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05/31/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush Blasts AICategories :: Bush Administration
Bush blasts Amnesty International, Amnesty U.S.A. (and reality) blast back.
05/31/05 :: By S.M. Dixon It's Official: Felt is "Deep Throat"Categories :: Breaking News :: Democracy
One of the greatest mysteries in politics has been laid to rest with the truth.
05/31/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter To have and have notCategories :: Democrats
Senate Democrats blew it. Strategically they took one step forward and then two back tactically, the one familiar battle maneuver of the modern Democratic Party. I write, of course, about the filibuster-agreement affair. Its short and unhappy life was, for...
05/30/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Creating New OsamasCategories :: Foreign Policy
The Bush Administration is selling weapons to anti-American dictatorships in exchange for friendship and cooperation in the War on (Some) Terror.
05/29/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The nuclear option: It’s not just for senators anymoreCategories :: Media
We all know the Bush administration delights in offending the world. That’s hardly news. It bullied and browbeat its unilateral way into an illegal war; turned a blind eye to mountains of global-warming evidence; nominated a personality-disordered megalomaniac as America’s...
05/27/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Newsweek Was RightCategories :: Outrages
Someone owes Newsweek an apology.
05/27/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Hellfire and damnation -- in writingCategories :: Iraq
A couple of short quotes said it all. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, after labeling Amnesty International’s just-released, scathing report on U.S. human rights violations as “ridiculous,” said "we hold people accountable when there's abuse.” Retired military judge Kevin Barry...
05/26/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Dems Delay Bolton VoteCategories :: Breaking News :: Foreign Policy
The Republicans lose -- again.
05/26/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Gingrich Helps ReidCategories :: Democrats :: Framing 101
Harry Reid brilliantly reframed the Democratic Party in a speech before the National Press Club today. These are talking points, folks!
05/26/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The religious right’s stealth politicsCategories :: Framing - Religion
I’d have much more respect -- okay, some respect -- for religious rightists if they would simply start telling the truth about their strategic goals. Ever since their more visible political ascendancy in the 1990s, they have back-doored the public...
05/26/05 :: By Stu Finkel Bush Rejects Stem Cell CompromiseCategories :: George W. Bush :: Healthcare :: Stem Cell Research
Bush implies that he would veto even a compromise version of the stem cell research bill.
05/26/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush by the NumbersCategories :: Bush Administration :: Republicans
Another poll with bad news for the White House and the GOP. Will either group start listening to the American people any time soon?
05/25/05 :: By William Hare Is Rush Limbaugh Ready for a Straitjacket or Prison Grays?Categories :: Media Snake Oil
The existence of a Rush Limbaugh delivering emotional attacks bereft of logic or reason to national radio audiences and “fair and balanced” Fox News trumpeting Bush Administration position papers repetitiously as fact, notably in the realm of alleged “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, underscores the validity of Billy Moyers’s criticisms. The equal time provision relative to political commentary was stripped away during the Reagan Administration and we are now left with gangs of strident demagogues and bigots such as Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Ann Coulter savagely poisoning the airways without regulation. How far we have plummeted since the days of Edward R. Murrow!
05/25/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter It’s the bullying, stupidCategories :: Republicans
The Senate locked horns over the filibuster; TV’s talking heads lectured on the filibuster; op-ed pages, talk-radio asylums and political Web sites parsed every parliamentary aspect of the filibuster -- and the debates were mostly an irrelevance. More on that...
05/25/05 :: By S.M. Dixon You've Got Mail... Angry MailCategories :: Democrats :: Judges/Judiciary
A clarification of the post, "Democrats Surrender the Filibuster," inspired by angry e-mail from fellow Lefties.
05/25/05 :: By S.M. Dixon McClellan Backpeddles on Newsweek ClaimCategories :: Bush Administration
The White House can't keep it's lies straight.
05/24/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter A pseudoconservative coup on its last, wretched breathCategories ::
The recent New York Times’ story on the world’s increasingly hostile opinion of America in light of detainee-abuse reports was as revealing in what it did not address as what it did. It wasn’t the journalists’ fault; their point was...
05/24/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Wingnuts Whining About Newsweek — AgainCategories :: Blowhards
Just when you thought righties had run out of anti-Newsweek steam, they find a new non-issue to get hot and bothered about...
05/24/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Democrats Surrender the FilibusterCategories :: Breaking News :: Democrats :: Judges/Judiciary
The Democratic Party has just blown it. Big time.
05/23/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush and Company Going DownCategories :: Republicans
Bush and the GOP's poll numbers continue to plummet.
