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07/07/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Missing the Point
Categories :: Media Snake Oil
Why the criminal "source" that Judy Miller claims to be protecting really has nothing whatsoever to do with the whistleblowers everyone is afraid of scaring off.
07/04/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Don't Be Fooled on Gonzales
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Supreme Court/Judiciary
Why the possibility of a Gonzales Supreme Court nomination should not cause us any relief, despite the Dobsonists' opposition to him.
06/29/05 :: By Stu Finkel
The Sound of One Gropenator Falling
Categories :: Schwarzenegger, Arnold
Arnold's poll numbers continue to fall, and he trails both announced Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the latest Field Poll.
06/27/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Bush's Biggest Lie
Categories :: 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.
06/02/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Liiiiiiiiiiiar
Categories :: Democrats
Reid calls Bush a Liar and doesn't apologize.
05/26/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Bush Rejects Stem Cell Compromise
Categories :: George W. Bush :: Healthcare :: Stem Cell Research
Bush implies that he would veto even a compromise version of the stem cell research bill.
05/16/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Our "Ally" in Uzbekistan
Categories :: 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?
05/12/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Interview with Phil Angelides
Categories :: 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.
05/10/05 :: 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?
04/27/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Republicans Retreating on DeLay Ethics Probe
Categories :: Congress :: Criminal Acts :: Ethics :: Tom DeLay
House Republicans prepare to back down and allow an ethics probe of their remarkably corrupt leader, Tom DeLay.
04/25/05 :: By Stu Finkel
What Was Gannon/Guckert Doing in the White House?
Categories :: Media
Raw Story reports that Gannon/Guckert was in the White House over 200 times, including dozens of time when there was no press briefing. What was he doing there?
04/19/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Democrats Stand Up, Voinovich Demurs, Bolton Vote Delayed
Categories :: Breaking News
A rare political victory when Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are joined by Republican George Voinovich of Ohio in blocking, at least temporarily, the committee's passing the remarkably inappropriate nomination of John Bolton as our rep to the UN on to the full Senate.
04/17/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Wes Clark Preaches the Truth
Categories :: Clark, Wesley :: Democrats
Excerpts from a summary of Wesley Clark's speech to the CA Democratic convention.
04/14/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Democrats: Fighters and Appeasers
Categories :: Class Warfare :: Congress :: Democrats
What is becoming ever clearer during the current legislative session is that the Democratic Party is divided between fighters and appeasers. The disheartening fact is that a number of representatives and senators continue to think that the only way to...
04/10/05 :: By Stu Finkel
The Agitprop Administration, pt. 173
Categories :: Propaganda/Spin
Henry Waxman asks the GAO to investigate whether the $2.2 million that the Busheviki have spent on propagandizing their social security "reform" (read: destruction) crosses the line.
04/07/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Tom Delay: Traitor
Categories :: Tom DeLay
Tom Delay gave aid and comfort to a dictator while receiving money from Russian security forces. Who's the traitor, again?
04/01/05 :: By Stu Finkel
They Hate the Rule of Law
Categories :: Blowhards :: Conservatives :: Government :: Judges/Judiciary
During the series of Witch Hunts that constituted the GOP's orchestrated reaction to the election and re-election of President Clinton, we constantly heard the tiring refrain that it was all about the rule of law. It wasn't the sex, it...
03/17/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Who REALLY Supports The Troops?
Categories :: Veterans
The Senate defeats an amendment which would have added $2.8 billion to Veterans Medical Care for 2006 on an almost strictly party line vote.
So who really supports the troops?
03/16/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Breaking News: Drilling in Arctic Wildlife Refuge
Categories :: Congress :: Environment :: Outrages
Bush's band of environmental destructos in the Senate votes to allow drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge
03/14/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Action Alert: Busting DeLay
Categories :: Activism :: Congress :: Criminal Acts :: Republicans
Pressure is mounting on the icon of Republican corruption Tom DeLay. Now efforts are being made to influence wavering GOP'ers uneasy about ethics changes meant to protect DeLay.
03/08/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Bad News on Bankruptcy Bill
Categories :: Breaking News :: Corporate Welfare :: Democrats :: Senators and Representatives
Today the repugnant bankruptcy bill cleared several hurdles and Democrats broke ranks in order to vote for cloture, ending debate on the bill.
03/06/05 :: By Stu Finkel
An Impressive First Round for Harry Reid
Categories :: Democrats
Admit it. You, too, were among the doubters when Harry Reid was named to replace Tom Daschle as Senate minority leader. Here, you thought, was another gray, uncharismatic moderate from a red state who would put up at best token...
