Now that the beat sweetener has entered our lexicon, let's look at a piece typical of its form. Stu Rothenberg ran a shockingly sycophantic editorial in last week's Roll Call brown-nosing Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank, and Rahm Emanuel:
Democrats simply have smarter, tougher, more cold-blooded voices in government at [...]
Claire McCaskill, part of the bipartisan group of Senators gutting the stimulus, sent out the following update on Twitter: "Proud we cut over 100 billion out of recov bill.Many Ds don't like it, but needed to be done.The silly stuff Rs keep talking about is OUT." Elsewhere, she told' [...]
It's worth noting that the RNC had no choice but to appoint Michael Steele as chair of their party -- Katon Dawson, the number two vote getter, had to quit his all-white country club before getting in the race. That wouldn't have been a good look for the Republican party,' [...]
We round up some of the most important news and commentary released over the weekend (Jan. 24 and 25).
AMERICAblog: There will not be a recession, flashback to 2006/2007 - Chris from AMERICAblog digs up a compilation of clips from Fox News and CNBC that illustrates how economic commentators who [...]
Saul Anuzis, one of the candidates for RNC chair, made the following comment on Twitter a couple weeks ago:
First woman in the U.S.Senate...Republican. First woman in the U.S. House...Republican. Same for African-Americans...GOP's history strong.
He implies that because the first black and women representatives in both houses of Congress were' [...]
I admittedly don't know enough about Afghanistan to blog about it as an issue, but here's something I've noticed about the "Get Afghanistan Right" effort from an organizing perspective: outside of groups that are centered around a specific conflict, such as Iraq or Israel/Palestine, we don't have a progressive [...]
Although Obama's proposed stimulus plan is better than what Bush would have devised, his own economic team admits it doesn't do enough to reduce unemployment:
“Full employment” clearly means an unemployment rate near 5 — the CBO says 5.2 for the NAIRU, which seems high to me. Unemployment [...]
Here's why it's important to understand how "The Village" operates: When journalists define the consensus on a particular issue, that changes the costs and benefits for elites to support their preferred position. This in turn compels them to move toward that consensus position rather than acting on their principles.
In [...]
Some reddit commenters argue that 1) All deficits are bad, and 2) I'm similarly hypocritical for not supporting deficit spending during the war, but supporting them now that Democrats are in power.
Generally I think deficits should be avoided, but I wouldn’t agree that they are always "bad." Plenty of' [...]
I mentioned this in the weekend link roundup, but the hypocrisy of conservative bloggers is worth calling out. Right on cue, top conservative bloggers are coming out against the stimulus, arguing that we can't afford it because of the federal deficit.
But bipartisan bonhomie notwithstanding, there’s no' [...]
We read stuff so you don't have to.
John Cole: At What Point Will She Shoulder Some Blame? - Sarah Palin refuses to accept responsibility for her unpopularity, and comes off looking even worse than she did before. It's getting to the point where she's complaining about how her' [...]
Just wanted to respond to commenters on reddit and current, who responded to my original post about Bush's approval — I'll admit that “Bush must be held accountable” is a pretty vague statement.
Bush did a lot of awful stuff, with torture and warrantless wiretapping being one of [...]
I'm going to refrain from commenting because of my employment situation, but the labor merger talks are worth following. NYT broke the story, Harold Meyerson elaborated, and Marc Ambinder has some additional gossip.
[...]John Cherry is apparently running for Michigan governor -- I wish him the best. A couple years ago I was an intern on the Granholm campaign and ran into him a lot. He and his wife were both really... normal. Just funny, nice, down-to-earth people. I've met a lot [...]
Gallup recently released the results of a survey assessing the performance of the Bush administration on a range of issues. Bush is poorly regarded among the public on virtually every topic:
Given his administration's vast array of failures, this is hardly surprising. People are [...]
More on the Rick Warren controversy. Glenn Greenwald and a piece he links to by Michelle Goldberg are worth reading. Although I don't entirely agree with the thrust of their arguments, Jim (twice), Chuck, and Alex are also worth reading.
I had the following [...]