05/23/05 :: By William Hare Frankfurt's Analysis of B.S. Can be Easily Applied to "Fair and Balanced" FoxCategories :: Media Snake Oil
Professor Harry Frankfurt is correct when he states with regret in his current bestseller “On Bullshit” that “B.S.” has reached dismal record levels. As an academic who teaches students to strive for communicative optimum he has every reason to feel distressed by what passes for media and public commentary in the advent of a new century where technological advancement is trumpeted at virtually every turn.
05/23/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Who’s on first …Categories :: Iraq
Col. Theodore Nicholas, director of intelligence in Afghanistan: “I did not put pressure on the interrogation cell to violate standards to gain information.” (June, 2004) Capt. Britton Hopper, commander of an intelligence battalion in Afghanistan: “There was a lot of...
05/21/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter A Frist-rate hypocriteCategories ::
In early March, when Democratic Senator Robert Byrd the Republican anti-filibuster campaign to Nazi tactics, fellow senator Rick Santorum demanded that Byrd retract his comments because they "lessen the credibility of the senator and the decorum of the Senate." Naturally,...
05/20/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Newsweek is VindicatedCategories :: Anti-War :: Media
A U.S. Army report examined by the NYT provides too much evidence to deny Newsweek's recent and controversial article.
05/20/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Back to the Future in IraqCategories :: Iraq
Yesterday I checked out a few randomly chosen newspaper stories from two years ago to see precisely what was being said a couple months after our thumbs-up, mission-accomplished experience in Iraq. What an experience in itself. It began with this...
05/20/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter This just in ...Categories :: Blowhards
... "From the Desk of David Horowitz" -- a living, breathing blob of silliness who for God-knows-what-reason has put me on his e-fundraising list. "Dear P.M.: "[yada yada yada] ... The Left in America would rather defend terrorists who murder...
05/19/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Rick Santorum is the Scum of the EarthCategories :: Blowhards :: Hypocrisy
Rick Santorum has taken the Republican Sleaze Machine's hypocrisy rating to a new high.
05/19/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Star Wars Mania Moves In on MoveOnCategories :: Judges/Judiciary
Beware the Sith Lord Frist!
05/19/05 :: By Bob Kendall Born Again Botch Artist Bush!Categories :: Bush Administration
It is a known psychological fact that very often accusers are the very ones who should be accused. Take the case of the White House resident George W. Bush.
05/19/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The ideology of ignoranceCategories :: Iraq
Reading journalists’ reports from Iraq is like being sucked into a time warp where ancient incompetence comes flying at you with mocking vengeance. It’s a confirming experience as well -- a confirmation that policy makers will never learn as long...
05/18/05 :: By S.M. Dixon "A lie keeps growing and growing..."Categories :: Judges/Judiciary :: Media
Media Matters delves into the GOP's "The Top 10 filibuster falsehoods," since the Establishment media has decided to let the lies slide.
05/18/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Catherine Crier Reveals the GOP's Real Judicial AgendaCategories :: Judges/Judiciary
There's an ulterior motive overlooked by many in the press observing the GOP's war on the judiciary, but Catherine Crier has spelled out.
05/18/05 :: By William Hare Galloway Makes Republican Bullies Squirm and Eats Fox News AliveCategories :: Media Snake Oil
Fox News and the Senate Republicans they so thoroughly control made an egregious tactical error when they decided to launch one of their patented smears on British Member of Parliament George Galloway. Designated point man Republican Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota was left squirming Tuesday after Galloway got the chance to defend himself before Coleman’s special committee “investigating” the UN oil for food program.
05/18/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The trail from McCarthyism to post-9/11 hysteria -- and liberal complicityCategories ::
Most Americans have either forgotten or never learned that McCarthyism was an equal-opportunity political crime wave. The Wisconsin senator made a big -- and utterly unexpected -- media splash with his Wheeling, West Virginia speech (“I hold in my hand...
05/18/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Truth From... Pat Buchanan?!Categories :: Republicans
Pat Buchanan dishes the GOP's dirt, and it ain't pretty... unless you're a liberal.
05/17/05 :: By S.M. Dixon News with Snark -- Just BecauseCategories :: Misc
Supplementing our normal headlines service with a little commentary -- because that's what blogs do.
05/17/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Is there anyone left …?Categories :: Iraq
Is there anyone left other than delusional neocons, Bush-admin propagandists and personality-disordered jingoists who could say we have planted a flowering democracy in Iraq rather than opened a can of virulent worms? Is there anyone left who could intelligently gainsay...
