Bryan Keefer is co-author of the New York Times bestseller about
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Category: Politics
News, and Upcoming Events and Appearances
JULY: I will be a scheduled guest on CNBC‘s Dennis Miller show on Thursday, July 15 (taping). I think that it broadcasts the same day, but I’ll post here when I know for sure.
AUGUST: I will be moderating a panel with Jeff Jarvis, Geraldine Sealey, and Daniel Radosh, to discuss “Blogs: The Future of Politics?” at 92nd Street Y/Makor in New York. Tickets are available now.
TODAY: For more information about (or to pre-order) the new book I’ve written with my fellow Spinsanity.com editors, All The President’s Spin: George W. Bush, The Media, and The Truth, visit Spinsanity.com/book.
- June 28, 2004
filed under: Politics
New Spinsanity
I have a new column up on Spinsanity on how the misleading statistics President Bush used to sell his tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 are being picked up not only by pundits, but by Democratic presidential hopefuls to attack Dean. It’s really pretty disgusting how this has become the norm.
And a teaser: some big job news to follow later this week when everything is finalized.
- January 12, 2004
- filed under: Politics
A permanent Republican advantage?
With the electorate pretty evenly divided between those self-identifying as Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, little changes in the rules tend to have a huge impact. The two biggest recent changes, which are probably pretty obscure to most Americans, are the Supreme Court’s decision today allowing the key parts of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law to stand, and the recent fights over redistricting.
Because Democrats have, in recent years, been much more dependent on unregulated soft money donations, the conventional wisdom has it that the new campaign finance rules banning such donations hurt Democrats more than they do the Republicans (though donations to interest groups are still unregulated, so the damage may not be as great as some are saying). Regardless, it certainly represents the next step the weakening of parties, who even now have very little in terms of mobilization capabilities.
The redistricting issue may prove to be a much bigger deal. In Texas and Colorado, the Republicans have violated the once-per-census norm of reapportioning congressional seats within states (that is, you only do it once every decade, after the census results come out). That, coupled with sophisticated computer systems that can pinpoint voting tendencies more or less down to the block, has let the Republicans pick up a significant number of seats in Texas (the Colorado plan has been stayed by the courts) - possibly enough to stave off a Democratic House of Representatives for some time to come. Jeff Toobin had a great article on this in the New Yorker last week.
Regardless of how it all shakes out, I think the Democrats are in a good bit of trouble. In many ways, it’s their own fault for not being as well-organized as the Republicans and being unable (or unwilling) to fight the same sort of redistricting battles. And on the money side of things, whoever wins the nomination is going to go up against Bush, who has already proven his ability to raise tremendous amounts of McCain-Feingold-approved cash.
- December 10, 2003
- filed under: Politics
Spinsanity in the Wall Street Journal
Well, sort of - Opinionjournal.com has reprinted Ben’s article on the Daily Mislead from MoveOn.org.
Also, I have a (relatively) new piece up on conservatives beating up Democrats with the same type of slanted statistics that the Bush administration has used to sell its economic policy.
- December 09, 2003
- filed under: Politics
The Gubernator gets sworn in
So Arnold Schwarzenegger is now officially the governor of my childhood home, California.
What the recall represents, I think, is one more step in the erosion of political ethics. The recall statute was originally intended to serve as a check on corruption, specifically by empowering citizens to remove a corrupt governor from office if the state legislature would not (I’m simplifying here, but that’s the gist of it). Sleazy as Gray Davis was, no one ever alleged any sort of illegal activities on his part; he just got stuck with a big deficit like most other governors in office when the economy went south. So my read is that the Republicans, knowing that the demographics of California are such that they’re very unlikely to win the governor’s office in a general election, took advantage of the recall statute and used it in a way that it was never intended to be used.
As I see it, it’s another step down the path of politics by any means necessary. I’d put it up there with the Clinton impeachment, the Gingrich attacks on Clinton and Clinton attacks on Gingrich in the mid-1990s, and the Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork hearings in terms of dragging down the standards of permissible political behavior. (Note that it’s not a partisan thing, just a tactical thing done by the party out of power at the moment).
The best part is that several states have similar statutes on the books, so we can expect more of this to come (possibly including a recall campaign against Arnold himself). Lovely.
- November 17, 2003
- filed under: Politics
Coulter’s questionable corrections
Though it’s a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, I have another Spinsanity article up on Ann Coulter. This one is about her deceptive corrections to her book Slander and her attacks on critics.
- October 24, 2003
- filed under: Politics
More, more, Moore
I’m quoted in a Sacramento Bee review of Michael Moore’s new book Dude, Where’s My Country?. The relevant bits:
Spinsanity.org, an independent media watchdog Web site, has taken Moore to task right alongside right-wingers Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. A recent review of Moore’s book was titled “Dude, Where’s My Intellectual Honesty?”
“Our objection is that he is really slippery with his facts,” says Bryan Keefer, who wrote the review. “Regardless of whether or not you agree with his arguments, or his stand on issues, we disagree with how he makes those arguments, how he twists facts to fit his arguments.”
- October 23, 2003
- filed under: Politics