Enough With This ‘100 Days’ Nonsense
By Stanley Kutler —
On what basis have the cable channels decided that President Obama’s first hundred days are the most important thing to happen in the history of the world? As in the case of FDR before him, much has happened in the beginning of the president’s first term—and there is much more to come.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Specter Joins Democrats; Senate Count May Reach 60By CARL HULSE and ADAM NAGOURNEY
The decision by Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania to switch parties potentially presents Democrats with a 60th vote and the power to break Senate filibusters.
The Specter of a shrinking GOP
Arlen Specter's defection likely means a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority. Choose your metaphor -- rats, ships, small tents -- but will the last Republican to leave please turn out the light?
By Mike Madden
Specter's "Happy 100 days!" gift to Obama
The Pennsylvania senator ditches the GOP. Is one of our major political parties on its death bed?
By Joan Walsh
Monday, April 27, 2009
Frank Rich: The Banality of Bush White House Evil
President Obama can talk all he wants about not looking back, but this grotesque past is bigger than even he is. It won’t vanish into a memory hole any more than Andersonville, World War II internment camps or My Lai.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Reagan and Nixon Greeted Despots, TooBy Joe Conason —
Few aspects of American politics are as ridiculous and dangerous as the right-wing urge to substitute macho posturing for foreign policy.
Few aspects of American politics are as ridiculous and dangerous as the right-wing urge to substitute macho posturing for foreign policy.
100 Down, 900 More to Goby Katrina vanden Heuvel:
After 100 days, some important and worthy markers have been laid down by President Obama. But the big battles lie ahead in the next 900.
Lessons from the GOP in Retrograde by Terence Samuel The modern-day Republican Party is not so much a political party as it is a cautionary tale.
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Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Judge Jay S. Bybee provided the legal framework for torture to the Bush administration. If he had even a particle of decency, he'd resign.
By Gene Lyons
By Gene Lyons
>
Editorial: Openness
There needs to be a detainee abuse investigation with subpoena power.
There needs to be a detainee abuse investigation with subpoena power.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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Torturers Should Be Punished By Amy Goodman —
The door to bringing torturers to justice is open only a crack. Whether it is kicked open or slammed shut is not up to the president. Though he may occupy the most powerful office on Earth, there is a force more powerful: committed people demanding change.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Progressivism Goes Mainstream
by John Halpin and Ruy Teixeira
New research on ideology refutes the conservative myth that America is a "center right" nation.
Barack Obama's agenda reflects deep and growing consensus among the American public about the priorities and values that should guide our government and society.
by John Halpin and Ruy Teixeira
New research on ideology refutes the conservative myth that America is a "center right" nation.
Barack Obama's agenda reflects deep and growing consensus among the American public about the priorities and values that should guide our government and society.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
RAHM TAKES ON CRITICS OF TORTURE MEMOS RELEASEby Sam Stein
Rahm Emanuel had a message to critics of the administration's decision to release torture memos: the information is already out there, read the New York Review of Books.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Armey’s Tea Party ArmyBy Joe Conason —
At the apex of the tea party movement is FreedomWorks, headed by former Rep. Dick Armey. His past career should be instructive to any starry-eyed citizens who believe that they have at last found the true right-wing revolutionary path.
World's Stupidest Argument
Posted by Joe Klein
Posted by Joe Klein
Bush flunkies trying to argue that Obama is more polarizing than Bush was. Given the fact that Obama had to take dramatic action, at home and abroad, to start lifting the country from the mess Bush made almost everywhere--and also begin to turn the country away from the myopia and greed of the Reagan era--it's amazing that he hasn't raised more dust or teabags. And, I should add the fact that the alleged polarization mostly results from the fact that Obama gets extremely low ratings from self-identified Republicans, who constitute an extremist shard of a party at this point, is a badge of honor. (Commenter sgwhiteinfla points out that the polarization is also the result of overwhelming--88%--support from Democrats.)
In the long run, it's a safe historical bet that Bush will prove more polarizing than Obama because he was such an abject failure in the job--I doubt we'll ever see Obama submerge to approval ratings in the mid-20s, or launch wars peremptorily without cause or purpose. The constant sniping from Rove, Wehner and the others during Obama's first 100 days is a deeply neurotic reaction to the enormity of their own cockups in office. It shows a profound lack of class or grace, but then, that's no surprise with these guys, is it? They ran the country like thugs, and thugs they remain.
