by Bill Scher | Jun 6, 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 6, 2008 | Blog
Here's a question for the town hall debates that Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are talking about having: What will you do to reign in oil speculators who are profiteering off the pain of working class families by dealing in the dark, unregulated corners of global...
by Terrance Heath | Jun 6, 2008 | Blog
It's that time again. Time for the watch to patrol the Sunday shows, on the look-out for a relevant question — should one get through. Which ones should get through? Make your suggestions and pose your questions in the comments, and when the guests are announced...
by Bill Scher | Jun 6, 2008 | Blog
At several points in the presidential campaign, I noted the unity among Democratic voters and candidates on the issues, a unity around a populist progressive
by Bill Scher | Jun 5, 2008 | Blog
The Huffington Post reported last night on Sen. John McCain's inaccurate claim that he supported "every" investigation into the response to Hurricane Katrina: Appearing at a press conference in Louisiana on Wednesday, McCain claimed that he had supported "every...
by Bill Scher | Jun 4, 2008 | Blog
The first speeches of the general election campaign were delivered last night. With the exception of the environment, where McCain is trying to develop a moderate-sounding message, the speeches preview a campaign with a real clash of progressive and conservative...
by Sara Robinson | Jun 4, 2008 | Blog, Rick Perlstein
It's over, at long last. The Democrats have a nominee. And now the other hard part begins—the part where Democrats try to patch up the party and try to keep a lot of disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters on board. It's worthwhile to take a moment here and look at...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 4, 2008 | Blog
Just as amusement parks build roller-coaster rides with ever more dramatic dips and twists, the Bush administration and conservative lawmakers have succeeded in building a roller-coaster economy where family incomes are exposed to sharper drops and turns. It's no fun....
by Terrance Heath | Jun 4, 2008 | Blog
Image details: Obama Holds Final Primary Night Event In St. Paul served by picapp.com I can only think of one moment in my memory that compares to this. It was when I stood in front of my television and watched the Berlin wall come down, live on CNN. I'm not yet sure...
by Bill Scher | Jun 3, 2008 | Blog
As the Senate considers the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill this week, we're finally seeing some media coverage of the policy debate. Sadly, but predictably, we're still seeing conservative spin infect the coverage. in particular, news outlets are playing up...
by Bill Scher | Jun 2, 2008 | Blog
Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is on a Middle East tour. Apparently, it's a comedy tour. Yetsterday, the Associated Press reported from Qatar: U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said Sunday that there was no quick fix to high oil prices... No quick...
by Bill Scher | Jun 2, 2008 | Blog
The Sunday shows go 0-for-3 for the Watchdog, as the obsession with the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee largely pushed out coverage of issues. No Clinton or Obama surrogate was asked about the upcoming vote on the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill, major...
by Bill Scher | May 30, 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 Bill Scher | May 30, 2008 | Blog
As the weekend approaches, it's time for the Weekend Watchdog to resume patrol! Before we learn what politicians are scheduled to appear on the Sunday shows, what questions do you think should be asked this Sunday? What issues should not be ignored by the Beltway...
by Bill Scher | May 29, 2008 | Blog
Yesterday, Sen. John McCain said he does not support the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill, and would not show up to vote on it next week. From the Washington Post: In a press conference late Wednesday afternoon, McCain said he did not support the bill sponsored by...
by Bill Scher | May 29, 2008 | Blog
"Choice" has long been a conservative buzzword (except when it comes to reproductive freedom) but the real policy question is rarely between whether or not we have choices, but whether our policies gives us good choices or bad choices. I've previously discussed how...
by Bill Scher | May 28, 2008 | Blog
It's not news that we're already feeling the impacts of global warming. As we noted in Making Sense, global warming has contributed to wildfires burning hotter and longer. the record number of Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean this decade and the drying up...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 28, 2008 | Blog
Pledging to not liberalize trade with Cuba remains for most candidates one of the de facto requirements for getting elected, and even though any thinking person can easily grasp the utter silliness of arguments for the status quo. (Remind me again: How did more than...
by Bill Scher | May 27, 2008 | Blog
Last week, Isaiah reported on the 7% increase in mass transit ridership, and also how limited that increase is. Because the Bush administration did nothing to make mass transit more convenient and accessible, many Americans who want to quit paying for high-priced oil...
by Bill Scher | May 27, 2008 | Blog
Casino became legal in more than 30 states because they were sold as economic growth engines and poverty fighters. Wrong. Casinos on tribal land have not reduced the crushing poverty in the Native American community. States which brought in commercial casinos -- like...
by Bill Scher | May 23, 2008 | Blog
Today, the Omaha World Herald published the following op-ed of mine, exploring why the attacks on Sen. Barack Obama failed to derail his path to the nomination, and failed to deny him a clear lead against Sen. John McCain. Not what it means about Obama, but what it...
