by Bill Scher | Mar 9, 2007 | Blog
Yesterday, the House formally approved the new select committee on global warming discussed here several weeks ago as an important step towards quick passage of a strong plan. The panel was created with bipartisan support, including 44 Republican votes. But...
by Bill Scher | Mar 9, 2007 | Blog
Last night, Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert Borosage appeared on Air America's EcoTalk, to discuss his recent column in The Nation, "When's The Idea Primary?", challenging the presidential candidates to offer "bold ideas" and lamenting that so far...
by Bill Scher | Mar 8, 2007 | Blog
When Newt Gingrich blamed the victims of Hurricane Katrina for their "failure of citizenship," he wasn't just speaking for himself. Many other conservatives share his contempt for the displaced. Yesterday on the House Financial Services Committee, according to CQ...
by Bill Scher | Mar 8, 2007 | Blog
At last week's Apollo Summit, there was a clear consensus: businesses interested in renewable energy can't risk long-term commitments unless our government makes long-term commitments. In turn, many supported long-term tax credits to spur investment. Right now, there...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 2007 | Blog
Today's Daily Labor Report has big news from the AFL-CIO Executive Council annual winter meeting: The AFL-CIO ... abandoned its support for the current employer-based health care system and instead is calling for comprehensive health care reform through the expansion...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 2007 | Blog
$30 billion. A year. That's the potential savings if we empower Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drugs. Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy and Research released his findings today in a report, "Celebrating Pork: The Dubious Success of the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 2007 | Blog
After the Apollo Summit, I noted that "America's governors have begun to throw down over who can become the most energy independent and bring in the most jobs." Looks like Iowa is joining the fray. From the Des Moines Register: Iowa lawmakers are trying to put...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 2007 | Blog
There's wide public support for Congress to tackle global warming, but Congress has work to do to sift through the details and forge consensus around a specific plan. At a House hearing yesterday, Bush Administration energy official Thomas Shope sought to push a...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 2007 | Blog
Last month, the Bush administration began to spin, with the help of The Washington Post, that the Medicare prescription drug plan—which does not allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices—was doing great because the private insurers...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 2007 | Blog
Last month, the Bush Administration began to spin that the Medicare prescription drug plan -- which does not allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices -- was doing great because the private insurers were already negotiating for lower prices. And this blog...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 2007 | Blog
As the Walter Reed scandal sears the public, more attention is being paid to whose heads should roll than what policies need reform. While both are important, if bad policies don't change, new people can't do a better job. It's becoming clear that Walter Reed suffers...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 2007 | Blog
Newt Gingrich's blaming of New Orleans' 9th Ward residents for a "failure of citizenship" by being unable to "get out of the way of a hurricane" -- remarks jointly pushed into the spotlight by this blog and Huffington Post's Matt Browner Hamlin -- won the coveted...
by Bill Scher | Mar 5, 2007 | Blog
My Campaign For America's Future colleague Eric Lotke has his take on CPAC posted at TomPaine.com, "CPAC: Conservatives Pout And Complain." Here's an excerpt: The conservatives at central headquarters don’t seem to have learned the lesson of 2006 ... Americans want...
by Bill Scher | Mar 5, 2007 | Blog
The following was initially posted at The Huffington Post. As everyone knows, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Yet during my three days attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, I failed to find much recognition from conservatives that...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2007 | Blog
The CPAC presidential straw poll was announced today, right before Newt Gingrich delivered the final address of the event. Mitt Romney nominally won, but with a paltry plurality of 21%, and he paid for "scores" of staffers to participate in the poll. Further, there...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2007 | Blog
Two of the conservative movement's most beloved intellectual leaders, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity, had slightly differing takes on how to approach Iran, though both received jubilant applause by their respective standing-room-only audiences. Coulter, in discussing...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2007 | Blog
There's more to say about Newt Gingrich (who looks more like a presidential candidate after today) but let me call attention to this from his grand finale address to CPAC: He blamed the residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward for a "failure of citizenship," by being "so...
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2007 | Blog
Whoever said "failure is not an option"* hasn't met the visionaries of the American Petroleum Institute -- aka, the lobbyists for Big Oil. Big Oil's chief economist John Felmy spoke on a CPAC energy panel ... and let's take a moment to reflect on that: The biggest...
