Uncategorized
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Liberals forget the gridlock zone
It’s sometimes shocking how little people understand the constraints that the separation of powers, the filibuster, and the veto place on the US political system. To change policy, the Democrats would need a 2/3 House and Senate majority to override a presidential veto. There’s no way around that constraint. Indeed, Democrats can’t even send legislation
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When press conferences go wrong
My friend and former Spinsanity co-editor Ben Fritz, who reports for Variety, has a great story about a press conference gone wrong on his personal blog: This morning I’m at a press conference about a new anti-piracy study and task force featuring L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and various other government and business officials. As at
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WT finally corrects Lincoln myth
Editor & Publisher reports that the Washington Times finally corrected the bogus quote Frank Gaffney attributed to Abraham Lincoln: More than two days after an inflammatory quote used by a regular Washington Times columnist was shown to be fabricated — it was attributed to Abraham Lincoln, no less — the newspaper still had not removed
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Rep. Todd Akin on Davy Crockett’s Blackberry
If you haven’t heard Rep. Todd Akin’s bizarre statement opposing the Democratic anti-“surge” resolution yet, well, you need to go watch it. Here’s the quote: Could you picture Davy Crockett at the Alamo looking at his Blackberry getting a message from Congress? “Davy Crockett, we support you. The only thing is we are not going
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Lincoln myth spreads to House floor
TPM’s Greg Sargent points out that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) repeated the phony anti-dissent quote falsely attributed to Abraham Lincoln on the House floor yesterday — here’s the video: Yes, it’s the same quote Frank Gaffney cited in his Washington Times column Tuesday, which suggested that dissent should be a “hanging offense.” In a laudable
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Does corporate social responsibility work?
A new article by Aaron Chatterji, a professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and UC-Berkeley grad student Siona Listokin makes a convincing argument that the progressive focus on corporate social responsibility is at least partially misdirected (free registration required): A generation of activists has been raised on the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR)–that
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My 2002 take on Iraq and internationalism
I just came across a new attack on my American Prospect Online piece from August 2002 on Democrats’ need for a new internationalist doctrine. I think it still holds up pretty well: In recent weeks, it has become increasingly clear that there is a void at the heart of the Democratic Party. At the outset
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Frank Gaffney suggests dissent is treasonous
Glenn Greenwald, who is now blogging at Salon, has exposed the latest conservative pundit to suggest that dissent is treasonus. In a Washington Times column, national security commentator Frank Gaffney begins by citing a quote calling for the arrest, exile or hanging of dissenting members of Congress, which he attributes to Abraham Lincoln: Congressmen who
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Dana Milbank on House GOP talking points
Via Michael Crowley at TNR’s The Plank, Dana Milbank mocks the incoherence of GOP talking points on the Democrats’ anti-“surge” resolution: There was good reason for this anxiety. As head of the House Republican Conference, the 32-year-old redhead [Rep. Adam Putnam, R-FL] is leading his caucus into a public-opinion meat grinder: supporting President Bush’s increase
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Coinsurance for vaccines?
With all the anti-vaccine hysteria, you’d think that health care providers would be doing everything possible to maximize compliance rates. But no! I was shocked to discover that our family’s insurance provider charged us coinsurance for vaccinating our son. Not only is that bad for society, but it doesn’t even make sense from a cost-benefit