It turns out that Tim Russert and the NYT both called Bush on the inconsistency I confidently predicted they wouldn’t call him on. Good for them. Error, Kleiman.
My prediction that the press wouldn’t notice the contradiction between GWB’s saying Friday night that talking about his warrantless-wiretap program would threaten national security and his talking about it Saturday afternoon turns out to have been wrong. I’m told Tim Russert talked about it on Meet the Press, and this morning’s New York Times , mentioned it, albeit in about the twenty-fifth graf.
Glad to know that there are some actual journalists out there.
On the other hand, the Times (also this morning) had a good story about what’s actually happening in Colombia, with the paramilitary warlords threatening to take over the place by “democratic” means (i.e., winning elections by threatening to shoot anyone who runs against them). But the story doesn’t note that the President offered Colombia as a model for Iraq in his conversation with Jim Lehrer.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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