Bio

I'm from Vermont.  Conservatives being in rather short supply up there, I needed somewhere to bounce my ideas off of, so I joined Ricochet.

My interests are history, politics, and economics, though I'm mostly self-taught in the last two, for what that's worth. I also know lots of random trivia.

I'm mostly a libertarian with conservative views on national and border security, but a bit of a squish politically if not ideologically.  Despite this, my political hero is Barry Goldwater.

I also like solitaire.

Please visit my election-analysis blog here.


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Dan's Profile

Dan
Name:
Dan
Joined:
May 1, 2011

Recent Comments

Dan

As far as the political implications - I want it to have effects, but I think they'll be fairly small unless Obama himself is implicated.  I do think it might help turnout on the right, and the IRS scandal might become a huge issue if it gets tied in with an Obamacare implementation train wreck.  I'm encouraged by Davis' view, but electorally pessimistic after 2012.  It might actually help some Democrats if they manage to get in the front of this.

Dan

@DocJay

My English teacher is wildly liberal.  She made us do a group project of creating artwork about some social issue.  My group chose the IRS scandal, which necessitated an explanation of what it actually was during the presentation.  After the usual questions about the artwork, she turned to me (I'm the political geek in the class) and said: "Now I have some questions about the issue", at which point she racked her brain to dredge up every liberal excuse for it - deluge of applications, Shulman was a Bush appointee, etc.  She basically pulled out everything possible that was not blatantly ludicrous to try to downplay it.  I was able to refute them all fairly easily (and quite enjoyed doing it), but I wonder how many share her view.

Dan

Larry Koler

Byron Horatio

...

Very weird business. · 14 hours ago

I've never seen such slavish fandom for a Republican on the pages of Ricochet.  I mean we all have our favorites I know, but the Palin die-hards just will not accept any criticism as even conceivably legitimate.  "The MSM has brainwashed them!  They just want to hang with the cool kids!"

I'm a Rand Paul guy, ...

Have you heard of Ron Paul? Slavish fandom is to be seen with the Ronbots, don't you think? Maybe you aren't paying attention. · 10 hours ago

It's very possible to like the son but not the father.  Support for Rand Paul does not automatically make you one of Ron Paul's fanbots.

Dan

The quote feature does not seem to be working, but I'm with GayFreedomLover.  Cuccinelli is definitely electable, though probably not favored.  But Jackson, I suspect, will lose (though, as I said earlier, I think he can win, but that depends on a few things).  He has the potential to boost turnout among very conservative groups, but is probably very limited in his ability to expand beyond his base.  Jackson only got 6% of the vote in the primary against George Allen, which tends to indicate that he has a lot of work to do to win a victory based on turnout.  It's also worth noting that Virginians are fairly comfortable with split ticket voting.  The greatest problem for Cuccinelli is that Jackson's presence allows the Democrats to make the race more about social issues than he would like.

Dan

I definitely wouldn't say that position is now a sure bet for the Democrats.  The Republicans probably could have made things easier for themselves by choosing someone else, but to write this guy off seems premature.

Dan

Randall: I never take media reports of polls seriously, even when they validate my position on an issue. · 1 hour ago

Edited 1 hour ago

Generally, this is probably a good idea.  However, there are a few things to keep in mind:

So far as I can tell, Rothenberg's analysis checks out factually with what Harper put out in its press release.

Harper is a Republican - affiliated polling firm.

The poll, again, was conducted for a group backing a draft Palin campaign, so it's not intended to show her weakness - if anything the opposite.

Dan
Severely Ltd.: For faux-folksiness no one trumps Obama. Instead of a winning lottery ticket, I'll take a nickel for every time he's used the word itself: "Folks". · 2 hours ago

I totally agree.

raycon and lindacon: 

We assume that the poll is referring to the 2014 senatorial election.   · 2 hours ago

Yes.  Should have made that clearer.  Sorry.

Dan

PracticalMary: Trollish. You can be a non-supporter of someone but one wonders why you felt the need to even post beyond that it's amazing they have her in the poll when she's running for nothing. · 1 hour ago

Edited 1 hour ago

They included her in the poll because it was commissioned by a group supporting her.  My interest was piqued by the poor showing for someone of her stature, and what the implications of that might be.  I did not intend this to turn into a commentary on Palin's merits.

PracticalMary: she is just so unintellectual, why she's folksy! · 1 hour ago

Edited 1 hour ago

A fairly minor annoyance that Byron Horatio mentioned and that I happen to share.  As I've said, she's done a lot of good in helping conservatives win primaries.  It is, as the President would say, a sideshow.

Dan
kohana: Your dislike of Sarah comes out in your post and your headlines as well. I would like to see her in the Senate, and shake them up a bit. If I live long enough, I may see her as our first female president. She is not perfect but she is so much more perfect that anything we have seen as POTUS since Clinton, and a thousand times better than Carter. · 8 minutes ago

I'll admit I'm don't really like her that much (there are far better on the Republican side), but my main point here was to comment on what I see as a notable trend of declining popularity for her.  She has done a lot of good - like helping out Cruz and Haley.

Edited on May 19, 2013 at 6:46am
Dan
Byron Horatio: I guess I've never been a big fan.  Call me a hater, but I don't care for anyone who speaks publicly in an overly folksy manner.  Even if it's genuine, it always comes off as sounding cheap and hacky.  I probably agree with her on 80% on policy, but platitudes can be grating.  · 0 minutes ago

Oh, I agree.  I watched a lot of Fox News in the run-up to the 2010 midterms, and to this day I have a very annoying image in my head of her saying something along the lines of: "This administration has defied the will of the American people, and the American people are not happy" (I should note that she definitely had some better performances during her time at Fox;  this is just the one that sticks with me).  Whenever I think of it, I have an urge to go smack my head against a wall.

Dan

Casey

What songs or artists are undeservingly underplayed?· 5 hours ago

I admit I generally don't listen to the radio for this very reason, so I'm basically flying blind here, but I figure the bands I like - The Pogues, The Dubliners, The Irish Rovers, etc. - really could stand to be played a bit more.

Dan

Let me chime my thanks in as well.

Dan
Cattle King: This is greatly disappointing.  As with booking the moral reprobate Newt Gingrich a couple weeks ago, the Flagship seems to be getting political hacks instead of someone who might have something interesting to say about the times we live in.  Does anyone think Rick Perry will give us anything other than boilerplate?   · 1 minute ago

I disagree about Newt; what's been getting him into a lot of the trouble he's been in over the years is his refusal to stick to boilerplate stuff.

As for guests, you guys should have gotten Steve Hayes.

Dan

Julian Bond has, but I think there ar some things even it can't trump.

Dan

~Paules

Nobody likes a spoiler.· 2 hours ago

Edited 1 hour ago

Oops.

Dan

C.  Hungarian

A.  Books 

A.  Farsi 

D.  A Steppe

B.  Islam 

C.  Abraham 

B.  Populations 

D.  Alpine

B.  Hispanic 

C.  Continental

D.  Grasses

B.  Domestication 

C.  Weather 

A.  A Climate 

B.  Socialism 

C.  Mercantilism 

B.  Soviet Communism 

D.  Sugarcane

D.  Portugal

Pretty confident about 16 of them, guessed on three.

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