05/17/05 :: By S.M. Dixon I Hate the "MSM"Categories :: Media :: Republicans
What's wrong with the "MSM?" Not what you think.
05/16/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Missin’ the bloody point, as usualCategories :: Democrats
Last Friday, Chris Matthews and his guests were frolicking in another of Hardball’s analysis-free zones. If you’re a regular viewer of MSNBC’s FOXy-R-Us fare, then perhaps you were as dismayed as I by that night’s “Tom DeLay segment.” The preceding...
05/16/05 :: By Stu Finkel Our "Ally" in UzbekistanCategories :: Foreign Policy
Violence flares up in Uzbekistan, whose authoritarian leader, Islam Karimov, is a close U.S. ally in the so-called War on Terrorism. How many times do we have to go through the same thing, coddling secular dictators thinking that it's in our best interest, before we realize that it almost always comes back to bite us in the ass?
05/14/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Confession of a blogging newcomerCategories :: Blogging on Blogging
This is your government, at its highest level, in action. The setting is the White House press room, the day after a Cessna aircraft over the nation’s capital caused the evacuation of more than 30,000 terrified people. The following is...
05/13/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Corporate AristocracyCategories :: Corporate Welfare
An article from activist Holly Sklar reveal some shocking statistics about corporate executives, the de facto lords and ladies of America.
05/13/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Another up-or-down vote on black-and-white flakinessCategories :: Bush Administration
Nothing could better define how the Bush administration thinks, how it operates, and how it treats reality than John R. Bolton’s written opinion to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “A policy official may state his own reading of the...
05/13/05 :: By Scott Shields Democratic Governors Popular In Red StatesCategories :: Elections
Well, I'll be damned....
05/13/05 :: By Bob Kendall Letter to Time Over The Bush Media RoastCategories :: Bush Administration
I recently wrote a column for this site comparing the festive merriment of the recent Washington media roast involving the Bushes to the fiddling of Nero while Rome burned in the wake of the steadily mounting body count in Iraq with 400 deaths in the last seven days.
05/12/05 :: By Stu Finkel Interview with Phil AngelidesCategories :: Campaigns :: Democrats :: Schwarzenegger, Arnold
Phil Angelides, CA State Treasurer and candidate to challenge Ahnuld in next year's gubernatorial election, answers a bloggers' questions regarding his campaign and the state of the state.
05/12/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Arnold gets his butt kickedCategories :: Schwarzenegger, Arnold
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger accepts Visa, Mastercard and American Express. But you need to charge at least $10,000 and funnel it through one of his “initiative committees” to gain the personal access you’re bound to tell the public you’re not seeking....
05/12/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Conyers Tells AllCategories :: Judges/Judiciary :: Race
Representative John Conyers has revealed a disturbing pattern of Republican Party racism when it comes to judicial nominees.
05/11/05 :: By Bonnie Yarbrough Old Ghosts and Mangled MemoriesCategories :: Bush Administration :: History :: Senators and Representatives
Just as Bush blundered into the Balkans to deliver his history-mangling rhetoric on minority rights as a benchmark for democracy, Frist was maneuvering eliminate them back home. Joe McCarthy would be proud.
05/11/05 :: By Bob Kendall Ignorant, Arrogant Religious Right Radicals Strive to Destroy Democracy for Theocracy and Plunge America into The Dark AgesCategories :: Fundamentalism
Ignorance and arrogance have never stopped religious fanatics from trying to force their bigoted viewpoints onto the world. You need travel no farther than Waynesville, North Carolina, where a small Baptist church pastor, Reverend Chan Chandler, dared defy some of the most cherished democratic principles of this nation. Chandler became so undemocratic in his actions that he now has the focus of the U.S.A. and the world on his defiance of democracy.
05/11/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter More Thunder on the Right: The Propaganda Ministry of Christian BroadcastingCategories :: Religion
Thanks to reader Steve Wolfson, who sent an expansive and riveting Columbia Journalism Review article on Christian evangelical broadcasting in America. Its reportage on the movement’s sheer numbers, cultivated by extraordinarily brash propagandists, is enough, however, to prompt one to...
05/11/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Why Are The Dems Fighting Back?Categories :: Democrats
In the 1990's the GOP planted several seeds that, nearly a decade later, have produced a crop of severely ticked-off Democrats...
05/10/05 :: By Stu Finkel NY Times Bureau Chief Asks: Are We Lapdogs for the Bush Administration?Categories :: Media
NY Times Washingotn Bureau Chief actually asks the question: Are we lapdogs for the Bush administration?
