John Peeler: The Republican attack on Obama over gas prices at the pump is quite a strange line of attack from people who are incessantly demanding a return to untrammeled free markets. Do they really want Obama to impose price controls?
Guantanamo Prison’s True Secret
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“There had been 65 prisoners still held, who had been cleared for release by military review boards under the Bush administration. When Obama came into office, he could have released some of those guys easily. But he did nothing,”
Goldman Sachs: An Old-School Mafia Family?
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Joseph Palermo: The amazing thing about Mr. Smith’s decision to break the code of omertà at Goldman was the fact that an employee existed there at all who was still capable of making a moral or ethical judgment and could even express something resembling remorse.
California Tax Measure Compromise a Victory for Progressives
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Paul Hogarth: When it comes to crafting state budget policy, Sacramento’s leadership never bothers to consult the grass-roots – cutting deals with big business and a small handful of unions, and then expecting the rest of us to take our marching orders.
What Is Happening with Republicans?
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Bill Fletcher: The “circle of clowns” of Republican candidates seems increasingly intent on proving that they are the voices of ignorance, fear and irrationalism. I cannot get over it.
Are Republicans Smoking Too Much Pot?
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Rob Tossberg: I am no fan of Clinton – a child of poverty who forsook the poor and gave us deregulation – but our country seemed to prosper with his policy of, as Republicans call it, ‘Tax and spend’ government.
Gore Occupies, Soros Opines
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Brent Budowsky: his week, former Vice President Al Gore called for an Occupy Democracy movement using the Internet to escalate the battle against the corruption of democracy.
Nobody Really Cares About What You Write Except Other Nuts Like You
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Berry Craig: This old reporter turned history teacher finds anonymous bloggers of any political persuasion eminently ignorable. In my book, no name equals no credibility.
Most Read Led by The Fix’s “What Killed Andrew Breitbart?
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This week’s top 10 most read was led by “What Killed Andrew Breitbart?” by Maer Roshan and Hunter R. Slaton of The Fix, billed as the world’s leading website about addiction and recovery.
Romney Ignites Democratic Base
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Randy Shaw: Barack Obama’s campaign has lots of money, but there is no way it could match Romney’s success at getting this base to align with the President.
Controlling Women’s Bodies
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Ruth Rosen: What neither side wants to say is that this is a counter-reformation, an attempt to return women to the early 1960s, before birth control pill existed and the Supreme Court established the right of contraception in the United States.
Green Party Music Benefit March 22nd
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Please join peace activist Marcy Winograd, the Goo Goo Dolls’ Mike Malinin, Violinist Lili Haydn and others for the Green Party Music Benefit in Santa Monica.
Obama Re-election: We’re Not Working Out Issues Anymore
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Bob Letcher: Please notice that “We’re not working out issues any more” is *not* listed among the top seven issues in Barack Obama’s re-election plans.
Latinos in the South, A Political Piñata
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Victoria Defrancesco Soto: The 2010 mid-term election demonstrated that immigration issues could be a potent political force within the GOP. Candidates across the country, and in particular in the South came into office by espousing harsh anti-immigration policies.
Hanging with Netanyahu at AIPAC
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Carl Bloice: The AIPAC weekend turned out to be a disappointment for Cheney and the other homegrown U.S. political opportunists and reckless supporters of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightwing Likud party.
Will Romney Pick Gingrich for VP?
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Victoria Defrancesco Soto: Gingrich is in that sweet spot to the right of Romney and to the left of Santorum. It is in this spot that Romney needs to concern himself.
Ending the Afghanistan-Pakistan War, Preventing One with Iran
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Tom Hayden: The catastrophic spectacles of American troops urinating on Afghan bodies and burning Korans has provided Obama a new opportunity to cast the Afghanistan war as a hopeless cause.
Reid Rocks, Pelosi Rolls
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Brent Budowsky: It is far too early to predict the 2012 elections. But I suggest that Reid is rocking, Pelosi is rolling and Democrats are rising
Demographic Time Bombs Explode: GOP’s Hispanic Problem
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Denis Campbell: The three front running GOP candidates trail President Obama among Hispanic voters by 54-56 points! President Obama trumps front-runner Mitt Romney by 70%-14%! Statistically that is death.
Barack Obama in 2012
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Tom Degan: Okay, folks, I’m gonna level with you. This one was such a no-brainer it’s almost embarrassing to even be reminded of it. There was no smoke-filled-room filled with editors in passionate debate.
License to Kill
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John Peeler: It is distressing that a president who came to office as a bitter critic of abuses of presidential authority by his predecessor now takes essentially the same position as George W. Bush. Power that is unchecked and operates in secret is always dangerous to democracy.
Health Care: Affordability Is Accessibility
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Tina Dupuy: If it’s out of your price range – it’s out of your grasp. It doesn’t matter if the pill is offered over-the-counter or in vending machines – if you can’t afford it – you can’t have it.
Limbaugh Growing Impotent?
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Peter Dreier: Limbaugh’s gross comments about a female college student who voiced support for Obama’s birth-control insurance compromise have forced some old Republican allies to distance themselves, raising questions about Limbaugh losing his potency.
What Is True Political Wisdom? A Primer for the 2012 Election
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Walter Moss: We want our leaders to exercise political wisdom. At least, we do if we think about it. Does anybody really desire unwise leaders? But what do we mean by political wisdom? What virtues and values does a wise leader possess?
Politics: It’s About Identity, Stupid
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Charles Hayes: Elections are won and lost through appeals to identity. It’s that simple and that complicated. This is why symbols and 30-second, hot-button commercials sway public opinion.
Harry Reid Hits the Trifecta
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Brent Budowsky: George Will writes on Sunday that Republicans could face a 1964-magnitude landslide loss. Things are falling into shape for Democrats to keep control of the Senate and regain control of the House.
And Now, the Catfood Party
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Carl Bloice: If the country were really impoverished, there would be some legitimacy to the idea that we really couldn’t afford to properly meet the needs the elderly, people with disabilities and the poor.
How The Media Got The Parchin Access Story Wrong
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Gareth Porter: The Los Angeles Times ignored new information and simply repeated the charge that Iran “refused to allow IAEA inspectors to visit Parchin military base”.
Neo-Confederates and the Rebel Flag: ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis’
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Berry Craig: Even though some new-Confederates insist the Rebel flag doesn’t reflect racism, the survival of white supremacist thought is exactly what the neo-Confederates are all about.
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Anatomy of an Apology
Steve Hochstadt: Some people talk nasty and nastier, hoping to prevent the next Sandra Fluke from expressing herself. Bigmouths thrive in the silence of others.