“A Philosophy Like That Is Immune To Empiricism”

March 18, 2013 in Excerpts, Politics | Permalink

Jonathan Chait, the excellent political writer for New York, is doing an Ask Me Anything at Reddit. A few exchanges follow.

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Question:

Taking down Paul Ryan’s budgets is consistently your Sistine Chapel. Having spent so much time examining the guy, do you think the waves of non partisan analysis of his proposals could ever shake his Randian foundation?

Jonathan Chait:

No, of course not. A philosophy like that is immune to empiricism.

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Question:

Do you see any way democrats could take back the House of Representatives in 2014? How big a structural handicap do they have?

Jonathan Chait: 

Enormous. I believe they’d need to win by 7% to carry the House — a nearly insurmountable obstacle while they hold the presidency and during an off year election when the electorate is disproportionately old and white.

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Question:

You specialize in hilarious and brutal takedowns, but do you think that limits you in some way? In other words, did you ever make the career choice not to be an Ezra Klein type reporter who stays “nice” in tone and gets rewarded with lots of access and chatter with the other side?

Jonathan Chait:

So many kind questions. Well, I respect Ezra a lot. He does amazing work. But, yes, I always saw myself as a blunt critic. I don’t like reporting much anyway. I think the onll real limit is that I’ve made a lot of enemies within the journalistic world.

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