Heckuva Job
[ Posted Sunday, October 28th, 2007 – 14:58 UTC ]
Friday Talking Points [Vol. 7]
[ Posted Friday, October 26th, 2007 – 17:35 UTC ]
It's been a busy week in Washington, providing lots and lots of fodder for this week's Friday Talking Points column.
After being named last week's Most Impressive Democrat, Senator Chris Dodd showed what happens when you actually, you know, lead on an issue -- all the other major Democratic candidates began supporting him in his bid to shut down the telecommunications amnesty provision in the bill the Senate is currently debating. While I'm glad Hillary and Barack and the others got on board with this effort, the difference between supporting a good idea, and taking the lead on the issue was stark.
Capital Gains, Income, And Taxes
[ Posted Thursday, October 25th, 2007 – 16:24 UTC ]
If you want to know why the rich keep getting richer and nothing ever seems to change in Washington, look no further than this extremely depressing article in Salon, written by Robert Reich, who was President Clinton's Secretary of Labor.
I'm a fan of Reich, as he seems to be one of the few people who actually understand how "the little guy" in America -- the hardworking middle class -- always seems to get screwed, no matter who is in charge. I quoted him in my book and in my very first blog post ever on his ideas for a mandatory three-week paid vacation for everyone who works in America, for instance.
Smoking Mushrooms?
[ Posted Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 – 15:25 UTC ]
D'oh! House GOP Website Pirates Simpsons Images?
[ Posted Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 – 03:47 UTC ]
[Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby and tycoon C. Montgomery Burns]
You may well wonder why I, a (mostly) serious political analyst, begin my weekly Wednesday column with the images of two Simpsons characters. The answer is: these two images are the story. More on that in a bit.
Halloween Comes Early For Republicans
[ Posted Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 – 15:41 UTC ]
[Sorry for such a short post today, I've spent all day on the phone. Tomorrow's column is going to be fun to write! Stay tuned....]
Boo!!
Halloween has apparently come early in Republican-land. The Republican National Committee's website today unveiled a prominent link to their new "Scariest Democrat" page. You can go to the page and vote from among six of the Democratic presidential candidates (with sound effects!). Missing are Kucinich and Gravel, which seems odd as Kucinich should definitely be in the running for the candidate to scare Republicans the most.
Out of the other six, guess who is currently polling at 91% of the vote? No real surprise....
-- Chris Weigant
On The Brink Of Regional War
[ Posted Monday, October 22nd, 2007 – 16:34 UTC ]
There is one thing that just about everybody in the Iraq debate agrees on, from President Bush to anti-war Democrats to Republicans to the generals on the ground: that the biggest thing we want to avoid in Iraq is a "wider regional war." No matter what your position on Iraq, from "leave troops there for 50 years like in South Korea" to "bring all troops home tomorrow," pretty much everybody agrees that a wider war which involves Iraq's neighbors is a thing to be avoided if at all possible.
We're now on the brink of that war starting, but we barely even realize it because it's happening from a direction we haven't been paying much attention to -- Turkey. Now, I personally have been warning for a long time that the situation with Turkey could put the United States in a very tough spot, both diplomatically and militarily. Last year (8/9/06) I wrote: Continue Reading »
Severe Limp
[ Posted Saturday, October 20th, 2007 – 17:26 UTC ]
Friday Talking Points [Vol. 6]
[ Posted Friday, October 19th, 2007 – 17:15 UTC ]
Welcome to the sixth installment of the weekly suggestions for Democrats who are likely to appear on this weekend's chat shows. Previous installments can be seen at the new Talking Points archive on my site.
Before we get to the talking points themselves, attention must be paid to the worst and the best Democrats from last week. For balance, we initiate the "Most Impressive Democrat of the Week" (otherwise known as the "Golden Backbone Award") -- although I honestly can't promise I will be handing this award out every week. The rule shall be: if no Democrat impresses me, then no award for that week shall be given.
Chris Dodd Shows Some Spine
[ Posted Thursday, October 18th, 2007 – 17:55 UTC ]
Senator Chris Dodd doesn't get a lot of press attention even though he's running for the Democratic nomination for president. This may be about to change, as Senator Dodd has just announced he is putting a "hold" on the FISA bill being considered by various Senate committees.
Some background on this action -- Congress, in a stinking cloud of shame, passed a sweeping law this summer which actually expanded the White House's ability to wiretap phone calls without warrants. They did this quickly, so they wouldn't miss any of their precious monthlong August vacation. At the time, Democrats sheepishly explained that the law was "only" for the next six months, and they'd fix it when they got back from going to the beach. For an entire month.