by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
Were the three questions posed here on Friday’s “Weekend Watchdogs”, for Vice-President Dick Cheney, actually asked on the Sunday shows? Not really. The closest CBS' Bob Schieffer came was in regards to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. While he didn't forcefully ask if...
by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
Vice President Dick Cheney should have been asked three basic questions during his appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday. 1. Why was the President claiming that if Democrats didn't pass unconditional war funding, tours of duty in Iraq would be extended, when in...
by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
Vice President Dick Cheney should have been asked three basic questions during his appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday. 1. Why was the President claiming that if Democrats didn't pass unconditional war funding, tours of duty in Iraq would be extended, when in...
by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
Vice President Dick Cheney should have been asked three basic questions during his appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday. 1. Why was the President claiming that if Democrats didn't pass unconditional war funding, tours of duty in Iraq would be extended, when in...
by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
Vice President Dick Cheney should have been asked three basic questions during his appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday. 1. Why was the President claiming that if Democrats didn't pass unconditional war funding, tours of duty in Iraq would be extended, when in...
by Bill Scher | Apr 16, 2007 | Blog
Vice President Dick Cheney should have been asked three basic questions during his appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday. 1. Why was the President claiming that if Democrats didn't pass unconditional war funding, tours of duty in Iraq would be extended, when in...
by Bill Scher | Apr 13, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, Common Sense will 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...
by Bill Scher | Apr 13, 2007 | Blog
The Senate Finance Committee passed legislation last night lifting the ban preventing Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices. The bill garnered some bipartisan support with two Republicans, Sens. Gordon Smith and Olympia Snowe, joining 11 Democrats in the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 13, 2007 | Blog
The following was originally published at TomPaine.com No presidential candidate dominated the MoveOn.org Virtual Town Hall on Iraq this week, co-sponsored by Campaign for America’s Future, Air America and the Service Employees International Union. Nonetheless, there...
by Bill Scher | Apr 12, 2007 | Blog
Today's New York Times has a long overdue investigative piece, shredding the Republican Party's claims of rampant voter fraud: Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any...
by Bill Scher | Apr 12, 2007 | Blog
A long-overdue investigative article appears in the Thursday New York Times that shreds the Republican Party's claims of rampant voter fraud: Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually...
by Bill Scher | Apr 12, 2007 | Blog
A long-overdue investigative article appears in the Thursday New York Times that shreds the Republican Party's claims of rampant voter fraud: Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 12, 2007 | Blog
Why should you care about a spat over a near-bankrupt group of health care facilities outside Washington? As Alec Dubro points out in an article today on TomPaine.com, what's happening there is symptomatic of a larger national problem of health care for the poor and...
by Bill Scher | Apr 12, 2007 | Blog
Below are excerpts from yesterday's MoveOn.org Virtual Town Hall, regarding diplomatic strategy: From Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.: ...you have to make Iraq the world’s problems. Were I President, I would call for the permanent five of the Security Council, along with...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
Below are excerpts from yesterday's MoveOn.org Virtual Town Hall, regarding the issue of permanent occupation of Iraq. From Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.: I’m against building permanent US Military bases in Iraq, and I’ve led this fight to make sure we don’t do that. Last...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
Below are excerpts from yesterday's MoveOn.org Virtual Town Hall, regarding how Congress can use the power of the purse to end the war in Iraq. From former Sen. John Edwards: That funding authority’s still the most powerful check we have. If congress is willing to use...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
Below are excerpts from yesterday's MoveOn.org Virtual Town Hall, regarding the presidential candidates' view on what should happen after President's Bush expected veto of the Iraq war supplemental bill. From
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
Last night, MoveOn.org hosted the first "Virtual Town Hall," where MoveOn members from across the nation posed questions to seven Democratic candidates for president. (Some Republican candidates were invited also, but all declined.) Campaign for America's Future...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
Today on TomPaine.com I offer my take on the Don Imus controversy, as well as that of Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who writes on another critical aspect of the flap for AlterNet. Yes, it's well-worn ground, but there are a couple of points that I thought it was important to...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reports that the Senate's version of a bill lifting the ban on Medicare negotiating for lower drug prices, will be taken up in committee on Thursday. The expectation is that the full Senate will vote on it next week....