Here's another pattern to watch out for. A "Situation Room" segment that aired yesterday highlighted 11,391 infrastructure proposals from the U.S. Conference of Mayors intended as part of the economic stimulus. CNN examined the document and found proposals for a $4.8 million polar bear exhibit, $1.5 million water ride, [...]
In the past two election cycles, progressives targeted current and potential Republican leaders in the Senate, like George Allen and Mitch McConnell. In 2004, Republicans successfully ousted Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. They're looking for a repeat with Harry Reid in 2010:
But Republicans already have Reid in their' [...]
Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview
Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video
Jim Moss touches on something I struggle with all the time:
Right now on my Facebook account, I have offers from friends to accept virtual plants that will fight global warming, to decorate virtual Christmas Trees that will help cure cancer, and to sign a petition that seeks to end [...]
As Josh mentioned, Obama's choice of bigoted pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration is a major letdown to anyone who cares about equality or social justice. Ann at Feministing best explained why this is a slap in the face to Obama's pro-choice, gay, [...]
Lot of great articles and op-eds this weekend. Among others:
Chris Hayes: The Pragmatist - Chris Hayes deconstructs the DC press' portrayal of Obama as a "pragmatist" vs. an "ideologue." To me, one of the most disappointing features of the Democratic communications strategy over the past four years has been [...]
Over the past couple weeks, it became clear that Chris Matthews was exploring a Senate run against Arlen Specter in PA:
Matthews met Monday with incoming Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord (D) and Democratic attorneys Alan Kessler and Mark Alderman at the Philadelphia-based law firm Wolf Block to discuss a [...]
I aggressively avoided learning about economics or finance in college, which I've come to deeply regret. To make up for it, and put some of the recent news in context, I've started watching the Open Yale lectures explaining financial markets. Open Yale and other lectures in the public [...]
I don't usually watch "Meet the Press," but today's interview with Obama is worth watching:
There's lots of material to dissect and many ways to parse Obama's statements, but a couple things stood out: 1) Bush has been President since I've been politically aware (high school). In that context, it's jarring [...]
The Huffington Post reports that MSNBC has selected David Gregory to take over "Meet the Press" (NBC has denied this). As Media Matters has documented, Gregory has consistently legitimized right-wing falsehoods as "conventional wisdom." Among countless other distortions, he's implied that 9-11 made Guiliani a hero, voters [...]
I agree with this view of the role of campaign attacks.
The main impact of campaign attacks, I think, is not to actually change anyone's mind but rather to familiarize everyone with the talking points of the side they agree with. In 2000, voters who valued "experience" turned out to [...]
Here's Susan J. Demas on Michigan Liberal's remarks about Tim Russert's death.
But let's not let a little thing like death spoil our partisan fun. Worst euolgy ever from one PerfectStormer at Michigan Liberal:
"Our condolences to his family and friends. We may not always have agreed with him, [...]
You may have come across a recent poll by EPIC-MRA showing Ralph Nader with 8% of the presidential vote in Michigan, and a narrative that attributes this result to dissatisfaction over the Michigan primary. Here's why that argument is flawed:
1) EPIC-MRA has a track record inaccuracy, most recently [...]
Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters
Why talk about the war or the economy when we have such important issues like "Bitter gate" and how Hillary laughs?
[...]
From Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, and a really talented group of writers. That animation looks stunning.
[...]When thinking about building public support for withdrawal from Iraq, voters fall into three groups: 1) people who favor withdrawal, 2) people who oppose or are ambivalent about withdrawal, but have negative feelings about the war, and 3) people who oppose withdrawal, and have positive feelings about the war. Many [...]
I'm at the Take Back America conference, where ten congressional candidates are announcing "A Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq" (details here). Anytime around 5:30pm, you can watch the announcement streamed live here:
This initiative is important because it offers a concrete plan to leave Iraq, and [...]
Today, I had the opportunity to see a presentation by Cliff Schecter on how to handle media appearances against conservative commentators. Cliff showed some examples of media appearances that are particularly instructive (and entertaining). In each video, the progressive kept their cool, stayed on the attack, displayed a superior [...]
