The Burner/Stoller Files

Darcy Burner, a very fine Democratic candidate for Congress in Washington State, is in some hot water. The Seattle Times has published an article disputing her assertion that she "got a degree" in economics from Harvard. Although the evidence is a bit murky, it’s quite reasonable to conclude that her claim is a stretch. Not a huge deal, but probably something she wishes she could undo.

Well! The Harvard blogger boys will have none of that. They’ve scooted off to their keyboards to defend this fair damsel from Seattle's journalistic evildoers. The Matt Brothers–Stoller and Yglesias–use up a lot of bandwidth and throw down a lot of words, but damned if I know exactly what they’re talking about.

As near as I can tell, I guess, Darcy's economics "degree" hinges on her having written a thesis joining her "major" and her "minor" (or whatever it is they call those things in Cambridge). It's not clear to me that she actually wrote such a thesis, but then, I don’t really care that much. And Darcy Burner needs to cut her losses.

Look, I understand the importance of pushing back on the media, but professional bloggers need to stop mainlining their own spin. Sure, Darcy took courses in economics, but in the political world, you aren't going to be able to pass that off as earning a degree. Not when it takes multiple paragraphs to explain it all. That’s just the way it is, boys.

The outrage from the Matts is all very ridiculous and all very tribal–Samantha Power writ small.



UPDATE 1: Stoller's latest post on this topic includes (in the comments) the following email from the reporter in question:

Thanks for your note. Even Darcy Burner doesn't claim that she actually has a degree in economics. I wasn't hasty. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday talking to officials at Harvard about Burner's degree, and they all agreed she does not have a degree in economics. So for me, it comes down to the claim Darcy Burner made in her debates, which you can see on the video. Did she claim to have a degree in economics? Yes. Does she have one? No.

Reasonable people can disagree about the way we played the story or the way I wrote it, but in the context of the national economic crisis, the way Burner characterizes her expertise in economics matters. That's why I wrote the story.

I hope that's helpful.

Emily Heffter Seattle Times

If the liberal blogs aren't careful, they're going to start losing credibility.



UPDATE 2: Some people still can't accept the fact that Darcy doesn't have an economics degree. Matt, Matt, Matt. . .She may be the intellectual heir of John Kenneth Galbraith, but she doesn't have a degree, even though she said she did. What's the big deal? She's a great candidate and deserves to win. (I may have to re-register at Open Left to point this out, just so they can kick me out again. A badge of honor, these days.)