Editors’ Blog
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02.22.15 | 10:55 pm
Squire on Black Respectability Politics

Aurin Squire: “But black respectability politics is more than self-help and discipline. It’s like living your life as a job interview. Forever. It is a state of always striving to impress and never arriving at the promised land of equality.”

02.22.15 | 10:39 pm
The Clown Car Cometh

Is Rudy Giuliani bored or feeling ignored? Is he suffering from some sort of age-related agitation? Or is he simply upset that people are not respecting the trademark he was granted to Terrorism (TM) and the study of Islamic radicalism after he personally tracked down and killed the culprits who perpetrated 9/11? Over the last handful of days Giuliani has said that President Obama does not love his country; lacks patriotism; wasn’t raised like “us” and now, in fact, is driven by communist sympathies that were inculcated in him as a boy. It’s rancid and gross. But it’s also Rudy Giuliani, so hard to get surprised over. But there’s a bigger story here about the entire 2016 presidential cycle.

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02.21.15 | 12:01 pm
Is Obama Failing the YAARRRR! Test?

I discussed yesterday what I referred to as the scourge of verbalism when it comes to what we call ISIS, al Qaida, their various subsidiaries, franchises or whatever else. I wanted to flag your attention to this new piece by J.J. Goldberg in The Forward. It is definitely on the verbalist side of the divide. But it’s also the best version of the argument I’ve seen. I would not even say that I disagree with it in its particulars. I read through it and I find myself saying, yes, yes, yes, that yes, this yes.

But on the global point, we’re arguing here with strawmen and making a grand battle over something that simply pales in comparison to anything that actually matters in terms of combating ISIS or virtually anything else. Is there someone out there who thinks that ISIS’s core recruits don’t think they’re involved in a religious war or pursuing a purified form of Islam, in fact the only true version of Islam? Who is this person? Is anyone shocked or have their basic strategic perspective shaken up by the thought that the jihadis who run ISIS think they’re trying to push forward an eschatological endtime?

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02.20.15 | 1:09 pm
We’re Hiring a Features Intern!

TPM is looking for a Features Intern to assist with The Slice, our new features and essay section that gets to the gut-level, human side of cultural and political issues. We publish researched essays, personal narrative and voicey reported pieces on things like money, sex, identity, pop culture, politics, family and those harbingers of modern life you keep noticing but can’t quite parse out. Read what we’ve published so far here, and read more from the editor here and here.

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02.20.15 | 11:24 am
He Had to Go There

Wayne Barrett is an elder statesmen and giant of the New York City press world. And he’s got a file on Rudy Giuliani. In fact, it’s probably not a file it’s the file on Rudy. It’s probably even fair to say he’s not a fan of the former Mayor. He used the file to compile “Rudy: An Investigative Biography.” And after Rudy again castigated the President as a half-breed outsider who wasn’t raised “like us” and isn’t “like us” at all, Barrett, apparently had to pull out the file.

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02.20.15 | 10:46 am
Combat Mojo

I’ve never made a big thing about my time working as a mercenary during the Gulf War. But now we’ve got Bill O’Reilly apparently making up stories about how he was a combat reporter on the ground during the Falklands War.

02.20.15 | 9:55 am
Phony Quotes?

It looks like The Daily Caller is manufacturing phony quotes that are being attributed to State Department official Marie Harf.

It appears the Caller has now deep-sixed the fake quotes without noting any correction or anything else.

02.20.15 | 9:36 am
Another Wrinkle

Why do millions of Americans mistakenly believe they don’t qualify for Obamacare? Another fascinating, distressing wrinkle to the on-going roll out of the Affordable Care Act.

02.20.15 | 9:30 am
Inside the Derp of LoveGate

Your simple guide to how whether Obama loves America became the next big litmus test of the 2016 GOP presidential primary.