JAN080041 SERENITY BETTER DAYS #1 (OF 3)
JAN080155 BOOSTER GOLD #7
DEC070188 COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY #6 (OF 8)
JAN080251 DMZ #29 (MR)
JAN080183 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #22
JAN080193 WONDER WOMAN #18
DEC072175 AVENGERS INITIATIVE #10
JAN082172 NOVA #11
Joe Trippi today:
In 1976 and 1980 we had fights that went to the convention. In 1976 it was Ford and Reagan fighting it out and Jimmy Carter became president. In 1980 it was Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter and Reagan became president. History says you don't want to campaign [...]
If you're in DC or planning on being in DC next week, you should register for Take Back America. I think it'll be fun. I'll be there on "Blogger Blvd." with the folks from The Seminal and some others. I heard that a bunch of local bloggers will [...]
For the two people who read this blog and care, I'm now a frontpager on Open Left and The Seminal. I'm really excited (and a little terrified) about both opportunities. I'm also now a guest poster at Michigan Liberal, rather than a full time frontpager (which has [...]
Here's what the Congressional Democratic "leadership" is enabling by allowing retroactive immunity to pass:
The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.
...
it was caused, [...]
Here's candidate support among Democratic primary voters who cited the Iraq war as their most important issue (from the exit polls):
Now that Obama has been pushing harder against Hillary on her vote to authorize the war, it will be interesting to compare these results to how [...]
A good friend e-mailed me a blog post citing an op-ed that claims that "Democratic candidates who appear on The Report receive 44% more money than those who do not in the first month after their appearance."
It might be true that appearing on Colbert increases candidate visibility which ultimately [...]
...what the perception of Obama's religion is, and what impact that would have in a general election. It would be great to see a survey ask "What religion is Barack Obama?", and then tease out how the group people who believe that he is a Muslim are different than everyone [...]
We've often heard the argument that because Democratic primary participation is disproportionately higher in a particular state, Democrats stand a chance of performing better in that state in the general election. After Alex Thurston made this argument about the upcoming Oklahoma Senate race, I decided to find out if [...]
...how Hillary's e-mail list would perform for Obama (in terms of both fundraising and "actions" taken) were he to become the nominee. Conversely, I'd be interested in how Obama's e-mail list would perform for Hillary were she to become the nomine.
[...]DEC070289 100 BULLETS #88 (MR)
DEC070276 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE SPECIAL #2 BEAUTIE
DEC070197 BOOSTER GOLD #0
DEC070293 DMZ #28 (MR)
DEC070282 GEN 13 #17
DEC070229 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21
DEC070242 WONDER WOMAN #17
DEC072209 NOVA ANNUAL #1
DEC072212 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #16
DEC072191 IRON MAN POWER PACK #4 (OF 4)
N.E.R.D., Lupe, and Kanye? Hope they have a DC show.
[...]NOV070206 GREEN LANTERN #27
NOV070293 JACK OF FABLES #19
NOV072136 AVENGERS INITIATIVE #9
NOV072137 CAPTAIN AMERICA #34
NOV072140 DAREDEVIL #104
NOV072121 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #118
NOV070275 Y THE LAST MAN #60
Not a ton that's coming out, but it's all really solid. In particular, looking forward to the end of Y and the new Cap. The rest of the [...]
to the SOTU was the most mundane, poll-tested, consultant-driven group think drivel they could have possibly come up with. Nice going, Democrats.
[...]Continued from part 1.
Broadly, there are two dimensions of the "free trade" argument: economic and moral. The economic argument boils down to whether free trade is good for the domestic economy or not. The moral argument is, of course, about whether the effects of free trade policy are desirable from [...]
Looking at the South Carolina exits, I'm not sure who Edwards is pulling support away from anymore, and who his presence helps. Demographically, it seems like Edwards and Clinton are splitting the non-Obama vote. If what Robert Novak claims is true (and that's a very big if), Edwards [...]
I think the Kwame situation reveals the problems with maintaining partisan loyalty to the Democratic establishment, especially when you know that someone is engaging in bad behavior. He often prioritized his big business support over the welfare of his constituents, which is clearly out of step with the political preferences [...]
