Conservatives in the right blogosphere are apparently put off by the Block study, and are making efforts to punch holes in it. So having made the study available, I decided to take a closer look. Most of the criticism from the right focuses around the fact that the research was done at Berkeley, and Berkeley is a hot-bed of liberalism. … Read More
The Straw That Broke The Conservative’s Back
Discussing the Georgia v. Randolph case (which I touched upon here), A-list blogger John Cole – a staple in the right blogosphere – announces that he has had enough: My 20 year affair with the Republican party is coming to an end. I am not voting for any Republican in 2006 at any level, and I will be hard pressed … Read More
“Whiny Babies Lead To Conservatives” Study
For psychology geeks and students, I’m uploading and making available the Berkeley study I wrote about earlier — the one that says that whiny insecure babies tend to grow up with a conservative political orientation, whereas self-assured babies tend to become liberal. Download it by clicking here. It’s in PDF format.
Game Set Match
The Corner’s John Derbyshire on the "Whiny Babies Grow Up To Be Conservatives" Study: From the report on that study: "Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative. At least, he … Read More
Conservatives: Grown-up Whiny Babies
That’s not an ad hominem attack. That’s what a couple of sociologists found out: In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids’ personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known … Read More
Former Justice O’Connor Smacks The GOP Around
Amy Sullivan has the goods: Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor gave a speech yesterday at Georgetown in which she slammed Republicans–singling out Tom DeLay and John Cornyn–for undermining the judiciary. (You can listen to NPR coverage of the speech here.) She quoted DeLay’s attacks on the court during Justice Sunday, and then turned on the sarcasm: "This was … Read More
The Catholic Vote
Glenn Greenwald notes that part of Rove’s tactics for winning the 2004 election against Kerry was to take the Catholic vote. Rove did this in part by impugning Kerry’s catholicism, i.e., Kerry wasn’t a "good" Catholic. Part of the reprehensible tactics included parading Catholic Republicans in front of the microphones to suggest that Kerry shouldn’t receive communion because of his … Read More
Fraud
There’s no doubt in my mind that the GOP’s new fundraising letter is designed to confuse members of the public, particularly the elderly. It looks like an official IRS form, complete with instructions not to destroy the form. It admonishes the recipient to complete the form and return it (and of course, the document contains a place to donate money … Read More
I Love This
Via Shakespeare’s Sister, we learn of an Ohio State Senator who has discovered the power of satire as a legislative tool: Lawmaker’s proposal: Bar Republicans from adopting If an Ohio lawmaker’s proposal becomes state law, Republicans would be barred from being adoptive parents. State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends … Read More
He Forgot To Bring The Funny
The Redstate post entitled "Boston Red Sox As Washington Politicians" naturally caught my eye, but I failed to crack so much as a smile.
Church And Politics
Oy. They’re are it again. And right down the street from me: The North Carolina Republican Party asked its members this week to send their church directories to the party, drawing furious protests from local and national religious leaders. "Such a request is completely beyond the pale of what is acceptable," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics … Read More
After Neoconservatism
Poltical types are abuzz about the editorial in yesterday’s NYT Magazine by Francis Fukuyama, spelling the death of — or at least the flaws revealed in — the neoconservative movement. It’s a heavy read, but interesting. Ex-neoconservative Andrew Sullivan weighs in: I have no doubt that Frank Fukuyama’s essay in the New York Times Magazine will prompt a lot of … Read More
GOP Ethics Reform Off To A Questionable Start
In order to extricate itself from the taint of curruption left by DeLay and Abramoff, the GOP voted Rep. John Boehner to be the majority leader in the House last week. Boehner’s legislative work has focused on helping small businesses, i.e., fighting minimum-wage increases, supporting small-business tax breaks and tax-free savings accounts to help cover insurance costs. Boehner’s primary residence … Read More
Rove Threatened To Blacklist Republicans
Well, the unitary executive is so unitary that nobody can accuse him of being partisan: Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November. "It’s … Read More
Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee
Dateline Missouri: Saying the nation’s symbol "deserves more respect than the protest message of some liberal hippie," a Missouri state lawmaker has introduced a bill legalizing the use of force to stop someone from desecrating the American flag. Republican Rep. Sam Gaskill, a former fighter pilot in Vietnam, defended his bill yesterday, insisting the measure would prevent the defilement of … Read More