03/02/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Guckert/Gannon to Take Questions from Bloggers
Categories :: Propaganda/Spin
Liberal bloggers over at Daily Kos have pooled their resources in order to investigate the Propagannon scandal. Now they prepare to ask questions of Guckert/Gannon himself.
03/01/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Novak is a Liar
Categories :: Lies
And in other news water is wet. Via both Atrios and a dKos diary, That Traitor Bob Novak severely misquoted a comment Howard Dean made concerning SS solvency, and the lie has now been spread to the RNC website. You...
02/24/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Bush and Pooty-Poot
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Foreign Policy
Bush is paying lip service to democracy in Russia, but it's doubtful he'll press his old friend Pooty Poot too hard about it at their meeting.
02/22/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Beat Santorum Site Up
Categories :: Election 2006
A effort to defeat man-on-dog Rick Santorum in 2006 has begun; Thersites has launched a website to discuss how to coordinate the efforts of the liberal blogosphere.
02/20/05 :: By Stu Finkel
An Interesting Question
Categories :: Propaganda/Spin
An interesting question: what does Bobby Eberle mean when he says that Guckert was a volunteer? That he wasn't paying him this entire time? Then who was?
02/20/05 :: By Stu Finkel
PropaGannon in the Sunday Papers -- Not So Much
Categories :: Propaganda/Spin
A look at some of the coverage of Guckert/Gannon. The NY Times talks to Eberle and Guckert, but there's not much information in the piece.
02/17/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Your PropaGannon Update
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Media Snake Oil :: Propaganda/Spin
the real importance of the Gannon story had nothing to do with sex or prostitution but about our growing knowledge of the elaborate Soviet-style White House propaganda network, and, potentially, about how a paid propaganda agent may have been involved in the outing of an undercover CIA agent.
02/14/05 :: By Stu Finkel
How to be an Opposition Party
Categories :: Democrats
James Wolcott (via Kos) gets it perfectly: I wonder if Dems are learning the wisdom imparted by Bull Moose, that there's mischievous and useful fun to be had in being the opposition party, particularly when the party in power is...
02/14/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Shape of the Earth: Flat?
Categories :: Media
Brad DeLong reminds us that the Social Security debate is hardly a debate at all, but rather a set of economists on one side pointing out easy facts, and a set of unattributed quotes from unnamed Bush administration officials on the other.
01/27/05 :: By Stu Finkel
A Progressive Infrastructure
Categories :: Progressive Strategy
The news from several weeks back, as mentioned in Tom Ball's previous post, that liberal billionaires such as George Soros, Herb and Marion Sandler, and Peter Lewis are considering massive joint funding of progressive institutions that could compete with the...
01/22/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Our Possessed President
Categories :: George W. Bush
Justin Raimando of antiwar.com ruminates on our possessed President, spouting rhetoric that is more Bolshevik than "conservative."
01/17/05 :: By Stu Finkel
The Outrage is Justified
Categories :: Outrages
Is your outrage justified? You better believe it is. Here's just one snapshot in time set of reasons.
01/12/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Man Date Update
Categories :: Election 2004
In her latest update, the Librarian once again refutes the mandate myth.
01/11/05 :: By Stu Finkel
On Media Travesties
Categories :: Media Snake Oil :: Outrages :: Propaganda/Spin
Atrios blasts apart any remaining iota of credibility to the long running myth that there is a liberal media by looking at who gets canned and who gets a pass when they fuck things up.
01/10/05 :: By Stu Finkel
More on Taxpayer Funded Bushevik Propaganda
Categories :: Criminal Acts :: Propaganda/Spin
Armstrong Williams, who was outed last week as having accepted $240,000 of taxpayer money to propagandize for the Bush administration's stupendously misnamed No Child Left Behind education initiative claimed in a conversation with the Nation's David Corn (via Kos) that,...
01/10/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Bush Ever Less Popular
Categories :: Election 2004
Dubya's current popularity puts him squarely in last place among second term presidents.
01/07/05 :: By Stu Finkel
More Bushevik Propaganda
Categories :: Criminal Acts :: Propaganda/Spin
The USA Today reports that the Bush administration paid a prominent black commentator $240,000 to plug No Child Left Behind. Your tax dollars at work, promoting Bushevik propaganda.
01/02/05 :: By Stu Finkel
Will Their Hubris Finally Get Them?
