Iraq | TaylorMarsh.com

Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | Iraq RSS feed for this section

The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 07 August 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

Quote of the Day:

“No risk of that, no risk.”

– Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during an interview in April, discussing the risk of the U.S. debt being downgraded.

Some links to go with your morning coffee/tea:

~China, our banker, is angry at the U.S. about the downgrade. I guess more administration-China ass kissing diplomacy is in order.

~The Super Duper Debt Committee will just cause more problems than it solves, for obvious reasons.

~The biggest US single-episode loss of life in the Afghanistan War took place Friday as insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 38 members of US special forces and 7 Afghan soldiers. More here.

~Also on Afghanistan- The International Crisis Group has issued a report which concludes that despite dumping billions of dollars into nation-building in Afghanistan, the U.S. and its allies have failed to stabilize the country. I think the billions of dollars they are talking about does not include the money spent on the actual war effort there-in other words, just the military and civil rebuilding and stabilization efforts.

~In today’s WaPo there is an article about the origins of the debt showdown and how Eric Cantor took advantage of the House’s new Tea Party recruits to turn the debt ceiling debate into a standoff over the role of government.

~The Wikipedia conference is currently taking place in Israel and the Wikipedia founder talked about how the community tries very hard to keep Wiki entries as neutral as possible. That’s not easy in an era where as soon as there is a political controversy, groups run to the site to get their version of the story out.

~Up to 12 million people’s lives are under direct threat in the Horn of Africa as drought, famine and war take their toll. Much of the world looked away when the predictions of an extreme famine were first put forth. However, the terror group al-Shabab claims there is no famine taking place in Somalia but of course, that could be because the group is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the men, women and children who are currently starving to death and as a result, they bear direct responsibility.

~A Navy vet and former defense contractor in Iraq explains why he is suing Donald Rumsfeld over the Bush administration’s torture policy- but here’s the thing- in a crazy twist, he was tortured by Americans in Iraq.

~In much of the media’s coverage about the S&P downgrade, there seems to be a tendency to ignore the impact of the refusal to add ANY revenue-generating provisions in the debt deal. There was plenty of blame to spread around to both parties, but there are some interesting tidbits in the S&P statement about revenues. It would seem that the GOP is giddy about the downgrade because throwing a Molotov Cocktail into our already depressed economy was always the GOP plan leading up to 2012.

~While the S&P is certainly correct that Washington is completely dysfunctional and getting them to do anything constructive for the good of the nation is a bit like trying to herd cats, there is no denying the politics of what is taking place. Firedoglake has a good summary of some of the things that may have actually been behind S&P’s decision to downgrade the US credit rating.

~So, how is Saudi Arabia doing on the human rights front? Really, really well. [/sarcasm]

~Despite a lot of people giving Obama props about being willing to put defense cuts on the table, the truth of the matter is that the Obama administration shows no interest in curbing out-of-control defense spending as evidenced by his new Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, publicly complaining all last week about how disastrous defense cuts would be. Once again, fear trumps reason. Interestingly, when asked, Leon Panetta can’t seem to articulate any reason why any proposed cuts would be so dangerous to our nation’s security:

~Over 300,000 people took to the streets in Israel this weekend to protest the high cost of living. Good for them. We need to do that here in the U.S.

~The Obama administration will likely squander yet another opportunity to take a serious stand on environmental issues. The Alberta tar sands pipeline is currently being reviewed by the State Dept. and the review itself has been mired in controversy from the start. The pipeline’s chief lobbyist is a former Hillary Clinton deputy campaign director and Secretary Clinton made the none-too-subtle remark long before the review process even started, that she was “inclined to support” it. That made environmentalists and even many Congressional Democrats hopping mad. Of course, the buck doesn’t stop there and environmentalists and congressional democrats are urging the administration to not approve the project. Good luck with that, the fix is in.

~Speaking of the environment, some say that the current Congress is the most anti-Environment since about the 1950′s. Impressive.

~All eyes are on Wisconsin which is in the midst of the largest number of recall elections in U.S. history. Huge amounts of cash have been flooding in to the state via special interest groups from both the left and the right. Some see Wisconsin as a dry run of sorts for what may happen in 2012, ie. did the Tea Party types go too far?

~Gov. Rick Perry’s prayer rally certainly won’t endear him to moderates or independents but I have a feeling that’s ok with Rick Perry.

~Things are still not well in Sudan/Southern Sudan. There is still a long, long way to go.

~The repressive, human rights-abusing Communist Chinese government continues to throw fuel on the fire of religious freedom with respect to Buddhists in Tibet. Even if Americans know very little about this right now, it is a very big issue and could lead to bloodshed when the current Dalai Lama dies. And when that happens, Washington will be forced to take notice but by then it will be too late.

~The death toll in Syria continues to rise as government forces continue the siege on Hama. As Assad’s forces continue to slaughter his own people, the Syrian foreign minister comes out and makes the ludicrous statement that the Assad government will allow free legislative elections by the end of 2011. Yeah, and unicorns are real.

~Both Palestinian and Israeli security forces are frustrated with the politicians in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Washington DC. This is something I have heard over and over again. The Israeli and Palestinian security forces have been training and had unprecedented security cooperation over the past 8+ years, with impressive results, while the politicians piss away every opportunity for a reasonable solution to the conflict.

~Sean Hannity thinks it’s wrong to require insurers to cover birth control but guess what he thinks they should cover…Viagra. Indeed.

~Fox News is out of control with race-baiting.

~Politico continues with its status quo hackery and prints an op-ed from GOP Representative Duncan Hunter, who fear-mongers about cutting defense spending. Ok, no problem there because people can write opinion pieces from various points of view. The problem is that a) he makes patently false claims about the role of defense spending in our current debt crisis and b) Politico knew, or should have known, that Hunter has a conflict of interest when it comes to defense spending given most of his top campaign contributions come from defense contractors. If Politico readers knew that, they might be a little bit more discerning when it comes to taking Hunter’s claims at face value.

