by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 16, 2008 | Blog
In a speech before the NAACP on Wednesday that displayed a remarkable but unsurprising detachment from the realities of the African-American community, it was nonetheless telling that Sen. John McCain, in reaching for a historical marker for his speech on equal...
by Bill Scher | Jul 16, 2008 | Blog
Most of us Campaign for America's Future bloggers are headed to Austin, Texas for the third annual Netroots Nation conference and what's sure to be the largest gathering of progressive bloggers to date. It's a notable moment for Netroots Nation as it changed its name...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 16, 2008 | Blog
This weekend, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former head of the Goldman Sachs investment house, provided us with a perfect demonstration of Wall Street socialism. He announced that the Bush administration would seek congressional approval to bail out Fannie Mae and...
by Terrance Heath | Jul 16, 2008 | Blog
In a post-9/11 America that no longer "does" irony — or nuance, for that matter — it's not surprising that one of the significant ironies of the George W. Bush era went largely unnoticed. Six years after declaring the dawn of an "ownership society," intended to create...
by Bill Scher | Jul 16, 2008 | Blog
Interesting word we've been hearing on the campaign trail: government. Last week while campaigning in the "red" state of Georgia, Sen. Barack Obama took a swipe at McCain for not believing in government oversight of the financial industry. From USA Today: "Like the...
by Bill Scher | Jul 15, 2008 | Blog
Consistent with the country's shift of the political center towards the left, veto-proof bipartisan majorities sent President Bush a bill that took a stand against the privatization of Medicare, reducing subsidies to private health insurance companies that offer...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 15, 2008 | Blog
We asked you to send messages of progressive patriotism to Fox News Channel, and you did—194 pages worth, from war veterans, educators, grandmothers and grandchildren—all making the point that Fox News cannot continue its attacks on patriotic Americans. And, as...
by Bill Scher | Jul 14, 2008 | Blog
President Bush just announced a lifting of the executive branch ban on most coastal drilling. It does not actually open up the coasts to drilling, because Congress would need to follow suit. The political intent is simply to put pressure on Congress to cave on...
by Terrance Heath | Jul 14, 2008 | Blog
It was almost a 1-in-3 weekend for the watchdog, in which — once again — a question that wasn't asked was very nearly answered. On ABC's This Week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised John McCain's take on the economy, urging voters to look...
by Alan Jenkins | Jul 14, 2008 | Blog
For decades, residents of the Coal Run neighborhood of east-central Ohio had to haul water from wells or collect rainwater to drink, cook, and bathe. Their story might be quaint, except that the decades stretched from the 1950s to the 21st Century and, as a federal...
by Bill Scher | Jul 14, 2008 | Blog
For the latest installment of The Week in Blog over at Bloggingheads.tv, the Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll and I discussed the new Health Care for America Now coalition which Campaign for America's Future helped forge.
by Terrance Heath | Jul 11, 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 Robert Borosage | Jul 11, 2008 | Blog
“As through this world I’ve wandered, I’ve seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a gun; And some with a fountain pen. Woody Guthrie Look out folks, you’re about to get fleeced. We’re getting sent the bill for the bankers’ bacchanalia. They had the party,...
by Bill Scher | Jul 11, 2008 | Blog
Phil Gramm thinks that the economy is wonderful and those that feel otherwise are mistaken. This is does not make Gramm uniquely callous. It just makes him a conservative. For several years, conservatives have been mightily trying to insist the economy tastes great,...
by Bill Scher | Jul 10, 2008 | Blog
Sen. John McCain, I'm one of your friends, right? The kind of friend who can handle some of your special brand of Straight Talk™. So why won't you just tell me you hate Social Security? Twice this week you lambasted the founding principle of Social Security, that, as...
by Sara Robinson | Jul 9, 2008 | Blog
My dad, who died six years ago today, was a cowboy. A real one, complete with beat-up Stetson and muddy ropers and a Ford pickup and an ancient blanket-lined Levi's jean jacket that smelled of manure, leather, horse sweat, and tobacco -- the distinctive aroma of all...
by Sara Robinson | Jul 9, 2008 | Blog
It's not just Texas. Rick blogged yesterday on the collapsing roads and bridges of Denton County, Texas. Unsurprisingly, it's happening in other places, too. From today's Arizona Star: PHOENIX — From Wickenburg to Eagar, streets in cities and towns across Arizona are...
by Bill Scher | Jul 9, 2008 | Blog
On Monday, I not only noted that Sen. John McCain's health care plan represents a bigger political risk than Sen. Barack Obama's, but also that the Beltway punditocracy would presume the opposite. That didn't take long. Here's yesterday's Boston Globe analysis...
by Bill Scher | Jul 8, 2008 | Blog
In a story about fluctuating oil prices, The New York Times quotes Carrizo Oil and Gas CEO Chip Johnson: I can’t see oil getting cheap again ever. It’s just too hard to find, and too many people want to use it. That's the bottom line. If we want an energy policy to...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 8, 2008 | Blog
For David White, a small business owner in Bar Harbor, Maine, the health care crisis is doubly personal. For one thing, he was proud of being able to cover the full cost of health insurance premiums for his employees at MDI Imported car repair service. But in 2002—a...