by Terrance Heath | May 23, 2008 | Blog
Picture by jcolman If my dad were alive, I know he'd be hanging the flag in front of our house, where it would stay for the remainder of the weekend. A veteran of two wars, Korea and Vietnam, my father was fiercely patriotic. Yet, displaying the flag on Memorial Day...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 22, 2008 | Blog
The American Public Transportation Association is projecting a 7 percent increase in the number of tourists taking public transportation this summer, thanks to stratospheric gasoline prices. According to the transit trade group: Thirty-five percent of those who will...
by Bill Scher | May 22, 2008 | Blog
Seems like every time gas prices shoot up, Big Oil CEOs are summoned to Capitol Hill for a ritual hazing. It's appropriate. We taxpayers are supporting Big Oil with billions in federal tax subsidies. CEOs should have to testify and justify their public windfall. They...
by Terrance Heath | May 22, 2008 | Blog
I probably shouldn't be giving you advice, but maybe because I'm a progressive, I can't see someone in crisis without having a desire to help if I can. Besides, a couple of you guys have offered advice and suggestions to one Democratic candidate — not to mention...
by Bill Scher | May 21, 2008 | Blog
Another Memorial Day, another stressful spike in gasoline prices. With most Americans denied access to convenient mass transit options and affordable alternative fuels, we'll be forced to pay through the nose yet again if we want to travel simply to see friends and...
by Terrance Heath | May 21, 2008 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Living in D.C., you can't help; crossing paths with some famous political names. In fact, you get used to it. But, as with most things, you never forget your first. And Ted Kennedy was my first. I was still new to D.C., having moved up from Georgia in the Summer of...
by Bill Scher | May 20, 2008 | Blog
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered the Bush administration to follow the law and treat greenhouse gas emissions as pollution under the Clean Air Act. And the Bush administration quickly snubbed the ruling, by denying states the ability under the Clean Air Act to...
by Bill Scher | May 19, 2008 | Blog
In the latest installment of This Week in Blog over at Bloggingheads.tv, Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll discussed blogger reaction to McCain's incoherent global warming plan. Watch the segment below. It's always hard to keep up with conservative misinformation....
by Terrance Heath | May 19, 2008 | Blog
It looks like the watchdog did a little better this weekend, almost going 1-in-3 when — thanks to Sen. Chris Dodd bringing it up on Fox News Sunday — Sen. Jon Kyl faced a question about John McCain flip-flopping on withdrawing from Iraq, and revising is...
by Alan Jenkins | May 18, 2008 | Blog
The California Supreme Court connected human rights to reality last week when it ruled that same-sex couples have the same right to marry that heterosexual couples have. The court majority rejected the false notion that offering gay and lesbian couples a separate and...
by Terrance Heath | May 16, 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 Tula Connell | May 16, 2008 | Blog
A woman who spends years in medical school emerges to take her place alongside a panoply of male physicians—who, on average, make 38 percent more than she does. Female attorneys fare better—they make 30 percent less than their male counterparts. But it's not...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 16, 2008 | Blog
I flashed back to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, which aimed to build a "rainbow coalition" of working-class people based on progressive populist economic policies, earlier this week in my post on Firedog Lake. It is easy to get discouraged by...
by Terrance Heath | May 16, 2008 | Blog
I knew as soon as the California Supreme Court marriage ruling was posted, that I would read the whole thing. I started reading it at my desk, after it was posted, but stopped once got to the "bottom line" of the ruling — and, truly, because as I realized what I...
by Bill Scher | May 16, 2008 | Blog
Yesterday, President Bush was in Israel, and equated speaking with Iran with "the false comfort of appeasement." Today in Saudi Arabia, Bush will likely fail (UPDATE:
by Terrance Heath | May 16, 2008 | Blog
We're in the process of trying out some new approaches to the Weekend Watchdog. One of them is this open thread, where we hope longtime "watchdogs" and the uninitiated will engage in sorting out what questions about which issues and news items from the past week this...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 15, 2008 | Blog
It is, as our co-director Robert Borosage pointed out this week, ludicrous on its face. House Republicans, coming out of their weekly caucus on Wednesday, started touting their latest slogan, "the change you deserve," and they are being virtually laughed out of the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 14, 2008 | Blog
It does not take much to understand why a hard-core Republican district in Mississippi would elect a Democrat to the House of Representatives by a nine-point margin. Mississippi is a state under particularly serious economic stress, a point brought home in a report...
by Sara Robinson | May 14, 2008 | Blog
One of the grandest -- and most frustrating -- things about carrying on the great democratic conversation via blog is finding out how many of your fellow citizens (including many who are nominally on your side) turn out to be looking at the world from a completely...