~Demonstrations turned violent in Tottenham, England, as people marched to the police station to protest the shooting of a 29-year old man Mark Duggan by police last week. Racial tensions have historically been high in the Tottenham region and as of last night, the situation was still not under control.

~Some in Israel are concerned about a bill that is poised to pass the Knesset and which seeks to provide guidance to the courts such that they would be expected to privilege maintaining “the state as the Jewish nation state in ruling in situations in which the Jewish character of the state clashes with its democratic character.” Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf and other critics of the pending legislation have argued that proponents of the bill seem to be saying that maintaining a Jewish state and upholding democracy are at odds. It’s an interesting debate.

~Donald Trump really embodies the corporate greed and entitled attitude that seems to have infected this nation. His most recent stunt is to vow to do everything in his power to prevent the building of an offshore wind farm in Scotland because it will obstruct the beautiful view from the golf course he is currently in the process of building.

~Whatever you do, don’t read Thomas Friedman’s silly editorial about the financial crisis in today’s NYT, it’s five minutes of your life that you’ll never get back which is why I read it for you. It’s loaded with dumb analogies and really obvious points like “[r]egarding growth, we surely need a much smarter long-term fiscal plan than the one that just came out of Washington.”

The End.

Read full story · Comments { 12 }

Pres. Obama’s Deficit Debacle, National Security, and Warmaking

By Taylor Marsh on 03 August 2011

I’ve been reading a lot about the Pentagon’s possible budget hit, with analysis all over the map. What this proves conclusively is that no one knows what will happen. That’s the real rub in Obama’s debt ceiling debacle. No one can possibly know the specifics in outlying years. There are too many unknown unknowables, to paraphrase big spender Rummy, which is proven by reading the myriad of opinions on what might manifest.

William Hartung, Director, Arms Security Project, Center for International Policy*:

“In the short-term, the budget deal crafted by the president and the congressional leadership gives the Pentagon virtually a free ride. It reduces projected Pentagon spending by less than one percent. These proposed reductions are further diluted by the fact that they will be counted against a broad ‘security’ category that will include the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies beyond the Pentagon proper. These miniscule reductions are unacceptable. Real cuts in Pentagon expenditures can be imposed without reducing our security. Any longer-term deal should reflect this reality.”

Andrew Bacevich, Professor, Boston University:

“The prospect of defense cuts ought to concentrate some minds in Washington. To avoid reductions that are arbitrary and capricious requires clarity of strategic purpose. The really big question is not how many billions should come out of the Pentagon’s bloated budget. No, the big question is this one: given our straitened economic circumstances and in light of the monumental catastrophes of the past decade, what is America’s proper role in the world? Simply reciting cliches about ‘global leadership’ won’t cut it. The time to make hard choices is at hand.”

Winslow Wheeler, head of the Strauss Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information, via Josh Rogin:

…said that the whole notion of the cuts is misleading anyway, because the numbers are being compared projections that were inaccurate in the first place.
“There will be reductions … but the actual figure is also masked by the fact that the debt deal is compared to a ten year CBO ‘baseline,’ which is [the fiscal] 2011 spending levels adjusted according to arcane rules and inflated by a highly unreliable projection of long term future inflation,” he said.
“The debt deal kicks the defense budget can down the road for this and future Congresses. People should not read precision and certainty into a political deal specifically designed to be uncertain and indistinct.”

From McClatchy:

Rather than cutting $400 billion in defense spending through 2023, as President Barack Obama had proposed in April, the current debt proposal trims $350 billion through 2024, effectively giving the Pentagon $50 billion more than it had been expecting over the next decade.
With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, experts said, the overall change in defense spending practices could be minimal: Instead of cuts, the Pentagon merely could face slower growth.
“This is a good deal for defense when you probe under the numbers,” said Lawrence Korb, a defense expert at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning research center. “It’s better than what the Defense Department was expecting.”
[...] But the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform — known as the Bowles-Simpson proposal, for its two chairmen — proposed far deeper reductions last fall, saying the military could still maintain its power.
Korb, who studies defense budgets, said Congress could cut the defense baseline budget by $100 billion annually over the next decade and still spend more than it did during the height of the Cold War, adjusted for inflation. He noted that the baseline defense budget has climbed every year for 13 years, a record increase.

Anthony H. Cordesman from CSIS on the debt ceiling deal:

There is good reason why anyone who cares about the current legislation on the budget deficit should care about its near-term impact on national security:

The entire debate reflected a total disregard of the need for the State Department and other civil departments to play a major role in consolidating our victory in Iraq, supporting a transition to Afghan control in 2014, and preparing for the United States to play a major role in supporting democracy and political change in the Middle East.
This pressure comes at a time when the Defense Department has had years of growth in real spending, does little or no realistic long-term force planning, cannot control its manpower and procurement costs, and was already seeking cuts in programs between $78 billion and $400 billion. Even before the president added the goal of cutting the budget by $400 million over the next 12 years (long before the present debate), the Defense Department had planned to eliminate all real growth in defense spending after FY2013—which would reduce the total defense budget from $708 billion in FY2011 to $661 billion in FY2016—even if one assumes that the United States will still be spending $50 billion a year on its wars.
Not one word of the debate addressed the rise in the total interagency homeland defense budget to over $70 billion a year, a massive new effort that has grown with minimal efficiency and without adult supervision.
The new legislation layers a whole new set of cuts over the existing cuts forced on the defense secretary in preparing the FY2012 budget submission, which means massive new short-term pressure to find cuts—any cuts—in defense spending.
The debate that led up to the legislation produced a totally dishonest proposal for cuts in wartime spending amounting to $1 trillion dollars. This was matched by an equally dishonest Future Year Defense Program submission for FY2012 from the Defense Department, which claimed that the total cost of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the global war on terrorism would suddenly drop from $159 billion in FY2011 and $118 billion in FY2012 to a constant level of $50 billion in FY2013–2016. The real cost of our wars has to be over $75 billion in FY2013, and no one knows the out-year costs. As for the $1 trillion in savings, it would take 20 years to achieve a $1-trillion savings at a rate of $50 billion a year, and that would mean two decades in which the United States could not spend a dime on any overseas contingency.