Categories :: Blowhards :: Conservatives :: Religion
For those of you not familiar with him, James Dobson is bigger and more important than either Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson have ever been. As head of Focus on the Family, he has spearheaded the Christian Right's drive...
12/31/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Tactic: Appropriate the Symbols
Categories :: Tactics
A modest proposal to (re)appropriate patriotic symbols in a progressive context. Stick the flag and the ribbon on your car -- but do so right next to your Move On "Nothing Accomplished" sticker, or your old Dean sticker, or your "Re-Defeat Bush" sticker. Make people look twice and form new associations.
12/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
I Think He Meant Gazillion
Categories :: George W. Bush
Bush yesterday defending the amount of aid that the U.S. will provide to Tsunami victims noted that it was being upped to "35 billion." Needless to say he meant "million." But does he either know or care about the difference?
12/28/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Conservative (Faux)-Persecution Complex
Categories :: Blowhards :: Conservatives :: Lies :: Tactics
An extended look at two of the right's favorite faux-outrages: the fictional persecution of Christians and the fact that professors tend to be liberals.
12/16/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Koufax Awards Reminder
Categories :: Blogging on Blogging
Just a reminder to those who may not have seen the post the other night, the Koufax Awards for best leftie bloggers are now open to nominations over at Wampum.
12/15/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Ohio Voting Suppression and Irregularities Hitting Mainstream Media
Categories :: Election 2004 :: Media
Apparently having a congressman in Ohio actively investigating voting suppression and irregularities is what it took to get more active mainstream media attention to what occurred there (and did not occur there) on November 2nd.
12/14/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Librarian's Man Date Up Date
Categories :: Election 2004
The Librarian has checked in with her Mandate Update:
President Popularity Update 12/14/04: new numbers again today, and Bush II's margin of "win" over Kerry continues to shrink, now to 2.47%
12/13/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Koufax Awards
Categories :: Blogging on Blogging
Nominations are now open over at Wampum for this year's Koufax awards for best liberal blogs. If you think that Political Strategy or any of your other favorite blogs are deserving for nomination in one or another category, please click on over.
12/12/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Red Herrings and Brown Shirts
Categories :: Blowhards :: Conservatives :: Hypocrisy :: Iraq :: Media
Those who have been following the reaction to Rumsfeld's bumbling (and horrifying) response to the solider in Iraq who wondered why they had to go through scrap heaps to get armor for their tanks know that by now the Right Wing's Mighty Wurlitzer has adopted its tried and true tactic of obfuscation. That is, they have attempted to make the story about the fact that the embed reporter helped the soldier formulate his question rather than the far more important and relevant point that the Department of Defense is failing our men in uniform and has no good answers for why it is putting them in harms way without proper protection.
12/11/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Man Date Update
Categories :: Election 2004
As the votes get counted, Dubya's margin of victory continues to shrink. Mandate? Hell, no!
12/11/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Who's Next?
Categories :: Bush Administration
So Bernard Kerik has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Homeland Security post. The cover story has to do with an illegal alien nanny, though there is speculation it could be something more than this.
12/10/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Great Debate
Categories :: Democrats :: Satire :: Tactics
Tom Tomorrow nails in less than a nutshell why Democrats need to change the way they approach politics, and I can only hope that someone sends Harry Reid a thousand copies of this cartoon to be plastered as wallpaper in his Minority Leader's Office.
12/10/04 :: By Stu Finkel
CBS Duped Again
Categories :: Media Snake Oil
Really bad couple of days for CBS. Kevin Drum tells us that a supposed "man on the street" interviewed for a piece on social security, who expressed distrust in the current system in fact ... works for a right wing think tank!
12/10/04 :: By Stu Finkel
More on CBS's Attack on Atrios
Categories :: Blogging on Blogging :: Media Snake Oil
The story on CBS that implied that Atrios was somehow unethical for joining up with Media Matters and (gasp) continuing to blog has now changed three times in the last 24 hours. (Drew Johnston wrote about the first iteration last night.)
12/08/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The View From the End of the Witness Table
Categories :: Election 2004
DC Poli Sci, a Daily Kos regular, was the official reporter (transcriber) at the Conyers hearing today on Ohio vote suppression and irregularities. He gives an excellent first hand account of the proceedings and a few personally snapped photographs, and it is more than worth a read.
12/08/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Stephen Colbert
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Humor :: Satire
From Tuesday's Daily Show:
JS: But Stephen, what you seem to be suggesting is that the way to keep your job in this administration is to be a failure.
SC: No, Jon. A colossal failure.
