John Anderson: "Follow the Money: How George W. Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-tied America." Scribner, 2007. 27 pages of endnotes, plus footnotes throughout the book.Greg Anrig: "The Conservatives Have No Clothes: Why … [Read more...]
KellerGate continues
Intrepid Boston Herald media reporter Jessica Heslam has more today on the burgeoning kerfuffle surrounding Jon Keller's book "The Bluest State," and specifically his practice of lifting passages from newspaper articles without attribution … [Read more...]
Morning roundup: Keller, Obama, Campanini, and other characters
Some quick hits from my inbox and the morning papers.Keller's non-sourcing trashed. Jessica Heslam at the Herald noticed the same thing I did about Jon Keller's "The Bluest State" -- there's an awful lot of anonymous and unattributed … [Read more...]
The Bluest Pundit: a brief interlude
This post isn't actually a review of a chapter from Jon Keller's "The Bluest State," but it's related.As you know, if you've read either the book or one of my posts on it, Keller's central narrative is that "boomer liberals" are responsible … [Read more...]
The Bluest Pundit: chapter 4
The problem with this chapter is its treatment of the local politician who has treated the abortion issue perhaps most outrageously: Mitt Romney. Keller does, thank goodness, occasionally acknowledge Romney's "flagrantly expedient … [Read more...]
The Bluest Pundit: chapter 3
Much of what you need to know about chapter 3 is captured by Keller's description of a march, sponsored by the Tri-Cities Welfare Rights Organization (WRO), to Barbara Anderson's home in Marblehead. The unidentified year appears to … [Read more...]
The Bluest Pundit: chapter 2
Chapter 2 brings us an excellent example of Keller's tendency to make broad generalizations that may -- or may not -- be justified, based on a couple of anecdotes. For instance, on p. 41, the book tells us that Mayor Dolan and his … [Read more...]
The Bluest Pundit: introduction and chapter 1
I've spent a lot of time on the "Democrat vs. liberal" thing because it's fundamental to what's wrong with Keller's book. Really, the whole book is premised on a strawman, namely, the notion that Massachusetts has for years been run … [Read more...]
The Bluest Pundit: general reactions
Let's start with this: Keller is right about a fair amount of what he says. There really are problems with government in Massachusetts, and within the MA Democratic party. That's why we started this blog, for God's sake -- … [Read more...]
I’m on page 11, and I’m already worried
Jon Keller has a new book coming out; the official release date is right after Labor Day. It's provocatively entitled "The Bluest State: How Democrats Created the Massachusetts Blueprint for American Political Disaster." OK … [Read more...]