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Ask Dr. Popkin: The Romney Whopper Watch
In contrast to Paul Ryan's convention speech, Mitt Romney's dignified address last night mainly stayed within the bounds of "normal" political argument and tendentiousness. For instance, there's just...
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The Real Mystery of Paul Ryan's Marathon Time
Executive summary: the mystery in this case is why someone just stepping into the spotlight of national attention would risk telling an (a) entirely unnecessary and (b) very easily disprovable lie. It...
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Richard Bach, of 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull,' Badly Hurt in Plane Crash
The aviator-author Richard Bach is not as widely known now as he was a generation ago. But his book Jonathan Livingston Seagull was in the early 1970s far and away the best-selling novel in the United...
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Labor Day Special: Beer, Aviation, and Design, Together in One Post
Part One: A weirdo conceptual plane, a flying wing designed to look like a ninja star, will shift from subsonic to supersonic flight by turning 90 degrees and going sideways. Or so we are told by...
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Labor Day Special Part Deux: 'Ooops!' in Four Acts
1) Things I wish I didn't know from the weekend papers. Â Â Â Â - Andy Murray, answering readers' questions online, as relayed by the NY Times:Andy! Say it isn't so! I speak for all your fellow Scots* in...
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4 Good Reading Tips, and 1 Correction
1) Ta-Nehisi Coates's item today, on our site, on how the (troubled) economics of the "serious" magazine business affect the sociology and (limited) diversity of magazine staffs. This is a tangled and...
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DNC, Night 1
Q. Is Bill Clinton the last living Democrat with any sense of how to present the Democrats' case and vision in non-bloodless-policy-wonk, non-defensive-sounding, non-speech-on-Senate-floor terms?A....
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Paul Ryan, Mountaineer
UPDATE: Please see official response from the Romney campaign, below.____My mailbox has been blowing up with speculation on why Paul Ryan would have invented such an impressive "personal best" time for...
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Paul Ryan Has Made 'Close to 40 Climbs,' Not 'Climbed Close to 40 Peaks'
I have done this as an update to the original item, but for emphasis I'll do it as a stand-alone new item too.According to an email I received just now from Brandon Buck of the Romney campaign, Paul...
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Why Bill Clinton's Speeches Succeed
Because he treats listeners as if they are smart.That is the significance of "They want us to think" and "The strongest argument is" and "The arithmetic says one of three things must happen" and even...
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Clinton: The Corpus Callosum of Politics
In response to this explanation of why Bill Clinton is good at explaining complex issues clearly, a reader writes:Reminds me of the Adlai Stevenson story: A supporter once called out, "Governor...
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Finale on Paul Ryan as Mountain Climber
At least as far as I'm concerned. Two disclaimers right off the bat:I don't know anything about mountain climbing and so am at the mercy of other people's judgments on what is significant or not. (In...
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On the Sophistication of Sports-Talk Radio, Featuring Noam Chomsky and...
Following previous items here and here, a reader in New York writes:I remember a caller on WFAN (sports radio station in New York City) not long after the 9/11 attacks. The awful closer for the New...
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Three Quick Points on Obama's Speech
Will try to write a "real" assessment at some point. For now:1) Citizen Obama. The most interesting "new"-ish approach in the speech was the theme that ran through the final one-third of it, about the...
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On Obama's 'Disappointing' DNC Speech
I said last night that Barack Obama's acceptance speech, while not as flashy as some others in his past and several others at the convention, "did the job" he needed it to do. It was solid, serious,...
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OK, I Know It's Lame Just to Use a 'Daily Show' Clip
But this should not be missed. Seriously. The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on FacebookAnd maybe it becomes less lame, and certainly more...
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Annals of Post-Truth Politics: Good for Norah O'Donnell
Relevant background point #1: Rep. Paul Ryan's fame has has depended on his reputation as the man who knew the obscure details of federal budget policy, and who was brave and honest enough to tell the...
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This Could Be the Most Dishonest Thing Fox News Has Ever Done
I realize that's a big claim. But for your "post-truth" chronicles, check this out, a "data-based" graphic from a Fox & Friends program today. It is worth checking out the analyses from Zachary...
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A 9/11 Post, Aviation Themed
In the GPS age, waypoints for aerial navigation are often known by five-letter names. Usually these are just nonsense terms. For instance, the approach (RNAV 14) I normally am given when landing at my...
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Three Quick Points on the Libya Killings
1) On the merits, this is outrageous and a tragedy. One of the first principles of diplomacy is that nations have a duty to protect the representatives of foreign states sent there to do international...
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