by Tula Connell | Sep 16, 2008 | Blog
Worsening unemployment. Millions of home foreclosures. Two-income households unable to support families. America's workers are facing economic disasters so severe, even the national media is paying attention. But the current crisis has long roots. America's working...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 16, 2008 | Blog
If we want to make the economy work better for working families, we first need to acknowledge a bit of reality we often overlook. An “economy” can’t do anything. Economies, that is, only exist as abstractions. Economies don’t make the decisions that hurt or help...
by Bill Scher | Sep 16, 2008 | Blog
To spark a debate worthy of a great nation in trouble, The Institute for America's Future "Op-Ad" series launches today in the New York Times. The first installment is here, on "Reviving the American Dream." Since the last seven years have seen corporate profits...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 15, 2008 | Blog
Sen. John McCain appropriated huge chunks of populist rhetoric Monday in a speech about the Wall Street meltdown, promising to "reform the way Wall Street does business and put an end to the greed that has driven our markets into chaos." He even used a label for the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 14, 2008 | Blog
The Sunday shows go 1-for-3 for the Watchdog, as the addition of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) to the presidential race, and the race for the women's vote, appears to have indirectly prompted discussion of a bona fide women's issue: equal pay. On Face The Nation (PDF...
by Bill Scher | Sep 12, 2008 | Blog
Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, we post suggested questions for scheduled Sunday guests. You can add your own questions in the comment thread. We'll also include contact information for the shows, so we can let them know what their viewers want asked....
by Sara Robinson | Sep 12, 2008 | Blog
True confession: I was terrified on 9/11—for all the right reasons. I wasn't afraid of the terrorists. There are plenty of countries where people have lived for decades under the constant threat of unholy acts of terror—and yet people still get on buses...
by Roger Hickey | Sep 11, 2008 | Blog
This year Americans want to talk about health care – and most of us want to talk about covering the uninsured and reducing the costs of health care – but often what we get from the media is just cynical double talk. Case in point: a column by Robert Samuelson in the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 11, 2008 | Blog
The House leadership is offering a compromise "All of the Above" energy bill that goes farther than the Senate "Gang of 10" compromise -- both in coastal drilling and in clean energy. (See coverage from NYT, AP, Reuters and WSJ.) Yet congressional conservatives still...
by Bill Scher | Sep 11, 2008 | Blog
This pretty much says it all. Washington Post: Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drug use and illicit sex with employees of...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 10, 2008 | Blog
David's post about the working-class vs. the professional ideal, brought to mind a few news articles, a boatload of memories, and a few thoughts about renewing the working class American Dream David spoke of. (After all, if there is more than one America, there has to...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 10, 2008 | Blog
If politics play out as they normally do, Tuesday's report that the federal deficit has hit a record $407 billion this fiscal year, and is on its way to topping $500 billion by the time the next administration takes office in January, will have would-be liberal...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2008 | Blog
If I'm not listening to my local liberal talk radio station, I typically keep MSNBC on in my home office during the work day, in part to support its decision to have actual liberals on during prime-time, and in part because it usually focuses on politics during the...
by Alan Jenkins | Sep 9, 2008 | Blog
With Election Day just two months away, the presidential campaigns are (finally) beginning their home stretch. At the same time, voters are starting to pay attention to a dizzying array of ballot initiatives that will also be on the November ballot in many states....
by Bill Scher | Sep 9, 2008 | Blog
The conservative delegates in St. Paul did not chant, "All of the Above." They chanted, "Drill, Baby, Drill." So much has coastal drilling gotten conservatives foaming at the mouth, that they're barely bothering with the pretense that they believe in a comprehensive...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 8, 2008 | Blog, Economy
Part One: Yours, Mine... One of the things I hoped for when Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic convention, was that she would introduce people to the America that she came from, and that was the setting of her story. One of the biggest shames in the campaign...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 8, 2008 | Blog
The watchdog was 2-for-3 again this week, even with the two presidential candidates (and one vice presidential candidate) in the Sunday line-up. Depending on how you look at it, that is. I didn't think it would happen, but Fox New Sunday host Chris Wallace did a...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 5, 2008 | Blog
The conventions are behind us, and as the balloons and confetti are swept up, it's time for for the watchdog to make its weekend rounds. The Sunday show line-up particularly interesting this week, both because of the names you see and the names you don't see. At...
by Sara Robinson | Sep 4, 2008 | Blog
In the current issue of The Nation (which also featured a cover story co-authored by our own Bob Borosage), Chris Bowers pointed out a structural truth that lies at the heart of both American political parties. In the Age of Reagan, it came to pass that the GOP...
by Greg Colvin | Sep 4, 2008 | Blog
At the Denver convention, Sen. Barack Obama gave a very fine acceptance speech, but not a great one. His speech after winning the Iowa caucuses lifted you up and carried you along with the historical significance of the moment: “They said, this day would never come....