At some point this diary linking to the "Edwards second choice" piece was on the front page of John Edwards' campaign blog, which is cool. Apparently that was enough to take the site down. Not cool.
[...]The past few days have been pretty crazy in terms of where my posts have ended up.
My Ron Paul / Michigan primary post was quoted in the New York Times blog The Caucus.
I did an interview with Michigan Public Radio because of my Ron Paul post on Michigan Liberal [...]
The results of the exit polls tell us about the impact that "crossover" voters had on the Republican primary, and give us a hint about what the Democratic race might have been like had the other candidates not been taken off the ballot. Check below the fold for a few [...]
John McCain on "liberal Democrats" participating in the Michigan primary:
But today on his Straight Talk Express bus (powder blue interior with a musty smell), McCain dismissed the idea by imagining what a liberal Democrat in Michigan might be thinking. Oh, gee. Ill go find out where the polling place [...]
There is a lot of uncertainty about the impact of John Edwards' presence in the race. We often hear the argument that if it weren't for Edwards, Obama or Clinton would be doing better. Yesterday, Matt Stoller discussed Edwards' role in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination as a [...]
Gelman's blog has a must-read post on what went wrong with the New Hampshire polling. I think that part of it was the deficiencies in the likely voter screen that his commenter describes, part of it was incorrect assumptions about turnout, and I think that there was some small [...]
I recently participated in The Seminal's post-debate roundtable. My banal comments notwithstanding, it was a great discussion -- check it out!
[...]It has been over fourteen years since Congress first debated the economic impact of NAFTA on the United States. After fourteen years of NAFTA, where does the American public stand on free trade? In December 2006, the Pew Research Center asked a nationally representative survey of 1,502 adults this very [...]
You might have noticed the domain name change. Here's the rationale:
I've decided to stop writing about Michigan politics, because I moved away from MI and the subject honestly hasn't invigorated me in a while. I was trying to force writing about it when I should not have, and my writing [...]
Well, there goes my shot at getting back on the list.
The members discuss inside baseball strategy and other tech/political subjects. Its an interesting read at times, although several members are quite upset that bloggers like Nirmal Mankani of the AFL-CIO, Matt Stoller of MyDD and Nico Pitney of Center [...]
Well, there goes my shot at getting back on the list.
The members discuss inside baseball strategy and other tech/political subjects. Its an interesting read at times, although several members are quite upset that bloggers like Nirmal Mankani of the AFL-CIO, Matt Stoller of MyDD and Nico Pitney of Center [...]
When you have a small ruling clique controlling campus politics, you're more likely to end up with things like this.
[...]When you have a small ruling clique controlling campus politics, you're more likely to end up with things like this.
[...]I couldn't agree more that full feeds are more effective at driving website traffic. There is no reason to close of content to users. When I get time, I'm going to write a much longer post on this.
[...]I couldn't agree more that full feeds are more effective at driving website traffic. There is no reason to close of content to users. When I get time, I'm going to write a much longer post on this.
[...]The Digg audience again demonstrated that there is really no internal logic to its political beliefs.
Digg users recently made clear that they would love a four day work week. However, these same people are rabidly anti-union, as was demonstrated in the recent thread on the UAW/GM strike. Who [...]
The Digg audience again demonstrated that there is really no internal logic to its political beliefs.
Digg users recently made clear that they would love a four day work week. However, these same people are rabidly anti-union, as was demonstrated in the recent thread on the UAW/GM strike. Who [...]
Michigan football, that is. This came in from a fundraising e-mail that he just sent out.
More and more pundits are talking about Governor Richardson, particularly in light of the lack of progress in Iraq. Last week in Time magazine, William Kristol compared Governor Richardson's campaign to Appalachian State's victory over [...]
Michigan football, that is. This came in from a fundraising e-mail that he just sent out.
More and more pundits are talking about Governor Richardson, particularly in light of the lack of progress in Iraq. Last week in Time magazine, William Kristol compared Governor Richardson's campaign to Appalachian State's victory over [...]
I did some work with Rick and the Courage Campaign... I know that if anyone can beat back this thing, it is them.
[...]
