Now that Argo’s won a Golden Globe, and gets a harder look from the Academy, you can read Kevin B. Lee explain why the movie must be shunned.
But the fact that Argo’s real-life hero is still alive, and getting feted, must help with the award rush.
The boys from FairVote dive a mile or so into the great gerrymandering embarrassment.
The end result is a congressional map in which 241 districts have a Republican lean – with adds up to an intrinsic 55 percent to 45 percent edge in seats. That partisan skew goes back for decades, including being almost exactly the same in the 1990s when Democrats largely controlled redistricting. But the problem wasn’t obvious because Democrats routinely won in Republican districts. Although their numbers were diminished in 1994, some long-serving Republican-district Democrats held on, and George Bush’s unpopularity in his second term allowed new victories deep into Republican turf.
Greg Sargent decodes Republican opposition to a debt limit hike, and sees the makings of a cave.
Frank Luntz has new advice for Republicans on how to massage their words.
Instead of entitlement reform or controlling the growth of Medicare and Social Security, talk about how to save and strengthen these programs so they are there when voters need them. After all, they paid for them. Better than discussing economic opportunity and growth, Republicans should talk about creating a healthier and more secure economy. Everyone benefits when economic health is restored. And while economic opportunity would be nice, security is a necessity.
I could swear that the Romney-Ryan ticket did talk like that.
