PERRspectives: Democrats Archives

Democrats Archives

	CBO Highlights Republican Deficit Posturing The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates for the final health care bill are bringing smiles to Democratic faces. Over 10 years, the $940 billion package will cover 32 million more Americans while ending insurance abuses including rescission and the use of pre-existing conditions to deny coverage. But the ersatz deficit hawks of the Republican Party should be happy, too. For less than half the cost of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, the CBO forecasts the final health care... more Posted on March 18, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	GOP's Hensarling Gives Republicans Credit for Clinton Surpluses Still smarting after his budgetary beat down at the hands of President Obama Friday, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling this weekend invited a second round of punishment. "I stand by what I said," Hensarling said Saturday, referring to his manifestly ridiculous claim the previous day that "the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats." As it turns out, he wasn't talking about the red ink Republican George W. Bush. What he meant, Hensarling instead made... more Posted on February 1, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Oregon Voters Send Progressive Message on Tax Measures Just one week after the media chattering classes announced that Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts represented a political sea change, voters in Oregon sent an unmistakable message of their own. And to be sure, they signaled an important win for Democrats and their progressive allies. Rather than gut school funding and other essential government services during a recession like most states, Oregonians voted to raise taxes on the wealthiest residents and boost the minimum corporate tax from its... more Posted on January 27, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Democrats Waver on Ending Bush Tax Cuts for Wealthy Last year, President Obama kept his campaign promise to cut taxes for 95% of American households. But facing tough reelection prospects in November, a group of House Democrats is getting weak in the knees when its comes to Obama's pledge to reduce the budget deficit by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for Americans making over $250,000 a year. By delivering a massive windfall for the richest Americans while producing red ink as far as the eye can see, that... more Posted on January 22, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Sheep, Unicorns, Kamikazes and Joe Lieberman When Vermont Republican Senator Jim Jeffords balked at supporting President Bush's wildly irresponsible tax cuts in 2001, the retribution from the White House and its GOP allies in Congress was swift and severe. Ostracized and humiliated, Jeffords became an independent, briefly shifting control of the Senate to Democrats. Assessing that sea change, Connecticut's Joe Lieberman joyously proclaimed: "This is historic. It gives us the opportunity to set the agenda." As it turned out, of course, not so much. With the... more Posted on December 15, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	2009 Democratic Deficit Cutters vs. 2003 GOP Budget Busters A funny thing has happened on America's way to health care reform. As Republicans promise a "holy war" to block supposed "government-run" health care that would "break the bank", Democrats in the House and the Senate offered reform plans that would cover all almost Americans, plans which pay for themselves. As it turns out, that's a far cry from the GOP's deeply flawed 2003 Medicare prescription drug benefit, an unfunded act of transparent pandering to elderly voters which saddled the... more Posted on November 19, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Jeb Bush's Brother and the GOP Attack on U.S. Capitalism On Wednesday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush doubtless pleased his audience at the U.S Chamber of Commerce when he declared, "I think President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism." But in his knee-jerk assault on his brother's successor, Governor Bush conveniently omitted that George W. Bush compiled the worst economic record of any president since Herbert Hoover. Of course, when it comes to GDP, employment, the stock market or just about any other measure... more Posted on November 1, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	When Opting Out is Not An Option While the Obama White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Congressional Democrats debate among themselves whether a so-called "opt out" public health insurance option will be included in reform legislation, Minnesota Governor and GOP presidential wannabee Tim Pawlenty has already weighed in. Asked if he would "lead a charge" in his state to opt out, Pawlenty replied, "I think so because I don't like government run health care." That's easy for him to say. As it turns out, Minnesota... more Posted on October 26, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Baucus Bill Latest Proof of Krugman's Law With his seriously compromised and deeply flawed legislation, Senator Max Baucus has achieved rare bipartisan consensus on health care: virtually everyone from both parties hates his bill. But with his feeble acknowledgement that despite all of his kowtowing to his GOP colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee "no Republican has offered his or her support at this moment," Baucus once again confirmed "Krugman's Law." That is, no amount of appeasement is sufficient for Republicans to ever back Democratic proposals on... more Posted on September 16, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	America Wins When Democrats Go It Alone Back in January, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman presciently warned President Obama about the GOP's bad faith in negotiating the stimulus bill, announcing, "Look, Republicans are not going to come on board." Now Krugman's paper is reporting the White House may finally be learning its lesson and planning to "go it alone" on health care reform. Which is just as well. If the history of the past 30 years teaches us anything, it's that bipartisanship is a one-way street... more Posted on August 19, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	GOP in 2007: CIA "Misleading" and an "Anti-Bush Cabal" That House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has badly bungled the imbroglio over what she knew and when about the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture is hard to dispute. Seemingly snatching PR defeat from the jaws of victory, Pelosi should have instead simply called the Republicans' bluff and insisted on investigations of torture architects, perpetrators and "accomplices" alike, letting the bipartisan chips fall where they may. But by savaging Pelosi for her statement that the CIA "misled" Congress, Bush's Republican water... more Posted on May 20, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Right Denounces Online Tactics It Uses Every Day Across the right-wing blogosphere, red meat reactionary Andrew Breitbart is being hailed as a visionary hero for his call to arms, "online activists on the right, unite!" In his jeremiad, Breitbart warns that a "digital war has broken out, and the conservative movement is losing" and insists the right's "embrace of Judeo-Christian ideals" has prevented it from adopting its opponent's "propaganda techniques that were perfected in godless communist and socialist regimes." Of course, from astroturfing and paid blog commenters to... more Posted on March 30, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Democrats. Saving American Capitalism Since 1933. Even as President Obama prepared to meet with the CEO's of the nation's largest banks and financial institutions, his detractors' hysteria about his plans to rescue the economy reached a fever pitch. In Washington, GOP leaders decried Obama's "banana republic" budget, only to unveil warmed-over tax cuts certain enrich the wealthiest Americans while accelerating the Reagan-Bush emptying of the Treasury. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal spoke in apocalyptic terms of "civil war" as "Democrats bid business adieu." Of course, forgotten... more Posted on March 27, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	GOP Repeats History of One-Way Bipartisanship The Senate's passage Tuesday of the economic recovery package followed a now-familiar 30 year pattern. The Democratic President Barack Obama, like Bill Clinton before him in 1993, faced a monolithic wall of GOP opposition to his economic program. But Republicans Ronald Reagan in 1981 and George W. Bush 20 years later enjoyed substantial Democratic support for their dangerously irresponsible and regressive tax cuts that as predicted drained the federal treasury. Now as then, for Republicans the road to economic stimulus... more Posted on February 10, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Remembering Bush-Style Bipartisanship on the Economy With Senate Republicans threatening a filibuster over the President economic stimulus package, the Washington Post on Monday offered its assessment that "as Obama talks of bipartisanship, definitions vary." For the likes of Rush Limbaugh, that definition is George W. Bush. As Bush showed in 2001, bipartisanship on the economy meant jamming his catastrophic $1.4 trillion tax cut package down the throats of Congress largely unchanged, backed by many pliable Democrats. For the Republican leadership and their newly anointed spokesman Rush... more Posted on February 3, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Republicans Brand Ronald Reagan Socialist Welfare King Among the most predictable frauds in the Republican war against the Obama stimulus plan is the bogus claim that it offers to tax credits to Americans "not paying taxes." But while voters on Election Day rejected the cries of "socialism" from John McCain and Sarah Palin, GOP leaders from Rudy Giuliani and John Kyl to Jim Demint continue to deride Obama's proposed tax credits for working Americans as "welfare." As it turns out, that puts them on the opposite side... more Posted on January 30, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	2001 Flashback: Dems Vote for $1.35 Trillion Bush Tax Cut For those keeping score, Wednesday's final was Immovable Object 1, Irresistible Force 0. For all of his unprecedented outreach to Republican leaders on his economic stimulus package passed by the House yesterday - the poetry of post-partisanship, larding the bill with business tax provisions he opposed, meeting three times with GOP leaders, a rare presidential trip to Capitol Hill - Barack Obama was rewarded with no Republican votes. And if Mark Halperin is to be believed, Obama's shutout yesterday is... more Posted on January 29, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Bush Latest GOPer to Show Democrats Better for the Economy On Friday, the New York Times provided a jaw-dropping analysis of the dismal state of the economy under George W. Bush. Just days after the Washington Post documented that Bush presided over the worst eight-year economic performance in the modern American presidency, the Times charted his historic failure in expanding GDP, producing jobs and fueling stock market growth. As it turns out, Bush is just the latest Republican to confirm the maxim that Wall Street and the economy overall almost... more Posted on January 24, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Loyal Bushie O'Beirne Protests Obama Changes at the Pentagon 10 days ago, the Obama transition team notified about 90 of the Pentagon's 250 Bush political appointees that their services would no longer be needed after Inauguration Day. But despite DoD spokesman Geoff Morrell's declaration that holdover Republican Defense Secretary Robert Gates was "absolutely satisfied" with way the transition was being handled, one loyal Bushie at the Pentagon was anything but. Jim O'Beirne - the same Jim O'Beirne who famously populated the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad with Republican campaign... more Posted on January 1, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Barack Obama's Achilles Heel Across the blogosphere, liberals in general and gay activists in particular are livid with Barack Obama's choice of evangelical profit merchant and notorious homophobe Pastor Rick Warren to offer the invocation at his swearing-in on January 20. But those like AmericaBlog's John Aravosis who proclaimed the selection of Warren as "uncharacteristic of Obama" miss the point about the President-Elect's worrisome blind spot. Sadly, his kowtowing to the likes of Pastor Warren is part of disturbing pattern, a dangerous overconfidence in... more Posted on December 18, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Lieberman Won't Get the Jeffords Treatment from Obama On Tuesday, Senate Democrats will decide the turncoat Joe Lieberman's fate as the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. But whether Lieberman retains his chairmanship or even his place in the Democratic caucus, President-elect Barack Obama will apparently play little to no role. It's just another stark contrast with George W. Bush, whose campaign of retribution against Jim Jeffords in 2001 drove the Vermont Senator out of the Republican Party. That some of Joe Lieberman's former colleagues... more Posted on November 16, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Conservatives Blame Bush Recession on Obama Unsurprisingly, it took less than 24 hours for the conservative chattering classes to blame the Bush recession on President-elect Barack Obama. The usual suspects, including Rush Limbaugh, Fred Barnes and Dick Morris, pinned two days of steep stock market declines on Obama's election. Of course, the recent bloodbath on Wall Street has nothing to do with Obama and everything to do with what John McCain deemed "the fundamentals of our economy" being weak. And as history shows time and again,... more Posted on November 7, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Five Lessons Learned on Election Day 2008 No doubt, the sweeping victory of Barack Obama was a historic milestone for the American people. But while Obama defied the odds and shattered stereotypes, the exit polls suggest his election confirmed as much conventional wisdom as it upended. Here, then, are five lessons learned from the 2008 election: Taxation with Representation. During the campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly stated, "if you make $200,000 a year or less, your taxes will go down." Apparently, voters making more than $200,000 were just... more Posted on November 5, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	The Two Speeches That Defined McCain and Obama On this Election Day, the fates of John McCain and Barack Obama are now - finally - in the hands of Americans voters. But their respective destinies may have been determined by speeches each gave years ago. At the 2004 Democratic convention, Barack Obama introduced himself to the American people with a message of national unity and transformational change that has hardly changed since. But in May 2006, John McCain took to the stage of Reverend Jerry Falwell's Liberty University... more Posted on November 4, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Will Obama Win the Character War? Back in May, I argued that with the American electorate's across-the-board preference for Democratic policies and a historically unpopular Republican president, John McCain's campaign would turn the November election into a "character war." In September, campaign chairman Rick Davis confirmed the GOP would follow its tried and true strategy from 2000 and 2004 when he announced "this election is not about issues" but instead about "a composite view of what people take away from these candidates." On Tuesday night, Americans... more Posted on November 3, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain on Obama: "He's Centrist" After two weeks in which his campaign has tried to brand Barack Obama a "socialist" and worse, John McCain took one small step back from the specter of the red menace. Appearing on the Larry King show Wednesday, McCain admitted that his Democratic opponent is no socialist. But as Election Day nears, don't expect John McCain to repeat his 2005 assessment of Obama, "he's centrist." The Republican smearing of Obama has included comical charges that the man backed by Warren... more Posted on October 30, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Despite Media Myths, Obama Dominant Among Hispanic and Jewish Voters Among the enduring myths of the 2008 election have been the purported struggles of Barack Obama in securing the support of Hispanic and Jewish voters. But as new polls suggest, Obama will not only dominate John McCain among these groups, he may outperform Al Gore and John Kerry as well. A recent survey from Gallup revealed a 50 point edge for Obama among Jewish voters. Starting from a two-to-one lead in June, Obama now enjoys triple the support of John... more Posted on October 27, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Blasts Reagan, Self as Socialist In much the same way that night follows day, a desperate John McCain predictably played the "socialist" card against Barack Obama. Ratcheting up his recent scurrilous attacks that Obama's tax cuts for working Americans constitute "welfare," McCain in his Saturday radio address followed running mate Sarah Palin and Ohio Senator George Voinovich in branding Obama a socialist. Sadly for McCain, his thundering diatribe against refundable tax credits makes him a sworn enemy of his hero Ronald Reagan and, as it... more Posted on October 18, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	The Record: Stock Market, Economy Do Better Under Democrats On Wednesday, the New York Times performed an election year public service with an analysis that was part history lesson and part thought exercise. Taking the example of the S&P 500 going back to Herbert Hoover, the Times rightly concluded that the Democratic Party "has been better for American pocketbooks and capitalism as a whole." But the Democrats' proven track record isn't limited to the S&P index. As history has proven time and again, Wall Street and the economy overall... more Posted on October 15, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	McCain's So-Called Adviser John Lewis Calls Him Out Back in August, Republican presidential candidate John McCain stunned the audience at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Forum by citing Democratic Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis as one of the "wisest people that you know that you would rely on heavily in an administration." On Saturday, Lewis offered McCain some sage advice - and a stern warning - about the disgusting turn his increasingly ugly campaign had taken. Unsurprisingly, the supposed maverick shunned his supposed adviser's wisdom that the... more Posted on October 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Obama Extends Online Lead with New iPhone App Over the course of the 2008 election, Barack Obama's campaign has leap-frogged John McCain online. As CBS, ABC and Politico (among others) have documented, Team Obama has far out-paced McCain in deploying web technology to fundraise, establish social networks, advertise to targeted audiences, build email lists and otherwise facilitate grassroots organizing. Now, with the release this week of its new application for the iPhone, the Obama campaign has added a powerful new tool to help its supporters get out the... more Posted on October 5, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	History Lesson: Wall Street, Economy Do Better Under Democrats As the meltdown on Wall Street continues, American voters would do well to regard John McCain and his Republican Party with suspicion when it comes to the resuscitating the economy. But McCain's acknowledged ignorance on economic issues, happy talk about strong "fundamentals," ties to lobbyists and disturbing involvement in the 1980's savings and loan disaster aren't the only reasons voters should flock to Barack Obama for solutions to the mushrooming financial crisis. As history has proven time and again, Wall... more Posted on September 16, 2008 \| Comments (6)

