InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds yesterday posted favorably on Question One, the Massachusetts ballot measure that would repeal the state income tax. And he does so, in part, with an unsupported smear and a non-existent quote. (Via Hub Blog.)
“Most of the people complaining live, directly or indirectly, off the taxpayers’ dime, of course,” writes Reynolds, offering not a shred of evidence for that remarkable assertion. Most? Please. Then he adds: “And they’re pledging a campaign of ‘massive resistance.'”
Well, now. Follow Reynolds’ link, and you’ll come to a story on the Web site of WCVB-TV (Channel 5) that contains nothing even remotely akin to the phrase “massive resistance.” Nor does anyone say the magic words in an accompanying video story by Channel 5’s Jorge Quiroga.
For that matter, if you search Google News for the phrase “massive resistance,” you will find nothing pertaining to Massachusetts. And if you try Google Blog Search, you will get exactly one hit: Reynolds’ post.
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Steve
Hey, I know! Let’s complain to Glenn by leaving a comment on his blog!Oh, wait…Anyway, won’t Glenn have to take time off from his position in Tennessee to lead this “mass resistance” he’s trying to create?
Dot Lane
‘Anyway, won’t Glenn have to take time off from his position in Tennessee to lead this “mass resistance” he’s trying to create?’Let’s see…if I’m reading this right, he has one class, 2:15-3:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays….and one class 3-5 on Mondays. No, I wouldn’t say he’s working particularly hard. And judging from the time stamps on his blog, he even managed to post twice while teaching yesterday.The man is a marvel.
Dan Kennedy
Dot: Please don’t go after Glenn on the basis of his teaching load. I teach two classes, which is considered a full load.I’m not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me — it’s a great job. But I was at a coffee shop in Salem until after 10 last night grading papers, and I’m back at it now, a non-teaching day.I do try not to post to my blog in the middle of class!
zadig
What? Glenn Reynolds is posting as if he’s a dishonest hack who pushes his agenda with as little effort or fact-checking as possible? I can’t believe it. Next thing you’ll tell me that Jay Severin isn’t really the intellectual libertarian he pretends to be.Go tell your stories somewhere else. Oh wait, I came here. Never mind.
Dot Lane
Dan:I wouldn’t have mentioned Glenn’s teaching load except for the fact that he seems to be constantly posting and I was trying to figure out when he is actually in class doing what he is paid to do by the State of Tennessee. My guess is that as a tenured professor Glenn gets significant help in administering his classes, researching his scholarly articles, and substantial latitude for his extracurricular activities. In short, as a public employee enjoying lifetime employment, you’d think he’d be a little more circumspect when talking about those sucking on the public teat.So much for venerating the free market.
Steve
zadig – you better stay away from Media Matters, then. Yesterday they ran a story entitled “Limbaugh monologue contains numerous Obama falsehoods“!Next up – “Water is Wet!”Film at 11.
Nial Liszt
WBZ-TV poll on Question 1. Dead even with large undecided. Question 1 Poll
Suldog
Of course, the most telling line in the WCVB link comes at the tail end of the story:”Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi has suggested he would not let the question become law even if it was passed by voters.”Putting aside a discussion of how he would accomplish this, or the legality of same, this is exactly why it has a chance of passing. When the elected representatives stop actually representing the electorate, the electorate tend to get pissed.This vote will come down to an emotional response, not logic. For every one of us (pro or con) who might engage in reasonable debate concerning the particulars, there are large numbers of voters who want nothing more than to either stick it to the General Court or protect their own asses.
Dan Kennedy
Suldog threatens massive resistance!
Suldog
Ha! 🙂
Suldog
Serious question concerning the WBZ poll: I notice one of the subsets is labeled “Intellectual”. The other categories are easily defined, but how do they decide that you belong in that one?(Maybe if I ask the question, they know I don’t?)
Nial Liszt
*”Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi has suggested he would not let the question become law even if it was passed by voters.”Putting aside a discussion of how he would accomplish this, or the legality of same…*Massachusetts binding referendi that are not constitutional amendments are as any other enacted legislation, they can be “adjusted” by the Legislature at any time. They could do this to Prop 2.5 but, so far, choose not to.
Dan Kennedy
Suldog: Google “intellectual ‘survey usa'” and you’ll see that the phrase “Obama leads among those who consider themselves an intellectual” pops up. So apparently it’s self-identification.
Ani
The Latin plural of referendum is referenda (unless “referendi” is another ‘Midwesternism’).
ogre
Massive resistance?They’re going to park Limbaugh in the path of the referendum?
G
Suldog,Since you may be new to Massachusetts political BS, I’ll clue you in. Di Masi will not prevent the referendum from becoming law precisely. His language is a bit sloppy. What he and the legislature will do is to simply vote to reverse the referendum as soon as they return to session following the vote. So for all intents and purposes, it will never have become law. What will the public say to this, you ask? Look into it and you will see the legislature has reversed numerous referenda votes in the past and the response is nothing. In fact, had the legislature not reversed the result of the term limits referendum that the voters passed years back, DiMasi would be in the dreaded private sector today. Or more likely collecting welfare.Make no mistake, the government in Massachusetts has no shame in ignoring the will of the voters.
Peter Porcupine
G – personally, I think it a fine object lesson for the citizenry that the FIRST vote they will take next January will be to re-elect their Speaker, thus voluntarily re-submitting this authority – hugging their chains, if you will – and the second will be to re-impose the income tax.It lets tham know what the Legislature thinks of them.
Glenn
I just saw this post via Google, and it’s kinda late, but here’s what the “massive resistance” was referring to (it was quoted just below that in my post) “Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi has suggested he would not let the question become law even if it was passed by voters.”As for my posting throughout the day, that’s through the miracle of “scheduled posting.” Doesn’t Blogger suppport that, too?
Dan Kennedy
Glenn: You put massive resistance in quotation marks. I assume you know what quotation marks are for. Who, other than you, used the phrase “massive resistance”? That’s what my item was about. If you have an on-point response, we’d love to hear it.And now you tell us that the time stamps on your posts are phony. Hmmm … I’m going to have to think about that.No question that if you back-timed a post to make it look like you’d been more on top of things than you really were, that would be unethical. Not sure what I think about moving the clock in the other direction.