But, the legislation is not going to survive in ways that have any real mid- or long-term impact. This becomes clear the moment anyone examines the real-world nature of the supposed longer-term plans for defense cuts in the legislation.

First, there is no way to usefully assess what the numbers involved actually mean or to regard them as politically credible. We are talking about making cuts to nonexistent plans and budget baselines some 12 years into the future.

Second, these cuts are to be made in undefined dollars, where no one can yet define current or constant dollars for the time period involved or estimate the extent to which the cost of defense rises faster than the average rate of future inflation.

Third, the cuts are purely political numbers that do not reflect any analysis of national security needs, where the cuts would come from, or the risk involved. They make no allowance for new contingency requirements. They are to be carried out over more than a decade without regard to future developments in the U.S. economy and competing needs for federal spending.

Fourth, the cuts are not based on any serious examination of the priority of national security spending relative to other discretionary spending and entitlements programs and sources of revenue. They do not look at the fact that national security—which everyone agrees is a legitimate priority for federal activity—costs less than 5 percent of a $14 trillion dollar economy even though we are still involved in two wars. They totally ignore the fact that it is the rising cost of medical treatment (rising from 5 to 6 percent of GDP in the past toward 19 percent) and the needs of an aging population (rising from 12 to 20 percent of the total) that is the key area that has pushed up our debt and deficit and where we need sound national programs—not simply budget cuts.

Fifth, the deadlines that could trigger the massive additional cuts are absurd. There is no credible way that the Special Joint Committee can really address the cuts that should be made in our national security efforts by November 23, 2011, or that the Congress as whole could properly evaluate the result for an up-or-down vote by December 23, 2011.

Lawrence Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; former Assistant Secretary of Defense*:

”The proposed deal does not go far enough in reining in a military budget which in real terms is higher than at any time since World War II. In fact, the total reductions over the next decade are likely to be less than the $400 billion proposed by President Obama.”

Heather Hurlburt, Executive Director, National Security Network*:

“If a congressional commission includes a serious, bipartisan review of defense strategy and expenditures, and abides by its recommendations, this is an opportunity for all sides to show they’re serious about constructing an American defense strategy that is effective and affordable for our times.”

ABC News:

On first blush it appears the $2.1 billion debt ceiling compromise hits the Pentagon’s budget pretty hard in the next decade, but the reality is that in the short term the $350 billion in defense cuts is smaller than what Pentagon officials had been preparing for. However, the deal also holds out the possibility that in the long term there could be even deeper cuts in defense spending if a bipartisan committee is unable to come up with an additional $1.2 trillion in savings by the end of this year.

…and just in case you haven’t been paying attention, which plays into Pres. Obama’s hands on national security, as well as obliterates the line between Democrats and Republicans, secrecy still rules (n/t Noah Shachtman of Danger Room).

The Senate Intelligence Committee rejected an amendment that would have required the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to confront the problem of “secret law,” by which government agencies rely on legal authorities that are unknown or misunderstood by the public.
The amendment, proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Mark Udall, was rejected on a voice vote, according to the new Committee report on the FY2012 Intelligence Authorization Act.
“We remain very concerned that the U.S. government’s official interpretation of the Patriot Act is inconsistent with the public’s understanding of the law,” Senators Wyden and Udall wrote. “We believe that most members of the American public would be very surprised to learn how federal surveillance law is being interpreted in secret.”

Finally, Adm. Dennis Blair, former United States Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration, for all you wonks (substance starts at 3 min. in). Blair starts with a terrific quote from John Cleese, which is pretty perfect considering the absurdity we’ve all had to endure the last weeks.

*TM Note: Attribution on this quote has been changed.

Read full story · Comments { 4 }

Buying Time for the White House, Reid Postpones Vote Until Sunday 1 pm

By Taylor Marsh on 30 July 2011

“Tell your henchman to stop saying nice things about me,” McConnell, the Senate minority leader, told Reid earlier this week, according to people familiar with the conversation. “It hurts me.” Even as he’s sought to project immovable unity with House Speaker John Boehner, the prospects for an eleventh-hour deal rest largely on McConnell’s shoulders. For weeks, he’s kept an open line of communication with Vice President Joe Biden, with whom he struck a deal with in December to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and he heard from President Barack Obama on Saturday, too. In the meantime, he’s been trying to keep anxious Republican senators at bay. – Mitch McConnell’s moment: Debt ceiling deal maker or deal breaker?

All eyes are on Sen. Mitch McConnell, since he “conceded” the point that no deal can happen without Pres. Obama, who is now fully engaged in the final stage. McConnell is also Speaker Boehner’s lifeline, with the letter signed by 43 Republican senators saying Reid’s bill is dead quid pro quo for Reid’s letter on the Boehner bill.

The details of what’s going on between McConnell and Boehner are being kept among a select few. Let’s face it though, McConnell cannot be trusted by Democrats or the White House, a point that is close to irrelevant at this late moment, which is exactly why McConnell waited so long to get involved. He wants to force Pres. Obama into a situation where he feels he has no choice but to make deals no Democrat should make.

So, McConnell and Biden are talking, while anyone watching this spectacle can see Reid and McConnell are not.