05/10/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Blow-back revisitedCategories :: Iraq
An ABC News journalist once asked the president why, in the prewar stage, he portrayed Iraqi weapons as an imminent threat to U.S. security when intelligence reports, replete with cautionary tones and caveats, more often referred to potentialities. The president...
05/10/05 :: By William Hare Blair Feels Iraq Heat; Colleagues Show Him The DoorCategories :: International Affairs
On the day United Kingdom voters went to the polls this source predicted that Prime Minister Tony Blair “was toast” as a result of his Iraq War policy and the vigilance of voters infuriated over the loss of lives from a conflict arising over false claims and in contravention of international law. The prime minister perpetually referred to as “arrogant” and “smarmy” showed the British people and others watching the returns election evening on BBC throughout the world a totally different face.
05/09/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Is Dittodom Dying?Categories :: Conservatives
I’ve related the rise and fall of my hopes for a riveting weekend of locally produced, right-wing talk radio in the Ozarks. In a word, it was pretty much dead. No fire, no passion, no venom spewed. With their boys...
05/09/05 :: By Bob Kendall Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the End of World War II with Putin and BushCategories :: Bush Administration
(An imaginary conversation between George Bush and Vladimir Putin.)
George Bush: That Yalta Agreement sure was a mistake. You Russians conned us, and F.D.R. fell for it – too bad we didn’t have a Republican in then. Things would have been different, I’ll tell you that. I’ve studied my history lesson.
05/08/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter PurgatoryCategories ::
To update my high expectations, I’m sad to report that right-wing talk radio has died here. It appears to be a victim of its own success and its own distortions. Without Bill Clinton’s eight years of peace and prosperity to...
05/07/05 :: By Bob Kendall Rip Van Winkle Democrats Asleep at the Switch!Categories :: Bush Administration
The symbol of the Democratic Party could be switched from the donkey to Rip Van Winkle. Democratic leaders have been sleeping through the first Bush term and now the tragedy of the second term reign of error.
05/06/05 :: By S.M. Dixon DeLay's Hypocrisy BoundlessCategories :: Hypocrisy :: Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay has just gotten even sleazier, if you can believe it.
05/06/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Entering the Divine Comedy of Talk Radio HellCategories :: Satire
This morning I’m headed off for parts so redneck they make Capitol Hill’s Republican cloakroom look like a bi-sexual commie bastion. I speak, of course, of the Missouri-Arkansas Ozarks. I once lived there, still have family there, and in a...
05/05/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Salon Picks-Up on Rycroft MemoCategories :: Bush Administration :: Media
The "Rycroft Memo" story is a smoking gun covered with George Bush's fingerprints, but the so-called liberal media is taking its time deciding whether to cover the story. Let's see if others follow Salon's lead.
05/05/05 :: By William Hare As Brits Vote, Blair Faces "War Criminal" Suit; How Long Before The Cheney-Bush Junta is Held Accountable?Categories :: Bush Administration
While the British people vote in their parliamentary election today a nervous Prime Minister Tony Blair awaits his fate. In this election his sternest critics come from his Labour Party’s main support base. These are the individuals who find his actions in rushing his country to war in Iraq unconscionable.
05/05/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter America’s Political History in Less Than 2 MinutesCategories :: History
Some visionaries of the left live in an imaginary America. They live in a nation where pleasant visions lead to socially revolutionary realities. The remaining visionaries of the left live in a nation where exercising a robust imagination leads to...
05/05/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Repudiating RobertsonCategories :: Activism :: Supreme Court/Judiciary
Pat Robertson actually thinks that independent judges are a greater threat to America than Al Qaeda...
05/05/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Success for "Drop the Hammer"Categories :: Tom DeLay
The "Drop the Hammer" campaign proves that online activism pays-off.
05/05/05 :: By Drew Johnston The Gospel According to JebCategories :: Religion :: Sex :: Women's Rights
Republican morality, meet Christian morality. Oh, I see you haven't met.
05/04/05 :: By Scott Shields The Next Big ThingCategories :: Elections
In 2004, there were a number of cool little internet tools candidates and campaigns used to their advantage. The most obvious was MeetUp, of course, but by the fall, the political scene had bled well into Friendster and MySpace as...
05/04/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bombshell: Rycroft Memo Proves White House, Downing Street Conspired to Provoke Iraq WarCategories :: Breaking News :: Iraq :: Media
A classified memo proves that the U.S. and the U.K. conspired to manipulate Saddam Hussein into committing an act that would justify war, but the so-called liberal media isn't covering this bombshell.