by Bill Scher | Jul 8, 2008 | Blog
Over the weekend, Talking Points Memo called out the Associated Press for "demonstrably false reporting" in support of McCain campaign talking points about Iraq. Now the bias appears to extend to health care. Yesterday, the AP's analysis of McCain's health care plan...
by Sara Robinson | Jul 8, 2008 | Blog
Ah, you optimistic soul. Did you really think the nuclear power debate died after Three Mile Island brought the reality of its dangers home to insurers, investors and utility companies? Think again. As both the rhetoric and the reality of global warming heat up in the...
by Sara Robinson | Jul 7, 2008 | Blog
Marc Ambinder at theatlantic.com notes that Crocs (which are probably what your children are wearing right this minute) seem to be a perennial favorite when GOP presidential candidates come to Colorado and need to call out a Great American Company: President Bush, on...
by Bill Scher | Jul 7, 2008 | Blog
As Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama both plan to engage each other on the economy this week, this presents an opportunity for reporters and voters to focus on one of the biggest contrasts between them: health care. As Paul Krugman observes today, "[health insurnace]...
by Roger Hickey | Jul 7, 2008 | Blog
On Tuesday, July 8, a new campaign will be launched – for Health Care for America Now! – at press conferences in Washington and 55 other cities and towns. We at the Campaign for America’s Future are proud to play a leadership role in launching this much-needed...
by Bill Scher | Jul 3, 2008 | Blog
A disturbing but sadly predictable jobs report was released today by the Department of Labor: 62,000 jobs lost in June, 438,000 jobs lost during the past 6 months. This is no limited recession. The New York Times observed that: "June’s job losses affected a range of...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 3, 2008 | Blog
"Dear FOX News, Here's a Fourth of July gift for you, from an Obama supporter and patriotic American," begins a note from Anthony in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "This year my son and I plan to use window paints to fill our big picture window with the American flag. Please...
by Tula Connell | Jul 2, 2008 | Blog, Minimum Wage
George W. Bush's solution to our nation's economic mess—that his failed policies helped create—is to applaud people who must work three jobs to make ends meet. Sen. John McCain colors his solution to working families' financial struggles with similar crayons: He...
by Bill Scher | Jul 2, 2008 | Blog
The punditocracy won't tell you, but Barack Obama and John McCain are moving to the Left. Take Iraq. Sensing that voters did not react kindly to McCain's December remarks expressing comfort with U.S. troops remaining in Iraq for 100 years, he predicted in May that if...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 1, 2008 | Blog
Arizona Sen. John McCain continues his rousing campaign tour of the swing states of NAFTA this week. He will celebrate July 3 in Mexico City after a jaunt through Colombia to pledge support for the pending free trade accord with that center of cocaine trade. He surely...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 1, 2008 | Blog
It is a shame that Sen. Barack Obama's speech on patriotism Monday in Independence, Mo., was overshadowed by yet another false controversy, this time over the appropriateness of comments by retired general Wesley Clark about Sen. John McCain's qualifications for the...
by Bill Scher | Jul 1, 2008 | Blog, Economy
The McCain campaign gets ... stranger. The American economy has been battered on multiple fronts, including the loss of 3.4 million manufacturing jobs. The current trade strategy has not only contributed to the offshoring of jobs, but helped harm the lives of workers...
by Bill Scher | Jun 30, 2008 | Blog
Another 0-for-3 day for the Sunday shows, as they ignore the Watchdog's calls for questions on the oil shale boondoggle, the Minnesota bridge collapse, and the Justice Department political hiring scandal. On NBC's Meet The Press, Tom Brokaw asked the Colorado and...
by Alan Jenkins | Jun 29, 2008 | Blog
Summer vacation began this week for millions of kids across the country,. But in many communities, school board members, principals, and administrators are still hard at work. Among their tasks for the summer is designing new ways of fulfilling the promise of equal...
by Bill Scher | Jun 29, 2008 | Blog
Bob and Isaiah voiced concerns last week over the codification of President Bush's abuses of executive power, and the erosion of our constitutional system of checks and balances. Bob called for a "grand inquest into the powers that he has claimed" by the House,...
by Bill Scher | Jun 27, 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 Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 27, 2008 | Blog
You may differ on the merits with the supporters of the District of Columbia's gun ban, who were handed a m
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 26, 2008 | Blog
Senate conservatives went into their customary obstruction mode again late Thursday, choosing to protect the interests of insurance companies while shortchanging the health care needs of older Americans and ignoring the will of the majority. Thirty-nine conservatives...
by Bill Scher | Jun 26, 2008 | Blog
Yesterday, Isaiah urged Sen. Barack Obama to take the lead in fighting immunity for telecom companies that may have helped the Bush administration break surveillance laws. I do not have high expectations. It appears quite clear to me, from Obama's recent statement on...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 26, 2008 | Blog
One year ago today, a Senate Republican filibuster killed the Employee Free Choice Act, and with it died one of the most important things Congress could have done to repair the economic damage done to working-class families caused by decades of conservative economic...
