Actually, it's Yesterday In Wrong. I fell behind -- so much wrong, so little time:
1. Newt Gingrich ridicules Nancy Pelosi for calling food stamps an effective form of economic stimulus:
“With regards to [Nancy Pelosi's] comment that food stamps are actually an effective way to stimulate the economy, well, I don’t know any economist who would agree with that. It shows you how inaccurate they are about the very nature of the American economy.”
In fact, economists almost uniformly believe that foodstamps are an effective way to generate economic stimulus:
In findings echoed by other economists and studies, [Mark Zandi] said the study shows the fastest way to infuse money into the economy is through expanding the food-stamp program. For every dollar spent on that program $1.73 is generated throughout the economy, he said.
Now, technically, Gingrich may not be wrong, because he said he does not "know" any economist who would agree with what nearly all economists believe. So it's possible he's correct if he does not know any economists. But I think the thrust of his remark as understand by the audience is false.
2. The Nation's Eric Alterman writes:
I see Jonathan Chait has a blog post blaming the Palestinians for the failure of Middle East peace talks, here.
In fact, the blog post in question says:
In response to a couple entreaties to Bibi Netanyahu to abandon the settlers and form a more centrist, pro-peace coalition, an exasperated Matthew Yglesias replies:
At some point don’t we need to give this game up? You can make the case that even if the current Israeli government were much more reasonable than it in fact is that there still wouldn’t be a peace deal thanks to bad behavior on the Palestinian side. But it’s actually not puzzling at all why Netanyahu doesn’t form a different coalition and agree to a settlement freeze—Netanyahu favors settlement building. This is the whole trajectory of his political career, from leading the charge against the Oslo Agreement to rump Likud in a rebellion against Ariel Sharon to forming a coalition with Avigdor Lieberman. The guy’s not a fool. He knows what he’s doing.
That seems perfectly sensible to me. ...
It's true that Israel has a significant minority of settlers who are committed to endless occupation, and this bloc wields a veto over the current Israeli government.
The item does explain why Palestinians bear a measure of responsibility for peace with Israel. But there is no reasonable reading of this item as an argument that Palestinians are wholly to blame for the failure of Middle East peace talks.