05/04/05 :: By Tom Ball US Military Budget Will Match Rest of World in 1 YearCategories :: Military
In only 12 months, the the amount of our tax dollars dedicated to the US Military will match the aggregate military budgets of the worlds other 191 countries. That implies a military expenditure of nearly a TRILLION US dollars -- including budgets for Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the 'standard' military budget.
05/04/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The Devil They Think They Know...Categories :: Activism
A few months ago I was sharing some cheap Chianti at a cheap bistro with a rather non-political -- borderline apolitical -- acquaintance. Nevertheless, for reasons forgotten he happened to wonder out loud why our political leaders were permitting a...
05/03/05 :: By William Hare Was Judith Miller a Left Wing Propagandist? Give Us a BreakCategories :: Media Snake Oil
L. Brent Bozell III has been recently making the rounds turning up the heat to expose the New York Times and PBS as unrelenting left wing propaganda sources. He is in lockstep with Bill O’Reilly, that paragon of populist objectivity for “fair and balanced” Fox News, who warned of the danger of Bill Moyers and PBS for years.
05/03/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Pentagon Says Bush Has Jeopardized National SecurityCategories :: Foreign Policy
Thanks to the Bushites, America is so over-extended because of Iraq and Afghanistan that we'd been in sad shape if a new crisis came our way.
05/03/05 :: By Bob Kendall Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned; Media Roast Brings Hysterical Laughter While Iraq BurnsCategories :: Bush Administration
A lot of Washington bigwigs need glasses! Hysterical laughter erupted at the Saturday night media roast when Laura Bush celebrated the media get together by cracking jokes about George going to bed at 9.
05/03/05 :: By Tom Ball Tactic: Shift the Burdon of Proof to Your OpponentCategories :: Tactics
Make an assertion, promote your opinion, or provide your interpretation. Before your opponent can question your motive, strength of argument, or basis for your assertions, call for them to prove you wrong. Place the burden of proof for your assumptions on your opponent. Don't let up until they concede that they can't prove you wrong. At that point, proclaim victory. That's what Bush does.
05/03/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Numbers Do A Number on BushCategories :: Polling
Bush's downward spiral continues.
05/02/05 :: By Bob Kendall Star George Bush on a Reality Show to Let the Republican Voters Know What Their Vote has Done to Destroy the Respect and Economic Power of the U.S.A.Categories :: Bush Administration
The headline in the Miami Herald told it all – Stocks take Worst Hit in Two Years! The Bush brigade is so busy chasing around the world on taxpayer money or the bribe money offered by lobbyists that maybe they will not notice.
05/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon PBS: Bastion of Liberal Bias?Categories :: Blowhards
When members of the extreme right-wing charge PBS with liberal bias, are they lying through their perpetually-clenched teeth or have they experienced a clinically-psychotic break with reality?
05/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon George Bush: Promising One Thing, Doing AnotherCategories :: Social Security
George Bush contradicts his own Social Security commission with his "reform" plan.
05/02/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Sticking to Muleheaded Policies like DeLay to JunketsCategories :: Bush Administration
Last Friday E.J. Dionne wrote an excellent piece about George W. Bush being an “egghead.” No, it wasn’t a play on words; he wasn’t accusing Mr. Bush of having the inherent intelligence of a barnyard bird, but of possessing that...
05/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon How the Mighty are FallenCategories :: George W. Bush :: Media
We know Bush blew it big-time with his Thursday night press conference, but two Washington Post articles add a new perspective.
05/01/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Big Brother Bolton Tapped PhonesCategories :: Foreign Policy :: George W. Bush
Boltongate has just gotten more sordid with the revelation that Bolton illegally used the NSA to tap phones --including Colin Powell's.
05/01/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Go Ahead, Make His DayCategories :: Social Security
Mr. Bush finally offered a specific or two about his Social Security plan. Predictably, a sizable chunk of Washington’s punditry is now falling all over itself in showing fair-and-balanced commentary by saying since Bush was bold enough to offer specifics,...
05/01/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter A Hole in His HeadCategories :: Bush Administration
A former Justice Department subordinate of John Bolton says fondly of his boss: "When you go in to brief [him], as I found out early, you better be prepared…. If you have holes in your argument, he won't work with...
05/01/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter PM Carpenter here, delighted to meet youCategories ::
Hello. I'm PM Carpenter of p m carpenter's commentary. Tom Ball here at Political Strategy invited me to join him and his colleagues in posting observations on that refined sociopolitical genius known as liberalism, and on its somewhat less refined...
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