Sen. Mitch McConnell’s original plan is now part of the Reid bill, with the triggers at issue on how to force a second round of budget cuts if the bicameral congressional committee being concocted to work on the austerity plan can’t come to an agreement. As Politico and other outlets are reporting, many Democrats believe McConnell is pushing for the second round as a set up for the inevitable and planned breakdown of any committee, so he can get more cuts upon failure. Republicans also want to make Social Security part of their triggers, which went over with a thud, with Chuck Todd reporting there are other triggers beyond entitlements.

Democrats want the trigger to include tax increases, but that’s a line House Republicans won’t cross, so it all depends on finding moderate Republic—, yeah right. Only four senators refused to sign McConnell’s letter stating Republicans intend to vote down Reid’s bill, a vote which was scheduled for 1:00 a.m. Sunday, but that was moved because Sen. Reid was told the White House talks are progressing.

God only knows what that means.

The target is $1.6 – $1.8 million in cuts before year’s end.

[...] The Democrats bigger worry is Boehner, who shows signs of simply running-out-the-clock, playing hard-to-get with Obama and hoping the White House will give into his demands. The speaker and McConnell are in regular contact, but having pushed the fight this far, the GOP has reason to fear it will lose support from its traditional business allies if there isn’t more progress before markets open Monday, one day before the threat of default. – GOP leaders ‘fully engaged’ with W.H., but Dems skeptical on debt deal

No doubt you’re sick to death of reading this from me, but the 14th Amendment remains a shot for Pres. Obama, regardless of the legal imbroglio that would follow. Because what people keep forgetting in all their prognostications is that Pres. Obama simply cannot allow the U.S. to default. One can only guess the fight that would ensue over which House Republican would serve up impeachment if it happened.

With the tension building and the last moment approaching, as McConnell bet on all along, which is why he offered up his devious plan in the first place, the bigger worry for Democrats is that Pres. Obama will offer any number of compromises to stave off a dismal Monday on Wall Street.

So, the question is how much further to the right will the McConnell-Boehner-Reid bill have to go before the White House cries “uncle”? …and will House Democrats balk for the first time and channel their own inner Tea Party rage if what comes back to the House is political poison on entitlements?

The painful negotiations to resolve the crisis have caught the attention of troops in Afghanistan, where Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was quizzed repeatedly on Saturday by soldiers and Marines worried about their paychecks. In Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Admiral Mullen said it remained uncertain where money would be found if the government defaulted. Regardless of budget talks in Washington, the mission for American troops in Afghanistan would not halt, he said. – New York Times

Read full story · Comments { 26 }

Reid Shoots, Scores, by Ending Wars

By Taylor Marsh on 27 July 2011

Well, at least Harry can count, not only doing proper math, but it’s likely he’s the one who has the votes he needs, while the jury’s out for Mr. Boehner.

In the battle of budget scores, the Senate Democrats deficit reduction bill is the clear winner thus far over an alternative by Speaker John Boehner, which has had to be pulled back from a floor vote for retooling. [...] A second factor is the Senate’s willingness to take advantage of CBO baseline rules and claim large savings from winding down US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. – Reid savings trumps Boehner plan

As for the White House, Pres. Obama has a fairly clear schedule today, according to reports, including Chuck Todd. After a day that had even Jay Carney on “Hardball,” you can bet this only means frantic movement behind the scenes to get this thing done.

Robert Reich peels back some of the self-interest behind S&P’s motives, as Wall Street starts to be a real player as well.

Anyone else find it vaguely amusing Reid and Senate Democrats are pushing to end wars in order to get a deal on the debt ceiling?

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

The Sunday Early-Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 17 July 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

On this day in history, July 17th, 1918, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.

Some news for you on a fine Sunday morning:

~President Obama has decided not to nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

~This week Jeremy Scahill of the Nation did a fine bit of investigative journalism and revealed that the CIA is running secret prisons in Somalia, which if true, means that we still basically have a rendition program. And how did the fawning corporate media respond to the revelation? Well, two ways- 1. they largely ignored it and 2. when they didn’t, they dutifully jotted down administration talking points denying the allegations in the article. Naturally, they gave administration officials total anonymity to do this, lest said officials be held accountable at some future date. You know, for lying. Glenn Greenwald wrote a must-read article about how the administration uses the MSM to attack real investigative journalism that it finds inconvenient. For my part, I ~~stalked~~ followed David Gregory around Twitter on Friday asking him repeatedly if he would cover the story on MTP today. Naturally, that wasn’t on his agenda. Because foreign policy is hard.

~Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s maiden voyage to Iraq and Afghanistan was, shall we say, less than spectacular. Les Gelb has more here. Just what the White House needs, another wishy-washy consensus-builder.

~Sobering statistics: The Minimum number of people killed by CIA drone attacks in Pakistan last year was 607. Number of those who appeared on a U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists- 2. Hearts and minds people, hearts and minds…

~Did Obama lie about his dying mother’s battle with health insurance coverage? It appears he did. Does it matter? Probably. Why do politicians always do this and think that they can get away with it? As someone who did have a mother who was denied insurance coverage for potentially life-saving cancer treatment, I find his “misstatements” crass, politically expedient and insensitive.

~The GOP plan for the economy? Blow it up and blame it on Obama. This Red State article has been boomeranging all over the right-wing blogosphere and was apparently passed around at the House GOP caucus meeting. The fact that the Democrats, and the WH in particular, can’t use this to their advantage shows that after almost three years, their political messaging still sucks.

~Rupert Murdoch is very sorry that his media empire is an unethical, corrupt wasteland.

