The Unknown Candidate

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Bill O'Reilly's Foxy Lady
2008-05-02 20:00:00
AlterNet: "...Clinton may never be the Democratic nominee for president.But she's got the makings of a Fox New analyst: corrupt, partisan and ready to play ball with Bill O 'Reilly."Cartoon Credit: FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog |� Michael Ramirez on Hillary Clinton and Norman HsuAlso See:Think Progress | SURVEY: Daily Show/Colbert Viewers Most Knowledgable, Fox News Viewers Rank Lowest: "A new study by the Pew Research Study shows that viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have the highest knowledge of national and international affairs, while Fox News viewers rank nearly dead last...."Think Progress | Who Do You Trust?: "A new Harris Interactive poll finds that over half of Americans — 54 percent — say they tend not to trust the press, “with only 30 percent tending to trust the press.” More Americans (41 percent) trust “Internet news and information sites” than they do the mainstream media. Radio tends to do best among Americans as 44 percent say they t...
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Cutting Through The Politics
2008-05-02 19:33:00
"For those who stubbornly seek freedom, there can be no more urgent task than to come to understand the mechanisms and practices of indoctrination. These are easy to perceive in the totalitarian societies, much less so in the system of 'brainwashing under freedom' to which we are subjected and in which all too often we serve as unwilling instruments." -- Noam ChomskyIgnore the Youth Vote at Your Own Peril | Election 2008 | AlterNet: "Mike Connery on why progressive leaders should stop lamenting 'youth apathy' and start engaging the most diverse, tolerant, generation in history."Hillary Struggles Against Sexism But Regularly Plays Race Card | AlterNet: "In the face of raw, media-driven misogyny, Clinton resorts to playing the race card and loses some women's support in the process."Why John McCain Wants You To Give Up Your Health Insurance | The American Prospect: "The McCain Agenda: McCain believes that Americans use too much health care, and he has created a plan that will mak...
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Much Ado
2008-04-30 21:04:00
Stanley Fish | Think Again | New York Times Blog: In 1952, when McCarthyism was at its height, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas labeled the investigative techniques of the junior senator from Wisconsin “guilt by association” (Adler v. Board of Education). Douglas added that McCarthyite tactics were “repugnant to our society” because, despite the absence of any overt wrongdoing, the pasts of those attacked were “combed for signs of disloyalty” and for utterances that might be read as “clues to dangerous thoughts.”More than a half century later, “McCarthyism” was joined in the lexicon by “Swiftboating,” the art of the smear campaign mounted with the intention not of documenting a wrong, but of covering the victim with slime enough to cast doubt on his or her integrity. Now, in 2008, after a primary season increasingly marked by dirty pool and low blows, “McCarthyism” and “Swiftboating” have come together in a particularly lethal and despicable ...

US Truckers Stage Nation-Wide Shutdown
2008-04-30 20:44:00
The Real News: Truckers ' protest urges Congress to stop subsidizing oil industry and build new refineriesWednesday April 30th, 2008 A convoy of trucks rolled through Washington, DC, on Monday, as part of a protest to pressure Congress into acting on high gas prices. As gas around the US hit an average of $3.66 per gallon--a full 66 cents above the price this time last year--truckers called on the US government to take action.For more information, see: The Unknown Candidate: Force Congress to Impeach Bush/Cheney: Step One Technorati tags: Truckers Union, Protest, Strike, Energy Policy, Iraq War, Impeachment
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And We're Supposed to Believe this WHY?
2008-04-28 23:18:00
Pentagon Halts Feeding of Information to Retired Officer Pundits While Issue is Reviewed | Stars and Stripes | Jeff Schogol "The Defense Department has temporarily stopped feeding information to retired military officers pending a review of the issue, said Robert Hastings, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for public affairs. The New York Times first reported on Sunday that the Defense Department was giving information to retired officers serving as pundits for various media organizations in order to garner favorable media coverage.The New York Times first reported on Sunday that the Defense Department was giving information to retired officers serving as pundits for various media organizations in order to garner favorable media coverage...."This is pro-war propaganda at its most insidious. Make sure you take action: sign Free Press's petition and call on Congress to demand better media.Also See:Pentagon Pundits | FAIRMilitary Pundits Videos | Brave New FilmsTechnora...