12/07/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Peter Beinart's Historical Gobbledygook
Categories :: Democrats :: Foreign Policy :: Iraq :: Terrorism
In a cover piece for the New Republic, Peter Beinart incorrectly equates the liberal dilemma today on how to deliver a convincing anti-terrorist message with that after World War II on how to deliver a strong anti-Communist message.
12/05/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Is Air Conditioning to Blame?
Categories :: Elections
Geographer James Wiley suggests that air conditioning may be at the root of our electoral woes:
12/03/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Escaping Blame for Abu Gharib
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Hypocrisy :: Iraq
As Derrick Z. Jackson reminds us in his searing Op-Ed in today's Boston Globe, nothing aids promotion in the Bush administration like incompetence and breaking laws both domestic and international.
11/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Howard Speaks, I Listen
Categories :: Dean, Howard :: Democrats :: Progressive Strategy
I went to hear Howard Dean speak last night here at Stanford, and he didn't disappoint. Even though this was part of a speaker series, in a sitdown auditorium and with a theoretically neutral audience, and with no election in sight, it felt more than a bit like a campaign event.
11/28/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Blogging Harper's Index
Categories :: Bush Administration
Excerpts from the December 2004 Harper's Index highlight the incompetence, hypocrisy, and corruption of the current administratrion vis-a-vis Iraq and the "War on Terror."
11/28/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Onion: White House Thanksgiving Turkey Detained Without Counsel
Categories :: Satire
The Onion continues to be a national treasure, one of my weekly must reads, and I just had to make sure y'all caught the latest great story: "White House Thanksgiving Turkey Detained Without Counsel"
11/27/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Red and Blue and Ukraine
Categories :: Election 2004 :: Foreign Policy
The supposed Red-Blue division in America pales in comparison with the stark regional divisions in Ukraine.
11/26/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Voices from Ohio
Categories :: Election 2004
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman have published more transcripts in The Columbus Free Press from the sessions in Ohio detailing experiences in voting (and in observing voting), and they are once again horrifying.
11/25/04 :: By Stu Finkel
A Liberal Thanksgiving
Categories :: History
On Thanksgiving, we should remember the MORAL VALUES that we hold dear, the ones that are trampled on daily by the propaganda machine that insists that "morality" consists only of gay bashing, anti-feminism, and scapegoating Hollywood for all of our nation's woes. So I've taken a tour of the progressive web and offer tidbits that reflect our love of LIBERTY and DEMOCRACY, our EMPATHY and desire to HELP THOSE IN NEED, our TOLERANCE and HUMILITY, and our recognition of the EQUALITY of all Americans.
11/24/04 :: By Stu Finkel
56 Million
Categories :: Humor
56 Million John Kerry voters can't be wrong
11/23/04 :: By Stu Finkel
"Moral Values" or Simple Fear?
Categories :: Election 2004 :: Framing 101 :: Progressive Strategy
Thankfully, the SCLM has already begun to back off of the monochromatic "Moral Values" explanation for what happened on November 2nd. When 116 (or more, the tally continues) million people go to the polls, the reasons why a particular candidate...
11/22/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Ukraine and a Whole New Level of Irony
Categories :: Elections :: Foreign Policy :: Hypocrisy
Yes, it's true. The US is threatening to re-evaluate its relationship with Ukraine because of accusations of vote fraud in Sunday's run-off election. More than 100,000 Ukrainians poured into the streets of Kiev to protest against an election they believe...
11/21/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Presidential Yacht and the Democrats
Categories :: Democrats :: George W. Bush :: Hypocrisy :: Propaganda/Spin
One of the many items of pork in the omnibus bill passed yesterday is $2 million to buy back the Presidential Yacht. As Atrios observes, if the Democrats don't know how to foment outrage with this, all may very well...
11/21/04 :: By Stu Finkel
GOP Wants to Look at Your Tax Forms
Categories :: Congress
Regarding the Republican buffoonery of attempting to add a provision to the omnibus spending bill that would allow several committee chairman and their assistants to look at any tax return they wanted to.
11/20/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Pelosi Stands Up
Categories :: Democrats
There isn’t too much the Democrats can do actually to affect the course of legislation over the next two (and probably four) years. They are, of course, a shrinking minority in both Houses of Congress, and the Republicans are sufficiently...
11/19/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Appealing to the Irrational Voter
Categories :: Elections :: Framing 101 :: Progressive Strategy
Digby has a post referring to a lengthy article by Christopher Hayes (TNR, subscription required) analyzing the voting behavior of "undecideds." (The piece is also cited over at Pandagon.) The heart of the matter is that undecided voters do not vote based on policies, they do not even vote in any rational manner.
