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06/30/05 :: By William Hare Destroying Democracy on the Pretext of Saving ItCategories :: Books
The one point on which Jennifer Van Bergen as author of “Twilight of Democracy” and George W. Bush agree is over the assertion made by the latter that “America has been changed forever by the tragedy of 9-11.” From that point forward Van Bergen, an attorney active in the South Florida branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Bush travel widely disparate ideological paths.
06/30/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter 43 & Friends: A legacy of criminal pathologyCategories :: Iraq
The day after the president’s televised plea for national patience, the New York Times echoed what more than a few liberals, centrists and honest conservatives have advocated for some time: that Bush’s “critics … put aside, at least temporarily, their...
06/29/05 :: By Stu Finkel The Sound of One Gropenator FallingCategories :: Schwarzenegger, Arnold
Arnold's poll numbers continue to fall, and he trails both announced Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the latest Field Poll.
06/29/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The GOP Supports Our Troops...Categories :: Iraq :: Republicans
The Bush Adminstration and Congressional Republicans have short-changed out nation's troops. What a "surprise."
06/29/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Guess who’ll take the blame for Bush’s warCategories :: Iraq
Resolved: Iraq is a mess. If there’s anyone present who still believes there isn’t any comparison between this and Vietnam -- other than Michael “there isn’t any comparison between this and Vietnam” Deaver, the former Reagan aide -- let him...
06/28/05 :: By S.M. Dixon EPA Pages Dr. MengeleCategories :: Activism :: Ethics
The EPA is happily skipping down a path better left untaken.
06/28/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Karl Rove: The man Democrats should learn to loveCategories :: Bush Administration
Democrats should stop taking Karl Rove so seriously. Rove is like the obnoxious little brother who routinely teases his big sister only because her ensuing anger is so predictably rewarding. Democrats fall for it every time. Rove opens his immature...
06/27/05 :: By Stu Finkel Bush's Biggest LieCategories :: Lies
Bush's biggest lie: that he is a uniter not a divider. In fact, of course, he has polarized the country and demonized those who disagree with him.
06/27/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Winning at any costCategories :: Bush Administration
“Before we commit troops, there has to be a clear strategy.” Contrary to recent developments, U.S. military forces should never be sent on “vague, aimless and endless deployments.” Those are not criticisms of the Iraq quagmire expressed by some wimpish,...
06/26/05 :: By Bob Kendall "You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Abraham LincolnCategories :: Bush Administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower, with his vast knowledge of what the military-industrial complex was capable of, warned what they might do in the future. When you mention Halliburton or Bechtel doesn’t that ring a bell?
06/24/05 :: By S.M. Dixon New Word: MalkinizeCategories :: Blowhards
A new slang term for the Left to use against the Right.
06/24/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The Democratic politics of troop withdrawalCategories ::
Congressional Democrats are finally assailing the Bush administration for the colossal mess it’s made of Iraq. Their criticism is long overdue. Some proper shadow-governing has been demonstrated, for instance, by Dianne Feinstein. Bush “has got to give regular progress reports,”...
06/23/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The GOP's 2006 Reelection CampaignCategories :: Activism :: Election 2006 :: Right-wing Smears
The Republican Party is smearing a majority of Americans in an effort to win the 2006 election.
06/23/05 :: By S.M. Dixon What Rove Wants to Distract You FromCategories :: Right-wing Smears
Karl ("Subhuman Pig") Rove wants you to divert your attention from his party's failures with his latest smear against Democrats.
06/23/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter “H.J. Res. 10: A bill to divert attention from what clowns we are”Categories :: Republicans
Republican members of the United States House of Representatives are in full-panic mode. Now that less than one in five Americans has confidence that Republican lawmakers are even a trifle interested in people’s everyday problems, the Republicans, rather than addressing...
06/23/05 :: By Drew Johnston Operation Yellow Elephant: Making a Difference One Wingnut at a TimeCategories :: Conservatives :: Hypocrisy :: Republicans :: Satire
Are young chickenhawk conservatives really cowardly hypocrites, or have they just been denied an opportunity? Let's find out. An audience participation post.