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2007 | Blog
A Sam Brownback supporter with a lip ring. The evil grasp Britney Spears has on our youth has even infiltrated CPAC. The terrorists have won. You may go home now. For more, check out our Conservative Failure page
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2007 | Blog
Rudy Giuliani was glowingly introduced today by a member of the so-called liberal media, Washington Post columnist George Will. Will assured the audience that Giuliani's conservatism is "the flavor of Margaret Thatcher's" and "produced the 8 consectutive years of the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2007 | Blog
I've yet to hear any conservatives recognize that they are suffering from a "secular problem". But the closest anyone has come is US News' Michael Barone. In a morning panel on the '08 landscape, he cautioned conservatives not to look in the past for another Reagan,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog
So that's what's wrong with our economy. At an afternoon panel on taxes, Scott Hodge of the Tax Foundation, lamented that despite six years of tax cuts mainly for the wealthiest, we haven't completely destroyed our progressive tax system. After a slide presentation...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog
On a panel about social issues, panelists were asked if, when choosing a presidential candidate, protecting America from terrorism is more important than banning abortion and denying equal marriage rights -- the argument for Rudy Giuliani. Robert Wright of the Media...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog
When society tolerates deviance ... it normalizes deviance ... lesbianism among young women has risen dramatically in the last 10 years alone. And that is certainly due to media and advertising, and certainly also because of the fact that we decide to tolerate it. --...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog
As I alluded to in that last post, conservatives appear to believe hating on immigrants is the ticket back to power. As Schlafly urged her brethren to reach out to the "Reagan Democrats" whose "jobs have been taken away," she ramped up the demagougery, hysterically...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog
The blame game is in full effect. Conservatives are not blaming themselves and their failed ideology, but President Bush and the Republican leadership for not being conservative enough. The conservative movement pioneer Richard Viguerie railed against "Big Government...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Today through Saturday, when Republicans and conservatives gather in Washington for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, will they face up to the biggest obstacle preventing them from connecting with voters? Their "secular problem." Lots of ink has...
by Bill Scher | Mar 1, 2007 | Blog
How will conservatives handle their colossal failure to govern? Will they blame Dubya? Will they claim they weren't conservative enough? Unlike their president, will they actually admit mistakes? To find out, we're in the belly of the beast, blogging live from the...
by Bill Scher | Feb 28, 2007 | Blog
The following was initially posted at The Huffington Post America's governors have begun to throw down over who can become the most energy independent and bring in the most jobs. Will the presidential candidates be next? Yesterday marked the end of a landmark event,...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2007 | Blog
The Apollo Alliance Summit took its campaign for energy independence and good jobs to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, meeting with members of Congress and their staffs and pressing for increased government support of renewable energy. On the Hill, the Apollo agenda got an...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2007 | Blog
Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Bernie Sanders (VT) thanked Apollo Summiteers for coming to Capitol Hill and pressing their representatives to create good jobs by investing in renewable energy. At a lunchtime event in the Senate, Sen. Sanders said of the...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2007 | Blog
Apollo Summiteers are off to Capitol Hill today, meeting with congresspeople and their staffs and pressing for increased government support of renewable energy. Before they took to the Hill, Rep. Jay Inslee (WA) addressed the Summit and deemed the Apollo Alliance the...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2007 | Blog
Monday night's dinner speakers offered a common theme: the future of our economy is tied to the future of our environment. Keynote speaker Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell emphasized that the development of renewable energy is not just "a race for energy independence" but...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2007 | Blog
Oh, it's on. After Gov. Deval Patrick declared his intention to make Massachusetts the capital of renewable energy, Gov. Bill Ritter threw down the gauntlet on behalf of his Colorado. Patrick, who won election promising support for a groundbreaking wind farm off of...
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2007 | Blog
Damon Silvers, Associate General Counsel of the AFL-CIO stunned the room this afternoon, announcing that while there's $160 trillion of fossil fuels currently underground, the economic costs of unchecked climate change will total between $700 and $1,400 trillion --...
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2007 | Blog
This morning's "Policies and Partnerships for a Clean Power Future" session found wide agreement from union officials and business leaders on how we should reform our energy policies. Todd Foley of BP Solar and Jim Gordon of Cape Wind both lamented the "start and...
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2007 | Blog
By retrofitting our nation's buildings to make them energy efficient, we can improve the environment, save consumers money, create good-paying union jobs, and reduce poverty. That's the word from the panelists at today's "High Performance Buildings & Job Creation"...
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2007 | Blog
Today in Washington, labor leaders, environmental activists, business executives, elected officials and community organizers are convening for the Apollo Summit For Clean Energy & Good Jobs. The broad array of participants -- brought together by our Apollo Alliance...
by Bill Scher | Feb 23, 2007 | Blog, Minimum Wage
CQPolitics.com today highlights new research from the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, finding that minimum wage initiatives in five states significantly boosted voter turnout: Voter motivation and reported interest in the election was disproportionately high among...
by Bill Scher | Feb 23, 2007 | Blog
NPR's Morning Edition aired a piece earlier this week about a burgeoning trend: corporations giving money to unions and handing off the responsibility of providing health care. With costs skyrocketing, these companies believe paying a lump sum now is better than being...
