Leave a Comment

Believing Your Lying Eyes
Open Left - Front Page — Matthew Yglesias thinks we're overreaching by imputing intentions to Obama based on his VP pick. The best guide to how Obama intends to govern isn't who he picks as VP, it's the stuff he's said about how he intends to govern and what he hopes to accomplish. That'd put him to the left of the Clinton-Gore era of the Democratic Party but to the right of the Open Left vision of where the party ought to be, and that'll still be the case no matter who Obama picks. I don't think that's true for three reasons.  One, Obama has consistently said ...

7/30: Out Of Context?
Blogometer — ... considers VA Gov. Tim Kaine (along with KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and MO Sen. Claire McCaskill ) an "excellent choice" for VP. However, many liberal bloggers are critical of Kaine's record on social issues: Yglesias disputes Bowers' ...

A Strange Case For Kaine
Lawyers, Guns and Money — ... I wouldn't be happy if Obama chose Tim Kaine as his running mate. Still, I can least imagine an argument on his behalf: he could win Virginia for the Dems, a major blow to McCain, and his more conservative positions are unlikely to affect the way Obama governs. I reject the argument because I don't think there's good evidence that Vice Presidential nominees have a significant positive influence on voting behavior, so running mates should be primarily be chosen on the merits (on which Sebelius is clearly preferable to Kaine.) But I could at least find this argument ...