by Bill Scher | May 13, 2008 | Blog
Congress will likely pass legislation to temporarily stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is because 1) it's harmless legislation and 2) congresspeople can then say they "did something" on gas prices. But by Election Day it will be painfully clear they didn't...
by Bill Scher | May 13, 2008 | Blog
Last week, Democrats and Republicans offered energy bills in response to rising gas prices, which clearly laid out the parties contrasting energy visions: investment in renewable energy vs. suspension of environmental standards for drilling and refining oil. As I...
by Robert Borosage | May 13, 2008 | Blog
"We're going to give you the change you deserve." —House Minority Leader John Boehner That's not a threat; it's a promise—from the Republican congressional leaders. Really. Led by perpetually tanned House leader John Boehner, Republicans have suddenly discovered that...
by Bill Scher | May 12, 2008 | Blog
Sen. John McCain reiterated his support for a "cap-and-trade" approach to global warming today. Treating global warming as real is McCain's best hope of convincing Americans he offers not more failed conservatism, but an independent maverick approach to government....
by Bill Scher | May 12, 2008 | Blog
The Sunday shows go 1-for-3 for the Watchdog, but to be candid, the Watchdog set the bar particularly low. But first, the strikeouts. Once again, McCain campaign adviser and former corporate executive Carly Fiorina was not challenged on her past support for the...
by Sara Robinson | May 10, 2008 | Blog
Progressives have always loved holidays, which may be why we've created so many of them. There are Saturdays, of course, brought to us with no small help from the early 20th century unions. And May Day. And Labor Day. And Mother's Day, which started out as the first...
by Bill Scher | May 10, 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 8, 2008 | Blog
Both parties in the Senate have just introduced legislation in response to high gas prices. The Republican announcement states its bill with "Reduce Gas Prices And Decrease Dependence On Foreign Oil," while the Democrats say theirs "addresses the root causes of high...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 8, 2008 | Blog
A column I've just posted on Firedog Lake takes Sen. John McCain and the Bush administration to task for failing to address one of the most critical failings of our health care system: our overstressed urban hospitals. It was one of the elephants in the room when...
by Terrance Heath | May 8, 2008 | Blog
Short of yodeling, I've been doing my best Switzerland impersonation during the primaries. When it came my turn to vote in the primaries I voted my hopes, knowing I'd support whomever we got in the Democratic nominee. (Let's face it. My values would never let me vote...
by Bill Scher | May 7, 2008 | Blog
The Democratic presidential campaign began with remarkable unity from the candidates regarding what needs to be done to revitalize the economy and restore America's moral authority—and their populist themes even spilled over into the Republican primary. That does not...
by Sara Robinson | May 6, 2008 | Blog
I live in a nice place. I mean that literally. It took some getting used to. After 20 years in Silicon Valley, where people put a premium on being direct and to the point, have no time to waste on small talk or personal sharing, and will call a stupid idea stupid to...
by Terrance Heath | May 6, 2008 | Blog
Forget green cards. A growing number of Americans are getting hitched to get health insurance. Some people marry for love, some for companionship, and others for status or money. Now comes another reason to get hitched: health insurance. In a poll released today, 7%...
by Bill Scher | May 6, 2008 | Blog
Even when the media reports on a critical issue, the media ignores it. Last week, NBC Nightly News aired a series on our crumbling infrastructure called "Falling Apart." (Check out the videos below, as well as my colleague Isaiah's post on rebuilding America.)...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 6, 2008 | Blog
Instead of a silly argument over a "gas tax holiday," we desperately need a serious discussion about the nation's infrastructure. And there is a good legislative proposal that could be the basis for that discussion. There are bills in the House (HR 3401) and the...
by Bill Scher | May 5, 2008 | Blog
McCain's health care plan effectively ends employer-provided health benefits and has everyone buy health insurance on an "individual market" with fewer "regulations."
by Tula Connell | May 5, 2008 | Blog
Every day, most of us go to work and then come home. Next day: Rinse, repeat. But some U.S. workers go to work and never come home. In April 2005, Donald Wilcher Smith was one of them. The 22-year-old central Texas man was electrocuted at the Sanderson Farms...
by Bill Scher | May 5, 2008 | Blog
Over at Bloggingheads.tv, Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll and I offer another installment of The Week In Blog. Conn and I discussed blogger reaction to McCain's health care plan, which largely draws from the plan supported by the conservative Heritage Foundation....
by Anne Thompson | May 5, 2008 | Blog
Dear Rick, Greetings from Buenos Aires. You are always talking about how we need to invest more in our public infrastructure. How 'bout this street sign strategy from the Paris of Latin America? Anne
by Alan Jenkins | May 5, 2008 | Blog, Economy
By an overwhelming bipartisan margin, Congress has passed what sponsors are calling the first civil rights act of the 21st century: the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The Act, which President Bush is expected to sign, prohibits employers and insurance...
