by Bill Scher | Sep 14, 2007 | 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 | Sep 13, 2007 | Blog
New York Times, June 28, 2000: Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their...
by Bill Scher | Sep 13, 2007 | Blog
New York Times, June 28, 2000: Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their...
by Bill Scher | Sep 12, 2007 | Blog
Wednesday's New York Times bottom-lines the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker: "[They] conceded Tuesday that the Bush administration’s overall strategy in Iraq would remain largely unchanged after the temporary increase in American forces is over...
by Bill Scher | Sep 12, 2007 | Blog
Last week, conservatives blocked the House and Senate from taking the routine step of convening a conference to work out differences in their children's health insurance bills, obstructing Congress' ability to do the people's business and pass a single bill on to the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 11, 2007 | Blog
Last week, Florida's Brevard County met Lukas, who is alive thanks to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the program congressional conservatives want Bush to veto. This week, Buffalo, N.Y., met Gabrial. From the Buffalo News: Brian and Kelly...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2007 | Blog
Last month, the Bush administration issued state government new restrictions on providing children's health insurance via threatening emails sent on a late Friday evening. And this past Friday, the Bushies used those restrictions to deny New York State the ability to...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2007 | Blog
After a rare week when a Watchdog question was actually asked, the Sunday shows return to form, going 0-for-3. Not only did Fox News Sunday fail to ask Sen. Lindsey Graham if his support for the surge was based on stats from cooked books, none of the Sunday shows even...
by Bill Scher | Sep 7, 2007 | 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 | Sep 7, 2007 | Blog
It is time for decision on the Iraq debacle. The White House is demanding more money to keep the troops in Iraq. The Bush folks have shown their public relations mastery by rolling out a disingenuous campaign to claim “progress” on the ground in Iraq. General David...
by Bill Scher | Sep 6, 2007 | Blog
Brevard County newspaper Florida Today explains who SCHIP helps, and helpfully notes who voted against it: Lukas Richmond started wheezing again this week. The boisterous Titusville 8-year-old missed 52 days of school last year because of severe asthma and allergies...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 6, 2007 | Blog
At last we get a little good news. The new Congress is presenting to the President a package of legislation designed to help working families afford the skyrocketing cost of college. He’s threatened to veto it but we’ll get to that later. Start with the good news....
by Bill Scher | Sep 5, 2007 | Blog
The message: I care. We're trying. -- President George H.W. Bush, responding to a town hall question about the worsening economy, 1/15/92 I know some say, well, since he's against Kyoto he doesn't care about the climate change. That's urban legend that is...
by Bill Scher | Sep 5, 2007 | Blog
Conservatives aren't getting anywhere with their misinformation campaign against the State Children's Health Insurance Program. But there's always the ol' reliable: obstruction. CQ reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a routine move (requiring...
by Bill Scher | Sep 4, 2007 | Blog
Conservatives spent their August recess trying to explain (using copious misinformation) how they could be against covering more kids with health insurance. It doesn't seem to have gone well, with polls and editorials squarely in support of congressional bills...
by Bill Scher | Sep 3, 2007 | Blog
The Sunday shows break their three-week losing streak, and actually ask a Watchdog question. On ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked Sen. John Ensign if the GOP had a double standard by pressuring Sen. Larry Craig to resign but rallying around Sen. David...
by Bill Scher | Aug 31, 2007 | 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 | Aug 30, 2007 | Blog
When we last checked in on Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., he was trying to keep quiet about his vote against expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Now he's taking it a step further. After the Bush administration issued new rules cracking down on states...
by Eric Lotke | Aug 30, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
It’s Labor Day and Congress is coming back into session. Time to step back to see where things stand, and what Congress can do about it. Start with the state of working America. It’s Labor Day after all, a holiday earned by organized labor and dedicated to working...
by Bill Scher | Aug 29, 2007 | Blog
On CNN a few minutes ago, Democratic political consultant Paul Begala noted that President Bush is going to have difficult time pushing for $50 billion more for occupying Iraq, while pledging to veto House and Senate bills for children's health insurance (the SCHIP...
by Bill Scher | Aug 29, 2007 | Blog
Yesterday, after the Census released it's annual poverty report, with the poverty rate down from 12.6% of Amerians to 12.3%, President Bush released a triumphant statement: President Bush Pleased With Lowered Poverty Rate When we keep taxes low, spending in check, and...
by Bill Scher | Aug 28, 2007 | Blog
The latest Census report on poverty in America found the number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise. A record 47 million uninsured in 2006, including 8.7 million kids. That's 15.8% of Americans, up from 15.3% in 2005. The increase in uninsured...
