Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2744

Someone's Gotta Say It

by Chris Bodenner

TNC rounds up examples of ugly and often racist rhetoric from the right since Obama took office:

Perhaps you could argue that some of these instances aren't about race.Certainly, you could note that many of them are about race plus severalother factors. But even granting those points as caveats, what you haveis disturbing pattern among the GOP that sometimes floats up to thetop. Black writers working in the mainstream, and even at liberalpublications, are in a constant...

Why Did AIDS Go Down In Uganda?

by Patrick Appel

Chris Blattman flags a new paper:

Among young women, who experienced the greatest decline in HIVprevalence, the most important component was delaying sexual debut,accounting for 57 percent of the drop in HIV prevalence. Condom use byhigh risk males and to a lesser extent death (of older males) alsoplayed a significant role, accounting for 30 and 16 percentrespectively. However, for older women, the trend is reversed, withdeath being more important than abstinence or condom...

Sanity On Social Security? Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Howard Gleckman joins the retirement age debate:

While it is tough for older workers to find employment in today'ssoft economy, we are talking about Social Security changes that won'ttake effect for decades. By then, younger people will make up a muchsmaller share of the workforce, and there may be far more jobsavailable for seniors. In addition, older workers are likely to behealthier and better educated even as work continues to be lessphysically demanding. Still, Monique is...

Limited Alliances, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Timothy Lee makes some smart points in response to Julian Sanchez:

I agree with Julian's take on this: political alliances are built by concrete actions toward shared goals, not by abstract statements of philosophical agreement. But I think his point can be made stronger with some specific examples.

In 2005, I was a founding employee of the Show-Me Institute, a "free market" think tank. What we meant by "free market" is that the organization devoted itself exclusively to those...

But does she really need to learn anything?

by Dave Weigel

Mark Halperin writes the 153,893th paean to Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" video (if an alien civilization just began observing Earth, it would think she invented YouTube) in a manner calculated to irritate liberals.

A new TIME poll shows Palin losing to Obama 55% to 34%, a lopsidedmargin that leads some Republican strategists to predict a wipeout ifPalin is eventually chosen as the party's nominee. But that might not matter... Her candidacy would require almost none of the...

Our Immigration Policy is Obsolete

by David Frum

Ezra Klein highlights this chart from the Brookings Institution showing that at present rates of job growth it will take years to "close the jobs gap." Brookings explains:

The "job gap" underlying these numbers is daunting. In recent months, on this blog, we described the job gap -- the number of jobs it would take to return to employment levels from before the Great Recession, while also accounting for the 125,000 people who enter the labor force in a typical month. After...

The View From Your Window

Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 4 pm

Afghanistan - Asia - Bamyan Afghanistan - Maps and Views - Photos

On Not Becoming Unhinged, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

I've noticed the posts about 'non-monogamy' with passing interest. Folks are too hung-up on sex, but that's nothing new. I'll relate my experience to illustrate behaviors that may be more common than many believe. And I'm curious to know whether other readers might have similar stories.

I'm a 'straight' male. When I married my wife many years ago, she was aware of a long-standing relationship I had with another man. (So, does that make me straight or maybe...

Walking like a panther

by Dave Weigel

My post on Megyn Kelly's one-woman-and-a-network war against the Obama DOJ over the New Black Panthers has inspired some smart criticism, led by David Freddoso.

I am surprised at the apparent lack of self-awareness in Dave'spost. I'm not going to say I haven't enjoyed his wall-to-wall coverageof the "birther" movement, but tell me: Just how is it different fromthis? There are superficial differences. For example, surely fewerAmericans share the Black Panther ideology than remain ...

Rove's Biggest Mistake?

by David Frum

Karl Rove offers an interesting reflection on his White House career in this AM's WSJ. His biggest mistake, he said, was failing to fight back harder against the "Bush lied, people died" slur:

At the time, we in the Bush White House discussed responding but decided not to relitigate the past. That was wrong and my mistake: I should have insisted to the president that this was a dagger aimed at his administration's heart. What Democrats started seven years ago left us less united...