by Bill Scher | May 5, 2008 | Blog
Fox News Sunday fails in the eyes of the Watchdog, going 0-for-3 in its interview of McCain adviser and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. There were no questions about McCain's health care plan, no questions about Fiorina belief that offshoring American jobs...
by Bill Scher | May 2, 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 2, 2008 | Blog
After Time Magazine's Swampland blog slapped fellow journalists on the wrist for understating the "radical" nature of Sen. John McCain's health care plan, Trudy Lieberman at the Columbia Journalism Review is also struck at McCain's "radical" plan. Furthermore, she...
by Robert Borosage | May 1, 2008 | Blog
Oil companies report record profits. Gas is headed towards $4 a gallon. A caravan of more than 100 truckers rallied in Washington Monday to protest diesel fuel prices already over that mark. Across the country, Americans are getting pinched by rising fuel and food...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2008 | Blog
On Monday, Bernie Horn warned us that Sen. John McCain's health care plan is a "radical scheme." Yesterday, Roger Hickey set up a test for the media: "The reality is, McCain’s proposals would greatly increase the number of uninsured Americans, while also doing nothing...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2008 | Blog
Since you probably didn't find much substantive analysis of McCain's health care plan in the traditional media, bloggers have taken up the task. And it isn't pretty. Obsidian Wings: It's easy to make health policy when you don't allow little things like facts to...
by Sara Robinson | Apr 29, 2008 | Blog
Jeremiah Wright is everywhere this week -- and the media doesn't quite know what to make of it. Mostly, they're stuck so hard in the election horse-race narrative that they only question they can think to ask is: Does having Wright out there hurt Obama, or help him?...
by Bill Scher | Apr 29, 2008 | Blog
Today in Tampa, Sen. John McCain, as conservatives often do, tried to claim the "choice" mantle when describing his "health" care plan: You simply choose the insurance provider that suits you best ... The health plan you choose would be as good as any that an employer...
by Bill Scher | Apr 29, 2008 | Blog
Whether or not you are a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, if you are a politician interested in having your substantive arguments be heard, or if you're a citizen that wants your government responding to your needs, you'll stand against ridiculous guilt-by-association...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 29, 2008 | Blog
This weekend, we attended a local conference for LGBT parents and families, and I spoke on a panel about interracial couples and inter-cultural families. At some point, I found myself speaking less as a gay dad and more as a Black man raising two Black sons, and...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 29, 2008 | Blog
Today Arizona Sen. John McCain will deliver what his handlers are hyping as a major address on health care. McCain’s plan is a dangerous fraud. He wants voters to think he is going after health care cost inflation. In reality, he wants to dismantle the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 28, 2008 | Blog
The Huffington Post front page headline now is "Pentagon Shelves 'Propaganda' Program, but reading the full story, it doesn't seem like it's going to be too hard for the Pentagon to pick it back up off the shelf. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the program was...
by Bill Scher | Apr 28, 2008 | Blog
What pressing issues facing our country do the pundits think you don't care about today? Stateline.org: 23 states face budget gaps in '09 Like a college student fishing for stray quarters in the sofa cushions, states are tightening their belts, dipping into their...
by Bill Scher | Apr 28, 2008 | Blog
You will not be surprised to find out that the Sunday shows failed to ask any question about global warming, the continued TV news blackout of the NY Times report on "military analysts" spoon
by Bill Scher | Apr 25, 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 | Apr 25, 2008 | Blog
Sen. John McCain on Monday, about the lower 9th ward of New Orleans: We need to go back to have a conversation about what to do: rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is. Sen. John McCain, three days later: I don’t remember ever saying it. Straight...
by Bill Scher | Apr 25, 2008 | Blog
Over at Bloggingheads.tv, I do a regular "This Week In Blog" feature, recounting the hot topics in the liberal and conservative blogospheres. This week I was joined by Townhall.com's Amanda Carpenter, and we discussed blog reaction to the PA primary, Sen. Clinton's...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 25, 2008 | Blog
David Broder’s April 24 Washington Post column on Arizona Sen. John McCain, entitled “The Democrats’ Worst Nightmare,” concludes with this little nugget: “Yet, in pointing to those vulnerabilities in her rival, Clinton has heightened the most obvious liability she...
by Bill Scher | Apr 24, 2008 | Blog
My colleague Isaiah says McCain is offering nothing but "inaction" in his visit to New Orleans' lower Ninth Ward, as McCain continues to offer another eight years of do-nothing conservatism from our government. But apparently he's fine with certain kinds of government...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 24, 2008 | Blog
The conservative war against the war on poverty continues today as Arizona Sen. John McCain goes to the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. From what we've seen so far, McCain is coming to the still-devastated city with nothing that will actually address the compounded...
