liberty.

    I have a real distaste for the Nixonian Patriot Act, and if Sen. Paul can start an actual debate on this topic, then it's constructive. This is an important point for liberals as well as conservatives, because it shows us that we will have to negotiate with people with whom we have irreconcilable differences in some areas. Sen. Paul and I will never agree on who gets to regulate my uterus, for example. Nonetheless, if he can help put together a useful set of rules for domestic executive action during times of war, then his ideas should not be dismissed.

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  3. While it's probably a good idea for Obama to build better relationships with individual Republican (and Democratic) senators, how likely is it that he can persuade them to turn their backs on their leaders and their party to back Democratic proposals that aren't going to pass through the House? Politicians may occasionally take risks in order to do the right thing for the good of the country, but even if you can convince that your goals and your approach are right, they're not likely to welcome all the grief they'll get for something that will most likely fail to be enacted.

    ReplyDelete

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