'Boston Legal' Takes On the Supreme Court
2008-04-28 22:55:00
If you missed this, it's a "Must-See."Thanks to Crooks and LiarsTechnorati tags: Boston Legal , Supreme Court , YouTube, video
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Election Reader
2008-04-28 08:05:00
Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 VotersWilting Over Waffles | New York Times | Maureen Dowd:"...Before they devour themselves once more, perhaps the Democrats will take a cue from Dr. Seuss’s 'Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!' (The writer once mischievously redid it for his friend Art Buchwald as 'Richard M. Nixon Will You Please Go Now!') They could sing:'The time has come. The time has come. The time is now. Just go. ... I don’t care how. You can go by foot. You can go by cow. Hillary R. Clinton, will you please go now! You can go on skates. You can go on skis. ... You can go in an old blue shoe.Just go, go, GO!'”Obama's Sweeping Foreign Policy Critique | AlterNet: "Democrats should not have to act like Republicans to pass some test on national security. It's time to end the politics of fear...."The Real McCain on Race and Immigration | AlterNet: "It's not a pretty picture...."Let's Party Like It’s 1932 | Election 2008 | AlterNet: "Obama ha...
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Force Congress to Impeach Bush/Cheney: Step One
2008-04-27 06:56:00
From PledgeToImpeach .org comes news of a strike:Dear Pledges,When you signed your pledge to participate in a strike to force Congress to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney , we promised you that your pledge would only be called in if we knew we had enough people on board to effectively shut down the nation, leaving Congress no alternative but to impeach Bush/Cheney. Though we have made substantial progress toward that end, we have not yet gained that certainty. What we do have is a growing solidarity between PTI, other impeachment groups, and now several labor unions, all working to close down our nations largest sea ports on April 30 and May 1. (Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newark, and Houston). Though this is not a calling of your pledge to stay home from work and shopping, it is a request that you find every way to support this action. Why? Because this action can give large numbers of determined Americans confidence in our cause and our ability to organize an effective national s...
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Pennsylvania Primary Votes: Unrecountable, Unverifiable, Unauditable
2008-04-22 05:49:00
This depressing news from VerifiedVoting.org:Pennsylvania 's Presidential primary on April 22 will be essentially unrecountable, unverifiable, and unauditable - an irony, because state law requires manual audits of a statistical sample of ballots cast in elections.Over 85% of Pennsylvania's voters live in counties in which paperless electronic voting is the only method of voting at the polling place. Absentee voting requires an excuse in Pennsylvania, and there is no early voting period, so the polling-place equipment will tabulate the vast majority of the votes in the primary. Pennsylvania's Secretary of State has judged that reel-to-reel paper trail printers compromise voter privacy, and none of Pennsylvania's direct-recording electronic (DRE) systems offer voter-verifiable paper records.The availabilty of emergency paper ballots is also a cause of serious concern. Current election law does not specify a given amount of emergency paper ballots. The Secretary of State's offic...
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My Vote's For Obama (If I Could Vote)
2008-04-21 21:33:00
From Michael Moore comes this:April 21st, 2008Friends,I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama ?I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name.Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions an...
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Courting John Edwards
2008-04-21 19:57:00
Complimentary "Yuk" for the Day....Colbert Report: Finally, the Voices of America's Long-Suffering White Males Will Be HeardTechnorati tags: Colbert, Humor, John Edwards , White Males, Voters, Elections, video

U.S. Democracy, Elections: An Illusion?
2008-04-20 01:00:00
The following is a cross post from my friend, Sean Madden's iNoodle.com, with this caveat: Although I agree with Sean's introductory assessment of our illusionistic "Democratic" elections, I am not convinced that Barack Obama is a willful participant in the Establishment's fascist charade. Perhaps, to maintain my own sanity, I need to hold out hope that his candidacy is about changing the very things Mr. Engdahl illuminates. That is why I am supporting Barack Obama for President. There are many indications -- subtle, but there nonetheless -- that Obama is not part of the incestuous behind-the-scenes Washington power elite, although he will most assuredly be wooed by the powers-that-be in an attempt to control him. I'm betting he will not take the bait. I'm interested in what others think and am sending an email to Mr. Engdahl for his thoughts on Obama. I'll let you know his response. First, Sean's introduction:Political Incest and Psychological WarfareIntroduction by Se...
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Bye Bye Hillary?