	Governor Palin, You're No Harry Truman In the run-up to Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday, many across the political spectrum were tempted to compare the Alaska Governor to Bush 41's dubious VP choice of legend, Dan Quayle. But while her admittedly powerful performance in St. Paul last night was surely never matched by Bush the Elder's master of the malapropism, it nevertheless featured its own Quayle moment. Seeking to pad her reed-thin resume as a small town mayor, Sarah Palin compared herself to President Harry Truman. Well,... more Posted on September 4, 2008 \| Comments (10)

	Kudlow Rewrites History, Blames Dow's Slide on Democrats Monday was a miserable day for the Dow, with the market suffering a 242 point drop. But rather than joining "so-called market analysts" in attributing the sell-off to credit market woes, higher oil prices and a fluctuating dollar, the National Review's resident class warrior Larry Kudlow found a predictable villain. Despite the inescapable history that the stock market does better under Democratic presidents than Republican ones, Kudlow blamed the market steep slide on the opening of the Democratic Convention in... more Posted on August 26, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Joe Biden, the Original Change Candidate By the time it was revealed late Friday night, Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate came as no surprise. Even more predictable is the response of Ron Fournier, the AP's Washington Bureau Chief, Bush cheerleader and almost McCain aide, that Biden is the "ultimate insider" who represents a rejection of Barack Obama's own campaign of "change." But as it turns out, once upon a time Joe Biden was himself the Democratic candidate of change and a... more Posted on August 23, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Obama Shouldn't Raise Kaine Rule #1 of the vice presidential selection process is akin to the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm. And with rumors swirling that Barack Obama is seriously considering first-term Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as his #2, the Democratic nominee risks breaking rule #1. Which isn't to say that Kaine doesn't score well on some of the half-dozen metrics (such as geography, chemistry, theme, balance, experience and party solidarity) often used to assess vice presidential aspirants. Kaine, after all, is part... more Posted on July 30, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Perrspectives' Netroots Nation Preview For the next few days, I'll be blogging intermittently from the Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) conference in Austin, Texas. While most eyes will be on the headliners like Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Lawrence Lessig, Wesley Clarke and Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, there are a number of intriguing sessions I'll be checking out. On Friday morning, Cass Sunstein, John Dean, Adam Bonin and Michael Waldman will be discussing "The Next President and the Law." Coming just days after the release of... more Posted on July 17, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	WaPo's Gerson Blasts Franken, Ignores GOP "Vulgarians" In case there was any doubt that former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson is now performing the same role for the Republican Party on the Washington Post opinion pages, today's column should put it to rest. Labeling former comedian turned Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken a "vulgarian," Gerson proclaimed the Democrat's satirical writing of the past the "Federalist Papers of lifestyle liberalism." As it turns out, Gerson not only has no sense of humor, he has no sense of balance: the... more Posted on June 18, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Poll: Sharp Partisan Divide on Character vs. Issues in '08 Race Just one day after I analyzed poll data suggesting an early lead for John McCain lead in the 2008 presidential "character war," a new survey from Rasmussen delivered some bad news for the GOP. By a 52% to 36% margin, the Americans surveyed contend that a candidate's policies on the issues matter more than his or her character. Unsurprisingly, Republicans responded that character counts most. Unsurprising, that is, because given Americans' overwhelming preference for Democratic positions and priorities, the GOP... more Posted on May 2, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Obama Disavows Wright; McCain Still Silent on Hagee, Armageddon and Iran Barack Obama in no uncertain terms today made a clear break with his incendiary former minister, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. But despite Obama's disavowal of his one-time pastor's outrageous statements, the media spotlight continues to shine on Wright. Meanwhile, John McCain has maintained his silence on the dangerous vision of Armageddon and Iran held by his own pastoral supporter, John Hagee. In the wake of Wright's erratic grandstanding at events on Sunday and Monday, Senator Obama made it clear he... more Posted on April 29, 2008 \| Comments (9)

	Democrats Losing the Character War Two recent polls suggest that Democrats are winning minds but losing hearts in the war for the White House in 2008. Despite surveys showing that Americans consistently prefer Democratic positions over those of Republicans across virtually every issue, a new Rasmussen poll found voters trust John McCain more than either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. And last week, an AP/Yahoo poll revealed no difference in voters' candidate preferences even when it came to the election's most important issue, the economy.... more Posted on April 29, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Politics, Entertainment and the ABC Debate Debacle Media critics and the liberal blogosphere alike are apoplectic about Thursday night's abominable ABC Democratic debate in Philadelphia. But lost in the outcry over what the Washington Post deemed a "shoddy" and "despicable" performance by moderators George Stephanopolous and Charles Gibson is a snapshot of the future of American politics. When politics is just another form of entertainment, the ABC debacle is what you get. Back in February, I delivered a presentation titled, "That's Entertainment: Politics as Theater in Campaign... more Posted on April 17, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Will Obama Relive Hart's '84 New Jersey Nightmare in Pennsylvania? On several occasions, I've suggested that the Obama-Clinton slugfest bears an uncanny resemblance to the 1984 Democratic race between Walter Mondale and Gary Hart. Now just two weeks out from what could be his make-or-break moment in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama may be about to relive Gary Hart's '84 New Jersey nightmare. Alas, the God and guns of Obama's "bitter" people in the Keystone State may have the same devastating impact as Hart's "samples at a toxic waste dump" in New... more Posted on April 11, 2008 \| Comments (11)

	Right Assails Diversity Staging at Obama Event Over at the Weekly Standard, Michael Goldfarb takes the Obama campaign to task for deploying the "diversity police" during an appearance by Michelle Obama today at Carnegie Mellon University. But while the campaign staff's efforts to produce a multi-racial backdrop may have been ham-handed, they pale in comparison to the comic Republican attempts to create the illusion of any minority support at all. As the university's student paper described it: While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the... more Posted on April 9, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Carville Announces Clinton Loyalty Oath In the Washington Post today ("Disloyalty That Merits An Insult"), Clinton adviser James Carville gave his best Dana Perino impersonation. Defend his hyperbolic denunciation of surprise Obama endorser Bill Richardson, Carville mirrored Perino's famous "once a Bushie, always a Bushie" code of political ethics. By proclaiming loyalty a cardinal virtue above all others, James Carville sounded like a member of the very Bush administration his candidate - and her party - are trying to replace. A week ago, Carville reacted... more Posted on March 29, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	U.S. Health Care in Red and Blue A new study released last week revealed a Republican Party ever more out of touch with the mushrooming crisis of the American health care system. Predictably, 68% of Republicans believe the U.S. has the best health system in the world, compared to only three in 10 Democrats. Ironically, those findings come just as new studies show a growing "income gap" in Americans' life expectancy and the painful impact of rising health care costs on Americans' stagnant wages. Most ironic, the... more Posted on March 24, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Hillary Clinton's Bout of Giuliani Syndrome While all eyes this week focused on Barack Obama the repercussions of the Jeremiah Wright imbrolglio, conflicting stories about the two sides of Hillary Clinton seemed to get lost in the noise. On Saturday, the AP offered a positive assessment of Clinton's record of hard work in the Senate. But new revelations regarding her histories on NAFTA and Bosnia suggest Hillary may be telling some tall tales. And by seemingly exaggerating her role during her days as First Lady, Hillary... more Posted on March 22, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Did Wright Create Obama's "Where's the Beef" Moment? For months, Hillary Clinton has been desperately trying to manufacture a defining moment that would crystallize voters' doubts about Barack Obama. That "Where's the Beef" moment may have come on Friday, not from Obama himself, but in the guise of his long-time pastor and spiritual adviser Jeremiah Wright. While Obama was quick to denounce Wright's histrionic sermons now available to all on video, the hateful words of the minister - and Obama's close relationship to him - may come to... more Posted on March 15, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Ferraro '84 Flashback: NOW Pressure Secured Mondale VP Slot In one of the more pathetic ironies of campaign '08, Clinton backer and 1984 vice presidential contender Geraldine Ferraro in essence branded Barack Obama's an affirmative action candidacy. Reprising her 1988 statement that "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," Ferraro claimed, "if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Democrats could be forgiven for expecting more from Ferraro, especially given the National Organization for Women's essential role in securing... more Posted on March 12, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Hillary Clinton Follows Reagan's 11th Commandment In what many in the GOP came to view as the 11th Commandment, Ronald Reagan famously said," Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Hillary Clinton, it would now appear, is taking his advice to heart. Not content to merely lambast the supposed inexperience of Barack Obama, Clinton's scorched-earth campaign has lavished praise on John McCain as the embodiment of a commander-in-chief. Desperate to resurrect her once-fading candidacy, it is Hillary Clinton who has sadly emerged as the... more Posted on March 7, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Getting the Numbers Right and the Headlines Wrong Yesterday, I offered surprisingly accurate predictions for the Democratic primaries in Texas and Ohio. But while I called correctly Texas for Hillary Clinton by 3% and was close on Ohio (forecasted 8% margin versus 10% actual), it appears I got the ensuing story line wrong. On Tuesday, I assumed the standard media narrative would portray Clinton's wins as "too little, too late." But a quick glance at the nation's headlines suggests her sweep of the Buckeye and Lone Star states... more Posted on March 5, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Who's on First? In Debates, Hillary Clinton Watching the MSNBC Democratic debate last night, you couldn't help but conclude Hillary Clinton can't win for losing. After a miffed Clinton noted that she has routinely been asked the first question, blogs left and right, not to mention MSNBC's post-debate analysts, lambasted her for it. For what it's worth, she just happens to be right. Clinton's admittedly feeble effort to seek balance came early in the debate. Coupled as it was with an awkward attempt to leverage a Saturday... more Posted on February 27, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain Blasts Obama for Bush's Attacks in Pakistan In his Wisconsin victory speech this evening, John McCain wasted no time in firing shots across Barack Obama's bow. Hoping to highlight the Democratic frontrunner's inexperience, McCain to partisan cheers ridiculed Obama's promises as "eloquent but empty." But in a preview of Republican duplicity to come, McCain blasted Obama's past advocacy of unilateral American attacks against Al Qaeda targets in Pakistan, attacks the Bush administration itself is now finally carrying out. In August, as you'll recall, Barack received a hellstorm... more Posted on February 19, 2008 \| Comments (23)

