George Will, writing in the Washington Post, observes that Josh Hawley sounds like he has far too much faith in government: The sails of [Republican] Sen. Josh Hawley’s political skiff are filled with winds gusting from the right. They come from conservatives who think that an array of — perhaps most of — America’s social injuries,…
Politics
New Media, Newspapers, Politics, Wisconsin
If Not 2020, When?
by JOHN ADAMS •
In August, the Journal Sentinel published a story, Liberal ‘news’ websites launching in Wisconsin, where conservative versions have thrived. (From the viewpoint of the JS, these are ‘news’ sites not news sites, as the paper is suspicious of non-traditional reporting. Without seeing some of the online publications, however, the scare quotes seem presumptuous.) These months later, only…
CDA, City, Culture, Politics
Local Candidacies in Whitewater, 2020
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are six public seats up for election in Whitewater this spring (three on the Whitewater Common Council and three on the Whitewater Unified School District’s board.) It seems there are six candidates for these six offices (five incumbents and one former officeholder). This is what one would expect of government in Whitewater over these…
Culture, Newspapers, Politics
‘Bothsiderism’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Gina Overholser, a writing about a liberal paper, remarks of the New York Times that Its investigative and enterprise work rises to today’s unprecedented challenges. But in day-to-day political reporting, the Times is hopelessly stuck in the past. Its proud allegiance to presenting “both sides” in a time of political breakdown renders it a handmaiden…
America, City, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
One Year
by JOHN ADAMS •
For all the discussion of politics over these last three years, America now comes to a critical year ahead. In these next twelve months, we’ll see primaries, conventions, a general election, and thereafter possible challenges to, and necessary defenses of, the constitutional order. When was there another year so important to America as 2020 looks…
Crime, Democrats, Law, Politics, Race
Why Michael Bloomberg Will Never Be President (and Shouldn’t Be)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Soledad O’Brien, responding to Michael Bloomberg’s hesitant, equivocating answer to a question about the wrongful convictions of the Central Park Five, explains why Bloomberg will never be president. She’s right that black voters will not accept him, but then no one of any race should support a man who does not – indeed, will not…
Politics, Television, Trump
Jay Rosen Considers the Inconsiderable Chuck Todd
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jay Rosen of NYU writes about Chuck Todd’s three-years-too-late grasp of contemporary politics: ‘Round midnight on Christmas eve, Rolling Stone posted a short interview with Chuck Todd, host of “the longest running show on television,” NBC’s Meet the Press. Its contents were explosive, embarrassing, enraging, and just plain weird. Three years after Kellyanne Conway introduced the doctrine of “alternative…
Impeachment, Newspapers, Politics
The Lazy, False Equivalance in Craig Gilbert’s Analysis
by JOHN ADAMS •
A lazy, false equivalence runs through Craig Gilbert’s (@WisVoter) over-reliance on claims of hyper-partisanship. At the Journal Sentinel, he writes that ‘Nakedly partisan, rhetorically vicious’: Trump impeachment is echo of Clinton’s from two decades ago. The same conflation diminished Gilbert’s analysis in a 12.2.19 story (‘For voters in this purple part of Wisconsin, the impeachment…
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Politics, Putin, Russia, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
Rep. Adam Schiff’s Closing During Wednesday’s Impeachment Debate
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Boosterism, Never Trump, Politics, Travel
Conservatives against Trump Establish The Lincoln Project
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m a libertarian, not a conservative, and yet one wishes the best for The Lincoln Project, a national conservative effort to defeat Donald Trump: We do not undertake this task lightly nor from ideological preference. Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain. However, the priority for all patriotic Americans must be a shared fidelity…
America, Authoritarianism, Babbittry, Bigotry, Boosterism, City, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Mendacity, Never Trump, Politics, Resistance, Trump
Forget the Tender Feelings of a Pernicious Faction
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert writes about the political divide in For voters in this purple part of Wisconsin [Richland Center], the impeachment fight is a symbol of broken politics. The story establishes a false equivalence between those who support impeachment and those who oppose it, as though the conflict between these views…
Bad Ideas, Politics, Wisconsin, WISGOP
In Wisconsin, Gerrymandering Has Brought Out the Crackpots
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads – and it’s true – that in Wisconsin gerrymandering has disproportionately favored WISGOP candidates. It’s done more, it seems: gerrymandering has produced a decade’s worth of crackpot Republicans: Walker’s crony economics, Ryan’s trickle-down tax bill, Priebus’s sycophancy to Trump, Fitzgerald’s literal serenades for Trump, etc. Occasionally, these men spoke in libertarian language, but…
City, Congress, Fifth Congressional District, Never Trump, Politics, Scott Fitzgerald, WISGOP
Her Constituents Can Be Proud
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here in Whitewater, part of the gerrymandered Fifth Congressional District, we have for a congressman a septuagenarian multi-millionaire (Sensenbrenner) who votes with Trump, and his most-likely successor is a state senator (Fitzgerald) who sings a Trump train song. Men who tried all day to be embarrassments wouldn’t be able to match Sensenbrenner’s and Fitzgerald’s natural tendencies…
Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Mendacity, Politics, Trump, Waste Digesters
Saying and Believing Anything
by JOHN ADAMS •
Adam Serwer, writing on Twitter in response to a series of distortions from the conservative Federalist website, states plainly the truth of Trump-supporting lies: There is no incentive to correct because the targeted audience will believe anything pro-Trump they are told, whereas acknowledging error would signal weakness and insufficient devotion to the Great Leader. Yes,…