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2007 | Blog
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reports that the Senate's version of a bill lifting the ban on Medicare negotiating for lower drug prices, will be taken up in committee on Thursday. The expectation is that the full Senate will vote on it next week....
by Bill Scher | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo is featured in Newsweek's special issue on the environment. The following is his contribution to "16 Ideas for the Planet." Today the environment is at the forefront of everyone's thoughts, not only in this country but also...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
The following is a part of this week's TPMCafe Book Club group discussion of the new book "Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price" by Jonathan Cohn Kudos to Jonathan for his important new book. One of the reasons we...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
The following post is a part of this week's TPMCafe Book Club group discussion of the new book "Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price" by Jonathan Cohn. Kudos to Jonathan Cohn for his important new book. One of the...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
The following post is a part of this week's TPMCafe Book Club group discussion of the new book "Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price" by Jonathan Cohn. Kudos to Jonathan Cohn for his important new book. One of the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
The Kerry-Newt debate on global warming wrapped up this morning (video is up on C-Span.org , more at John Kerry's blog). It may well shift the overall debate, away from the definitively answered “is global warming happening?” to “what do we do about it?” Crafty Newt...
by Bill Scher | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
Newt Gingrich's style of debate was recently summed up this way by Paul Abrams of The Huffington Post (and Washington State's Apollo Alliance): "After his high-minded talk ... Newt immediately descends to the gutter, throwing out red meat to his base." So it was...
by Bill Scher | Apr 10, 2007 | Blog
Newt Gingrich's style of debate was recently summed up this way by Paul Abrams of The Huffington Post (and Washington State's Apollo Alliance): "After his high-minded talk ... Newt immediately descends to the gutter, throwing out red meat to his base." So it was...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Paul Abrams of
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Last week, I talked about how the big pharmaceutical companies are working with the White House to keep the ban on Medicare negotiating for lower drug prices. They claim negotiation won't lead to savings for seniors. Now, the White House killed a Wisconsin program...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday afternoon, Bill Scher posts on the Common Sense blog "Weekend Watchdog," a list of questions that guests on the upcoming Sunday morning talk shows should be asked. Then each Monday, Bill handicaps how the media did. Here's his latest look...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday afternoon, Bill Scher posts on the Common Sense blog "Weekend Watchdog," a list of questions that guests on the upcoming Sunday morning talk shows should be asked. Then each Monday, Bill handicaps how the media did. Here's his latest look...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday afternoon, Bill Scher posts on the Common Sense blog "Weekend Watchdog," a list of questions that guests on the upcoming Sunday morning talk shows should be asked. Then each Monday, Bill handicaps how the media did. Here's his latest look...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday afternoon, Bill Scher posts on the Common Sense blog "Weekend Watchdog," a list of questions that guests on the upcoming Sunday morning talk shows should be asked. Then each Monday, Bill handicaps how the media did. Here's his latest look...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday afternoon, Bill Scher posts on the Common Sense blog "Weekend Watchdog," a list of questions that guests on the upcoming Sunday morning talk shows should be asked. Then each Monday, Bill handicaps how the media did. Here's his latest look...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2007 | Blog
Were the questions posed here on Friday’s “Weekend Watchdogs” actually asked on the Sunday shows? Fox News’ Chris Wallace did ask Newt Gingrich about the contradiction between his criticism of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Syria and his past actions as speaker....
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2007 | Blog
Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, Common Sense will 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...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2007 | Blog
We already knew the Bushies were trying to muzzle American climate scientists. Now, they're going global. Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report detailing how global warming, if left unchecked, will impact all the regions of the...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2007 | Blog
There are reports that the President's Recesspool could get worse. The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reported Friday that Bush is considering putting the executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers in change of the agency that...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2007 | Blog
The abuse of the recess appointment perhaps isn't President Bush's most egregious attack on our Founders' carefully crafted system of checks and balances, since others before him have exploited this constitutional loophole. But the implicit reasons behind each of the...
