Comments on: Take the Money! Open the Box!

By: Jim Miller

Jim Miller — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 14:13:17 +0000

Careful readers will note that I conformed to the site’s spelling, “Bustamente”, which I assume is the British version of his name. Those who do net searches will do better with “Bustamante”, of course, since most of the material on him is in American publications.

By: Jim MIller

Jim MIller — Tue, 26 Aug 2003 00:51:20 +0000

Well, he might just be troubled a little by Bustamente’s membership in a radical organization that some have call racist and even fascist. That’s hard to say in the US, because anyone who does at a newspaper risks being called racist, which can be fatal to a career. Tacitus has a long post on the subject, if you are interested. And, he might also be troubled just a little by the fact that Bustamente wants to do the same things that Gray Davis was doing. Some of us practical Americans think that when you are in a hole, it is well to stop digging. Finally, he might be troubled by the fact that Bustamente has no significant accomplishments other than winning a series of higher and higher offices.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:33:40 +0000

Harry, I think you should write us all a little guide to English and American letters of recommendation – it would make a good post.

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 19:55:39 +0000

Chris, American letters are chock-full of information. They are just written so strangely that it is very hard to extract any of that information from them. English letters are the same—you just have to be culturally attuned to get them. This plagued me for my first five years as a professor in the US, and I still have—if not nightmares then twinges of guilt—about the students I served ill by writing them English rather than American letters.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 09:20:19 +0000

Tangential to the interesting issues, but (a) Why the assumption that Arnie is the one about whom least is known? This Brit knows more about him than about the other candidates! (b) Non-academic readers may miss how close “excellent letters” is to “no information”, especially in letters written by US-based academics. I’m sure I’ve read at least 3 letters from the same person claiming of each of X, Y, and Z that “In my 25 years of teaching, they are the most brilliant student I’ve ever encountered”.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 25 Aug 2003 07:01:55 +0000

I think you’re stretching your point a bit here. There is a perfectly rational reason that one might choose Arnold over Bustamente in the absence of good information about Arnold: Bustamente might have already developed a record of doing things you don’t this are wise, or might have already given policy statements with which you don’t agree. (For example, Bustamente has already promised significant tax increases.) Given a choice between someone whose position isn’t clear, and someone whose position is “clearly wrong”, choosing the person whose position is unclear is perfectly rational. Or as Heinlein put it: if you don’t know who to vote for, at least you can find someone you want to vote against.