2008-04-20 00:33:00
Poll: Hillary Drops Back. Obama Pulling Away | Newsweek | Michael Hirsh"Despite her campaign's relentless attacks on Barack Obama's qualifications and electability, Hillary Clinton has lost a lot of ground with Democratic voters nationwide going into Tuesday's critical primary in Pennsylvania, a new NEWSWEEK poll shows.The survey of 1,209 registered voters found that Obama now leads Clinton by nearly 20 points, or 54 percent to 35 percent, among registered Democrats and those who lean Democratic nationwide. The previous Newsweek poll, conducted in March after Clinton's big primary wins in Ohio and Texas, showed the two Democrats locked in a statistical tie (45 percent for Obama to 44 percent for Clinton). The new poll puts Obama ahead among women as well as men, and voters aged 60 and older as well as younger voters. (For the complete poll data, click here)...." Continue reading.Also See: Obama Keeps Rolling, Increases National Poll LeadTechnorati tags: politics, primaries, ele...

Hillary: Situation Desperate
2008-04-19 06:57:00
As she erroneously accuses Barack Obama of whining about the ABC sponsored Character Assassination, otherwise known as a debate, Hillary Clinton -- the Shot-Swigging-Gun-Toting- Blue-Collar-Tear-Jerking-Queen-of-Whine -- is at it again. But this time, she's complaining about Democratic activists who have been a driving force in the party. Poor Hillary. Talk about "out of touch." Chill, Hill -- before your head explodes.Celeste Fremon: Clinton Slams Democratic Activists At Private Fundraiser"At a small closed-door fundraiser after Super Tuesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton blamed what she called the "activist base" of the Democratic Party -- and MoveOn.org in particular -- for many of her electoral defeats, saying activists had "flooded" state caucuses and "intimidated" her supporters, according to an audio recording of the event obtained by The Huffington Post.......Clinton's remarks depart radically from the traditional position of presidential candidates, who in the past have cel...
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Hillary's Swift-Boat Tactics Backfire
2008-04-19 06:23:00
"Her message comes down to this: We can't really change the say-anything, do-anything, special interest-driven game in Washington, so we might as well choose a candidate who really knows how to play it."-- Barack ObamaPoll: Obama has better White House chances than Clinton, Democratic voters say | International Herald Tribune: "WASHINGTON: Barack Obama has won endorsements from a former Clinton administration official and two ex-senators, boosting his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination ahead of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary that could determine whether rival Hillary Rodham Clinton stays in the race.The support comes as a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll shows that Democratic voters now favor Obama over Clinton as their best chance for winning the White House...."Also See:Obama greeted by largest crowd of his campaign | The Huffington Post: "PHILADELPHIA — Barack Obama was greeted by the largest crowd of his campaign Friday night in Philadelphia. Some 35,000...
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TAKE ACTION: Demand Quality Journalism
2008-04-18 08:05:00
Freepress, in reaction to last night's so-called Presidential debate, is taking action. You can help: Watch the lowlights from last night’s debate on ABC. Sick of this junk news?Take Action Now "I'm outraged about last night's presidential debate on ABC, and you should be too. ABC dedicated the entire first half of the debate to recycling the same junk news stories about the candidates' personalities and past associations that have been circulating endlessly in recent weeks. At a time when we are facing life and death decisions about health care, war, climate change and the economy, ABC went for fluff and innuendo. No wonder so many people are misinformed or don’t pay attention to politics. Last night made a mockery of this election and gave us a stark view of Big Media's impact on our democracy. We have to do something. Instead of just switching channels, we need to demand better media.Tell ABC: We Want Quality Journalism , Not Junk NewsMedia is the lifeblood of o...
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TAKE ACTION: Urge Presidential Candidates to Support Jimmy Carter
2008-04-18 07:34:00
From Jewish Voice for Peace:Former President Jimmy Carter, predictably, is being denounced for meeting with the exiled leader of Hamas in Syria on Friday. Carter's critics are wrong. Talking to Hamas, which won the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, is a necessary part of creating peace. As Carter himself said, "There's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, that Hamas will have to be included in the process." Please sign our petition -- co-sponsored by A Just Foreign Policy -- to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain asking them to support former President Carter and support talks with Hamas: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/ t/1849/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1175 Jimmy Carter knows that, according to Haaretz, 64% of Israelis have said they want their government to talk with Hamas about a cease-fire.[A] He knows tha...
