Megan McArdle at The Atlantic takes Kevin Drum to school.
I always get a kick out of that. I don't know what it is about Kevin. Whether at Cal Pundit, Washington Monthly or now at Mother Jones I've just seen him write too many head-scratchers to take him overly serious.
Maybe it's just me.
Another email from the Fantasy sports email list-cum-political forum--
The first: Olberman is moving to the NBC pregame show. I wonder if he’ll continue in news?
The reply: Yeah, he's going to do both. He is amazingly intelligent, articulate, and witty. A kind of "renaissance" man.
And finally the reply to the reply: I don't agree all the time either, but he is right on target most of the time and hardly over his head. His insights are interesting and thought provoking. Not the mindless repeating of so-called conventional wisdom that passes for critical thinking in so much of the media.
Indeed.
Today at the Washington Monthly blog Kevin Drum highlights a piece from McClatchy's Greg Gordon discussing the politicization of the Bush Justice Department. Kevin calls it Banana Republicans:
Greg Gordon of McClatchy on the politicization of the Justice Department:
For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.
The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.
....On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the [Civil Rights] division's Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans, notably in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Washington and other states where recent elections have been decided by narrow margins.
At first blush I wasn't sure who to be most appalled by...Kevin or Greg. For all his success--after all he blogs for a living, I do not--Kevin is not exactly the most astute blogger in the world.
Upon further review however, the ridiculousness of all this is all on Gordon. Kevin, as good bloggers do, only highlighted the bad logic. He just forgot to call it that.
It's that last quote that kills me. Essentially we're to believe that part & parcel with a systematic shredding of the Constitution over the last 6+ years the Bush Justice Department has acted inappropriately--dare we say illegally--to influence elections!?
Let's hit the refresh button for a minute and reflect; was it Republicans that car-pooled homeless folks to the polls in Wisconsin, enticing them with free cigarettes in 2004? Did Republican would-be student activists vote multiple times in 2004?
Was it dead Republicans voting in both 2000 and 2004? Or maybe it was Republicans who sought recounts in only certain counties, applying different standards across Florida in 2000?
Well, no it wasn't. And perhaps the reason the Voting Rights Division "sided" with Republicans so often since 2001 is that Democrats were responsible for the majority of documented voter rights violations and attempts at voter fraud.
Just a thought.
Kevin Drum offers proof again that...well, the Peter Principle is alive and well. Harsh you might ask?
Probably, but this is the guy who told us that Bill Burkett was credible.
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