by Bill Scher | May 4, 2007 | Blog
Across the world, the consensus headline out of today's report (PDF File) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is: stopping global warming is feasible and affordable. The UK Times Online reports that "keeping the rise in temperatures to within 2C [two...
by Robert Borosage | May 4, 2007 | Blog
Ten white guys in dark suits and bright ties to answer questions. Three white guys in dark suits and bright ties to ask them. Stale ideas fit the staid image at the first Republican presidential debate last night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. MSNBC should...
by Bill Scher | May 4, 2007 | Blog
Senators trying to drive down prescription drug costs failed to break a drug industry-backed conservative filibuster when the issue was empowering Medicare to negotiate. But yesterday, they successfully broke an attempted filibuster on allowing cheaper drugs to be...
by Bill Scher | May 4, 2007 | Blog
While we were commemorating the Failure of Conservatism in DC yesterday, what was the blogosphere doing? D-Day saw conservative failure in the melamine scandal: "Conservatives care nothing about government, and yet they act surprised when the mechanisms of government...
by Bill Scher | May 3, 2007 | Blog
The highlight of today's Failure of Conservatism Conference was the debate between the American Prospect's Robert Kuttner and the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, over the question: "Can Conservatives Be Trusted To Govern?" You can watch the full debate below, thanks...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 3, 2007 | Blog
The perversity of conservative failure is that by rendering government incapable or unwilling of doing anything that serves the common good, conservatives have left fewer people willing to trust that government can serve the common good, even when they want it to....
by Bill Scher | May 3, 2007 | Blog
Check out video of Campaign for America's Future Co-Director Robert Borosage, kicking off today's Failure of Conservatism Conference. "...corruption and incompetence aren't idiosyncratic to conservatives. They are, in some ways, an integral expression of the scorn...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 3, 2007 | Blog
There was a genteel smackdown between Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and William Kristol of The Weekly Standard. But beneath the generally gentlemanly exchange between the two intellectual titans, there were some genuine jaw-droppers from Kristol, who showed...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 3, 2007 | Blog, Rick Perlstein
When Rick Perlstein, a senior fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, wanted to offer an example of how conservatives have gotten government wrong, he talked about chickens. These are chickens that are carrying a chemical that is used to make plastic forks and...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 3, 2007 | Blog
Robert L. Borosage launched the Failure of Conservatism conference at the National Press Conference on Thursday with a broad indictment of the conservative movement and with a cautionary note for progressives: “Ideas have consequences.” Borosage, the co-director of...
by Robert Borosage | May 3, 2007 | Blog
This article first appeared in the Chicago Tribune. As Republican contenders for the presidential nomination gather for their first debate Thursday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, they are caught between a rock and a hard place. The vast...
by Bill Scher | May 3, 2007 | Blog
Today is the Failure of Conservatism Conference, hosted by Campaign for America’s Future and The American Prospect, which will seek to make the case that “the failures of the Bush administration—from Katrina to Iraq—are more than a matter of incompetence and cronyism....
by Bill Scher | May 3, 2007 | Blog
Today is the Failure of Conservatism Conference , hosted by Campaign for America’s Future and The American Prospect , which will seek to make the case that “the failures of the Bush administration—from Katrina to Iraq—are more than...
by Bill Scher | May 2, 2007 | Blog
Over at the Take Back America 2007 blog, I shared my experience being helped by the extraordinary Maria Leavey, as nominations are being accepted through May 6 for the new Maria Leavey Tribute Award. Hopefully it will inspire you to nominate someone you know doing...
by Bill Scher | May 2, 2007 | Blog
Getting responsible about global warming is another way to speak to the concerns of secular voters (not to mention the religious voters who make up the Creation Care movement). And some conservatives are trying to shake their irresponsible, anti-green reputation (with...
by Bill Scher | May 1, 2007 | Blog
The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol (part of Thursday's Big Con Face-Off, RSVP now!) today published online this from Irwin Stelzer, warning fellow conservatives of horrible developments ahead: ...part of the Democratic party's tilt in favor of "the little guy," [is]...
by Bill Scher | May 1, 2007 | Blog
Theoretically, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the sort of candidate that can help conservatives address their secular problem. With his record supporting reproductive freedom and equality for gays, he'd be hard to peg as trying to impose his religious...
by Bill Scher | May 1, 2007 | Blog
With our Failure of Conservatism Conference coming up on Thursday, it's a good time to check in on the conservatives' "Secular Problem." You may recall that during this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, I set out to determine if conservatives understood...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 1, 2007 | Blog
Jonathan Powers remembers well President Bush’s infamous speech four years ago today in front of the “Mission Accomplished” banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln. At the time, Powers was a captain in the 1st Armored Division and was preparing for a deployment to Baghdad....
