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Paul Brandon

Paul Brandon's picture
Mankato, MN
Commenter for
5 years 18 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 05/10/13 at 01:49 pm in response to Obama approval up, but Republicans preferred on some key issues

or maybe FDR

Posted on 05/08/13 at 07:26 pm in response to Delaware legalizes same-sex marriage

It's the corporate Cyprus of the United States.

Posted on 05/03/13 at 09:15 pm in response to Wolves makeover: My take on Taylor/Saunders 2.0

I've finally realized who Rubio reminds me of.
And Kidd has developed a reliable three point shot late in his career -- Rubio may do so earlier.

Posted on 05/02/13 at 03:48 pm in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

supporting the concept of background checks in general and
supporting a specific piece of legislation.

Posted on 05/02/13 at 07:38 pm in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

Jamieson was paraphrased as saying:

"....polls showed that an overwhelming, almost unbelievable 90 percent of the public favors background checks....."

There is no statement about specific legislation.
And there have been a number of polls published, all showing a clear majority of Americans supporting -some- form of background check legislation. The poll questions vary, as do the specific results. 90% was a rough average calculated by some commentators.

Beating...

Posted on 05/02/13 at 07:43 pm in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

with apologies to George Santayana).
The 'Know Nothing' party of the 1850's (see Wikipedia for the gory details) has become the 'No Everything' party of the 21st century.
American Exceptionalism at its worst.

Posted on 05/03/13 at 09:27 am in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

direct funding of campaigns has become a minor part of political spending.
And one reason why the votes sometimes go against the polls is the money that lobbyists and pseudo lobbyists (people who act like lobbyists but technically aren't and avoid regulations) have at their disposal.
So the money that the NRA lobbyists have at their disposal is definitely deployed -before- opinions are set.

Posted on 05/03/13 at 09:31 am in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

We don't have background checks on the ~40% of sales at gun shows and between private individuals.
And the checks that we do have are limited by the lack of a national data base coordinating state databases, which are themselves of varied quality.

Posted on 05/03/13 at 09:34 am in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

lied, but his own statements showed that he relied on other people to think for him.
Cheney was one of those others, and his own statements showed that he knew better.

Posted on 05/03/13 at 01:49 pm in response to Kathleen Hall Jamieson and the 'attack on fact'

Confirmation bias predisposed Bush/Cheney to lie about WMD.
I suspect that they at least partially convinced themselves, rather than cynically making up a story from whole cloth. Maybe more so on the part of Bush, who also wanted to avenge (and surpass) his daddy. All sorts of psychological(tm) issues there.