~The White House and State Department deflected questions all last week about whether President Obama or Secretary Clinton would meet with the Dalai Lama, who has been in Washington for over a week. Then, Friday evening, the WH released a statement saying Obama would meet with him- on Saturday (yesterday), and no photographers or press would be present. In response, China said that Obama’s meeting with him harmed Sino-U.S. relations and get this…”hurt the feelings of the Chinese people…”

~Good God, Michelle Obama eats a burger and fries for lunch while attending the opening of a eatery called “Shake Shack” and the self-righteous food nazis go nuts!

~Michelle Bachmann left her controversial Church not long before announcing her Presidential run. Coincidence? Does it matter?

Cats crash Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s interview in Istanbul:

~Thank goodness the GOP is keeping track of the important issues, like ensuring that the energy-draining incandescent light bulb sticks around for a while longer.

~The U.S. has formally recognized the Libyan rebels as the government of Libya. That sounds messy.

~Think Progress interviews the former head of the American Jewish Congress about the Mideast peace process and the Palestinians’ UN bid for statehood. He says the U.S.-sponsored peace process is a fraud and one of the main obstacles to peace is actually the United States itself. It’s a great interview, check it out here.

~Doctors Without Borders has formally spoken out against the CIA’s use of a fake vaccination program for children in Afghanistan, which they used to obtain information on Osama Bin Laden. DWB says it harms public health efforts undertaken by NGO’s in the region. Our MSM is not covering this issue at all.

~Sebastian Junger writes a powerful opinion piece for the NYT about the psychology of war.

~Meet the pay for play conservative nonprofit that writes a LOT of pro-energy industry laws around the country- The American Legislative Exchange Council. Democracy for the highest bidder.

~Remember the people who sold us all the lies about Iraq’s WMD’s? They are like bad pennies, they keep turning up. Only in Washington could such losers keep failing upward. Doug Feith, the man who Gen. Franks referred to as the “stupidest guy on the face of the earth” is now a foreign policy adviser to Rick Perry.

The End.

Read full story · Comments { 5 }

Mitt Romney, King of Layoffs

By Taylor Marsh on 14 July 2011

Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee will provide a wealth of ammunition for Democrats. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy provides the path and the foreshadowing of what could come.

Politico’s piece today reveals why, which also provides un-aired as well as aired ads from Ted Kennedy’s old campaign archives. Romney’s troubles begin with Bain Capital.

A company that laid off hundreds of employees. A federal “bailout” to rescue a failing bank. Mitt Romney, at the center of it all.
[...] The never-aired “bailout” ad [see below], shared with POLITICO by one of Kennedy’s advisers, remains an unexploded grenade from that race, underscoring Romney’s vulnerability in the first presidential election fought since the 2008 financial meltdown.
According to former Kennedy advisers, the ad never ran because it turned out to be unnecessary: Kennedy had already broken Romney with a series of ads tying him to layoffs in Indiana.
[...] Greg Mueller, the conservative public relations man and former Pat Buchanan adviser, argued that the offensive against Romney was well under way: “They’re trying to hit him on Bain, companies that Bain had under their umbrella, where people lost their jobs.”
[...] In one instance, Romney sat on the board of a medical supply company, Damon Corp., which later paid $119 million in penalties for billing unnecessary blood tests to Medicare during the period of Romney’s involvement.

The Tea Party crew has said they’ll do everything to stop Romney, but I haven’t seen or heard much from them lately.

In the believe it or not column, Romney’s finally spoken on the debt ceiling debate. A balanced budget amendment is his “line in the sand.” What a putz. Oh, and Mr. Romney also believes that civilians shouldn’t control the military.

Just what we need, another national candidate from the Republicans who believes the role of commander in chief is to be a puppet of his generals.

Read full story · Comments { 2 }

House Progressives and Obama’s ‘Deal of the Century’

By Taylor Marsh on 07 July 2011

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was not informed in advance of President Obama’s plans to include Social Security reform in the scope of the debt-ceiling talks, a House Democratic aide said Thursday. Reports that Obama is looking for a big debt deal that would include Social Security reforms provoked anger among liberals in the House and Senate, who said they were irritated to learn of the news from the press. – Pelosi not informed in advance of Obama’s broader reform plans

On “Morning Joe” today, Steve Rattner’s insulting condescension toward Rep. Keith Ellison dripped with phrases suggesting he come back to reality, the real world, you know, where the grown ups are discussing tough economic issues that idiots like you don’t understand.

Mr. Ellison was having none of it. His solution? Change the debate.

The smirk on Rattner’s smug little mug disappeared. (Here’s a piece I did in 2006 on Rattner.)

What a concept. Instead of playing into the Republican narrative on deficit reduction, spending cuts and austerity, offer up a grand vision directly responding to what’s on the minds of Americans. From The Hill:

“First, any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be taken off the table. The individuals depending on these three programs deserve well-conceived improvements, not deep, ideologically driven cuts with harmful consequences.”
As a second condition, the lawmakers added, “revenue increases must be a meaningful part of any agreement.”
“Tax breaks benefiting the very richest Americans should be eliminated as part of this deal,” the lawmakers wrote. “The middle class has experienced enough pain during the last three years, Republicans are willing to inflict even more. We will not join them.”
Grijalva said there’s room for “restructuring” in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But if the final debt-ceiling package cuts benefits under those programs, he warned, “then I couldn’t support it.”
AARP delivered a similar message on Thursday, issuing a statement warning that the powerful lobbying group “will not accept any cuts to Social Security as part of a deal to pay the nation’s bills.”
[...] “We do have more leverage than people anticipate,” Grijalva said. “Without overwhelming support from our caucus, I think it’s going to be a hard deal to pass.”

Rattner finally just gave up and asked Ellison if he’d support a deal with Social Security cuts that wasn’t balanced with taxes, revenue increases, or stimulus Ellison preferred, never mind that he also suggested a more rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. Rep. Ellison gave a one-word reply: no.