11/14/04 :: By Stu Finkel
No More Nice Guys
Categories :: Democrats
Jesse Taylor says what we've all been thinking: Do the Democrats really think that continuing to play by the rules like nice boys and girls is going to work?
11/14/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Circular Firing Squad
Categories :: Democrats
Yes, we on the left are famous for lining up and shooting our own, especially given our recent dismal electoral record. How ironic, then, when those who have been responsible for helping driving us off the cliff try to tell us what other people are doing wrong, as Josh Marshall notes.
11/12/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Ishbadiddle: The American Covenant
Categories :: Framing 101
Mike Everett-Lane of the blog Ishbadiddle has developed a George Lakoff-inspired screed entitled "The American Covenant" which is a must read for anyone considering how to reframe the progressive agends in moral terms.
11/07/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Voting Referenda Proposal
Categories :: Elections :: Progressive Strategy
Over at Ishbadiddle, they have an original proposal, which I think very much merits consideration and discussion. Our own SF Liberal sent me an email from a friend of his: "What do you think about refendenda in swing states to...
11/05/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Well How Can They?
Categories :: George W. Bush
The Daily Mirror asks what we all want to know: How can 59 million people be so dumb?
11/05/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Reign of Witches
Categories :: Government :: History :: Philosophy
Thomas Jefferson, from a letter he sent in 1798 after the passage of
the Sedition Act: "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles."
11/05/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Jane Smiley: Unteachable Ignorance
Categories :: Blowhards :: Hypocrisy :: Progressive Strategy :: Republicans
Among the many self recriminations occurring on our side, it's more than important to remember that it's not entirely our fault, even as the political outcome and the other side want to remind us that we are consistent electoral failures....
11/04/04 :: By Stu Finkel
What Will Arlen Do?
Categories :: Supreme Court/Judiciary
So-called "moderate" Republican Senator Arlen Specter is set to take over as chair of the all-important judiciary committee. Will he really block anti-choice judges as he claims?
11/04/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Is America Already a One Party State?
Categories :: Republicans
In which George W. Bush's intentions to rule as if he won 80% of the vote yesterday are discussed and our prospects for the future seen to be grim.
11/03/04 :: By Stu Finkel
John Edwards Speaks
Categories :: Election 2004
"We will fight for every vote." No conceding. And CNN just projected Michigan for Kerry....
11/03/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Kerry Campaign Not Giving Up Quite Yet
Categories :: Election 2004
Kerry campaign claiming it can still win Ohio despite network projections.
11/03/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The States They Aren't Calling
Categories :: Election 2004
Attempts to look at the exit poll totals in four key states.
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
6pm Eastern Exit Polls
Categories :: Election 2004
6pm ET exit polls according to Kos
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Zogby Calls Kerry Electoral Landslide
Categories :: Election 2004
Zogby predicts a Kerry electoral landslide
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Second Round Exit Polls
Categories :: Election 2004
2nd Round Exit Polls
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
More from Milwaukee, Cleveland
Categories :: Election 2004
Following up the earlier report from my sister-in-law, who is working as a Democratic poll watcher (i.e. ready to "challenge the challengers") in Milwaukee: of the 1000 names in their precinct, more than 470 have voted, and it isn't even...
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Report from Milwaukee
Categories :: Election 2004
So far there have been few challenges in one Milwaukee precinct.
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Reversal in Ohio: Repub Challenegers Allowed
Categories :: Election 2004
Bad news on the legal front. A last minute reversal by two Republican appointed judges will allow Republican "challengers" to contest the validity of up to 23,000 new voters in Ohio.
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
An Election in Doubt: Greg Palast Weighs In
Categories :: Election 2004
Greg Palast declares that John Kerry is down a million votes before a single one is cast -- thanks to voter suppression, spoiled ballots, and other malfunctionings of Democracy.
11/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Dr. Stu's Humble and Completely Unscientific Predictions
Categories :: Election 2004
Dr. Stu provides his entirely unscientific and cautiously optimistic/optimistically cautious predictions for a Kerry victory.
11/01/04 :: By Stu Finkel
An Election in Doubt: The Day Before
Categories :: Criminal Acts :: Election 2004
Update Meteor Blades over at Kos has more on how we're not going to take it any more. The good news this morning is that two judges in Ohio have banned Republican operatives from challenging voters at the polling place,...