	Michelle Obama and the Right's "Hate America" Myth One of the most consistently insulting and fatiguing myths perpetuated by the conservative chattering classes is the right's age-old fraud that liberals hate America. Which is why Michelle Obama's latest misstep is all the more frustrating. Just days after implying she'd withhold her active support should Hillary Clinton become the Democratic presidential nominee, Mrs. Obama inadvertently provided the Republican amen corner with more ammunition to keep firing its "hate America" salvoes. Speaking to an audience in Madison, Wisconsin, Michelle Obama... more Posted on February 19, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	Clinton Camp: Biden Time on Obama's Patrick Riff On Friday, I detailed Hillary Clinton's desperate search for a "Where's the Beef" moment to deflate the surging campaign of Barack Obama. As it turns out, it's not 1984 but 1988 the Clinton camp is trying to recreate, casting Barack Obama not as Gary Hart, but instead Joe Biden. While blogs left and right discuss whether or not Barack Obama's "just words" riff appropriated from his close supporter and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is plagiarism, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson... more Posted on February 18, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	The Coming Right-Wing Blog Boom In the span of just six weeks, conservative angst over the comparatively feeble state of the right-wing blogosphere has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. After first trumpeting the supposed decline in traffic at liberal blogs, conservative heads nodded in agreement as Red State's Erick Erickson blamed abortion and capitalism for the abysmal state of the right's online presence. But for all of its hand-wringing, the right-wing blogosphere may be on the verge of a boom. After all, as... more Posted on February 17, 2008 \| Comments (4)

	Hillary Searches for a "Where's the Beef" Moment With each passing day, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is looking more and more like 1984. Like Walter Mondale, the long-time party establishment choice Hillary Clinton faces make-or-break showdown to halt the momentum of a charismatic insurgent. And judging from her recent rhetoric, Hillary Clinton is desperately hoping to repeat Mondale's "Where's the Beef?" moment that derailed Gary Hart's surging campaign. A quick flashback to 1984 highlights some of the parallels to today's Clinton-Obama clash. Vice President Mondale... more Posted on February 15, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Jeri Ryan, Alan Keyes and the Rise of Barack Obama They say it's better to be lucky than good. And after eight straight lopsided primary losses, Hillary Clinton is about to start making that point in earnest about Barack Obama. The four-year U.S. Senator isn't merely inexperienced, her campaign will no doubt argue, but he's led a charmed political life not of his own making. Without the likes of Jeri Ryan and Alan Keyes, Obama's short but happy legislative career might have been shorter still. Barrack Obama's meteoric rise hasn't... more Posted on February 13, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Time Traveler David Brooks Predicts Democratic Disunity Faced with the dismaying prospect of Democratic unity and Republican schism during the 2008 nominating contests, conservative columnist David Brooks today turned time traveler. Taking a journey through his own space-time continuum, Brooks argues that Democrats are not unified now because they not might be in the future. In 2009 as in 1993, he claims, Democrats will splinter as they are forced to make excruciating choices in the wake of a devastating Bush presidency. Call it Brooks' Law of Republican... more Posted on February 12, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Obama's Risky Electability Argument A new Time poll on Thursday added ammunition to Barack Obama's case that he is the more electable Democratic candidate. In head to head match-up against the presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, Obama scores a 48% to 41% victory, while Hillary Clinton produces only a 46% to 46% draw. But while Barack Obama certainly has an electability argument to make, his misguided framing of that advantage does his campaign - and the Democratic Party - harm. The Time surveys suggests... more Posted on February 8, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Wolf Blitzer Loses the CNN Democratic Debate Thursday's CNN Democratic debate in California revealed two fundamentals truths. First, Democrats as a whole were very well served by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two candidates who each delivered sterling, civil performances. Their thoughtful exchange stood in sharp contrast to the second inescapable conclusion, the banality of the moderator, CNN's Wolf Blitzer. On a night these Democrats brought credit to their party, Blitzer's incessant efforts to inject conflict into the proceeding brought only embarrassment to himself and his network.... more Posted on February 1, 2008 \| Comments (14)

	Backlash Voting Impacted Democrats in SC and NH For the second time in just under two weeks, a late-breaking backlash vote upended the conventional wisdom in a Democratic primary contest. In New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton won a stunning victory when her original voters came home, partly in reaction to media coverage perceived as both unfair and sexist. Tonight in South Carolina, it was Barack Obama who was the beneficiary of an 11th hour backlash. This time, the culprit was Bill Clinton. Once again, the polls failed to capture... more Posted on January 26, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	Predicting the Bill Clinton Backlash Last week on this site and over at DailyKos, I expressed my disappointment in the "attack dog" role that former President Bill Clinton had assumed in his wife Hillary's campaign. In making his leadership role among Democrats and esteemed position among most Americans subservient to Hillary's nomination, I argued, Bill Clinton had put his legacy at risk: Perhaps the only development more disappointing than the injection of racial politics into the Democratic primary process has been the descent of Bill... more Posted on January 24, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Five Observations from Nevada and South Carolina With the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina Republican primary now history, it is once again time for the post-mortem. From the blatantly obvious to the possibly outlandish, here are five observations from Saturday's presidential primary action. 1. The Incredible Shrinking Legacy of Bill Clinton On Friday, I worried that Bill Clinton's descent into attack dog politics in the service of his wife Hillary's campaign threatened to diminish his reputation and popularity among Democrats in particular and Americans in general.... more Posted on January 20, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	The Descent of Bill Clinton Perhaps the only development more disappointing than the injection of racial politics into the Democratic primary process has been the descent of Bill Clinton into attack dog politics. It seems that with each passing day, the still very popular former President sacrifices his good name - and the huge reservoir of good will he enjoys among the American people - in the service of his wife Hillary's presidential campaign. Sadly, while Bill Clinton's unseemly and undignified barbs may batter Barack... more Posted on January 18, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	The Wall Street Journal's "Liberal Hatemongering" Sham Once again demonstrating its gift for fiction, the Wall Street Journal offered a hilariously pathetic treatise on the hate-mongering and intolerance of liberals. Just three weeks after Bruce Bartlett took to the Journal's opinion pages to insist that Americans overlook the Republicans' racist present to instead focus on Democrats' racist past, Arthur C. Brooks today in "Liberal Hatemongers" argued that "that political intolerance in America is to be found more on the left than it is on the right." Sadly,... more Posted on January 17, 2008 \| Comments (10)

	Memo to Hillary & Barack: The Race Card is in the GOP Deck While the clown-car that is the Republican presidential field seemed headed over a cliff, Democratic primary voters enjoyed a generally high-minded debate among candidates they generally liked. That is, until the New Hampshire primary. Now, the simmering feud between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over supposed racial politics is casting a pall over what had been an uplifting competition. Worse still, as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and even John Edwards battle over purported racial insensitivities, one fact remains undeniable. The... more Posted on January 14, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	New Hampshire Explained: Hillary's Voters Came Home Two days after Hillary Clinton's stunning comeback victory in New Hampshire, the imbroglio over the pollsters' dismal performance continues unabated. But while the speculation centers on the potential impact of latent racism or a feminist backlash among New Hampshire Democrats, the exit polls suggest a more simple explanation. In a nutshell, Hillary's voters originally made up their minds a long time ago, and on Election Day, they came home. A quick round up of reactions to the Granite State polling... more Posted on January 10, 2008 \| Comments (2)

	John Edwards Impersonates Gary Hart in NH In New Hampshire Friday, John Edwards was offering his best Gary Hart impersonation. Like Hart in 1984, Edwards claimed his second place showing behind Barack Obama in Iowa had transformed the Democratic nomination into a two-man race. But no one is buying it, probably including Edwards himself. Sadly, Edward has misread the history and lessons of Iowa. You can't blame him for trying. Edwards simply had to win the Iowa caucus to transform the predictable media narrative of the Clinton-Obama... more Posted on January 5, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Iowa Aftermath: Immigration the New GOP Wedge Issue in '08 Lost in the media focus on the victories of the supposed "change" candidates in Iowa last night are the dramatic differences in the priorities of each party's voters. As Iowa Democrats headed to their caucuses in record numbers last night, the sputtering American economy topped their list of concerns. But in a disturbing hint of things to come from the GOP, Iowa Republicans instead were looking for someone to blame in making immigration their most important issue. Americans' concerns over... more Posted on January 4, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	That's Entertainment: Hyperpartisanship and Politics as Theater As the 2008 campaign begins in earnest, one of the emerging storylines is so-called hyperpartisanship, the bitter and increasingly divisive conflict between Democrats and Republicans that is said to be fueling cynicism - and apathy - among voters. In Iowa, Barack Obama proclaims that he will transcend partisan cleavages, while John Edwards vows to fight. Meanwhile, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will meet in Oklahoma next week with prominent figures from both parties to encourage the 2008 candidates to form... more Posted on December 30, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Misdirection: Bartlett Ignores GOP's Racist Present for Dems' Racist Past In one of the most disgusting and disingenuous acts of political misdirection in recent memory, former Reagan and Bush 41 advisor Bruce Bartlett is asking Americans to ignore the Republican Party's racist present and instead focus on the Democratic Party's racist past. Taking to the pages of the Wall Street Journal, Bartlett extracted a catalog of quotes from Jefferson to Biden to document the Democratic Party's' shameful past history when it comes to African-Americans. But no amount of sleight of... more Posted on December 24, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	Massive New Citizenship Backlog the Latest Voter Suppression? A Washington Post report that the Bush administration is facing a massive backlog of hundreds of thousands of applications for U.S. citizenship is sadly unsurprising. After all, as the Katrina disaster and new passport fiasco demonstrated, incompetence is the hallmark of President Bush's Department of Homeland Security. But with the news that hundreds of thousands of immigrants - many of them Hispanic - may be unable to vote in the 2008 elections, Americans can be forgiven for suspecting something more... more Posted on November 22, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Break the War Funding Deadlock: The Iraq Apology Amendment One day after the House approved an Iraq war funding bill mandating American troop withdrawals, Republicans blocked a similar measure in the Senate. With GOP intransigence and a certain veto from President Bush leading to a high-stakes showdown they seem destined to lose, Democrats need a different strategy - at least for now. One way forward is to give President Bush the money for his fiasco in Iraq with no strings attached save one: he must apologize for it. Call... more Posted on November 16, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Five Years Ago: Bush's Despicable Eulogy for Paul Wellstone Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Minnesota Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone. But while much of the liberal blogosphere has remembered Wellstone's fighting spirit, grassroots populism and prescient courage in opposing the war in Iraq, little attention has been paid to President Bush's despicable eulogy of Wellstone on that sad day. As we learned five years ago, this president's smallness and partisanship even extend to the dead. Commenting on the tragic death of the popular Democratic Senator Paul... more Posted on October 27, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Hillary Clinton's Health Care Inoculation Strategy When it comes to health care, Hillary Clinton of all the presidential candidates faces a special burden. As her rivals left and right unveil their health care plans, Senator Clinton is moving cautiously, as if seeking a vaccine to protect her from a recurrence of her 1990's experience. Call it Hillary's Inoculation Strategy: go slow, go small, and go with your enemies. No doubt, Hillary Clinton faces a daunting challenge over health care in the 2008 race. Her leadership of... more Posted on August 25, 2007 \| Comments (8)