But again, there’s still no evidence that Tea Party Republicans will accept Obama’s “deal of the century.”

Read full story · Comments { 12 }

Obama’s ‘Deal of the Century’ for Republicans

By Taylor Marsh on 05 July 2011

If you want one reason why Barack Obama doesn’t deserve reelection this is it.

If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases. – The Mother of All No-Brainers

The bookend to David Brooks is Frank Rich, who evidently has finally awakened to the actual Barack Obama, 3 years too late. This was after appalling political analysis that should not only have gotten him laughed out of the opinion racket, but rendered his views worthless. Rich preferred to play games in the primaries rather than learn, then help readers understand Barack Obama’s political philosophy:

But as long as the likely Democratic nominee keeps partying like it’s 2008 while everyone else refights the battles of yesteryear, he will continue to be underestimated every step of the way.

One of the people who underestimated Barack Obama was Frank Rich, but not in the manner he originally meant. It’s because he was too besotted to identify candidate Obama’s squishy Republicanism.

Mr. Rich also predicted a Democratic “civil war” if Hillary didn’t cool it, though even Rachel Maddow did this, but Rich went several ugly steps further, to make his points:

A race-tinged brawl at the convention, some nine weeks before Election Day, will not be a Hallmark moment. As Mr. Wilkins reiterated to me last week, it will be a flashback to the Democratic civil war of 1968, a suicide for the party no matter which victor ends up holding the rancid spoils.

The “suicide for the party” is indeed happening, just a lot later and through the very politician Mr. Rich exalted.

Rich could have looked at Obama’s Illinois record, his statements about being non-ideological, about being more of a mediator between two opposing views, but he chose fan politics instead, ignorantly blinded by what the outcome could eventually be.

Paul Krugman laid out the economics for Rich and his ilk, but there were many clues, the most important coming from candidate Obama himself:

“I think that I have the capacity to get people to recognize themselves in each other. I think that I have the ability to make people get beyond some of the divisions that plague our society and to focus on common sense and reason and that’s been in short supply over the last several years. I’m not an ideologue, never have been. Even during my younger days when I was tempted by, you know, sort of more radical or left wing politics, there was a part of me that always was a little bit conservative in that sense; that believes that you make progress by sitting down listening to people, recognizing everybody’s concerns, seeing other people’s points of views and then making decisions.” – Barack Obama, 5.14.07 (on ABC’s “This Week”)

Pres. Obama adopting the Republican economic model has set the Democratic Party back, how far and for how long it’s hard to tell.

Obama’s position is now where Republicans have placed the new center, which will dog any Democratic candidate and president who believes progressive philosophy is not only more sound, but imperative to save the middle class.

Any Democrat not starting by offering tax cuts and even targeting the safety net will now be considered “extreme” or “far left” by the new center, you know, because Barack Obama did it. Progressive politics then becomes a harder sell. Where that leaves the “professional Left” is anyone’s guess, but it’s nowhere good.

That is unless Obama’s economic Republicanism is abandoned wholesale, which is unlikely when you look at the behavior of elite Democrats today, politicians who don’t understand that by “winning” the Democratic Party is actually losing their identity. Though there are some signs of life in small quarters of Congress, with a few Democrats recognizing that the small differences that used to exist between the parties, Pres. Obama has obliterated, not only on economics, but including on matters of war and peace.

There’s something even more chilling about Pres. Obama’s economic Republicanism. If he’s doing this now, what will he do if he’s reelected, facing no other elections in his future, able to carve the path as he sees it?

It’s not Republicans who should start worrying about Obama’s reelection, it’s Democrats.

Read full story · Comments { 18 }

Senators Merkeley & Udall: ‘Let’s Not Linger in Afghanistan’

By Taylor Marsh on 05 July 2011

As a liberal who supported Pres. Obama’s Afghanistan plan when he first began it, I simply do not understand how anyone can support it today, at least not when judging what’s in U.S. interests.

From their New York Times op-ed today:

Nineteen months ago the president announced the surge strategy in hopes of stabilizing Afghanistan and strengthening its military and police forces. Today, despite vast investment in training and equipping Afghan forces, the country’s deep-seated instability, rampant corruption and, in some cases, compromised loyalties endure. Extending our commitment of combat troops will not remedy that situation.
Sometimes our national security warrants extreme sacrifices, and our troops are prepared to make them when asked. In this case, however, there is little reason to believe that the continuing commitment of tens of thousands of troops on a sprawling nation-building mission in Afghanistan will make America safer.
National security experts, including the former C.I.A. director Leon E. Panetta, have noted that Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan has been greatly diminished. Today there are probably fewer than 100 low-level Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has a much larger presence in a number of other nations.
Our focus shouldn’t be establishing new institutions in Afghanistan, but concentrating on terrorist organizations with global reach. And our military and intelligence organizations have proved repeatedly that they can take the fight to the terrorists without a huge military footprint.

It’s easy to understand why our troops being in Afghanistan is good for the Afghans, because Pres. Karzai simply isn’t doing his job and there’s no evidence he will. Women continue to suffer in Afghanistan, an issue to which Karzai is indifferent, even as real progress has been made, because the women and girls had only one way to go and that’s up.

In the past, I’ve argued with people over staying in Afghanistan, but after herculean efforts on the part of our troops, it’s simply not worth one more life, not one. I feel the same way about Iraq, too, but I felt that way from the beginning the Bush-Cheney misadventure that distracted the U.S. from getting bin Laden.

It’s also not as if we won’t continue to be involved in Afghanistan, because they’re sitting next to Pakistan in an important region. This begs the question of when regional powers, including India, China and Russia, will start doing their part? The U.S. is leaving Afghanistan, so they’d better step up.

