Julian Sanchez writes on his blog: Browsing a conservative news site the other day, I was struck by the sheer oddness of that familiar genre of political commentary that treats liberals and…
Democrats
Jake Olzen writes on Alternet: Next month, activists and organizers across the country are planning to train 100,000 people in nonviolent direct action for what they call The 99% Spring. But despite…
On Piers Morgan Tonight of all places, Phil Donahue (who was kicked off MSNBC for being too anti-war in the wake of 9/11), speaks about the Bizarro world our political leaders live in when it comes to honest discussion about how America goes to war. (Side note: checking out the book Donahue references War Made Easy by Norman Solomon is enlightening.) Discussion starts around 35 seconds into this clip.
Weird coincidence? Via ThinkProgress:
Do you think people believe that they only have two choices in regards to governance? Break free from the ketchup-vs.-mustard political paradigm, and reach for the tangy BBQ sauce of third parties….
Rachel Maddow speaks with Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks who has plenty to say:
Grrrrrrrr. You can almost hear the growling in the background as the masters of attack politics go into action, virtually every hour on the hour, on the Fox News Channel. The issues…
John Bresnahan & Jonathan Allen write in the Politico: A hard-core group of liberal House Democrats is questioning the constitutionality of U.S. missile strikes against Libya, with one lawmaker raising the prospect…
“There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.” —…
Says Rachel Maddow:
Wisconsin is on track to have a budget surplus this year. I am not kidding. I’m quoting their own version of the congressional budget office, the state’s own nonpartisan assess the state’s finances agency. That agency said the month that the new Republican governor of Wisconsin was sworn in, last month, that the state was on track to have a $120 million budget surplus this year. So then why exactly does Wisconsin look like this right now? Why is there a revolt in the American Midwest tonight?
The main headline that you are seeing right now about this remarkable thing — look at these images — this remarkable thing that’s going on in the American Midwest, the headlines you are seeing about this are mostly wrong, because what’s going on right now in the American Midwest is about Republicans versus Democrats. It is about politics. It is about who wins the next election and the elections after that. That’s what’s going on right now in Wisconsin. This is about the survival of the Democratic Party. There are parts of the story that actually don’t make any sense unless you understand that.
What’s happening in Wisconsin right now is not about a budget. This is about elections. This is about the Republican Party going after the institutions that make it possible for Democrats to win elections in America.
Check out these two news reports. Hypocrisy, politics, or both? Simmi Aujla reports in the Politico: Top House Democrats pounced on Republicans’ mishandling of a routine vote Tuesday evening, which caused a…
I will admit to total ignorance of Alan Grayson’s merits, but I’d love to hear input from Disinformation’s readers about any viable alternative candidate for the 2012 nomination. As a starting point,…
Rachel Slajda writes at TPMMuckraker: The Obama administration has loudly opposed a provision of the omnibus spending bill, passed last week by the House, that would ban the transfer of Guantanamo Bay…
MediaMonarchy | mike whitney: Barack Obama rode into office in January, 2008 on a wave of optimism. By the time the ballots are counted in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Obama’s personal approval ratings…
On last night’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the panel discussed the lack of Democratic support forCalifornia’s Proposition 19 (Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010).
“It’s a tricky thing, politically, to jump on that bandwagon because I think that maybe people see it as taboo still,” Zach said, and then pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket and lit it. He took a drag and then passed it across the table to Fox News correspondent Margaret Hoover, who smelled the cigarette, laughed and nodded, and handed it back.
Galifianakis then took a couple more puffs and shouted, “Oh my God, look at those dragons!”
Site editor’s note: This post from DJ Pangburn originally appeared on death + taxes. What to do if you’re courageous enough to admit the Obama administration and Democrats are full of shit…
You don’t hear much whining from the Cheneys these days now that Obama’s claimed the Presidential right to assassinate American citizens, do you? But back in the summer of 2009: The Bush…
I think Bill Maher’s on the money again. Kudos also to Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm for his off-camera observation on the recent Real Time. Frances Martel writes on Mediate:
Whenever a major political party tries to “rebrand” itself, aesthetically, it inevitably ends in disaster. Last time it was GOP.com, but to prove the graphic failure is bipartisan, the Democrats have come up with a new logo, and a new slogan (“change that matters”). An exasperated Bill Maher tried to help out the party by offering some new slogans, like “fighting for you (to a point)” and “we got Lisa Ling’s sister out of Korea.”
The logo (which, it should be noted, The Atlantic has already called out for plagiarism from a Midwestern pizza place), is a small “D” in a blue circle. The hours spent thinking up this complex design must be incalculable. Maher presents it without comment, though his face says it all, and to add insult to injury, Jon Hamm of all people deadpans from off-camera, “Radiates power, doesn’t it?”
This won’t be news to some, but the details are telling. Back in 2006 LiveScience reported: Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the…
Why not? From New York Magazine: Democratic voters are not nearly as enthusiastic as Republican voters this year, probably because the former are generally somewhat content with the way things are going,…
If someone meets the U.S. Senate candidate requirements (at least 30 years of age, a U.S. citizen for nine or more years, and having residency in the state where campaigning) are they equipped to run for election? South Carolina seems to think so.
Alvin Greene, a 32 year-old unemployed veteran, won 60% of votes at the Democratic primary. His inexperience in politics and minimal campaigning strategy gave rise to many questions and conspiracy theories. Given Greene’s simplistic interviewing responses, the question of why he won is still unanswered. Did Greene win because his name was first on the ballot? Was he planted by the Republican party? How does an unemployed man, living with his father after being discharged from the Air Force fund a $10,440 filing fee with little to no fund-raising? What are the details to his felony obscenity charge from his arrest last year? Keith Olbermann addresses these questions in an interview on MSNBC:
In the wake of Arizona’s new racial-profiling reign-of-police-terror law, Senate Democrats countered by unveiling their own Orwellian immigration reform “solution”: biometric ID cards for all American workers. Yep, that’s going to go…
The reason I am sharing this is not because I think the so-called health care “reform” that passed actually qualified as such, but to point out one of the maestros (or Dark Lord of the Sith, depending on your take) behind the scenes of the opposition to such legislation.
Know who Frank Luntz is. He manages to influence the public discourse in the United States, on a regular basis:
P.S. It took the Democrats until April 15th to come up with this video? And you wonder why it took over a year to pass bullshit “reform”…
Looks like the arm twisting is working, as one of the strongest critics of this current effort, Dennis Kucinich, just announced he will vote for the bill. Alex Spillius writes on the Telegraph:
The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill.
A one-night presidential appearance can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds which would otherwise take months to accumulate through cold-calling by campaign volunteers.
Mr Obama’s threat came as the year-long debate over his signature domestic policy entered its final week.
Mr Obama is personally telephoning congressmen who are still on the fence this week, in between several personal appearances devoted toward swinging public opinion.
I can’t say if Charlie Rangel (yet) is a psychopath (see discussion), but he may belong in a jail cell for his failure to pay taxes. He recently stepped down from his chairmanship of the Way and Means Committee (you know, the chief tax-writing committee of the House of Representatives).
Oh, the irony. Thanks Jon Stewart for making government corruption funny.