Blue v. Red

What “Moderate” Means…

By Justin Katz | November 1, 2008 |

… would seem to be precisely what skeptics thought it meant when Ken Block launched his party of that name about a year ago — namely, susceptible to pressure and manipulation. At the time, Block wrote an Engaged Citizen post in which he declared: All ridiculous culture war issues aside, the time is right now…

Admitting What Must Be Done

By Justin Katz | October 30, 2008 |

Even just a hint that Governor Carcieri likes the notion of eliminating the income tax, almost as a philosophical matter, is enough to induce the fury of Johnathan Berard (emphasis added): As a taxpayer, I’m mad because the state decided to go more than $33 million dollars over budget, but as a student, I’m absolutely…

On the Happiness of Conservatives

By Justin Katz | October 26, 2008 |

Something has seemed tellingly erroneous about liberals’ declarations of conservatives’ desperateness and their premature schadenfreude related to the presumed outcome of the election. Liberals misapprehend something very basic in the conservative philosophy, which, although it varies in form and degree across the right-wing spectrum, is partly definitive. Those perplexed by the partisan or ideological happiness…

Ah, the Years to Come

By Justin Katz | October 18, 2008 |

The forces of tolerance strike again: While the Democrat-leaning media continues to scare undecided voters with bedtime stories about some mythical angry McCain supporter whom nobody has seen, here is a real district attorney’s complaint documenting an unprovoked assault by an enraged Democrat against a McCain volunteer in midtown Manhattan: “Defendant grabbed the sign [informant]…

The Mainstreaming of Taibbi

By Justin Katz | October 17, 2008 |

Whenever Matt Taibbi’s name appears on my computer screen, I pause for a moment to regret that the mainstream has apparently been moving toward him. The first time it happened was in February 2003, when Projo blogger Sheila Lennon gushed over his raw freshness. At the time, I wondered whether it wasn’t a bit unseemly…

No Time to Update the Script

By Justin Katz | September 19, 2008 |

Is it me, or is the news editor of the Providence Phoenix increasingly giving the impression of a strident partisan? To be sure, no doubt previously existed as to Ian’s political leanings, but something in this election season seems to be drawing him further across the tightrope spanning the ideological gulf, toward his ticker-tape-talking-point friends.…

How Unlike a Normal Young Man Is David Segal?

By Justin Katz | September 4, 2008 |

Oh to have the financial liberty that David Segal makes evident through his priorities (emphasis added): I can think of nothing that would attract young people to Rhode Island, and keep them around, at a higher rate than expanded transit, and expanded health care — two services that have suffered the most, under the austerity…

Last Night’s Performance

By Justin Katz | August 14, 2008 |

PROEM: The streaming link wasn’t working all day, so having fixed it, I’ve moved the post back up to the top of the blog. Sorry for the muddleheadedness. Listen as I stun Matt Allen with my confession that I voted for Sheldon Whitehouse, explain our Engaged Citizen, and summarize Bill Felkner’s post using that feature…

Cold War Divisions to Return?

By Justin Katz | August 12, 2008 |

Not to scuttle all that harmony over dreams of a “working waterfront,” but something’s too eerie about this not to highlight it: Launching an invasion while the world news is focused on the Olympics is pretty savy… and a grand first step towards a renewed, major US/Russia confrontation. Yes, quite a clever fellow, that Putin,…

The Pseudo-Intellectuals’ Candidate

By Justin Katz | August 7, 2008 |

Has anybody else gotten the sense that the Obamanation has the interesting effect of highlighting how extensively the zany intellectual clichés from the academic Left are ingrained in the liberal/Democrat movement? Consider Victor Davis Hanson’s post aptly titled “Postmodern Architecture”: What was stunning about the NY Times’ Bob Herbert’s charge that the McCain campaign, in…

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