Senators Merkeley and Udall are correct, Pres. Obama should change course, but he won’t because he’s prosecuting this war like a Republican, which is one reason why Afghanistan is starting to look like a bigger disaster than ever, because the same stubbornness that kept Bush in Iraq is keeping Obama from drawing down faster in Afghanistan.

Read full story · Comments { 3 }

’1776′ John Adams: One Useless Man is Called a Disgrace; Two are Called a Law Firm; Three or More Become a Congress

By Taylor Marsh on 04 July 2011

… Lincoln saw an unresolvable tension between the Constitution of a democratic republic and the policies of aggrandizement and intemperate self-interest that lead from the manners of freedom to the slavish love of power. He spoke of the difference between the work of establishing a constitutional republic and the longer task of maintaining it. But maintaining it against what? Lincoln’s answer was always the same: against the internal pressure of greed, and the external pressure of war. The predicament of the country in 1861, he said, “forces us to ask: ‘Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness? Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?’”
We are now ten years into a policy shared by two successive administrations to plant a new understanding of the spirit of the laws in America. That policy has pretended there is a “trade-off” between liberty and security, and that in a time of crisis, security ought to have the upper hand. The Cheney-Bush and Obama administrations have accustomed us to laws and language concerned above all with the “protection” of citizens — as if there were something higher or more worth protecting than the liberty that is guaranteed by our laws and the framework of laws, the Constitution. [...]
To Maintain a Republic, by David Bromwich

Read full story · Comments { 5 }

The Sunday Early-Bird News Round-Up: The Red, White and Blue Addition

By Stacy on 03 July 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday. Happy July 3rd, pre-Independence Day!

I’ve even managed to find a red, white and blue bird, the Crimson Rosella (at left)

On this day in history, July 3, 1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended in a major victory for the North.

For those of you who are not off doing something amazing on this long holiday weekend, I’ve rounded up some news for you to peruse:

~Of course we are!: The U.S. says we are willing to keep troops in Iraq if Iraq would like us to stay! I mean, it’s only been what? Eight years?

~Don’t even get me started on the U.S., Israeli and Greek bullying of the U.S. Boat to Gaza, aka the Freedom Flotilla. Whether or not one agrees with their mission or their tactics, the U.S. and Israel just look like a bunch of bullies. Interestingly, Haaretz was reporting yesterday that Greece agreed to prevent the boats from leaving Greek ports in due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s lobbying the EU to toss Greece another huge bailout.

~Thirty Afghan civilians have been killed in 48 hours as a result of IED’s.

~The battle over raising the debt ceiling has been totally mismanaged by the White House. That the GOP can basically sell the idea that cutting services and programs for the working class is acceptable in order to continue lining the pockets of wealthy special interests, is a damning indictment of this administration’s policies and political messaging.

~The governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, signed a controversial bill legalizing gay civil unions. It’s controversial because the tide has clearly turned- after New York, many want the states to go further with a full recognition of gay marriage, not just civil unions. Governor Chafee, for his part, supports gay marriage and says that the bill will get them one step closer to legalizing gay marriage. Perhaps, but it’s debatable.

~Ok, this YouTube ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee really just wrote itself:

~This opinion piece by Leonard Pitts Jr. caught my eye. He calls out Obama for his disingenuous word games in refusing to throw his support behind gay marriage. But what struck me is how honest Pitts is- he describes how he used to support civil unions while opposing gay marriage. He goes on to say that he finally realized that doing so was illogical and based on the presumption that the relationships of gays and lesbians were somehow less worthy than those of heterosexuals.

~I know Taylor covered this last night but it’s so annoying I just have to chime in. Is Ben Smith serious? One of the most biased pieces of non-Journalism I’ve seen in a long time. Seriously, it just screams “I’m a planted story!” The reason it’s so annoying is that Politico has been beating this drum for about 3 years now. I could write an article that reaches the exact OPPOSITE conclusion by selectively interviewing Jewish people that I know support Obama’s Mideast policies. Oh, and granting them total anonymity. But would it be newsworthy? No, it wouldn’t be. It would just be selective, agenda-driven drivel.

~Tim Pawlenty isn’t raising much money. Goodbye Tim, we hardly knew ye.

~Secretary Clinton has called on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down.

~Another Republican nobody has ever heard of is entering the Presidential race. But at least he has a catchy name.

~Justin Elliot does some follow-up journalism and asks Jeffrey Goldberg what happened with his prediction that Israel would go to war with Iran? Naturally, Goldberg dances and weaves. Predicting and promoting the next neocon war is sort of a part time job for Goldberg.

~Pinkwashing has been in the news a lot and it’s in the news again! This time in relation to bad Israeli PR about the Flotilla and false accusations that the Flotilla participants are homophobic. Never mind that quite a few are openly gay. If you aren’t familiar with the whole Pinkwashing phenomena, that article I linked-to is a good run-down of recent events.

~If you didn’t read this Greenwald piece about the ridiculous show State Dept. legal adviser Harold Koh put on in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, go read it. Basically, defending Obama’s Executive power grabs with respect to Libya is getting more difficult, even for those in his own administration. This is actually embarrassing- it’s a short video of Sen. Risch reading a quote from Senator Obama about war powers and Koh responding.

~Mental illness and gun rights.

~Contrary to popular perception, the repeal of DADT has not taken place and GLBT soldiers continue to be booted out of the military and some are even requesting to be discharged as a result of ongoing harassment and discrimination.

~The son of actor Rob Lowe will be interning for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

~An ExxonMobile oil pipe burst in Montana releasing oil into the pristine Yellowstone River.

~The Strauss-Kahn case is one big mess but alleged rape/sexual assault cases often are. I don’t know what happened in that hotel room, obviously, and so I can’t speak to that, but I will say this- people who are sometimes dishonest and lack credibility in the usual sense can still be sexually assaulted. Yes, someone could make up an allegation, but the credibility of the victim is a very thorny issue. It’s important to note in this story that as of right now, that prosecutors have not dropped the rape charges.