06/22/05 :: By S.M. Dixon It's the Fist Amendment, Stupid!Categories :: Civil Rights
The House GOP blows it again -- with a little help from some turn-coat Democrats.
06/22/05 :: By Bob Kendall Have We Become a Brain Dead Society?Categories :: Bush Administration
Where is the outrage over the pension funds of U.S. industry coming up approximately $459 billion short? The insurance fund set up by the U.S. government, on which many of the corporate executives apparently figured would bail them out, is in the hole.
06/22/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter “A healthier, happier” presidentCategories :: Iraq
At first I thought it was a joke. We have in the White House a “healthier, happier and sharper chief executive,” read a line quoted in the Washington Post, because “once a day, he puts his desire for a workout...
06/21/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Neocon gameplayingCategories :: Iraq
In his role as a monthly columnist for the Washington Post, neoconservative Robert Kagan has written a curious little piece. In its title he poses “Whether this war was worth it,” and he bookends that ponderable with, “the effort to...
06/20/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush Helps Iranian Hard-liners WinCategories :: George W. Bush
Bush deliberately sabotaged the recent Iranian elections.
06/20/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter “Lessons from the battlefield”: A memorable memoCategories :: Democrats
The latest polling data (New York Times/CBS News) on Americans’ opinion of Congress would seem to indicate that a wholesale House-cleaning is in store for 2006. The numbers are truly astounding and a reflection of how badly the Republicans have...
06/20/05 :: By William Hare Conyers Answers Propagandist MilbankCategories :: Media Snake Oil
The latest brazen brewing and attempted marketing of media snake oil in the ranks of the corporate Bush media came with a so-called story by insider toadie Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. The reason why the tirade should not be labeled a “story” is due to its flagrant propaganda and consistent inaccuracies.
06/17/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Support Dick DurbinCategories :: Right-wing Smears
The right-wing sociopaths of the blogosphere have branded our troops Nazis as part of a smear campaign against Dick Durbin, the Senate's second highest-ranking Democrat.
06/17/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Global Warming? What Global Warming?Categories :: Bush Administration :: Environment
The Bush Administration proves its allegiance to the Energy industry.
06/17/05 :: By S.M. Dixon About Terri Schiavo…Categories :: Blowhards :: Healthcare
The right-wing has gone off its rocker. Again.
06/16/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Governors Revolt Against BushCategories :: Healthcare
America's governors slap the Bush Adminstration in the face.
06/16/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Does “weird” even get close?Categories :: Bush Administration
Is politics in this country getting exponentially weirder, or is it just me? I ask because I’m now seeing little difference between a top-level diplomatic nominee and a madcap talk-radio comedian. But maybe there really isn’t any difference, and politics...
06/16/05 :: By Bob Kendall When Will U.S. Citizens Tell the Republicans Enough is Enough?Categories :: Bush Administration
I don’t think that U.S. citizens will tell Republicans that enough is enough until enough Americans personally suffer because of this Republican majority that is in power.
06/15/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Up the organizationCategories :: Progressive Strategy
Liberals often wonder how conservatives have managed to attract so many people with such an anti-people agenda. Virtually everything the modern right stands for is steadfastly opposed to the average American’s interests. Still, the movement thrives. How does it do...
06/14/05 :: By S.M. Dixon DSM News Round-UpCategories :: Media
A brief look at the media's reaction to the Downing Street Memos.
06/14/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Too much substance for yesterday’s sloganeeringCategories ::
“People want us to fight, and we are here to fight,” Howard Dean told party leaders over the weekend. “We are not going to lie down in front of the Republican machine anymore.” Then he laid out the big strategic...
06/13/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush & Honesty Not Well AcquaintedCategories :: Bush Administration
Once again, George Bush lies about the number of "terrorists" prosecuted by his administration.
06/13/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Military Vs. BushCategories :: Bush Administration :: Iraq
A devastating admission from senior military officials in Iraq doesn't bode well for Bush.
