Michael Kinsley Quotes

26 quotes in 410 categories

• Many 'hard' scientists regard the term 'social science' as an oxymoron. Science means hypotheses you can test, and prove or disprove. Social science is little…
• Among the social sciences, economists are the snobs. Economics, with its numbers and graphs and curves, at least has the coloration and paraphernalia of a…
• The definition of a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.
• In those days, the late 1970s, one of the leading politicians was a soon-to-be uncle by marriage of Arnold Schwarzenegger, named Ted Kennedy.
• The takings clause of the Fifth Amendment is for conservatives what the equal protection clause of the 14th is for liberals.
• Conservatives and liberals alike have been waiting for this moment for a third of a century.
• If sexual intercourse, as the poets tell us, began in 1963, it was another decade and a half before the American political system began to…
• I have a saying: the scandal isn't what's illegal, the scandal is what's legal.
• The logic is often far-fetched - how does medical marijuana affect interstate commerce? - and some conservatives would like judges to start throwing out federal…
• He's nice enough not to want to be associated with a nasty remark but not nice enough not to make it. Lacking the courage of…
• In 1977, at least, he wished to have people believe that he shared and was proud of an attitude toward women that is not acceptable…
• It wouldn't be fair to say that conservatives cherish property the way liberals cherish equality. But it would be fair to say that the takings…
• Anything that keeps a politician humble is healthy for democracy.
• Of course, conservatives always claim to be against judicial activism.
• So the danger of conservative judicial activism has been averted for another year. Stay tuned.
• In any event, the proper question isn't what a journalist thinks is relevant but what his or her audience thinks is relevant. Denying people information…
• A Supreme Court decision that concessions of this sort were unconstitutional would have taken them off the table and actually increased the effective sovereignty of…
• In recurring episodes over the next couple of decades, the minority view gradually won. A profusion of factors differentiates each case from the others, including…
• A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.
• Almost any government activity can also be seen as taking property without just compensation. The basic model of an unconstitutional aking would be if the…

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