	Democrats Snatch Defeat from Jaws of Victory on FISA With their shocking surrender over President Bush's draconian new FISA law this weekend, Congressional Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. They not only had the votes to safeguard American civil liberties and prevent the legalization of past Bush White House criminality. On FISA as we knew it before August 5, 2007, Democrats had the law - and public opinion - on their side. Until President Bush signed the so-called Protect America Act, his regime of warrantless NSA domestic... more Posted on August 7, 2007 \| Comments (6)

	Edwards' Thankless Poverty Tour They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That may well be an apt description of John Edwards' "Road to One America" tour, his 11 city, three day journey to bring attention to the persistent - and resurgent - scourge of poverty plaguing the United States. But while Edwards' call to address the plight of America's most needy is admirable, it is out of sync with the current psyche - and voting patterns - of today's American... more Posted on July 17, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	The Next John Edwards Story On the same day that the AP's John Solomon once again tried to perpetuate the tale of John Edwards' $400 haircut, a real story of tragedy promises to draw attention to Edwards' past. In Minneapolis, the powerful suction from a drain in a wading pool partially ripped out the small intestine of a six-year old girl. Hauntingly reminiscent of a $25 million jury award John Edwards secured in the case of five-year old Valerie Lakey, the Minnesota tragedy will no... more Posted on July 5, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Kurtzman on How to Fight a Conservative Over at About.com, Political Humor editor Daniel Kurtzman maintains one of the web's most comprehensive collections of political jokes, cartoons and images. (Full disclosure: some are them are from Perrspectives.) Now, he has come out with a fun-loving how-to book for liberals, "How to Win a Fight with a Conservative." In addition to his new book, Kurtzman has also put together a quiz to help you determine what type of liberal you are. His very short (and very fun) political... more Posted on July 5, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Red States Opposing Employee Free Choice Act Need It Most In Washington this week, the Senate will take up the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Passed by the House 241-185 in March, EFCA would make it much easier for unions to organize. Predictably, red state Republican Senators backed by an alliance of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will likely prevent the measure from coming to a vote. Which is too bad. After all, from wages and benefits to job opportunities and collective bargaining rights, it is... more Posted on June 20, 2007 \| Comments (8)

	Report: America's Progressive Majority? The Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters have jointly released a new data-rich report aiming to undermine the mainstream media conventional wisdom that the United States is essentially a conservative country. The study, "The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth," relies on opinion research to conclusively demonstrate that across virtually the entire gamut of issues, a majority of Americans hold progressive positions. Sadly, polls don't win elections. The CAF/MM report fails to tell the more complex... more Posted on June 13, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Richardson, Hispanic Organizations Fail the Gonzales Test It's no surprise that the ongoing controversy over Alberto Gonzales' role in the purging of U.S. prosecutors has revealed the limitless intent of the Bush administration to convert the Department of Justice into an appendage of the Republican Party. What is more surprising - and deeply disappointing - is the unwillingness of leading Hispanic figures and organizations to take on one of their own. With his hesitation to call on Attorney General Gonzales to resign, Democratic presidential hopeful Governor Bill... more Posted on May 29, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	McCain Attacks Himself on Plan B for Iraq In the wake of the Senate vote of Iraq war funding, Arizona Senator John McCain lashed out at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And, as it turns out, himself. On Friday, McCain raged against his Democratic colleagues Clinton and Obama for their no votes and "waving a white flag" to Al Qaeda: "What is Senator Obama and Senator Clinton's 'Plan B' if we withdraw?" Sadly for his fading presidential hopes, McCain acknowledged that he himself lacks any Plan B of... more Posted on May 25, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	How to Override the Bush Stem Cell Veto With Harry Reid's stem cell research bill headed to a Senate vote this week, Congressional Democrats and President Bush are on the brink of yet another confrontation. But while the White House is promising to repeat its 2006 veto, the ending can be different this time. All the Reid legislation needs is a name change - and a little help from Ronald Reagan. The failure to override President Bush's veto in 2006 shows that broad bipartisan backing in Congress, aggressive... more Posted on April 10, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	All in the Family: Al Sharpton, Strom Thurmond and Other Ironies Almost four years after his death, the legendary segregationist Strom Thurmond continues to cast a long shadow over American politics and society. In perhaps the most ironic revelation of this Black History Month, genealogists have found that civil rights icon Al Sharpton is descended from a slave once owned by relatives of the late Jim Crow stalwart. According to the New York Daily News, researchers Megan Smolenyak and Tony Burroughs located evidence "establishing that Sharpton's great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was a... more Posted on February 25, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Flag Hag In South Carolina Monday, Senator Hillary Clinton once again reminded Democratic voters why so many have misgivings about her. Even as she rightly spoke out against flying the Confederate flag over public facilities in the Palmetto State, she called to mind her own pandering over the U.S. flag. In Orangeburg, S.C., good Senator Clinton declared of the Stars and Bars: "I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag... more Posted on February 20, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Sam Seder's Clinton Complex If today's performance by Sam Seder is any indication, the future of post-Al Franken Air America is bleak indeed. During a discussion of Iraq war profiteering of Bush/Cheney-linked firms such as Halliburton and Bechtel, Seder launched a surreal diatribe against Bill Clinton. Entertaining a caller's assertion that President Clinton was a major Halliburton shareholder, Seder attacked Clinton's own "low grade wars" of the 1990's. The implication is that Clinton somehow filled and dined at the same war-time corporate trough now... more Posted on February 16, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Denies GOP Treason Label for Democrats A chastened President Bush ventured into enemy territory on Saturday to address the annual gathering of House Democrats. Obliterated in the November elections and facing both abysmal poll numbers and open rebellion over Iraq within his own party, the formerly fierce Bush with tail between his legs feigned a spirit of bipartisan cooperation: "I welcome debate at a time of war and I hope you know that. Nor do I consider a belief that if you don't happen to agree... more Posted on February 4, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	My Conversation with Al Franken In an AP story Wednesday, a Democratic official confirms that Air America headliner Al Franken is in fact entering the 2008 Minnesota senate race against Republican Norm Coleman. Hopefully, the comedian turned Senate candidate can deliver some comeuppance to Coleman, who said of his late predecessor in 2003, "I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone." In honor of his looming campaign, Perrspectives take a look back at my May 2005 interview of Al Franken...... more Posted on February 1, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Top 10 State of the Union Highlights For those who had the good fortune to miss his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush just offered the American people a stunning profile in rhetorical obfuscation and political comeuppance. Domestically, his seeming move to the middle on energy, immigration and health care may have alienated his own base while offering some prospect for deals with the Democrats. (Jim Webb's Democratic response is available here.) But in foreign policy and the war in Iraq, President Bush's language was... more Posted on January 23, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	SOTU Preview: 10 Things to Watch Tuesday's State of the Union Address should offer Americans compelling viewing. After the GOP's electoral disaster in November and the resounding thud that greeted the "surge" in Iraq, the 2007 SOTU can be said to officially mark the last throes of the Bush presidency. In anticipation of tomorrow night's presidential flight of fantasy, here are 10 things to look for in the 2007 State of the Union: 1. An Unhealthy Vision As his Saturday radio address made clear, President Bush... more Posted on January 22, 2007 \| Comments (3)