06/13/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The power of cheesyCategories :: Media
Last week the Washington Post’s Mark Leibovich wrote of a photo-op session staged by Howard Dean and Harry Reid, describing the event as a “spectacle” that “offered yet another distillation of why so many people believe that politicians and the...
06/10/05 :: By Bonnie Yarbrough Wrongfooting Saddam and Linking Terrorism to War: New DSM documentsCategories :: Bush Administration
[Updated post: with a second document.] Scoop has another document regarding the Downing Street minutes and the run-up to the war. As more leaks out, additional updates will follow.
06/10/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The Bush Chronicles revisited -- if you dareCategories :: George W. Bush
I had forgotten about published conversations between presidential-candidate George W. Bush and his autobiographical ghostwriter, Mickey Herskowitz, until a reader reminded me via a reprinted article from October, 2004. Journalist Herskowitz had met with Bush numerous times in 1999 in...
06/10/05 :: By S.M. Dixon June 16th: Bush's "D" DayCategories :: Congress :: Iraq
The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on the Downing Street Memo.
06/10/05 :: By S.M. Dixon New GOP Fundraising Tactic: ProstitutionCategories :: Congress :: Republicans
The GOP is raising money by borrowing a page from the "world's oldest profession."
06/09/05 :: By Bob Kendall How Repblicans Let Inflation Rock The NationCategories :: Bush Administration
With the George Bush Midas touch in reverse operation everywhere he has had any influence, the U.S.A. is undergoing raging inflation. When the salary of the average worker can’t keep pace with the price of buying a play to live, we are in big trouble.
06/09/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter A quagmire of opinion for GOPCategories :: Iraq
In a classic, “well, duh” headline Tuesday the Washington Post announced: “Americans Say War in Iraq Has Not Made U.S. Safer.” Actually that was the original headline, which was soon softened to “Poll Finds Dimmer View of Iraq War,” subtitled,...
06/08/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Swarm this Poll!Categories :: Activism :: Dean, Howard
Borrowing a page from Freepers...
06/08/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Truth HurtsCategories :: Dean, Howard
Republican cry-babies are pitching yet another fit, to divert attention from an unflattering truth.
06/08/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter A DSM strategyCategories ::
Rep. John Conyers has written: “Why were the President and other high-ranking administration officials so definitive in their statements that Iraq possessed WMD?... We deserve to know whether these statements were the result of a ‘massive intelligence failure’ as some...
06/07/05 :: By William Hare Katherine Harris for the Senate? How About Impeachment in the House?Categories :: Ethics
When it comes to the quality that the British refer to as “bloody cheek” Katherine Harris has proven that she belongs well beyond the ranks of mere mortals. When it comes to fitness for office, however, that is a considerably different story.
06/07/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Ted Kennedy Speaks About the DSMCategories :: Breaking News
Senator Kennedy is the first Senator to speak about the Downing Street Memo; let's hope he's not the last.
06/07/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush by the NumbersCategories :: Bush Administration
The downward spiral is now a straight power dive into oblivion.
06/07/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The right’s defense against the DSM: It needs something better than thisCategories :: Iraq
Though I anticipated inventive right-wing responses to outrage over the Downing Street Memo, I didn’t go out of my way to track them down. I knew they’d appear in good time and suspected they’d be framed in the flamboyant White...
06/07/05 :: By S.M. Dixon No Dollars for Dean? No ProblemCategories :: Dean, Howard
Howard Dean is having trouble raising money from corporate donors -- which is actually good news.
06/07/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Reframing Unwanted PregnanciesCategories :: Framing - Reproductive Issues
George Lakoff reminds everyone why he's the father of progressive framing and reframing by focusing on an old issue with a new name and new arguments to support it.
06/06/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Mehlman Lies About Downing Street MemoCategories :: Republicans
The GOP's Ken Mehlman lies about the Downing Street Memo. What a "surprise."
06/06/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The left-right screamfestCategories :: Propaganda/Spin
have previously mentioned columnist Matt Miller’s state-of-the-political-union musings, in which he asked the questions, “Is persuasion dead?… Is it possible in America today to convince anyone of anything he doesn't already believe? If so, are there enough places where...