by Bill Scher | Aug 27, 2007 | Blog
For the third week in a row, the Sunday shows go 0-for-3 for the Watchdog. Sen. John Warner was not asked on Meet The Press if his thin proposal, to reduce troop levels in Iraq from 160,000 to 155,000, would signal a desire to continue an indefinite occupation....
by Bill Scher | Aug 24, 2007 | Blog
Air America's Sam Seder is off this Sunday, so we won't have our usual on-air Weekend Watchdog segment. But that shouldn't stop us from keeping the pressure on the Sunday TV shows to ask the tough questions. Add your own questions in the comment thread. Contact...
by Bill Scher | Aug 23, 2007 | Blog
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a new SCHIP poll today, finding that 63% of voters (including 53% of self-described "conservatives") support "expanding SCHIP to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children at an additional cost of $35 billion over five...
by Bill Scher | Aug 23, 2007 | Blog
Stateline reports that the National Association of State Medicaid Directors will be calling on the Bush administration to "back off its proposal" blocking states from extending health coverage to more uninsured kids. And "If the administration refuses," (or more...
by Bill Scher | Aug 22, 2007 | Blog
Part of the conservative misinformation campaign on the State Children's Health Insurance Program is to stoke division between the states, and play on resentment towards New York. As Sen. Saxby Chambliss says, "I don’t think Georgia taxpayers ought to be subsidizing a...
by Bill Scher | Aug 22, 2007 | Blog
Yesterday, Campaign for America's Future joined Americans United for Change and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq to release a new report on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his record of obstruction. McConnell's staff responded not by proudly...
by Bill Scher | Aug 21, 2007 | Blog
The capacity for conservatives to practice their cruel brand of compassion has ceased to surprise. But President Bush's attempt to punish states trying to provide health coverage to uninsured kids is surprising for its political idiocy. States are trying to cover as...
by Bill Scher | Aug 21, 2007 | Blog
The dead and trapped Crandall Canyon miners are putting renewed attention on the massive number of safety violations by Big Coal, and the gallingly lax enforcement by the Bush Administration. But I also suspect that Robert Murray’s blustery, and ultimately...
by Bill Scher | Aug 20, 2007 | Blog
More local blogs are keeping tabs on the Anti-Kid Caucus. Left In The West checks up on Montana's congressman: "Classic Dennis Rehberg! Now he can say he supported CHIP, while voting against it on technicalities, and, by the way, it's extremist ideology! A little...
by Bill Scher | Aug 20, 2007 | Blog
Shock of shocks, Karl Rove was able to disgrace three Sunday shows without being asked any question from the Weekend Watchdog. Most amateurishly, no one bothered to question Rove's stated reason for resigning, even though it is clear scandal pressures were rising....
by Bill Scher | Aug 17, 2007 | 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 | Aug 17, 2007 | Blog
Three lives are lost and counting in the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah. The flamboyant, camera-hogging mine owner, Bob Murray, has called this a "once in a lifetime" accident, like a car crushed by a boulder suddenly dislodged. These horrors happen. Yes, but when we...
by Bill Scher | Aug 17, 2007 | Blog
Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., appears smarter than some of his fellow congressional conservatives. He may have voted against children's health insurance. But he's not going out of his way -- writing op-eds or sending blast emails -- to let his constituents know about...
by Bill Scher | Aug 16, 2007 | Blog
Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., ran unopposed in 2004. But now that his ties to convicted felon Jack Abramoff are receiving renewed scrutiny, he's seen as politically vulnerable in 2008. So when Democrats launched an ad campaign informing his constituents that he voted...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 16, 2007 | Blog
A federally-imposed reporting requirement goes into effect today that is a transparent attempt by the Bush administration to intimidate union activists and hamper union activity. The tactic is to do to unions what conservatives complain liberals do to businesses: Bog...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 15, 2007 | Blog
While President Bush continues to spread sunny optimism about the economy, we keep hearing discordant news from places where the sun doesn't shine. "U.S. consumers continue to be under difficult pressure economically," Wal-Mart's chief executive said in widely...
by Bill Scher | Aug 15, 2007 | Blog
Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Penn., is considered by the White House to be vulnerable for defeat in 2008. He's only in his second term, representing a swing district -- both Al Gore and John Kerry won there by 1%. Dent won re-election with less support (53%) than in his...
by Bill Scher | Aug 14, 2007 | Blog
Several congressional conservatives are continuing to spend their August recess spreading misinformation to justify their votes against children's health insurance. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., is a notable member of the anti-kids crew. He's up for re-election in...