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McCain: More Conservative Than His Image
2008-04-15 08:21:00
From The New York Times: "The independent label sticks to John McCain because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats.But a different label applies to his actual record: conservative...."Photo Credit: www.thewashingtonnote.comTechnorati tags: Conservative , John McCain, Presidential Election
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Hillary Was Pro-NAFTA
2008-04-15 02:03:00
Dick Morris & Eileen McGann report:"Forget about her claim to have dodged sniperís bullets in Bosnia, or that she was named after Sir Edmund Hilary, or that she met a woman who was denied health care and died.All of these Hillary Clinton fibs and exaggerations are basically harmless. But her current attempts to lie about her record and to pretend that she always opposed free trade agreements and disagreed with Bill on NAFTA is a serious distortion of her record as she searches for blue collar support in Pennsylvania...."Continue Reading.Technorati tags: Hillary Clinton, Presidential Campaign, NAFTA, Primaries, Pennsylvania

White Women Begin to Turn Away from Hillary Clinton
2008-04-14 06:37:00
(Click Image for Larger View)McClatchy Washington Bureau reports:LEVITTOWN, Pa. — Like many women over 50, Paula Houwen was eager to vote for Hillary Clinton for president."I was impressed when she was first lady. She wasn't the country's trophy wife," the 56-year-old suburban Philadelphia pharmacist recalled.Today, though, Houwen's no longer a Clinton fan."I do not like the way Hillary Clinton has run her campaign," she said.Clinton's strongest core of support — white women — is beginning to erode in Pennsylvania, the site of the critical April 22 Democratic presidential primary, and a loss here could effectively end her White House run....Continue Reading.Technorati tags: Hillary Clinton, Presidential Election, Pennsylvania, Primaries, Women

Surprise! More Clinton Hypocrisy!
2008-04-14 06:17:00
Noteworthy Political Scientist Says Clinton Was For Characterization Of Working-Class Voters Before She Was Against It | The Huffington Post:Oh, noes! Would it crush anyone's beautiful velveteen pony to learn that Hillary Clinton hasn't always been a duck-hunting, beer-drankin', Senator-Saint who walked among the commoners and lived as they do? It's true, it's true, and apparently, there are witnesses!Harvard University political scientist Theda Skocpol - also an elite, I guess! - provided Talking Points Memo with a following statement, which, in part, reads:I have been in meetings with the Clintons and their advisors where very clinical things were said in a very-detached tone about unwillingness of working class voters to trust government -- and Bill Clinton -- and about their unfortunate (from a Clinton perspective) proclivity to vote on life-style rather than economic issues. To see Hillary going absolutely over the top to smash Obama for making clearly more humanly sympath...
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Firm Tied To Clinton Foundation Assisting China's Tibet Crackdown
2008-04-14 06:08:00
Bill Clinton , China linked via his foundation | Los Angeles Times: "A firm that has donated to the president's charity is accused of collaborating with the government in its crackdown on Tibet an activists. Hillary Clinton has spoken out against China's actions."Photo Credit: (Eugene Hoshiko, Associated Press) IN HANGZHOU: President Clinton gave the keynote address at a 2005 conference organized by Alibaba, hailing the Internet as “an inherently cooperativeinstrument.”Technorati tags: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, China, Tibet, Foundation , Presidential Election, Primaries
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It's About Time...
2008-04-14 04:28:00
Obama Turns Tables on Clinton: STEELTON, Penn. — Democrat Barack Obama lashed out Sunday at rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, mocking her vocal support for gun rights and saying her record in the Senate and as first lady belied her stated commitment to working class voters and their concerns."She knows better. Shame on her. Shame on her," Obama told an audience at a union hall here....Obama reiterated his regret for his choice of words at the fundraiser but suggested they had been twisted and mischaracterized. He said he'd expected blowback from GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain, but had been "a little disappointed" to be criticized by Clinton.Then, laughing along with the union audience, Obama noted that Clinton seemed much more interested in guns since he made his comments than she had in the past."She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley," Obama said, invoking the famed ...
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It's the Occupation, Stupid!
2008-04-14 02:30:00
It's amazing to me that one of the astute Democratic strategists haven't figured out that the debate on Iraq has been argued on a false premise promoted first by BushCo and, now, by McBushCo. This isn't rocket science, folks....It's Occupation, Not WarBy Charley ReeseAntiwar"The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended some years ago. In Iraq, the war ended with the fall of Saddam Hussein's government; in Afghanistan, with the fall of the Taliban government. What's been happening since is occupation and resistance to occupation.It's always helpful to call things by the right name. One of the ways using the wrong word can trip us is illustrated by John McCain's campaign theme. We have to win the war in Iraq, he keeps saying. Ending a war implies either winning or losing. No such baggage is attached to an occupation. You can end an occupation without either winning or losing. You just withdraw your troops...."Technorati tags: Iraq, War, Occupation, Anti-War
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Belying the Anti-Obama Media Spin
2008-04-13 22:25:00
Obama leads Clinton "significantly": "For all the turbulence on the campaign front – with a heated battle underway between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania – the latest results of the Gallup Poll’s daily track released today portray the senator from Illinois with a comfortable national lead over Clinton...."Technorati tags: politics, campaign, presidential election, primaries, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Polls
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Wal-Mart for President?