by Bill Scher | Sep 4, 2008 | Blog
Conservatism is addicted to snidery, and Gov. Sarah Palin looks to be just another pusher. Unwilling to forcefully argue that our government shouldn't do anything to strengthen our economy, guarantee health coverage or generate clean energy, conservative leaders try...
by Bill Scher | Sep 3, 2008 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Gov. Sarah Palin appears to have successfully rallied the conservative rank-and-file. And she will probably give a good speech tonight. (Expectations have been set so low it would be hard to come up short.) But the pick itself tells me that after the congressional...
by Bill Scher | Sep 2, 2008 | Blog
When Phil Gramm called America a "nation of whiners" for not loving the economy, I said: "This is does not make Gramm uniquely callous. It just makes him a conservative." Gramm was merely echoing documented and widespread sentiment among conservative leaders -- that...
by Sara Robinson | Sep 2, 2008 | Blog
It almost seems like the Twin Cities cops are going way out of their way to create trouble, doesn't it? We had our share of ugly police events in Denver—almost all of them resulting when party leaders ordered police to harass journalists trying to document swanky...
by Bill Scher | Sep 2, 2008 | Blog
On Thursday before the final night of the Democatic National Convention, the Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll and I taped our regular The Week In Blog segment for bloggingheads.tv, sharing our Denver experiences, discussing the growth of the progressive movement,...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 29, 2008 | Blog
Sign the petition to support the Employee Free Choice Act, and make America work for working families again. Labor Day is here, yet working families in America are having more trouble than ever before making ends meet. Rising fuel and food prices, along with health...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 28, 2008 | Blog
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by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 28, 2008 | Blog
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by Bill Scher | Aug 28, 2008 | Blog, Minimum Wage
The least wealthy member of the Senate took the stage of the Democratic convention hall Wednesday night to accept the vice-presidential nomination, and sharpened the contrast between the progressive and conservative economic visions. The pressure will now be on...
by Bill Scher | Aug 28, 2008 | Blog
The issue of biofuels is hotly debated even among those advocating a clean energy future. I got two opposing perspectives outside the convention hall, inside the BIg Tent yesterday. First, I spoke with Josh Boger of the Biotechnology Industrial Organization and...
by Bill Scher | Aug 28, 2008 | Blog, Economy
In all the buzz of ideas and activism going on outside the convention hall, the rise of green-collar jobs as a signature progressive idea is inescapable. With the potential to help solve our economic, environmental and national security weaknesses, investing in a...
by Bill Scher | Aug 28, 2008 | Blog
Outside the DNC, Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation and The Washington Note moderated a foreign policy discussion provocatively titled, "Will the Next President Make the Middle East Irrelevant?" The event brought together an impressive array of speakers:...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 27, 2008 | Blog
There they were, billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope and Center for American Progress president John Podesta on the same stage at The Big Tent in Denver on Wednesday, in near-perfect harmony. Something’s wrong here. And indeed...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 27, 2008 | Blog
Paul Krugman, the columnist for The New York Times, told me in an interview here in Denver that getting a universal health care plan enacted will be one of he most important keys to creating a progressive moment on a whole host of issues. His reasoning is this: “If...
by Bill Scher | Aug 27, 2008 | Blog
In my interview with William McNary, president of USAction, he instructs us to ask ourselves, do we want "progressive change, small change or chump change?" And, he lays out a comprehensive progressive vision for a "Next New Deal" that invests in people, from day care...
by Sara Robinson | Aug 26, 2008 | Blog
This was the Campaign for America's Future's Big Afternoon at the Big Tent. CAF took over the Digg Stage (the entire upstairs floor of The Big Tent) for a series of four panels addressing some of the Big Questions we wrestle with here. One of the highlights for me was...
by Bill Scher | Aug 26, 2008 | Blog
Following his Take Back America panel discussion, I caught up with MoveOn.org's Eli Pariser to find out what he believes progressives should be doing between now and November, to build the mandate for change.
by Bill Scher | Aug 26, 2008 | Blog
It's been a jam-packed morning here in the Big Tent, as we wait for Take Back America to kickoff in the afternoon. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) talked to me about how attitudes towards active government are changing in Colorado and the West. MSNBC's Willie Geist told us...
by Bill Scher | Aug 26, 2008 | Blog
Reporters always complain that there is no news at political conventions any more. Perhaps. But there is news outside the convention hall: the loud buzz of progressive activity, organizing and mobilizing around big issues, hundreds of decibels louder than at the...
by Alan Jenkins | Aug 25, 2008 | Blog
Seventy years ago this month, New York State’s political leaders gathered in Albany to confront an economic and social challenge, the Great Depression, that makes today’s situation look rosy. Representing urban, rural, and suburban communities across the state, the...