	Understanding the White House's Iraq Vocabulary While a fierce battle over President Bush's "new way forward" in Iraq is being joined in the halls of Congress, an even more ferocious war of words is taking place to win the hearts and minds of the American people. Among Democrats, Republicans and the media at large, a rhetorical conflict to control the marketing of the Bush message on Iraq is well underway. From almost the moment the Iraq Study Group report landed with a thud on the President's... more Posted on January 15, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	The Minimum Wage in Red and Blue In Washington this week, the Democratic-controlled House takes on the first minimum wage increase since 1997. But while the federal government has blocked help for 13 million working Americans (9.8% of the workforce) for a decade, many states have already moved forward with their own minimum wage hikes. And as you might imagine, few of them happened to vote for George W. Bush for president. As ThinkProgress detailed this week, a host of states have already implemented new wage baselines.... more Posted on January 10, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	The Ideal Liberal Holiday Gift Perrspectives is pleased to offer the ideal holiday gift for that hard-to-please progressive on your list. As the New Year approaches, the Conservative Threat Level (CTL) t-shirt helps you and your ones resist the right-wing effort to turn back the clock to the Middle Ages. Visit the new Perrspectives store over at CafePress to get your CTL t-shirt today! By the way, the current Conservative Threat Level is Blue/Guarded: Upward Income Redistribution Underway.... more Posted on December 19, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Reyes Joins Bush in Failing Foreign Affairs 101 On Monday, Democrats began to pay the price for the ongoing feud between Californians Nancy Pelosi and Jane Harman. In one of the first tests of her leadership, Speaker Pelosi bypassed Harman in favor of Texan Silvestre Reyes to head the House Intelligence Committee. Sadly Reyes, like candidate George W. Bush before him, failed his first test on foreign affairs. In an interview in CQ on Friday, Reyes displayed staggering ignorance of the environment in the Middle East and across... more Posted on December 11, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Senate Rights Bush's Wrong on Wellstone With control of the Senate about to change hands, Democrats can begin the work of righting some of the many wrongs perpetrated by President Bush. Last week, the Senators took one small step forward, unanimously passing a resolution honoring the memory and contributions of their late colleague, Minnesota Democrat Paul Wellstone. The Senate's warm embrace of Wellstone provides a stark contrast with President Bush's mean-spirited, partisan slight in October 2002. Of Wellstone, killed along with his wife and campaign staffers... more Posted on November 25, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Bush Sinks GOP Majority Over Rumsfeld With the midterms now in the rear view mirror, history will record that President Bush committed the defining gaffe of the 2006 campaign. Try as they might, conservatives failed to turn John Kerry's clumsy "stuck in Iraq" stumble into the moment that snatched Democratic defeat from the jaws of victory. As it turns out, it was President Bush who sealed the fate of the GOP's congressional majority by offering job security for the "fantastic" Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the... more Posted on November 15, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Divide, Suppress and Conquer: The GOP's 25% Strategy for 2006 As Tuesday's vote approaches, Democrats are buoyantly optimistic about their prospects for retaking control of Congress. President Bush is wildly unpopular. His handling of Iraq, the election's dominant issue, is backed by less than a third of the electorate. On issue after issue, voters across the United States support Democratic positions. And in generic Congressional polls, a majority of Americans consistently prefer Democrats over Republicans. Almost none of which matters for the Republican braintrust. For the GOP, 2006 isn't a... more Posted on November 6, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Kerry's Failed Joke, Bush's Sick Humor John Kerry's failed "stuck in Iraq" joke once again highlighted the Massachusetts Senator's uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But as George Bush, Dick Cheney and their amen corner try to make hay at Kerry's expense to help the GOP's flagging midterm prospects, they should take care that Americans not be reminded of the President's own sick sense of humor. After all, Bush's jokes usually come at our expense. A sense of humor has always been... more Posted on November 1, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Jim Webb and the Pornographers of the Right With the truth about his neo-Confederate proclivities and stock swindles putting his Virginia Senate reelection bid in doubt, Republican George Allen turned to fiction to smear his opponent, Vietnam War hero Jim Webb. Citing disturbing content from Webb's combat novels (one of which, "Fields of Fire," appears on the Marine Corps' recommended reading list), Allen and his amen corner have implied that Webb is a misogynist, pedophile or worse. As it turns out, poorly crafted, soft-core pornography seems to be... more Posted on October 29, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Mark Warner Bails on '08 White House Race My email in-box this morning contained one of the more surprising political developments of recent weeks. Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, one of the early front-runners in the 2008 Democratic White House race, has decided not to run for president. The unanswered question is: why? The email missive from Warner's Forward Together PAC offered only platitudes and pablum for the Governor's premature withdrawal: I have decided not to run for President. This past weekend, my family and I went to... more Posted on October 12, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	ABC Slams New Iraq Documentary, Ignores Own 9/11 Right-Wing Fantasy With this weekend's upcoming mockumentary "The Path to 9/11," Disney and ABC are breaking dangerous new ground in the conservative propaganda war. Even as the ABC network follows in the footsteps of Mel Gibson and The Passion of the Christ in "mobilizing the base," ABC News on Sunday declared Robert Greenwald's new documentary "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" a left-wing hatchet job "produced like a political campaign." A pre-election salvo designed to pin the blame for the September 11... more Posted on September 5, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Hoekstra's War on the CIA For most watchers of the CIA, the return of Steven Kappes to Langley as the agency's number 2 man is a welcome development. Fluent in Farsi and Russian, the 23-year veteran of the clandestine service can bring a renewed focus on the CIA's core intelligence-gathering mission. Unfortunately, Kappes' return almost certainly signals the resumption of Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra's partisan war on the CIA. Hoekstra (R-MI), the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, was a strong supporter of Porter Goss, his former... more Posted on July 26, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Stem Cell Veto Threat is Dems' Opportunity In an interview with the Denver Post editorial board, Karl Rove signaled that President Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to block Congressional stem cell legislation. For Democrats, that veto threat could be just what the doctor ordered. In a nutshell, Bush's 2006 base-baiting, red meat strategy could well backfire when it comes to stem cell research. In May 2005, 50 Republicans joined a united Democratic block in passing the bi-partisan Castle-Degette bill by 238-194. (The House... more Posted on July 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	New Web Resources for Progressives The Perrspectives Resource Center has just been expanded with updated news, magazines, blogs, election information, data sources, polls, think tanks and other tools for Democrats and progressives of all stripes. The Resource Center also features a document library including the latest news, reports, legal documents and other essential materials for a host of Bush administration and Republican scandals. NSA domestic spying, the Valerie Plame affair, Iraq WMD intelligence manipulation, Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay, it's all there. Visit the Resource... more Posted on July 10, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Supreme Win for GOP, Delay in Texas Redistricting Case Tom Delay may have left Congress in disgrace, but the U.S. Supreme Court presented the former Majority Leader with a parting gift on Wednesday. By a 7-2 vote, the Court essentially endorsed Delay's unprecedented Texas Congressional redistricting plan that delivered six new House seats to the Republicans in 2004. The only minor setback for the GOP came in a separate 5-4 ruling that Texas' new 23rd district violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act with its suspicious gerrymandering shifting 100,000 Hispanic... more Posted on June 28, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Iraqi PM, U.S. Commander: Cut and Run Just days after President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress lambasted their Democratic opponents for supposedly wanting to "cut and run" in Iraq, the Iraqi government and American military leadership in Baghdad essentially endorsed the Democratic position to set a timeline to draw down U.S. troops. As Newsweek first reported on Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki endorsed a timetable for American withdrawal as part of 28-point national reconciliation plan submitted to the Iraqi parliament today. While Maliki proposed... more Posted on June 25, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Republican Rap Sheet This weekend, Democrats in Congress moved quickly to oust Louisiana Representative William Jefferson from his seat on the powerful House Way and Means Committee. Facing strong opposition from the Congressional Black Caucus, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi showed that Democrats would be quick to punish ethical transgressors within their ranks. The contrast with the Republican culture of corruption could not more stark. Jefferson, who housed $90,000 in cold cash from a Nigerian bagman in his freezer, is the exception that proves... more Posted on June 20, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	No Comfort for Bush on the Economy Nothing seems to frustrate the White House and the Republican leadership more than their abysmal poll numbers on the economy at a time of booming GDP and a resurgent job market. It is, they claim, all about the war. But as I wrote in the "Bush League Economy," the issue for the President and the GOP isn't the Iraq war overshadowing a robust economy, but the growing insecurity most Americans experience daily with surging energy prices, spiraling health care costs,... more Posted on May 19, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	This Week in Republican Corruption The Avenging Angel, smiter of conservative evil doers, has had a very busy week. From the White House to the Kentucky State House, from Langley to K Street, the latest batch of Banana Republicans was exposed, indicted or jailed. Let's start with Robert Ray, Kenneth Starr's successor as Bill Clinton Grand Inquisitor, who got his just desserts this week in New York. Ray, who famously said of Clinton, "no person is above the law," surrendered to the NYPD on charges... more Posted on May 15, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Poll: Double Win for Bush on NSA Phone Records A new poll from the Washington Post suggests that the President Bush may be winning a double victory with his illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs. Americans seem willing to buy the White House's "tough on terrorism" hype at the expense of the law and their own civil liberties. And as an added ironic bonus, the President gets another opportunity to decry leaks that supposedly jeopardize national security. Surprisingly, the poll data show Americans even more content with revelations over government... more Posted on May 12, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Hot Tubs, Trial Lawyers and Republicans One of the Right's favorite bogeymen is the trial lawyers, the ambulance chasers supposedly behind skyrocketing health care costs and bankrolling the Democratic Party. But as Bush family consigliere James Baker III showed once again on the Larry King show last night, Republicans are just fine with trial lawyers when they need one. Baker and his daughter-in-law Nancy used the CNN setting to tell the story of the tragic death of his 7-year old granddaughter Graham, who drowned in a... more Posted on May 3, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	A Conversation with Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga Jerome Armstrong (founder of MyDD) and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (of DailyKos fame) are bringing their "Crashing the Gate" book tour to my home town of Portland. Their PDX itinerary on April 9th and 10th concludes with an event Monday evening to help Rob Brading unseat Oregon House Speaker Karen Minnis. Earlier this week, I had chance to catch up with Jerome and Markos in advance of their upcoming Portland trip. We discussed their book, the state of the Democratic Party... more Posted on April 5, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Brand W and the Midterm Elections Facing dismal poll ratings and the potential loss of both the House and Senate, the Republican National Committee appears set with its 2006 mid-term election strategy. Call it "Brand W." That is the central message in a memo from GOP pollster Jan van Lohuizen to RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. Acknowledging the GOP's current challenges, van Lohuizen says the key to maintaining Republican control of Congress is reenergizing and mobilizing the Party's dispirited base. To do that, the memo claims, the... more Posted on March 29, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	The Republican Mind: Don't Worry, Be Happy These may be dark times for President Bush and the GOP, but Republicans are happy. Or at least happier than Democrats. That's the unsurprising conclusion of the annual survey of American happiness ("Are We Happy Yet?") by the Pew Research Center. Just as predictably, conservatives like George Will are happier still about what they see as vindication for their blighted ideology. On this as on so many other topics, Will has the morality play utterly backwards. But first a little... more Posted on March 23, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Poll Watch: Bush and GOP Spiral Downward The latest wave of public opinion polls shows that President Bush's downward spiral continues unabated. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bush's approval rating has plummeted to 37%, with CNN coming in at 36%, a precipitous 10% drop from January. And while a comparatively upbeat Washington Post survey from March 6th put the President at a 41% approval rating, a devastating assessment from the Pew Research Center showed Bush at only 33%, the lowest mark of his presidency. There can... more Posted on March 16, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Senate Showdown Tuesday on Domestic Spying Tomorrow is shaping as "Showdown Tuesday" for the Senate Intelligence Committee. On Tuesday, the Intelligence Committee led by Kansas Senator Pat Roberts will decide whether to investigate President Bush's illegal NSA domestic wiretapping. At this point, the vote could go either way. Whether Roberts' committee once again abdicates its oversight role likely comes to down the votes of three Republican members previously critical of the NSA program: Mike DeWine of Ohio, Maine's Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. DeWine,... more Posted on March 6, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The White House Flip-Flops on NSA Program Oversight President Bush has flip-flopped once again. Just 24 hours after Vice President Cheney firmly declared the administration would not more broadly share information with key Congressional committee members regarding Bush's NSA domestic spying program, the White House reversed course - sort of. The seeds of the turnabout were sown with yesterday's challenge from House Intelligence Committee member, Republican Heather Wilson of New Mexico. Wilson, who is also one of the few House GOP members to return contributions from Tom Delay's... more Posted on February 8, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Top 10 State of the Union Highlights Faced with negative polls and a pessimistic American nation, President Bush's just completed 2006 State of the Union Address naturally focused on the theme of "the Hopeful Society." But like the stillborn "Ownership Society" vision before it, Bush's 2006 SOTU will be remembered not for its policy program, but for its partisan political purposes. The top 10 highlights: 1. Demonize the Democrats The President continued Karl Rove's 2006 electoral strategy to once again run on national security and brand the... more Posted on January 31, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	The Democrats' States of the Union With President Bush only two days away from delivering his 2006 State of the Union (SOTU) address, the Democrats and their progressive allies have mobilized to offer both critiques of and alternatives to the latest installment of this failed presidency. The Center for American Progress has organized its ThinkProgress State of the Union Extravaganza to provide analysis and reaction to the President before, during and after the address. A pre-SOTU webcast in conjunction with Air America's Majority Report begins at... more Posted on January 29, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The NSA Scandal Resource Center The Perrspectives Resource Center has just been expanded to include a new document library for the exploding Bush-NSA Spying Scandal. The NSA Scandal Document Library includes the latest Bush spying scandal news, essential Department of Justice memos and key laws such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the War Powers Resolution, the 2001 Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) and more. Key Supreme Court decisions involving presidential war powers, such as the 1952 Youngstown v. Sawyer and 2004's Hamdi v.... more Posted on January 1, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Wages of Spin As I wrote recently, the White House is increasingly frustrated by Americans' continued pessimism with the President's handling of the economy. Perhaps President Bush can find some solace that he seems to draw his greatest support in precisely those states where conditions are the worst for American workers. That would appear to be the central finding in a report just released by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts. The report, titled "Decent Work in America: The... more Posted on December 9, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	GM and the War on Labor You can learn a lot about the state of class warfare in America just by reviewing the reaction to General Motors' recent announcement that it will lay off 30,000 workers and shutter a dozen plants in North America. While E.J Dionne at the Washington Post offered a thoughtful piece on the political responses to the impact of globalization and spiraling health care costs on manufacturing giants such as GM, Rich Lowry of the conservative National Review does what the right... more Posted on November 29, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Cheney and the "Same Intelligence" Myth In "Bush Rewrites History", I argued that in attacking opponents of its uses and manipulation of pre-war intelligence, the Bush White House and its amen corner were propagating four new myths. First, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their allies claimed that Congress has access to the "same intelligence" as the White House. Second, the President and his team asserted that two investigations of the Iraq war run-up found no evidence that the President or his administration had manipulated pre-war... more Posted on November 28, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Medicare's Prescription for Failure Last week saw the launch of the enrollment period for the new Medicare prescription drug plan. Judging by the initial reception by beneficiaries, Congress and the market alike, the Medicare drug benefit is off to a rocky start. That should come as a surprise to no one for a program that was designed to fail. All over the country, overwhelmed seniors wrestled with over 40 competing plans featuring conflicting formulary lists and dramatic geographic variations in premiums. Beneficiaries' confusion was... more Posted on November 23, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Bush Rewrites History When in a hole, one of the timeless maxims of politics states, stop digging. President Bush, facing plummeting poll numbers, the festering PlameGate scandal and a growing national consensus that he misled the country into war with Iraq, has apparently decided to keep digging. In shameless and angry speeches in front of military audiences on Veterans Day and again in Alaska on Monday, the President in essence accused his critics of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. But in... more Posted on November 15, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Voting with Their Wallets Voters across the nation dealt a major defeat to the radical anti-government movement. In state after state, the people rejected the starvation tax policies of the Norquistas and reaffirmed their shared commitment to investment in essential public services. Looking ahead to 2006, this augurs well for good government Democrats and represents a stern warning to President Bush and the Congressional GOP. The triumph of common sense started in Colorado last week. There, voters overwhelmingly supported a suspension of the state's... more Posted on November 9, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	The Last Abortion Clinic Just as the Senate prepares to begin the confirmation process for staunchly anti-choice nominee Sam Alito, the PBS series Frontline aired a powerful and important documentary on the latest developments in the war over reproductive rights. The segment, "The Last Abortion Clinic", was a sobering assessment for pro-choice advocates. Frontline charted the growing strength - and success - of the anti-choice movement in Mississippi from the 1973 Roe v Wade decision through the present day. Constantly testing the "undue burden"... more Posted on November 9, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Fitzgerald, Iraq and the Truth About Pre-War Intelligence One of the most telling moments of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's press conference on Friday concerned the larger context - or lack thereof - for the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. "This indictment is not about the war. This indictment's not about the propriety of the war. The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified." Fitzgerald, of course, is right. Establishing the truth about the path to war in Iraq is not his... more Posted on November 1, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Predicting the Democrats' Slogan in '06 The Hill is reporting that the Democratic Party may have settled on a slogan for the 2006 mid-term elections. The Democratic tag line being explored is "Together, America Can Do Better" or "Together We Can Do Better." Even at this early date, I can say that I wholeheartedly approve. Why? Because I suggested the exact same slogan to the Kerry campaign on July 14, 2004. In a memo titled "The Pessimism Gap", I argued over a year ago that the... more Posted on October 25, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	What the President Knew and When He Knew It President Bush, as Ricky Ricardo used to say, has some 'splaining to do. Thanks to a piece in the New York Daily News, we now know the President's claims throughout the fall of 2003 that he had no knowledge of the identity of the Valerie Plame leaker are simply untrue. The article ("Bush Whacked Rove on CIA Leak") cites White House sources who describe a furious George W. Bush dressing down Rove in September 2003 for his role in the... more Posted on October 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Miers Fails the Three Strikes Test The judicial philosophy of Harriet Miers, President Bush's surprise choice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, remains a mystery. But what little is known about Miers suggests she is a political operative with some extreme views if not extreme qualifications. In a nutshell, Miers fails Perrspectives' "Three Strikes Test" for the Supreme Court. Back in July, I urged Democrats to hold their fire on John Roberts and focus instead on Bush's second nominee, taken for granted to... more Posted on October 4, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	An Army of One? The recruiting woes of the American military continue unabated. The AP reported today that the U.S. Army just completed its worst recruiting year since 1979. The shortfall for the all-volunteer force was among the most dramatic, both in absolute numbers (7,000) and as a percentage of the target (80,000), since the United States ended conscription in 1973. These disconcerting results reflect the ongoing chaos and unending carnage in Iraq. In this environment, the Army understandably will miss its goal of... more Posted on September 30, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Sins of Commission The American people are rightly outraged by President Bush's refusal to call for an independent commission to investigate the disastrous government response to hurricane Katrina. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 81% of Americans would like to see an independent panel versus only 18% backing a Congressional inquiry. Democrats will pay no price for opposing both the defanged joint committee pushed by House and Senate Republicans and the sham White House investigation led by Bush homeland security advisor Frances Townsend.... more Posted on September 21, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	John Roberts, Chief Umpire? Among the rhetorical flourishes that characterized his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, none perhaps will prove to be as lasting or strategic as John Roberts' "umpire" analogy. Designed to disarm both conservative opponents of so-called "judicial activism" and liberal foes of right-wing ideology on the bench, the eloquent Roberts offered the soothing platitude, "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them." Roberts� umpire approach was warmly received by fawning Republicans on the Committee. Democratic members, though,... more Posted on September 21, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Trojan Horse: The Bush Plan for Katrina Last Thursday�s speech by President Bush in New Orleans� Jackson Square kicked off the administrations� cynical campaign to snatch political victory from the jaws of defeat in the wake of its disastrous Katrina response. Karl Rove�s strategy for the coming 2006 mid-term elections will modeled on his 2002 GOP success with the Department of Homeland Security. With the Gulf States devastated, hundreds dead and thousands displaced, President Bush and the GOP will lace a popular recovery program featuring massive federal... more Posted on September 19, 2005 \| Comments (9)