2008-04-13 07:27:00
How anyone can be duped into believing that Hillary Clinton cares one little iota about women's issues or the working class defies logic. Read on:How are Clinton's Wal-Mart ties eluding us? | AlterNet: Just because Hillary Clinton is ignoring her Wal-Mart ties, that doesn't mean the rest of us should.New footage from the Center for Public Integrity confirms what Hillary Clinton has conveniently omitted from her website and campaign speeches: she was on Wal-Mart's Board of Directors for six years, from 1986-1992. It was during those six years that Clinton served with the notoriously anti-union Rose Law firm in Little Rock, defending Wal-Mart against workers who tried to unionize. It was also during those six years that Clinton served with fellow board member John Tate, whose favorite saying was: "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living." In this video, you can see Sam Walton, plain as the Wal-Mart logo...
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Iraq Weekly Reader
2008-04-13 07:27:00
Petraeus's Betrayal | War on Iraq | AlterNet: "By undercutting the widespread support for getting out of Iraq, Petraeus did indeed betray the American public, siding with an enormously unpopular president who wants to stay the course in Iraq for personal and political reasons that run contrary to genuine national security interests. Once again, the president is passing the buck to the uniformed military to justify continuing a ludicrous imperial adventure, and the good general has dutifully performed."FINANCE: U.S. Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars: "U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed."ABC News: Whom Are Our Troops Endorsing?Leaked Draft Agreement Reveals Iraq End-game: Indefinite Occupation | AlterNet: "Not that it should come as a surprise."U.S., Iraq Negotiating Security Agreements | WAPO: "The Bush administration is negotiating two accords with the government of Iraqi Prime ...
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Book Review: Eric Larsen's "A Nation Gone Blind"
2008-04-13 05:55:00
By Sean M. MaddenOnline Journal Contributing Writer"Two years have passed since Eric Larsen's A Nation Gone Blind was published -- two long years during which time I, and doubtless many others, would have been less pained had I, we, known that another soul had penned these words of truth, nowadays so seldom heard. For it is truth which is central to Larsen's book, his solitary search for it, and his well-wrought conclusion that the public at large and even our so-called intellectual classes -- including writers, editors and academics (in the humanities no less) -- are no longer able to think well due to a preponderance of feeling and zeal which has largely crowded out clear reasoning based on empirical evidence and logic...."Technorati tags: United States, Simplification, Deceit, Eric Larsen, media, Politics, Propaganda
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Corporate Media: The Dumbing Down Of America
2008-04-08 04:53:00
The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell | Glenn Greenwald | Salon.com:(updated below - Update II)"In the past two weeks, the following events transpired. A Department of Justice memo, authored by John Yoo, was released which authorized torture and presidential lawbreaking. It was revealed that the Bush administration declared the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to be inapplicable to "domestic military operations" within the U.S. The U.S. Attorney General appears to have fabricated a key event leading to the 9/11 attacks and made patently false statements about surveillance laws and related lawsuits. Barack Obama went bowling in Pennsylvania and had a low score.Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:"Yoo and torture" - 102"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)"Obama and patriotis...
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Progressives, To Arms!
2007-12-29 19:46:00
FORGET ABOUT BUSH—AND THE MIDDLE GROUND.Why progressives should forget the middle ground | By Paul Krugman | Slate Magazine"Here's a thought for progressives: Bush isn't the problem. And the next president should not try to be the anti-Bush.No, I haven't lost my mind. I'm not saying that we should look kindly on the Worst President Ever; we'll all breathe a sigh of relief when he leaves office 405 days, 2 hours, and 46 minutes from now. (Yes, a friend gave me one of those Bush countdown clocks.) Nor am I suggesting that we should forgive and forget; I very much hope that the next president will open the records and let the full story of the Bush era's outrages be told.But Bush will soon be gone. What progressives should be focused on now is taking on the political movement that brought Bush to power. In short, what we need right now isn't Bush bashing—what we need is partisanship...."Continue reading.ILLUSTRATION: Slate MagazineTechnorati tags: Paul Krugman, Progressives ,...
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