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 1, 2007 | Blog
Jonathan Powers remembers well President Bush’s infamous speech four years ago today in front of the “Mission Accomplished” banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln. At the time, Powers was a captain in the 1st Armored Division and was preparing for a...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 1, 2007 | Blog
More than 3.5 million people will receive health insurance and 2.7 million people will receive pension benefits if Congress passes the Employee Free Choice Act, according to a report released Monday by the Campaign for America’s Future. The study, which is also...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
More than 3.5 million people will receive health insurance and 2.7 million people will receive pension benefits if Congress passes the Employee Free Choice Act, according to a report released Monday by the Campaign for America’s Future. The study, which is also broken...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
We were hoping to hear some tough questions asked of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on the Sunday talk shows. For Rice (CBS' Face The Nation): You did not claim executive privilege when you were asked to...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
We were hoping to hear some tough questions asked of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on the Sunday talk shows. For Rice (CBS' Face The Nation): You did not claim executive privilege when you were asked to...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
We were hoping to hear some tough questions asked of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on the Sunday talk shows. For Rice (CBS' Face The Nation): You did not claim executive privilege when you were asked to...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
We were hoping to hear some tough questions asked of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on the Sunday talk shows. For Rice (CBS' Face The Nation): You did not claim executive privilege when you were asked to...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
Did the Sunday talk show hosts pose our Weekend Watchdog questions? Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice pre-empted ABC's George Stephanopoulos. Without being asked, she delivered her talking point to justify her refusal to comply with a fresh House subpoena, when in 2004,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 30, 2007 | Blog
The New York Times analyzes its own environmental poll, and concludes, "Public Remains Split on Response to Warming." But on the poll questions (PDF file) that relate to actual proposals in Congress, the public isn't split at all. For example: 92 percent favor...
by Bill Scher | Apr 28, 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 | Apr 27, 2007 | Blog
The New York Times analyzes its own environmental poll, and concludes, "Public Remains Split on Response to Warming." But on the poll questions (PDF file) that relate to actual proposals in Congress, the public isn't split at all. For example:
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
The most entertaining liveblog goes to Minnesota Monitor by a mile. D-Day laments: "the country suffers when the questions and the format are seemingly the opposite of what would generate anything informative. I have no idea who won. I don't even know or remember...
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
Surprisingly little questioning in the presidential debate about what needs to be done to combat global warming, though both former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Joe Biden were able to work in their support for caps on carbon emissions.
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
For the health care portion of the presidential debate, moderator Brian Williams did not ask any candidate what they would do to provide universal health insurance. He only asked either "What taxes would you raise?" or "How would you pay for it?" It's not an...
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
Asked about his criteria for picking Supreme Court justices, Sen. Joe Biden criticized the conservative activist wing of the Court, including the new justices John Roberts and Sam Alito. Discussing the recent abortion ruling, Biden said: The truth of the matter is...
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
The presidential debate led with Iraq, with much of the discussion tracking what we already heard at the MoveOn.org Town Hall. Except for former Sen. Mike Gravel, who proposed legislation "making it a felony to stay there," telling the current congresspeople on the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
Starting a hour from now (7 PM ET), we'll be liveblogging tonight's Democratic presidential debate, airing on MSNBC. We'll be keeping our eye on the actual substance -- in particular, what they're offering on health care, global warming, Iraq and strengthening our...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
Watch conservative leader William Kristol of The Weekly Standard and Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect debate whether "conservatives can be trusted to govern" during a May 3 luncheon at the National Press Club.
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
Following yesterday's poverty-related posts from Isaiah and me, about how we can avoiding the conservative "us vs. them" frame, Shawn Fremstad from Inclusionist left a provocative comment: ...we need to stop framing the debate in a way that automatically plays into...
by Bill Scher | Apr 26, 2007 | Blog
Speaker Nancy Pelosi updated reporters yesterday on the status of global warming legislation, after a
by Bill Scher | Apr 25, 2007 | Blog
Isaiah just hit upon something important when, in discussing the new anti-poverty program from Center for American Progress, he wrote: Conservatives succeeded in taking the nation’s eye off the ball on the issue of poverty by couching it as an issue of “us vs. them,”...
