- Kevin Hasset argues that inequality is not rising because of government transfer programs (that he likely does not favor).
- Heather Boushey argues that Kevin Hassett starts from economic models that don’t match reality, rather than the data.
1992 | Gwen Ifill’s Cleareyed Coverage of Bill Clinton
“The Democratic candidates for President, anxious to woo back the disaffected middle class, have all but abandoned their traditional role as champions of the disenfranchised,” Ms. Ifill wrote in January 1992.
“It is almost an oversight, this eerie silence on the campaign trail about issues that affect the poor. But it is a telling omission for the party that had traditionally spoken for the disadvantaged …”
“Instead, wooing the middle class has become all the rage. They are angry and they vote. What Presidential candidate could resist?”
.. She noted the criticism among Democrats, including followers of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, that Mr. Clinton, by now the Democratic nominee, had “decided to sacrifice black voters’ support in exchange for winning back the Democrats — most of them white — who voted for Ronald Reagan and George Bush.”
“Politicians call it taking the base for granted, a tactic that is the opposite of the one Republicans chose at their national convention to woo their base of evangelicals, conservatives and bedrock Republicans.”
.. Gov. Bill Clinton’s voice has been hoarse and strained for months, but it was not until he won the New York primary that he had the political luxury of taking the advice any good doctor would have been giving him for months: Shut up.”
The Life and Example of Gwen Ifill
By 2012 she sensed that racial ugliness was coming out into the open. She began getting more racist reactions on social media and she moved to support her friend Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, who was getting anti-Semitic ones. Keep your head down and keep writing, she urged Goldberg; it’s what they don’t want you to do. Gwen knew what was coming.
.. These days it is normal to bash Washington, to want to “drain the swamp” and to attack the mainstream media. The populists are in and the establishment is out.
But I confess, when I looked at the front of The Times website on Monday and saw a photo of Stephen K. Bannon, on leave from Breitbart as chairman and rising in power, and then underneath it a photo of Gwen, who is passing from this world, I wanted to throw up. This is not progress and this is not good news.