	Bush's Katrina Cop Out The President's prime-time "Katrina Comeback" address was vintage Bush. Primarily designed to help him, and not the Gulf States, recover from his administration�s disastrous bungling of the Katrina response, Bush's speech offered to shower money on the devastated South. But in his typical fashion, George W. Bush held no one accountable and shunned independent oversight of the response and the rebuilding. Most of all, the Free Lunch President refused to ask the American people to pay for it. Let's start... more Posted on September 15, 2005 \| Comments (16)

	9/11 and the Culture of Grief This fourth anniversary of the devastating September 11 Al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington were marked with the usual ritualistic displays of grief and remembrance. Some, like the World Trade Center ceremony in New York were heartfelt and moving. Others, like the Bush administration�s so-called "Freedom Walk" in Washington DC appropriated (or perhaps more accurately, misappropriated) the symbols of 9/11 for partisan political ends. And some, like the Nick Lachey/Jessica Simpson pop rendition of "America the Beautiful" simulcast... more Posted on September 11, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Estate Tax or Dynasty Dividend? In the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast, Americans should be united in providing relief, resources and support to all in need. But sadly, that massive relief effort will take place during a time divisive - and fundamental - debate about the very meaning of national unity in the United States. As New Orleans struggles for survival, the President and his amen corner are waging a full scale assault on the estate tax, what they derisively (and effectively)... more Posted on September 4, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	New Orleans Pays the Death Tax Now should not be the time, as Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly has noted, for the politics of blame. In the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast, Americans should be united in providing relief, resources and support to all in need. But sadly, that massive relief effort will take place during a time of divisive and fundamental debate about the very meaning of national unity in the United States. As New Orleans struggles for survival, the President... more Posted on August 31, 2005 \| Comments (36)

	Hurricanes, Divine Retribution and the Right In these times of American hyper-partisanship, even the response to an act of God like hurricane Katrina is revealing. The disaster, which devastated the extremely red states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, brought no snide claims of "divine retribution" from the voices of the left. No one declared that a just God wrought vengeance upon the South for its sins of slavery, succession, civil war, Jim Crow or more recently, its coronation of George W. Bush. Instead, the liberal blogosphere,... more Posted on August 30, 2005 \| Comments (13)

	What Is To Be Done: A 10-Point Plan for Iraq The debate over the American debacle in Iraq sounds more and more like the Fram oil filter ads from the 1970's. In those spots, a hard-nosed mechanic tells consumers, "you can pay me now or pay me later." The inevitable result of the current political dialogue over Iraq will be the "Fram choice" for Americans: the United States can lose now or lose later. On the right, President Bush and his fellow travelers refuse to accept accountability for selling a... more Posted on August 20, 2005 \| Comments (13)

	The Cindy Sheehan Rorschach Test The vigil of Cindy Sheehan outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch has come to embody all the anger and division of the increasingly counterproductive American debate over Iraq. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, says she wants to meet again with President Bush to ask him, "why did you kill my son?" But while she is lionized by the left and vilified by the right, Washington fiddles and Baghdad burns. The reaction to Sheehan by the Bush White... more Posted on August 10, 2005 \| Comments (25)