06/06/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Grand Old Plutocracy, part IICategories :: Class Warfare :: Republicans
The results of the GOP's three-decades of class warfare are in; guess who's winning?
06/05/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Grand Old PlutocracyCategories :: Corporate Corruption :: Republicans
New details on just how corrupt the GOP has become.
06/04/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bolton Busted, DSM Right — AgainCategories :: Bush Administration :: Foreign Policy :: Iraq
More proof that the Downing Street Memo was right; the Bush Junta was fixing intelligence and intelligence agencies -- and used Bolton to do it on at least one occassion.
06/04/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The administration’s Original SinCategories :: Iraq
Like millions of us, John Kerry is vexed by the media’s wholesale neglect of the administration-damning Downing Street memo. “I think it's a stunning, unbelievably simple and understandable statement of the truth and a profoundly important document that raises stunning...
06/04/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Of Pots and KettlesCategories :: Military
From the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an unusually blunt public critique of China, said Saturday that Beijing's military spending threatened the delicate security balance in Asia and called for an emphasis instead on political freedom...
06/04/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Quran Urinated On, NOT FlushedCategories :: Military
The military admits that prisoners and their Qurans HAVE been abused, and gives new details on some of the incidents. Again, Newsweek has been vindicated.
06/03/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Deadly “disassembling”Categories :: Iraq
This week the nation’s vice president instructed the Air Force Academy’s graduating class (in fundamentalist theology, one assumes) "to hunt down the terrorists before they can hit us again.” Catch that? “Before they” -- and “again.” Then, to quell the...
06/03/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Another GOP TantrumCategories :: Humor :: Republicans
The GOP "Crybaby Wing" is whining about Howard Dean's latest humourous barb.
06/03/05 :: By Bob Kendall Is Bush a War Criminal?Categories :: Bush Administration
The question “Is Bush a war criminal?” is one that the Democrats could have used in their campaign to thwart Bush’s bid for a second term. It is astounding that the so-called moral Republicans apparently place far more emphasis on the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery!” than on the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill!”
06/02/05 :: By Stu Finkel LiiiiiiiiiiiarCategories :: Democrats
Reid calls Bush a Liar and doesn't apologize.
06/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon "Thanks," DickCategories :: Blowhards :: Iraq
Dick Cheney spoke too soon, with his typical smugness.
06/02/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter The perniciously oblivious Mr. BushCategories :: Bush Administration
There are 293,655,404 worried people in the United States -- minus one. "I don't worry about anything here in Washington, D.C.," Bush said Tuesday with his usual air of pixilation. At least he finally said something you can put in...
06/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Pat Buchanan Is ScumCategories :: Blowhards
Pat ("Adolf wasn't THAT bad") Buchanan calls the kettle "black."
06/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon Bush's Watergate: The DSMCategories :: Bush Administration
The case for impeaching George W. Bush.
06/02/05 :: By S.M. Dixon From the "Duh" DepartmentCategories :: Corporate Corruption
A study from Dartmouth College restates what Democrats and business experts have been saying for five years.
06/01/05 :: By Drew Johnston Making Sense of Fringe Right-Wing Blowhards, Part III: Fire Coming Out of a Wingnut's HeadCategories :: Satire
#3 in my series of Found Poems based on Wingnutty e-mails. If you're wondering what the jelly-donut thing is supposed to mean, well, I can't help you there.
06/01/05 :: By P. M. Carpenter Iraq, impeachment, illegalities and immoralityCategories :: Tactics
Taken together the four topics in the grab-bag title of this piece, if played by Democrats with reasonable (and uncharacteristic) skill, could lead to serious Republican setbacks in 2006. A multiple-front approach -- from Iraq to values -- could be...
06/01/05 :: By S.M. Dixon The Knives Are OutCategories :: Conservatives
Mark Felt has been blasted by former members of the Nixon Administration on CNN and MSNBC, but there's a political motive at play in these attacks.
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