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Category Archives: Columns
Wingnuts Excerpt-Bush Derangement Syndrome
Before the right-wing fringe lost their minds about Obama, the left turned a similar trick. We saw this destructive dynamic at work during the previous administration, when far-left protests erupted into Bush Derangement Syndrome, comparing the president to Hitler and … Continue reading
Jon Stewart Has the Right Idea – CNN.com
Are you tired of the extremes dominating the debate? Angry about hyperpartisans hijacking American politics? Well, Jon Stewart has a rally for you and me. The Rally to Restore Sanity is slated for October 30, the weekend before Election Day, … Continue reading
The Tea Party Abortion Doctrine – The Daily Beast
Call it the Palin Standard, the new normal creeping into Republican abortion politics—opposition even in cases of rape and incest. When Sarah Palin was plucked from obscurity two years ago to become the VP nominee, McCain’s senior policy aides did … Continue reading
Division and amnesia on 9/11 anniversary – CNN.com
The ninth anniversary of 9/11 finds our country divided. “The warm courage of national unity”– that was the FDR quote invoked by President George W. Bush at a prayer service in the fall of 2001. It captured the spirit infusing … Continue reading
The Media Hijackers – The Daily Beast
How does a fringe preacher go from 50 congregants to the front page of 50 newspapers overnight? Just say you’re going to burn the Quran. It took little more for the “Reverend” Terry Jones and his ironically named Dove World … Continue reading
The Top 10 Weirdest Campaign Ads – The Daily Beast
It’s enough to make you miss the “Daisy” ad. LBJ’s invocation of nuclear war if Barry Goldwater won the ‘64 election was substantive and civil compared to the worst of the campaign ads we’ve seen so far this season. It’s … Continue reading
Will Boies and Olson Win the Gay Marriage Argument? – The Daily Beast
Closing arguments in one of the prime civil-rights fights of our time is scheduled to take place this Wednesday in San Francisco, with the high drama surrounding the constitutional challenge to California’s Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage heightened by … Continue reading
Tsunami of Sleaze – NY Post
NEW York, New Jersey and Connecticut: We have a problem. And it’s not just the fiscal crisis. It’s the bipartisan culture of corruption that has swamped tri-state politics. Longtime NY state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s indictment last Friday on … Continue reading
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The Supreme Court’s Election Reform Ruling Is a Big F-ing Deal
This, in the words of Joe Biden, is a big fucking deal. The Supreme Court’s vote on marriage equality and its refusal to gut health-care reform justly got the banner headlines over the last few days. But a less-publicized case … Continue reading
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The Top 25 Centrist Columnists and Commentators – The Daily Beast
Professional partisans present a vision of American politics where everything is divided between the far left and the far right. Lately, they seem to be dominating the nation’s political debate. But there’s a powerful backlash brewing—a movement of voices from … Continue reading
Confronting George Clooney’s Critics on South Sudan
The remaining newsstands across the nation are still dotted with magazines featuring photos of George Clooney’s Venetian wedding to British barrister Amal Alamuddin. This controlled embrace of the paparazzi on Clooney’s wedding day was motivated by charity rather than the … Continue reading
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Scary New GOP Poll – The Daily Beast
On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he’s a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say “he may be the Antichrist.” To anyone who thinks the end of the … Continue reading
Billboards of Hate
The stunningly cynical and stupid Republican National Committee PowerPoint pulled the curtain back on the sleazy culture of hyper-partisanship that is at the root of Washington’s dysfunction. But its impact extends beyond the Beltway… These appeals have been deployed since … Continue reading
The Tenthers and the Return of the Confederacy
There’s a place in the Wingnut universe where the rights of states to secede is still asserted, the New Deal is characterized as unconstitutional, and desegregation is considered tyranny imposed by the federal government. They’re not fans of the federal … Continue reading
The GOP’s War on Teddy Roosevelt – The Daily Beast
Here’s how crazy our politics have become: Legendary Republican President Theodore Roosevelt is being called a socialist by conservatives like Glenn Beck. The man on Mount Rushmore, the Rough Rider president, is getting caught up in a party-purity dragnet 91 … Continue reading
The Birchers Are Back at CPAC
It’s CPAC time again—the Conservative Political Action Committee’s annual Washington cattle call begins Friday. This year, they’ve attracted an all-star lineup in a bid for renewed respectability: a half-dozen GOP presidential hopefuls (Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, … Continue reading
Praying for the President’s Death
At a time when some people confuse losing an election with living under tyranny, it’s perhaps no surprise that a day set aside for marking past presidents’ birth has become, for some, a day for praying for the current president’s … Continue reading
Antichrist Politics – The Daily Beast
The Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill on Wednesday that bans companies from tracking their employees with implanted microchips. On the surface, the bill sounds libertarian, albeit in a far-sighted Blade Runner sort of way. But it turns out … Continue reading
Gay group in conservatives’ gathering splits GOP – CNN.com
The Conservative Political Action Conference’s annual Washington convention this week is not where you’d expect to find a new front in the gay civil rights movement. But that’s going to be the story this week at CPAC. America has been … Continue reading
The ‘Birthers’ Began on the Left
The Birthers were back in force at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. WorldNet Daily founder Joseph Farah used his prime-time speaking slot, broadcast on C-Span, to pump up claims that President Obama was not born in the United … Continue reading