10/31/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Young Cell Phone Users: Kerry 55, Bush 40
Categories :: Polling
A new Zogby cell phone text messaging poll of voters 18-29 finds Kerry well ahead of Bush, 55 to 40.
10/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Poll Internals: A Comparison
Categories :: Polling
Newsweek releases another Republican slanted poll; Democracy Corps has more believable Party breakdown figures.
10/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
A Winning Combination: Upper Midwest
Categories :: Electoral College
Kerry will win by holding the upper midwest and Pennsylvania, regardless of which way Florida flips.
10/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Let's Not Forget Halliburton
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Corporate Welfare :: Criminal Acts
There's been so much material to indict the Bush administration this week that the extremely telling story of the Halliburton investigation is in danger of slipping through the cracks. So let's give it some much deserved airtime: The U.S. Army...
10/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
GOP Strategy: Obfuscate, Obstruct, Create False Equivalency
Categories :: Election 2004
The constant cries of fraud from the GOP and its minions is already making clear what is going to happen on election day
10/29/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Cats on Capitol Hill
Categories :: Satire
George Bush is taking a stroll around Capitol Hill with a senior member of Congress when he meets a little girl carrying a small basket with a blanket over it.
10/29/04 :: By Stu Finkel
An Election in Doubt: Follow-Up
Categories :: Election 2004
Several days ago I posted an entry entitled "Shot Across the Bow: An Election in Doubt." In it I detailed all of the abuses and questionable situations that have already, ahead of time, thrown this presidential election in doubt. To add to that list, here are just a few of the things that have come up in the last several days. While the long lines and glitches in early voting have received much attention (if it all has you down, see the Daily Show's Election 2004: Fiasco Preview [video link]), today we'll focus on the various Republican efforts at voter suppression. And, yes, despite the fact that the GOP loves to say that provisional ballots are just a-okay, and no should be alarmed, this of course is not the case. As the NAACP noted on Thursday:
10/28/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Your GOP: Disasters 'R' Us
Categories :: Bush-Cheney 2004
Not content to try to use global terrorism as a means both to ramrod through their radical rightwing agenda and as the central plank in their re-election strategy, the Bush campaign is also counting on natural disasters. But they have found, much to their disappointment, that the Florida hurricanes haven't given them the electoral boost they were hoping for.
10/27/04 :: By Stu Finkel
CBS/NY Times Poll May Have Shown Kerry up by 9 in Florida
Categories :: Polling
CBS/NY Times are refusing to release a poll that may have shown Kerry up by 9 in Florida.
10/27/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Shot Across the Bow: An Election in Doubt
Categories :: Bush-Cheney 2004 :: Criminal Acts :: Election 2004
The results of the Presidential Election of 2004 are not yet in, but they are already almost irreversibly tainted by fraud, irregularities and uncertainty. Unless the margin of victory for one of the two candidates is more than polls are currently suggesting then the legitimacy of this election has already been cast into doubt.
10/24/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Abolish the Electoral College
Categories :: Electoral College
Political Strategy's own Tom Ball wrote a definitive pair of pieces on the moral and practical imperatives for the abolition of the Electoral College several months ago: So, what is the solution? You know as well as I do that...
10/22/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Feeling Blue in PA (and OH)
Categories :: Polling
Good news on the polling front in PA and OH: A Qunnipiac Poll has Kerry up 51-46 in PA among Likely Voters; a Gallup Poll has Kerry up 50-44 in OH among Registered Voters.
10/22/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Making Some Calls
Categories :: Activism
The Kerry campaign is looking for more then a few good women and men to join an army of vote searchers on November 2nd.
10/20/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Faith-Based Presidency, Laura Bush, and The Grand Inquisitor
Categories :: George W. Bush :: Philosophy :: Religion
George W. Bush's faith-based presidency is based on the fallacy that true belief depends on being unquestioning. Even Laura Bush's favorite author Dostoyevsky, himself an ardent Christian conservative, knew better: faith is based precisely on being free to not believe, and to believe nonetheless.
10/17/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Electoral Vote Update
Categories :: Electoral College
While certain "venerable" polls that-shall-not-be-named which like to vastly oversample Republicans may cause a bit of concern, a look at the Electoral College shows things to be absolutely deadlocked.
10/15/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Thank God for Jon Stewart Part 372
Categories :: Media
Jon Stewart says all that needs to be said about that traitor Bob Novak.
10/13/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Judge Throws Nader off PA Ballot
Categories :: Nader, Ralph
Declaring that the signature-gathering process "was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court" a PA judge threw that beacon of Democracy, Ralph Nader, off that state's ballot.
