In the context of the right’s bizarre attack on 12-year-old Graeme Frost and his family, the WaPo’s E. J. Dionne Jr. takes a closer look at the policy context of the smear. Unwilling to just “condemn the right-wingers as meanies,” Dionne wants to “seriously” consider how the right looks at the same problems underpinning the […]
For all of Rudy Giuliani’s many controversial associates, I suspect he’d be most pleased if the name “Bernie Kerik” is never uttered in public again. Kerik, of course, was Giuliani’s police commissioner and the man Giuliani recommended to head Bush’s Department of Homeland Security. And while Kerik’s name quickly became an embarrassment for the former […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * John McCain unveiled his healthcare plan yesterday. He called it a “reform” measure, but it’s really just a modest tax credit and a call for “greater competition.” In other words, it’s more […]
Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton took quite a bit of heat over a WaPo report in which she seemed to hedge on U.S. policy on torture. I think the criticisms were largely off-base — the WaPo article included a misleading paraphrase and a transcript showed her taking a much firmer position than the article let […]
Earlier this week, at the latest debate for Republican presidential candidates, Rudy Giuliani attacked Hillary Clinton with a line from his stump speech: “The free market is our … greatest assets. The leading Democratic candidate once said that the unfettered free market is the most destructive force in modern America. I mean, just get an […]
The very week that the Republican presidential field insisted that the economy is great, we need more tax cuts for the rich, and that Americans who feel left behind really have nothing to complain about, we see yet another report about the stunning gap in income inequality. The richest Americans’ share of national income has […]
After a week-long discussion of the right-wing smear of 12-year-old Graeme Frost and his family, Paul Krugman delivers not only an amazing summary of the facts, but a concise summary of the broader problem. All in all, the Graeme Frost case is a perfect illustration of the modern right-wing political machine at work, and in […]
Al Gore and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change both won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, announced this morning. The Nobel Committee cited the work of the former Vice President and the IPCC in raising awareness of man-made climate change and presenting solutions for combating the crisis. “His strong commitment, reflected in political […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The House’s resolution on Armenian genocide is causing quite a diplomatic stir: “The Bush administration, chafing over a House committee vote to label the deaths of Armenians a century ago as genocide, said Thursday lawmakers could better spend their time passing legislation attending to today’s problems at home. White […]
I can appreciate that much of modern feminism is about women have the power to choose, but choosing a life short of equality strikes me as troubling. The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, for example, is offering courses on homemaking — in which women are taught that “men make decisions; women make dinner.” This fall, the […]