I did some work with Rick and the Courage Campaign... I know that if anyone can beat back this thing, it is them.
[...]Normally I would just quote this in my personal blog, but I thought it was worth sharing with a wider audience. I think that it gets to the heart of what the college experience really entails.
After maybe a year getting used to this place, Ive found that most of [...]
Normally I would just quote this in my personal blog, but I thought it was worth sharing with a wider audience. I think that it gets to the heart of what the college experience really entails.
After maybe a year getting used to this place, Ive found that most of [...]
This is a fascinating idea. Basically, the idea is to use an algorithm to determine congressional districts instead of people who have a political interest in the outcome of the redistricting process. It achieves this by defining the best district map as one in which "people have the lowest [...]
This is a fascinating idea. Basically, the idea is to use an algorithm to determine congressional districts instead of people who have a political interest in the outcome of the redistricting process. It achieves this by defining the best district map as one in which "people have the lowest [...]
Check it out. It will be great to finally get some thorough independent journalism at the statewide level, especially from talent like Kevin and Eartha. An army of local bloggers can make a difference in a way that the "short head" blogs might not necessarily be able to do.
[...]Check it out. It will be great to finally get some thorough independent journalism at the statewide level, especially from talent like Kevin and Eartha. An army of local bloggers can make a difference in a way that the "short head" blogs might not necessarily be able to do.
[...]House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) called Petraeus a good friend and labeled him and Crocker "two of America's finest."
Skelton also moved quickly to have anti-war protesters thrown out of the crowded hearing room.
"Out they go," Skelton said when one was escorted out.
(link)
And yet, Democrats are [...]
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) called Petraeus a good friend and labeled him and Crocker "two of America's finest."
Skelton also moved quickly to have anti-war protesters thrown out of the crowded hearing room.
"Out they go," Skelton said when one was escorted out.
(link)
And yet, Democrats are [...]
This is admirable. But it's also hilarious that the "College Dropout" is telling kids to go to school.
[...]This is admirable. But it's also hilarious that the "College Dropout" is telling kids to go to school.
[...]It's fair to say that the new internet left that came into being from 1998-2007, the 'Open Left', does not particularly support Hillary Clinton. The people that backed Dean and Clark in 2004, and then Kerry, have not unified behind any one candidate in the primary. Some support is behind [...]
It's fair to say that the new internet left that came into being from 1998-2007, the 'Open Left', does not particularly support Hillary Clinton. The people that backed Dean and Clark in 2004, and then Kerry, have not unified behind any one candidate in the primary. Some support is behind [...]
A new Gallup poll released today reveals that people want a President who both has experience and brings change.
A separate question in the poll, on the other hand, suggests that it may not be a matter of "either/or." When asked how desirable or undesirable certain characteristics would be for [...]
A new Gallup poll released today reveals that people want a President who both has experience and brings change.
A separate question in the poll, on the other hand, suggests that it may not be a matter of "either/or." When asked how desirable or undesirable certain characteristics would be for [...]
BAI: ...as you may know, I helped moderate the debate at the blogger convention in Chicago, and there was an awful lot of pandering going on out there. [laugh from both Bai and Russert] But I dont think that will be a problem, and here is why.
This is a very [...]
BAI: ...as you may know, I helped moderate the debate at the blogger convention in Chicago, and there was an awful lot of pandering going on out there. [laugh from both Bai and Russert] But I dont think that will be a problem, and here is why.
This is a very [...]
Based on anecdotal evidence, this finding makes sense. In Michigan I was middle of the road, but here in D.C. I realize I am definitely on the overweight side.
I think a big difference is just how people get places. Here my commute to work (or anywhere) involves 25-30 minutes [...]
Based on anecdotal evidence, this finding makes sense. In Michigan I was middle of the road, but here in D.C. I realize I am definitely on the overweight side.
I think a big difference is just how people get places. Here my commute to work (or anywhere) involves 25-30 minutes [...]
I hate to discuss blogosphere "meta", but I thought this Walberg Watch comment was interesting:
Do I have to be one of the in-crowd like they have over at michiganliberal? That blog seems more and more like a clique to me all the time. And it's not so much left [...]