10/13/04 :: By Stu Finkel
GOP Firm Shredding New Voter Forms in Nevada
Categories :: Elections :: Republicans :: Tactics
GOP hired voter registration firm in Nevada is accused of ripping up new Democratic voter registration forms.
10/12/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Sinclair Affiliates Want to Hear from YOU
Categories :: Media
Hesiod notes that a number of the local affiliates have polls up on their websites about whether or not Sinclair should be showing the film.
10/10/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Taking Down DeLay
Categories :: Congress
Tom DeLay epitomizes everything that is wrong with the Republican Party and modern American conservatism: utterly cynical, Machiavellian, arrogant, corrupt, self-interested, the list goes on and on. Most of all, he is one of the primary enemies of the way the American democracy should work.
Fortunately, the bugkiller may be finally getting his comeuppance.
10/10/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Rove Endgame Strategy: Attack, Obfuscate, Distract
Categories :: Bush-Cheney 2004
Yuval Rubenstein at the Left Coaster notes, "If anyone is still wondering what the BushCo 'October suprise' will look like, the Bush campaign (and its surrogates) have essentially telegraphed their strategy in the past few days. Specifically, we'll be seeing a second assault on Kerry's Vietnam record even more audacious than the August ambush."
10/09/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Sinclair Broadcast Group Orders Affiliates to Show Anti-Kerry Film
Categories :: Media
The conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John F. Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War.
10/08/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Electoral Map Looking Good
Categories :: Polling
The most diligent poll gatherers on the internet are beginning to show how the Kerry surge has translated into the state polls. Gallup continues to show its demonstrable Republican bias.
10/06/04 :: By Stu Finkel
And Here's Another Thing Cheney Screwed Up
Categories :: Cheney, Dick
Cheney screws up the name of a website, directing millions of people to George Soros's anti-Bush website and simultaneously pisses off the folks at factcheck.org.
10/05/04 :: By Stu Finkel
What Atrios Says
Categories :: Iraq :: Lies :: Media :: Republicans
According to the most recent Gallup poll, 62% of Republicans think Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 9/11 attacks.
10/03/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Democrats Poised to Retake Senate Despite What You Might Hear
Categories :: Congress
Democrats are poised to retake the Senate, although you wouldn't know it from reading recent articles to this effect
10/03/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Kerry 1, Bush 0 (Media -- less than zero)
Categories :: Media
Good summation by Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias this morning of the debate, the fact that even wingnuts had trouble spinning it Bush's way, the fact that the hoodwinked "mainstream media" nevertheless tried to call it a tie, etc.
09/28/04 :: By Stu Finkel
What the Fuck are the Pollsters Thinking?
Categories :: Polling
But more importantly, the polls themselves must be considered more and more suspect. As has been noted here and elsewhere around the blogosphere over the past month, they are heavily skewed towards Republicans, even though self-declared Democrats usually outnumber Republicans.
09/26/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Inspiration to Hit the Streets
Categories :: Activism
Sure the information war is important, and the blogs have provided a source of growing importance in fighting this war, but getting out in the canvassing trenches is in the end where votes are won (or even created, as these diaries show, when unregistered voters are registered).
09/26/04 :: By Stu Finkel
McCain NRSC Team Player of Week
Categories :: Elections
John McCain was named National Republican Senatorial Committee team player of the week, which should put to rest any lingering threads of infatuation that some unfortunate liberals once had with the so-called maverick.
09/19/04 :: By Stu Finkel
This is about the Memo ... But Only in Passing
Categories :: George W. Bush
How have any of the questions about AWOL's absence from duty been answered?
09/19/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Polls up their you know whats
Categories :: Polling
The wide divergence in polls that has been seen especially this past week is nothing short of bizzarre. As the headlines up here on this website today indicate, things, if anything, seem to be swinging back Kerry's way
09/15/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Putin's Power Play
Categories :: Terrorism
The first substantial reforms Vladimir Putin plans to introduce after the recent horrific terrorist attacks in Russia, in particular the gut-wrenching massacre of schoolchildren in Beslan, North Ossetia, include abolishing the popular election of regional governors and the voting of Duma (parliamentary) deputies strictly by Party rather than on an individual basis.
09/13/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Commander Codpiece Coward
Categories :: George W. Bush
There is nothing novel in noticing that Republicans in general and Bush in particular sells himself on the basis of (heavily produced) machismo (flight deck full getup; clearing brush on his movie-set "ranch"; bring em on; etc., etc.). It is as nauseating as it is predictable, and yet it has proven to work well with an unfortunately large segment of the Limbaughtemized white male population.