	Chaos Theory: Bush & The Bolton Diversion As expected, President Bush Monday morning made a recess appointment of John Bolton to the post of UN ambassador for the United States. This, despite Bolton's inability to get Senate approval, his lie regarding his testimony in the Plame affair, and the possibility of his own involvement in a White House orchestrated smear campaign against the Wilsons. Bush's move, though, may be less about his famed loyalty or legendary intransigence, and more a diversion aimed at creating chaos. At this... more Posted on August 1, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Roberts, Poppy and Attorney-Client Privilege With Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on John Roberts still over a month away, a battle royale over the nominee's paper trail is rapidly developing. But despite White House protests to the contrary, the conflict may be less about protecting attorney-client privilege, and more about protecting the President's father. First, a little background. As part of the confirmation process, Senate Democrats have requested documents from Judge Roberts' time in both the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses. Yesterday, the Bush team... more Posted on July 29, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Holding Fire on Roberts In yesterday's piece "Supreme Limitations on Democrats", I argued that liberals and progressives of all stripes should not reflexively oppose the nomination of Judge John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. (Admittedly, when I wrote the piece, it was Judge Edith Brown Clement I had in mind.) The argument for restraint in the confirmation process is straight-forward. It's not just that Roberts is clearly a first-rate legal talent, unlike a Clarence Thomas. He simply does not cross the threshhold of... more Posted on July 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Supreme Limitations for Democrats With rumors swirling that President Bush has selected Edith Brown Clement of the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to be replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Democrats can get to down the business of planning their response. Their response should be to vote to confirm Judge Clement. Why? In a nutshell, Democrats should grudgingly accept Clement because she simply does not cross the threshhold of unsuitability. 1. Anti-Choice History Not Sufficient for a No Vote Democrats cannot... more Posted on July 19, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	The Coming Draft Debate In "Getting Drafty", I argued that current and emerging American national security challenges require the reinstatement of the draft and a new "hybrid model" of national service. Developments over the just the past two weeks reflect just how rapidly the pressure is building to bolster American military force levels. London Terror Attacks and the Need for Expanded Homeland Defense. Timed to coincide with the opening of the G-8 summit in Edinburgh and only one day after London won the competition... more Posted on July 7, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Markets, Public Goods and Military Recruiting During Thursday's hearings of the Armed Services Committee, several Republican Senators blamed the usual suspects for the shortfalls in Army and Marine recruiting. James Inhofe (R-OK) lambasted unnamed Senate colleagues, adding the potential recruits are being discouraged "because of all the negative media that's out there." Kansan Pat Roberts chimed in, "with the deluge of negative news that we get daily, it's just amazing to me that anybody would want to sign up." But while these conservative Senators predictably pointed... more Posted on June 30, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	A Guide to the Bush Address on Iraq On Tuesday night, President Bush will take to the stage at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in a nationally televised address aimed at rebuilding public support for the war in Iraq. And well he should. Recent polls (from Gallup and Rasmussen, respectively) show that only 39% of Americans approve of the war in Iraq and that more people in the United States blame Bush (49%) than Saddam (44%) for the conflict. The torrent of revelations in 2002 pre-war British documents confirm... more Posted on June 27, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Getting Drafty: The Hybrid Model of National Service Ronald Reagan once famously said that presidents should "never say never" But when it comes to the reinstatement of the military draft, recent public opinion polls seem to suggest that the American people think "never" would be a fine idea, indeed. A recent AP/Ipsos poll showed only 27% of Americans favored conscription, with a whopping 70% opposed. As the casualties mount and recruiting woes build from the Iraq crisis, both political parties continue to make this issue moot for the... more Posted on June 26, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	The Culture of Strife Across the nation this week, the Republican Party and its amen corner unleashed a tidal wave of dangerously irresponsible interventions into the most personal and intimate aspects of Americans' private lives. Whether they will pay a political price for their increasingly extreme - and unpopular - positions remains to be seen. Let's begin in Madison, Wisconsin, where the state assembly voted to ban the distribution and use of the "morning after" pill on state campuses. By a 49-41 vote, the... more Posted on June 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Dean's List Back in December, I wrote a piece about the DNC chairman's race called "Dr. Dean: Wrong Prescription for Democrats." Six months and several Howard Dean gaffes later, many of the leading lights of the Democratic Party are apparently now having the same misgivings. Dean's counterproductive if statistically correct labeling of the GOP as "pretty much a white, Christian party" is only the latest cause of damage control in Democratic circles. In the Senate, Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman, Dick Durbin and... more Posted on June 13, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Sharpening Their Clause: The Coming Bush Judges Only days after the Senate reached a tenuous compromise to preserve the judicial filibuster, it appears the first Supreme Court vacancy of the Bush era may be imminent. AP reports that Chief Justice Rehnquist is preparing to step down and that the White House is already preparing to nominate his successor. There is an emerging consensus regarding the leading contenders for Bush's first Supreme. (Jeffrey Rosen in The New Republic provided a thorough run down last fall.) More important than... more Posted on May 30, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Oregon House Dems Now Blogging This week the entire Oregon House Democratic membership rolled out its own group blog. In what looks like a first among the 50 states, the Oregon House Dems have jumped into the blogosphere, both raising their own visibility and Oregon residents' access to them. The Oregon House Dems deserve credit not only for adopting new technology and putting their own words directly in front of the voters. They also get kudos for letting readers comment on their posts, providing the... more Posted on May 27, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Stem Selling: The Ronald Reagan Life Legacy Act The momentum of politics and science is now with the Democrats in the battle to drive stem cell research in the United States. This week's announcement by South Korean researchers successfully producing healthy stem cells from the DNA of damaged tissue brought home the danger of the United States losing its leadership in the biotech sector. And new bi-partisan legislation in the House co-sponsored by Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) shows that increasing numbers of Congressional Republicans will... more Posted on May 24, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Nuclear Freeze and Bipolar Disorder AP has reported that the Senate 12 have brokered an 11th hour deal to avert a showdown over the nuclear option. The deal announced by Senator John McCain preserves the Democrats right to filibuster, but gives Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor a vote on the Senate floor. If the early blogosphere feedback is any indication, the Right and Left share a common sense of rage and betrayal at the outcome: "Cowards. A Bunch of M-Fing Cowards!!!! "Trust"?... more Posted on May 23, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Judicial Filibuster Documents and Resources The Perrspectives Document Library has been expanded to include materials and resources for the Senate showdown over the judicial filibuster. The Judicial Filibuster Resource Center includes resource guides from the Center for American Progress and Media Matters, key background articles on the origins of the Nuclear Option, and background on key GOP players like Bill Frist and Manuel Miranda. The Judicial Filibuster Document Library also includes comparisons and archives of judicial vacancies under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. For... more Posted on May 19, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Faith-Based Intimidation So it's come to this. Pastor Chan Chandler of the East Waynesville North Carolina Baptist Church in North Carolina ejected nine members of his congregation because they did not vote for George Bush for President. 40 other congregants left his flock in protest. Welcome to the perversion that is George Bush's vision of faith America. The $8 billion Faith-Based Initiative sanctions discrimination by its recipients while involving the federal government in the functions of religious groups. In 2004, the GOP... more Posted on May 7, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	Still Doing Evil: Google and Political Speech Almost a year after Perrspectives' run-in with Google, it seems that the Internet giant is continuing to arbitrarily trample on the opinion speech of its advertisers. Apparently, the company whose corporate mantra is "do no evil" is persists in doing just that. The San Jose Mercury News reports that Google has gotten embroiled in the Tom Delay ethic wars. While Google was running an anti-Delay and from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), they refused a virtually identical anti-Nancy Pelosi... more Posted on May 7, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	A Conservative Theory of Evolution On Sunday, April 24th, Senate Majority Leader Bill First will join James Dobson, Tony Perkins and assorted members of the conservative American Taliban for "Justice Sunday." This made-for-TV event is part of the Right's ongoing war against Senate Democrats' use of the filibuster to block a handful of Bush judicial nominees. As Frist prepares to implement the nuclear option, it is worth noting the subtle irony at the center of the Justice Sunday event. As their flyer states: "THE FILIBUSTER... more Posted on April 21, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	Fonda, Jackson and the Irredeemables of the Left I've often taken conservatives to task for their papal claims of infallability. In the GOP Schiavo memo case, as in so many others too numerous to recount here, the Republicans and their amen corner got it wrong and refused to own up and apologize. If liberals are going to cast stones, however, we better get our own glass houses in order. The last 10 days have a offered us a good place to start: Jesse Jackson and Jane Fonda. The... more Posted on April 7, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Democrats Telling Tales Over at The New Republic, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich has made another important contribution to the Democrats' long road back from the wilderness. (Full disclosure: I supported Reich during his 2002 gubernatorial campaign in Massachusetts.) In his feature piece "Story Time", Reich looks at the Democrats' defeat in the battle to frame debates and describes a path forward. As with George Lakoff, though, while Reich's story is good one, it needs a different ending. Reich traces the Democrats... more Posted on March 24, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Achilles' Heels The political clash over the tragedy of Terri Schiavo is highlighting once again the Achilles Heel of the conservative movement. Dormant for two presidential elections, the yawning chasm between economic and social conservatives is reemerging, and with it, a serious threat to the Republicans' majority status. As we've noted before, the ascendancy of the Right is constantly threatened by the strains between social conservatives and their fiscally conservative, often libertarian allies. On one side, the religious Right of Robertson, Falwell,... more Posted on March 23, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	To Err is Texan Three critical points have been almost entirely absent from the media's discussion of the Terri Schiavo affair. I've written about two and others in the blogosphere have done a great job addressing the third: 1. Moral Arguments Favoring the End of Life Support A thorough discussion of the very strong moral arguments in favor of honoring Terri Schiavo's end-of-life request to her husband has been completely missing in the media. For my take, see: "Schiavo, Mill and the Culture of... more Posted on March 21, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Schiavo, Mill and the Culture of Living President Bush often likes to speak of a �culture of life�, a catch phrase that neatly frames his opposition to reproductive choice and stem cell research. The tragic case of Terri Schiavo, now featuring dangerously irresponsible and unprecedented Congressional intervention, is only latest chapter in his conservative playbook. It is high time to end the melodrama of Republican political opportunism and regain control of this debate. Progressives must do this not because we�re �right� or because our position in this... more Posted on March 20, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Expanded Progressive Resource Center Perrspectives is pleased to announced the expansion of its Resource Center. It offers Democrats, liberals and progressives of all stripes one-stop shopping for political news, polls, columnists, blogs, publications, think tanks, and other organizations. Perrspectives' Resources also include extensive online sources for budget, demographic, economic and electoral data. New additions include: Expanded library of demographic data, including global, regional, state and city sources. New Social Security reference materials, including GOP uber-consultant Frank Luntz's GOP playbook. A new library of Oregon... more Posted on March 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Team America: Making Lakoff Work for Democrats George Lakoff's advice for Democrats in Don't Think of An Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate continues to be the focus of much discussion within the left-of-center blogosphere. In the last week, while Perrspectives took Lakoff to task, Matthew Yglesias praised Democratic efforts to stop President Bush on Social Security as an example of successful Lakoffian "framing." Meanwhile, Marc Cooper in his book review in The Atlantic thundered against Lakoff's "neuroscientific hooey." And just today, DailyKos has called... more Posted on March 6, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Framed: Lakoff's Dubious Speech Therapy for Democrats In the wake of November?s disaster for Democrats, liberals and progressives of all stripes have been seeking guidance and comfort in the work of cognitive scientist and linguist George Lakoff. All the rage among Democrats, his book Don?t Think of An Elephant has introduced the term ?framing? into the daily lexicon of political animals. For devastated Democrats trying to plot their return from the wilderness, Lakoff has taken on almost mythic status. And that?s probably not a good thing. While... more Posted on March 1, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Fresh Air and Gray Skies: An Even Hand at NPR For the raging right, National Public Radio is the poster child for liberal bias in the media. From Accuracy in Media and the Media Research Center to the National Review and Bill O'Reilly, NPR (or "National Palestine Radio" to its detractors), is the bete noir. How very surprised, then, they must have all been while listening last week to NPR's Terry Gross on the Fresh Air program. Over three days last week, Gross brought in some of the heaviest hitters... more Posted on February 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Turning the Tables The Senate�s passage of the �Class Action Fairness Act� (CAFA) last week showcased two of the Republicans� most successful strategies for dominating political debate � Unopposable Utterances and Opposite Attractions. With the GOP stranglehold on the White House and Congress, it is high time the Democrats fought back using the very same weapons against them. But first a little background. The first of the Bush administration�s troika of tort reform initiatives (malpractice award caps and Asbestos litigation curbs are the... more Posted on February 17, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Unrepentant In San Francisco on Sunday, Mayor Gavin Newsome spoke at city hall to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Valentine's Day Revolution. It was a year ago that Newsome ordered the City Clerk to begin performing same-sex weddings in keeping with his reading of the California constitution. 3,000 invalidated marriage licenses, 12 state gay marriage bans and one reelected George Bush later, Mayor Newsome is still committed - and unrepentant:. "I've never felt a greater sense of purpose but... more Posted on February 13, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Fried Rice: Condi's Coming 9/11 Firestorm On the same day that the North Korean announcement of its nuclear weaponry put the Bush administration on the defensive, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice got a double-dose of blowback from her 9/11 dissembling. First, the release of a previously classified report by the National Archives shows that the FAA had been warned repeatedly of the threat of terrorist hijackings between April and September, 2001. Even a slew of redactions, the Auugust 2004 report (which the administration held up) details... more Posted on February 11, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Ruy Texeira and the Whiteness of Being Over at Donkey Rising, Ruy Teixeira analyzes the raw data from the final NEP 2004 exit poll is search of an explanation for John Kerry's defeat. Not surprisingly, he concludes that "It's the White Working Class, Stupid." That is, Democrats not only got clubbed again by the GOP among working class white men (by 30% vs 29% four years ago), but were trounced among working class white women, with Bush's margin growing to 18% (from 7% in 2000). More alarming,... more Posted on February 9, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Race and the State of the Union During the February 3rd segment of the Abrams Report on MSNBC, part of the discussion focused on President Bush's surprising and vocal support for DNA evidence funding during the State of the Union address. Abrams and his guests seemed mystified as to why President Bush, a man who presided over more executions than any other contemporaneous governor, would have a "born-again" revelation as to the importance of DNA evidence in securing defendants' rights. As with virtually everything else with this... more Posted on February 4, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	State of Denial From the perspective of public policy and narrative, President Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address brought few surprises. But for sheer chutzpah, President Bush reached new heights. 1. The Social Security Shell Game As expected, Bush focused on Social Security privatization. Also as expected, he continued the selective use of numbers to create the phantasm of a "crisis." Needless to say, there was no mention of the $2 trillion cost and the serious risks of private accounts. Even more... more Posted on February 2, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	On the Wrong Side of History Once in a rare while, tectonic historical change occurs with the span of only few days. The dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall heralding the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, was one of those watershed moments. And for many Americans, the events of the last 10 days of January, with the Rice confirmation, the Bush second inaugural, and the Iraqi elections, represent a democratic tide sweeping the Middle East, a sea change the whole world is watching. Sometimes, though,... more Posted on February 1, 2005 \| Comments (5)

	Perrspectives' Social Security Document Library With President Bush and the GOP launching an all-out campaign for their misguided Social Security privatization plan, Perrspectives has assembled a library of resources to help you evaluate the pluses and (endless) minuses of the Bush proposal. The Perrspectives Social Security Document Library includes the Republicans' cynical game plan, the Trustees' 2004 Report, the 2001 report of the Presidential Commission, CEPR's simple fact sheet, and resources from AARP, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Campaign for America's Future... more Posted on February 1, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Hijacking Freedom Among the many sub-plots to watch for in Wednesday's State of the Union address will be President Bush's appropriation of the words "freedom" and "liberty" for his agenda and the GOP. As we've written before, the Republicans have dominated American policy debates through their manipulation and control of language. Whether through message discipline or superior framing (to use Lakoff's term), the GOP has won a succession of victories spanning tax reform, Medicare, environmental policy, and more. Bush's 2005 State of... more Posted on January 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	2004 State of the Union Flashback With President Bush's 2005 State of the Union approaching, my 2004 SOTU-eve critique of Bush's so-called Ownership Society still stands. State of Disunion Even with his shaky State of the Union address and dipping approval ratings, President Bush unfortunately remains in a strong position for the 2004 election. Saddam is captured, GDP is surging, and his reelection war chest has a staggering $100 million in the bank. And while his Democratic foes battle each other in primary contests across the... more Posted on January 31, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Name That Bush Scandal Contest Results! To commemorate the Second Inauguration of President George W. Bush, Perrspectives is pleased to announce the winners of the "Name That Bush Scandal" Contest which concluded at noon EST, January 20, 2005. Perrspectives received entries from all over the United States (and the world, for that matter). We'd like to thank everyone who participated for their creativity, spirit, energy and, given the election results, understandable angst. But while America may be the place where , to quote President Bush, "wings... more Posted on January 22, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	African-Americans and the Bush Social Security Plan Only days after the Armstrong Williams paid-for-pundit debacle, President Bush used his January 12 "town hall meeting" to once again reach out to African-Americans. this time on his Social Security privatization plan. With a hand-picked audience of supporters present on stage and in the Washington DC audience, Bush was on the top of his game: "Another interesting idea...is a personal savings account...which can't be used to bet on the lottery, or a dice game, or the track. "Secondly, the interesting... more Posted on January 13, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Joe Trippi Endorses Rosenberg for DNC Chair On the same day that Howard Dean officially threw his hat into the ring for DNC Chairman, his former campaign manager Joe Trippi announced on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews that he is supporting Simon Rosenberg. I couldn't agree more. As I've said before, while the loose cannon Dean would be a perilous selection for Democrats, NDN's Simon Rosenberg is just what the doctor ordered for a DNC chairman.... more Posted on January 11, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Rosenberg Announces DNC Chair Bid New Democrat Network President and founder Simon Rosenberg made it official today and jumped into the race for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Perrspectives has been a big supporter of Rosenberg for the DNC chairmanship. In case you missed it, here's our view from December 9th: "Simon Says: Rosenberg for DNC Chair"... more Posted on January 6, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Bush's Social Security Smoke Screen As we previously discussed in "The Party of Choice", the Bush Social Security privatization is only loosely concerned about increasing market returns for retirement savings, providing greater freedom to American investors or even staving off a supposed funding crisis. Win or lose, the Bush plan seeks nothing less than to dramatically redefine the role of government while cementing the image of a majority Republican Party as the party of choice. But you don't have to take our word for it.... more Posted on January 6, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	The Party of Choice As President Bush ramps up his campaign for Social Security privatization, it looks like Democrats will once again win the battle of facts while losing the war of ideas. While his proposals are widely viewed as bad public policy and enjoy only lukewarm public support, regardless of its outcome Bush's crusade for Social Security reform will likely cement the positive image of the Republicans as the "party of choice." And apparently unaware of the largers stakes, it looks like the... more Posted on December 28, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Dreaming of a Blue Christmas: Holiday Reading for Democrats in Despair For many Americans, the holiday season can be a difficult one. While most enjoy festive celebrations, share time with family and reaffirm their faith, for growing numbers of people the holidays are a season of sadness, alienation, depression and despair. Taking their annual inventory of loneliness, the passage of time, their personal disappointments and unmet expectations, and the realities of family gatherings, the seasonally-affected may reach for Prozac � or worse. For Democrats, liberals, and progressives of all stripes, Christmas... more Posted on December 16, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Rumsfeld and the Aspin Test Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's comments to U.S. troops last week highlight once again the need for new leadership at the Pentagon. But while some Republicans are finally beginning to raise doubts about Rumsfeld, they have yet to hold him to the GOP's "Les Aspin Standard." That is, decisions that needlessly cost American lives in battle cost defense secretaries their jobs, but apparently only if Bill Clinton is president. John McCain, who sold his soul to George Bush in order to... more Posted on December 13, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Simon Says: Rosenberg for DNC Chair The race to succeed Terry McAuliffe as DNC chair is heating up and is getting very crowded. On December 8th, "front-runner" Howard Dean made his pitch. Today, Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the New Democrat Network, will preview his case for leadership at the ASDC conference in Orlando. A Rosenberg candidacy to lead the Democratic National Committee is one we at Perrspectives strongly endorse. By way of background, Perrspectives has made the argument (both before and after the electoral... more Posted on December 9, 2004 \| Comments (3)