Robert Reich: A Short Citizen's Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax DayNo one likes to pay taxes, so tax day typically attracts a range of right-wing Republicans, kooks, and demagogues, all of whom tell us how awful we have it. Here's a short citizen's guide (that is, a citizen's guide that's short rather than a guide for short citizens) responding to the predictable charges.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Three-judge panel: Franken wins Minnesota Senate seatColeman lawyer Ben Ginsberg plans appeal, but the end is near.
Salon just got a news alert from the Democratic National Committee announcing that the three-judge panel that has been supervising the Minnesota Senate race recount has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner.
"Franken received the highest number of lawfully cast ballots in the Nov. 4, 2008 general election," the ruling stated. With recently added absentee ballots counted, Franken upped his lead over incumbent Norm Coleman to 312 votes. The panel determined that Franken is entitled to receive the certificate of election.
Coleman's lawyer Ben Ginsberg insists he'll appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court. But the state's Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie insists he welcomes that appeal, because it has to come within 10 days of this ruling, and could provide bipartisan closure.
It may be too early to say "Welcome Sen. Franken," but it looks like we're roughly 10 days away from being able to say exactly that. We'll keep you posted.
-- Joan Walsh
Monday, April 13, 2009
Tea Parties Forever
By PAUL KRUGMAN
This is a column about Republicans — and I’m not sure I should even be writing it.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The great right wing freak out
Symptoms of the conservative crack-up were on full display after President Obama's trip abroad. Bill Kristol, take a bow.
By Juan Cole
Republicans Tripping by Terence Samuel
Conservative critics used Obama's recent diplomatic trip to demonize the president. Unfortunately for them, their histrionics don't seem to be working.
Glenn Beck and The Consequences of Crazy Talkby Bob Cesca
Broadcasters like Beck ought to take responsibility for some of their more incendiary remarks -- remarks which appear to be ginning up the darker, uglier, fanatical tendencies in an already militaristic, jingoistic, reactionary audience.
Obama: The Extremists’ Nightmare
By Joe Conason —
In the struggle against the extremists and terrorists, the new president understands how to divide the enemy and neutralize their base—and is uniquely suited to accomplish the mission. He got elected in the United States of America, after all.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
The Real PelosiBy E.J. Dionne Jr.
"I give Republicans credit for this: They vote the way they believe. . . . I think that they vote with more integrity than they get credit for."
That review of Republican motivations and commitments comes not courtesy of a partisan blog but from Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House.
That review of Republican motivations and commitments comes not courtesy of a partisan blog but from Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Springtime for Equality
by John Nichols:
Following the breakthrough for gay rights in Iowa, the Vermont victory serves as a prime example of how political organizing can bring about real social change.
by John Nichols:
Following the breakthrough for gay rights in Iowa, the Vermont victory serves as a prime example of how political organizing can bring about real social change.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Health Care Reform at Last By E.J. Dionne —
Yes, this is the year Congress will finally give every American access to health insurance. For the first time since the passage of Medicare in the 1960s, the forces favoring action on health care reform are stronger than the forces of cynicism and obstruction.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Gail Collins: Barack’s Continental CoolnessIf nothing else, the president’s trip overseas helped resolve the longstanding question of who can be more irritating, the Republicans or the French.
The French are right -- more public spending, and it works
By Joe Conason
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Close These Refuges for Scoundrels By Joe Conason —
The story of former AIG executive Joseph Cassano points up once more how tax and regulatory havens across the world encourage nefarious conduct, lack of transparency, evasion of taxes and corporate criminality.
The Nobelists vs. Obama and Geithner By E.J. Dionne —
The president’s plan to bail out the banks reveals a deference to the existing financial system that puts him at odds with Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz.
Putting the ‘Care’ in Health Care By Ellen Goodman —
Sadly, we have developed a system that rewards procedures over primary care. The incentives tip toward the kind of medicine that is performed with hands, tools and technology over the medicine that is practiced with eyes, ears and mind.
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