Democrats are finally realizing is that this carefully constructed facade can be punctured, and that many Americans are not so foolish or inattentive not to see an obvious fraud when they see one.
09/08/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Texans for Truth
Categories :: Bush-Cheney 2004 :: George W. Bush
Don't expect the media to give nearly as much air time to the newest round of uncoverings in the AWOL story (see Tom's post below) as they did the Swift Boat Liars. So we need to support Texans for Truth...
09/02/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Postcard from Moscow: Terror in Russia
Categories :: Terrorism
The lengthening list of horrific events that have occurred in Russia over the past several days: the downing of two domestic airliners; the suicide bomber at a metro station; and now the hostage taking at a Russian school in North Ossetia make clear that Russia is involved in a constant war on terror in a much more literal sense than we are. The once invincible Putin is in an incredible bind in trying to deal with the situation.
08/30/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Hatred is All Theirs
Categories :: Conservatives :: Hypocrisy
As we prepare ourselves for the false face of the Republican Party (McCain, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger), let us recall the real one. I saw it on a bumpersticker Sunday morning, next to several Bush-Cheney stickers and a staggeringly nonsensical pro-gun slogan...
08/22/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Poll Shows Kerry Trouncing Bush Among Jews
Categories :: Bush-Cheney 2004 :: Elections :: Kerry-Edwards 2004
A recent survey shows Kerry leading Bush 75 to 22 among likely Jewish voters, despite the GOP's enormous efforts to win over the Jewish vote, which has been -- and apparently remains -- an overwhelmingly Democratic constituency.
08/16/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Whither Liberalism? Part III
Categories :: Activism :: Media :: Philosophy
In the August 2004 issue of Harper's magazine, Lewis Lapham asks "How do progressives build a thirty-year movement in the same way that conservatives did during the 1960s and 1970s?" The question usually becomes how then can this be mimicked or re-created. The thinkers that have gathered around Lapham's roundtable, however, do little to address this issue directly.
08/10/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Whither Liberalism? Part II
Categories :: Activism
Sunday I started to look at this month's cover article in Harper's, "Liberalism Regained: Building the Next Progressive Majority." Actually, I only got as far as the introduction. Although agreeing with the basic premise – that progressives need to strategize long-term on how to win the battle of ideas, I objected to two points that the writer (presumably editor Lewis Lapham) made in this introduction.
08/08/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Whither Liberalism? Part I
Categories :: Activism
The August 2004 issue of Harper's includes a forum on "Liberalism Regained: Building the Next Progressive Majority." The piece is a transcript of a panel discussion featuring Ron D. Daniels, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Professor Eric...
07/27/04 :: By Stu Finkel
The Real Atrios
Categories :: Blogging on Blogging
The most famous pseudonymous man in the leftwing blogosphere has gone public at the DNC. Atrios, having hinted for some time that he was ready to come out, has allowed Jeralyn at TalkLeft to identify this picture. Tom Tomorrow also...
07/25/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Blogging Harper's Index
Categories :: Bush Administration :: Media
The August issue of Harper's (the only print magazine we currently receive) came sliding through the mail shoot the other day, and I thought that I'd take a look at the always informative Index (p.11); if I have a chance,...
07/23/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Conventional Wisdom
Categories :: Propaganda/Spin
Atrios links to the priceless Daily Show bit on GOP talking points from last week, which is now up at the Comedy Central website. If you are able to view streaming video, it is a must see.
07/21/04 :: By Stu Finkel
When Racism and Paranoia Collide
Categories ::
It leads to this utterly depressing (albeit excellently written) Salon article (via Daily Kos), about a woman who had the absolutely terrifying experience of being on a Northwest Airlines fight with 14 Syrian musicians (gasp!). (Yes, you have to click through a commercial to read the article, but Salon does consistently superb work and I believe deserves to be supported.)
07/21/04 :: By Stu Finkel
Defending Joe Wilson
Categories :: Lies
One of my co-bloggers has linked in our headlines section to Joe Wilson's response to the continuing Republican smear campaign against him. Given, however, how simultaneously outrageous and typical this latest round of Bushevik disinformation is, I wanted to highlight...
07/20/04 :: By Stu Finkel
A Brief Introduction
Categories :: Blogging on Blogging
Tom, Bill, Bob, and Delton have graciously invited me to come blog with them over here at PoliticalStrategy.org. I am very excited about the opportunity and about the prospects for their (our) site. By way of a brief introduction, some...
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