	Dr. Dean: Wrong Prescription for Democrats At George Washington University, Howard Dean on December 8th used a major address to make his claim for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. Seeing a very ill, deeply depressed Democratic patient with a weak pulse and failing heart, Doctor Dean offered his usual combustible mix of rage and righteous indignation as a balm. Just as in 2003, the Good Doctor showed he is passionately committed to saving the life of his patient, with words that make the patient... more Posted on December 9, 2004 \| Comments (5)

	Not That There's Anything Wrong with It Two recent news developments highlight once again the fallacy of "rational rejection" of the rights of gay Americans by social conservatives. In their ongoing quest to mask theology as social science, they have once run into the dual brick walls of the academy and the Supreme Court. The first instance of conservatives being "mugged by reality" (to appropriate neocon Irving Kristol's phrase) comes from the University of Virginia, where a study led by Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson showed that teenagers... more Posted on November 29, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Less Than the Sum of Our Parts As Democrats wallow in the mire of Tuesday's electoral devastation, many are looking for silver linings in the clouds of the Republican trouncing. From record turnout, new voter registration, impressive fundraising, and the proliferation of liberal 527's, many progressives are finding solace. Comforting as that might be during this time of mourning for progressives, this search for palliatives misses the real point of Tuesday's disaster and obscures the hard work we have to do. That is, Democrats fundamentally have neither... more Posted on November 4, 2004 \| Comments (1)

	Messages and Messengers in 2008 As expected, Democrats rending their garments in anguish over yesterday's debacle are already turning to potential nominees in 2008. It would seem that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards head the list. While all good and admirable Democrats and public servants, each would be a recipe for yet another defeat in 2008. John Edwards opportunity has come and gone; Obama's time will not yet be right, and for Hilary Clinton, the time will never be right. Why? Because Democrats... more Posted on November 3, 2004 \| Comments (5)

	Five Lessons Learned: The Donkey Gets Its Ass Kicked While the Ohio saga may linger for some days, it's abundantly clear that the Democrats have suffered a devastating defeat. Bush has his mandate, the GOP owns Congress and the governorships, and the Supreme Court is only a matter of time. Let the recriminations begin. Progressives will no doubt cite a host of factors, from Kerry's wooden personality, the unshakable flip-flopper label, the Swift Boat slanders, "voted for it before I voted against it", among others. But these are questions... more Posted on November 3, 2004 \| Comments (29)

	The Stakes Every four years, the presidential candidates and their parties trot out the tired clich� that �this election is the most important in our lifetimes.� In 2004, the clich� is true. The outcome of the battle between George W. Bush and John Kerry will be a watershed event for the United States, a �line in the sand� as Bush the Elder would say. The stakes on November 2 are clear and dramatic: Will the American people choose to renew their social... more Posted on November 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Bush Top 10 Flip Flop List Four years ago, George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for President, and famously set the moral tone - and expectations for his presidency: "So when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God." It has not, of course, worked out that way. As we pointed out... more Posted on October 1, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	W's Failed Wartime Leadership During the first night of the Republican Convention in New York, John McCain and Rudy Guiliani were effusive in the their praise of President Bush's war-time leadership. They are dead wrong. As the current situation on the ground and history alike show, Bush's conduct of the war has been misguided, ineffective and yes, cowardly. As Perrspectives detailed back in February ("The War President?"), Bush has failed because he has ignored the four real requirements of American wartime leadership: 1. Call... more Posted on August 31, 2004 \| Comments (1)

	Five Global Challenges for a New American Internationalism That giant sucking sound you may have heard last week was the last vestiges of American unilateralism spinning down the drain. Perhaps barely noticed in the din and drumbeat of the Reagan commemoration, the short and unhappy life of President Bush�s policy of �America Alone� mercifully came to an abrupt halt. In securing passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution recognizing the new Iraqi Interim Government, the Bush administration unwittingly pronounced the death of an idea whose time had never... more Posted on June 18, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Reflections on Reagan Now that the orgiastic collective mourning of Ronald Reagan is complete, we can from the distance of a week honestly reflect on the legacy of Ronald Reagan. Here is a look back at the man and the myth, in his own words and those of who (theoretically) admired him... Continue reading "Reflections on Reagan"...... more Posted on June 12, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Are We More Secure? As we mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush has made national security the foundation of his reelection effort. To no one�s surprise, the self-proclaimed �war president� is running on a theme of �steady leadership for changing times.� Given the traditional advantage the GOP has enjoyed with voters on defense and national security issues, the formula for electoral success seems straightforward: �President Bush made America safer.� Except that it�s not true. John Kerry and... more Posted on March 18, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Are You Better Off? During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan quickly deflated Jimmy Carter�s reelection bid with a simple question, asking the American people, �are you better off today than four years ago?� The answer, at a time of high unemployment, staggering inflation, spiraling energy prices, and hostages in Tehran, was an obvious - and devastating - no. Now it�s George Bush�s turn to face the Reagan question. And as with Jimmy Carter, the verdict from the American people won�t be kind: the... more Posted on March 10, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	States' Blights As the past week�s Democratic debates in Los Angeles and New York showed once again, there are generally very few substantive policy disagreements between John Kerry and John Edwards. On the issue of same-sex marriage in particular, there is very little difference in their approach: play it safe. That may be politically expedient and even politically necessary, but unfortunately, it also dangerous to the cause of personal liberty. Unlike abortion rights, which enjoy consensus support nationwide, same-sex marriage is still... more Posted on March 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Slippery Slope Here we go again. Once again, the anti-choice movement, with support from congressional conservatives and President Bush, is pushing legislation that chips away at women�s reproductive rights. Once again, squeamish Democrats in the House and Senate are going along for the ride. And once again, they are playing directly into their opponents� hands, helping to bring about the gradual undermining of abortion rights... Continue reading "Slippery Slope"...... more Posted on February 25, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Unsafe at Any Speed Ralph Nader announced his candidacy for president on Meet the Press with Tim Russert on Sunday. For those who missed it, here is a sneak peak at the de facto 2004 Nader campaign platform. At first glance, it looks strikingly similar to George W. Bush�s program. At second and third glance, too... Continue reading "Unsafe at Any Speed"...... more Posted on February 23, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Miranda Warning Oliver North is living proof that crime does pay. The Fox analyst and host of �War Stories�, North was a central figure in the Reagan era Iran-Contra scandal, clandestinely funneling money and arms to the Nicaraguan contras in clear violation of the 1984 Bolland Amendment. North, of course, is also a convicted felon, though his 1989 conviction was later overturned on appeal by none other than Laurence Silberman, the newly named chairman of President�s Bush WMD panel. Enter Manuel Miranda,... more Posted on February 22, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The War President? Now there�s a surprise. President Bush is going to base his reelection on the claim of being �a war president.� (His �Ownership Society� vision, which he delivered stillborn during his State of the Union address, has apparently been put on the backburner.) As he told Tim Russert on �Meet the Press� and repeated to National Guard troops in Louisiana on February 17th: "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war... more Posted on February 20, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part VI: The Democrats' New American Bargain in Action In 2004, Democrats must answer the GOP assault on national unity with a program based on reciprocity, responsibility and opportunity that calls on the best in Americans and their government. On national security, Democrats must not only pass the threshold of credibility, they must demonstrate clear leadership compared to the GOP. There is no better way to do this, substantively and symbolically, than through national service. While the volunteer army currently seems sufficient to fight foes abroad such as Afghanistan... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part V: A New American Bargain Democrats need a new, revitalized public philosophy and politics not only to achieve victory in 2004, but also to have any hope of attaining majority status in the next decade. In contrast to a conservative Opt Out ideology increasingly at odds with the best American civic traditions, Democrats should seek to usher in the "Reciprocity Society." Characterized by shared national identity and values, commitment to common goals and public institutions, national service, mutual responsibility, and universal opportunity, the Reciprocity Society... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part IV: Identity Politics and the Threat from the Left Unfortunately, Democrats cannot credibly speak of a politics of national unity and common American interest unless they make a clear break with the identity politics, multi-culturalism, and group privileges of the party's left. Democrats during the Clinton reign in the 1990's made great progress overcoming two of the three barriers to the party gaining majority status: being trusted on national defense and to provide economic growth. On cultural issues, however, the Clinton program of "100,000 cops" and welfare reform (not... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part III: Branding the Opt Out Society Democrats in 2004 would do well to emulate two successful approaches of their opponents in branding the GOP and its Opt Out philosophy. In 1994 with Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" and again with the 2000 Bush campaign, the Republicans succeeded in both labeling the Democrats as outside the mainstream while effectively positioning their own program in easily understood, hard hitting and, at least superficially, universally appealing sound bites. The result was and continues to be GOP domination of the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part II: On Your Own The impact of the Opt Out Society can be seen across the policies the Bush administration has pursued since coming to office. These are consistently defined by three characteristics. First is market idolatry; all public policy issues are framed in terms of market choice, competition, and privatization. From school vouchers to a market for pollution credits, any outcome that results is by definition the right one, since it was freely decided by the market. Second, the politics of the Opt... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part I: Introduction There's an old saying that says, "don't bring a knife to a gun fight." Another old saw goes "know your enemy." Truer words were never spoken as Democrats approach the 2004 elections. President Bush, fresh off his victory in Iraq, the staged performance on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and the capture of Saddam, has maintained strong approval ratings. But while the president wraps himself in the flag and the banner of unity in the American war against terror, the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Smallness of King George Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Richard Nixon represents the dark side of the American spirit." Well, RFK never met George W. Bush. Not since the days of Tricky Dick has the White House seen such a secretive, paranoid and vengeance-filled occupant. President Bush may not have the Plumbers, CREEP (the Committee to Re-elect the President), or the "Enemies List", but in its essence his administration has all the same hallmarks as the Nixon team. The politics of retribution, secrecy, and... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	State of Disunion Even with his shaky State of the Union address and dipping approval ratings, President Bush unfortunately remains in a strong position for the 2004 election. Saddam is captured, GDP is surging, and his reelection war chest has a staggering $100 million in the bank. And while his Democratic foes battle each other in primary contests across the country, Bush used his prime-time address to the nation to unveil his future for America, one grandly titled the "Ownership Society." The administration's... more Posted on January 21, 2004 \| Comments (0)