Posts by David Weigel

The sequel to Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s 2005 smash-hit book “Freakonomics” — particularly the final chapter of “SuperFreakonomics” — is giving global warming skeptics hope that they can continue to shift attitudes toward their cause.

Politico’s report on whether Republicans “are being wounded by the flamboyant rhetoric and angry tone of conservative activists and media personalities” is worth reading for the quotes from top Republicans, most of whom amble around the question. Of the currently relevant figures (sorry, Bob Michel), Gov. Tim Pawlenty  is the boldest:
The commentators are part of [...]

WASHINGTON — Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has brought 52 fellow Republicans together — including Rep. Michele Bachmann — on a letter demanding the resignation of Kevin Jennings, the White House’s “safe schools czar.” Greg Sargent looks at the text of the letter, and how it maintains (wrongly) that Jennings covered up child sexual abuse.

Sean Duffy, the leading Republican candidate challenging Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), will report a fundraising total of $140,000, with $120,000 cash on hand, for the third quarter of 2009. I talked with the candidate today, keying off NRCC Chairman and Rep. Pete Sessions’s (R-Texas) prediction that Obey — who is seeking a 21st term in [...]

WASHINGTON — At a briefing for conservative bloggers at the Heritage Foundation today, Rep. Michelle Bachmann dismissed MSNBC as a network neither she nor “most of the American people” paid attention to.
“Quite honestly I don’t even know anything about MSNBC,” said Bachmann.

WASHINGTON — On a Thursday morning conference call, I got a chance to ask Gov. Tim Pawlenty about voter registration, voter fraud, and his new PAC’s political adviser Sara Taylor. In the Bush administration, as a White House political director, Taylor got tangled in the scandal over the firing of U.S. attorneys who, the attorneys [...]

The Minnesota governor’s PAC is rolling out today with a media blitz reflecting the talent of his staff (such as former Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant) and the credibility he’s built up in the political press corps. Tim Pawlenty’s Freedom First PAC is co-chaired by William Strong of Morgan Stanley and former Rep. Vin [...]

This is some extremely shoddy journalism from Mickey Kaus. The Slate blogger asks if “ACORN chicanery” elected Sen. Al Franken, who won a razor-thin 2008 race for the U.S. Senate after eight months of legal challenges. Kaus links a “tactfully phrased Minneapolis Star Tribune story” to argue that fraudulent votes might have stolen the election [...]

According to Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, the conference drew its largest crowd in 38 years, signaling a surge of grass-roots enthusiasm for 2010.

ST. LOUIS — Speaking to a packed hotel ballroom at the conservative How to Take Back America Conference, Rep. Michele Bachmann said that exposés of “criminal tomfoolery” inside of ACORN could kick off a campaign to “defund the left.”