Comments on: I was right then: Dissing experts is contemptible. (And some of my best friends are economists.)

By: washerdreyer

washerdreyer — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:31:06 +0000

One cavalier comment does not a monster make.

This makes it sound like a gaffe, as opposed to the considered position of her campaign. Since she said it, and didn’t show any inclination to take it back, and then other people who work for the campaign said it, and didn’t show any inclination to take it back, I don’t see how your “cavalier comment” interpretation holds water.

Further, no one here said she was just like George W. Bush and his administration. Instead, the post noted that her position on this particular issue was very similar to the way Bush has approached a number of issues, and that that approach is bad.

One commenter did imply that she was either a robot from the future or an alien, so I guess it’s ok to pretend that the position you’re arguing against is “Hillary is a monster.”

By: eric

eric — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:17:26 +0000

Suppose it was not just a cavalier comment—suppose it was evidence of a pattern of behavior in which the candidate prefers loyal advisors to informed ones. Would it be a witch hunt then?

By: Beckster

Beckster — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:04:16 +0000

One cavalier comment does not a monster make. People are extaordinarily eager to place Clinton among the likes of Bush and his administration…egregious at best. I call it a modern day witch hunt. Shame on you.

By: All Those Facts and Knowledge Just Get in the Way | Cosmic Variance

All Those Facts and Knowledge Just Get in the Way | Cosmic Variance — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:02:32 +0000

[...] The one that is so bad that a gaggle of economists have fired up a blog just to oppose it. But who cares what economists might say? STEPHANOPOULOS: But can you name an economist who thinks this makes [...]

By: foolishmortal

foolishmortal — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:33:41 +0000

Urban did what he had to do. Mr. G insulted the papacy in no uncertain terms. If G wanted to, he could have couched his proposals in a less inflammatory fashion. But he chose not to. And so, he got fucked. Not burned, as he might have been, but jailed, for the few years of his life that remained to him. Giordano Bruno should be so lucky.

By: Gene O'Grady

Gene O'Grady — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:02:41 +0000

Maffeo Barberini may not be a great name in the history of science, but he is a great name in the history of art, and a magnanimous personality. I was just objecting to the apparent comparison with Bush, who comprehends neither science nor art, and is smaller than a toad whereas Urban was larger than life.

On the other hand, I may have been too kind to Karol Wojtyla.

By: eric

eric — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:42:29 +0000

terribly unfair to Urban VIII

But science did, in fact, survive him.

By: George Bush » I was right then: Dissing experts is contemptible. (And some of my…

Mon, 05 May 2008 23:26:53 +0000

[...] New Mexico Politics: New Mexico FBIHOP wrote an interesting post today on I was right then: Dissing experts is contemptible. (And some of my…Here’s a quick excerptBut science will survive President George W. Bush, just as it survived Pope Urban VIII, Galileo’s adversary. We shall have to hope the same… [...]

By: eyeingtenure

eyeingtenure — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:11:57 +0000

At least she isn’t elitist. In this election, that’s what matters.

(Agreed on the Urban VIII. Gene.)

By: Gene O'Grady

Gene O'Grady — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:06:42 +0000

This column was terribly unfair to Urban VIII, a cultivated and intelligent man (and, like John Paul II, an appealing failure of a pope), who was caught in forces he couldn’t control. Unlike Bernini, whom he managed to tame.