~The deterioration in U.S.-Pakistan relations is resulting in the U.S. having to use costlier supply routes to Afghanistan due to fears that Pakistan may decide to block more direct routes that wind through their country.

The End. Have a nice weekend and safe holiday!

Read full story · Comments { 5 }

The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up: Father’s Day

By Stacy on 19 June 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday.

Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there!

On this day in history, June 19, 1862, slavery was outlawed in U.S. territories.

Here are some news stories from around the internets that you may or may not have seen:

~Barack Obama has pulled a GW Bush and is arguing he doesn’t need Congressional approval to use military force in Libya because what we are doing there doesn’t meet the definition of hostilities. I kid you not. I be the Libyans would beg to differ. So, while the White House is trying to convince all the good people at Netroots Nation that Obama actually gives a damn about the progressive base, the NYT has came out with an incredible story about how Obama, like Bush before him, ignored his top legal advisers about the need for Congressional approval prior to bombing Libya.

Maybe President Obama could have a debate with Senator Obama circa 2007 because this is what Senator Obama said about war powers:

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.
As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.

~Speaking of Netroots Nation, the Obama administration is predictably buttering up the glbt vote. Once again the argument goes something like this “hey, we may be letting you down but just imagine how bad off you’d be if those other guys were in charge!” I give Obama credit where credit is do- for example on DADT- but I can’t help but get the sense that he has to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing, and even then only after polls show that about 60% of Americans support it.

~More on the annoying politics of gay marriage.

~So, it’s official, we’re already in negotiations with the Taliban. I’ll repeat the question I posed in last weeks news round-up: If we can negotiate with the Taliban, a group that is killing American soldiers and Afghan civilians as we speak, why do we reject without any debate, the possibility of Mideast peace negotiations with Hamas? I have yet to get an answer to that question. If you have any ideas, please leave them in the comment section.

~Today, Karl Eikenberry offers a rare rebuke of Afghan President Karzai for his remarks about the U.S. negotiating with the Taliban, among other things.

~Tim Pawlenty’s tax plan is a joke- almost 40% of the benefits of the plan would go to the top 1% of the richest Americans. I don’t care how much average Republican voters hate Barack Obama, do they realize that the GOP exists to line the pockets of big business at their expense? And no, the Democrats don’t get a pass on this either.

~A Bahraini blogger at Netroots Nation called out the State Dept. for their silence on the brutal crackdown in Bahrain despite their knowing all the gory details about what the government was/is doing. Inexcusable.

~In the wake of the “Gay Girl in Damascus”/Amina controversy (if you are not familiar with it you can read about it here) there has been quite an important discussion that has ensued about how the West has misrepresented the glbt community in Arab countries, purportedly for their [our] own selfish purposes. If anything good has come of the Amina hoax, it’s that glbt advocates in the U.S. and Europe are having an open dialogue with members of the glbt in the Arab world, many of whom feel that the West doesn’t really understand their real concerns, but instead are taking advantage of them in order to push a decidedly Western agenda. On a similar note, there’s now a long-time-coming controversy brewing about the popular blog Gay Middle East, the gist of which revolves around the question of “who gets to speak for glbt Arabs in the Middle East?” There’s also the controversial issue of Pinkwashing which you can read about here.

~President Obama isn’t polling well against an unnamed GOP opponent. That’s not so good.

~John McCain is upset that some of the GOP presidential candidates are listening to the electorate and expressing doubts about invading and bombing a new country each week. He calls this view “isolationist.” You see, McCain’s (and Lieberman and Lindsey Graham) definition of “patriotism” is threatening the use of force to deal with every situation. If one expresses doubt or questions aobut whether this is in the U.S.’ best interests, well, then you are relegated to the status of cheese-eating-surrender-monkey. Go sit in the corner!

~Why is this news?

~An excellent article about how Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was put on a pedestal by the U.S. and other Western countries, all the while they ignored the reality of what was going on on the ground (in the territories). The unelected Fayyad could stay in Washington’s good graces only so long as he unquestioningly did their bidding and now that there is a new Hamas-Fatah unity deal in the works (it’s not a done deal yet) and a continued push for a declaration of statehood at the UN in September, Fayyad may find for the first time that his phone calls will not be returned by the State Dept. and White House.

~Speaking of Israel-Palestine, Thomas Friedman has the whole solution mapped out in one short article. That was easy.

~A comedian impersonating Obama was pulled off the stage at the Republican Leadership Conference for making racial jokes. Isn’t this the same guy Fox News uses for their fake Obama debates?

~Andrew Breitbart is pathetic. Question- did Breitbart call on Vitter or Ensign or Sanford to resign when they were caught with their pants down?

~Our ally, Pakistan. Sigh.

~It’s interesting how Islamaphobia is so mainstream that it’s actually used as a political tactic to get votes. There aren’t a lot of groups about which you can say that, except perhaps glbt folks, who of course are also used by the right as a political wedge issue.

~Ok, this guy is my new hero. This was very bad planning by British Prime Minister Cameron’s advance team. Watch the doctor come in the hospital room and kick Cameron out for using a patient’s room as the setting for a political photo op:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTzMmkyk8V0&feature=player_embedded

~I’m sorry but Justice Clarence Thomas has turned the Supreme Court into a joke. And it would be entirely appropriate for Chief Justice Roberts to rein him in. It has nothing to do with his conservative judicial philosophy but has everything to do with the way he conducts himself. There was a time in this country when the Supreme Court was actually respected. I know, go figure. There have always been controversies but the SCOTUS has weathered those storms by staying as far away from politics and the appearance of impropriety as possible. Not Clarence Thomas though (and Justice Scalia is guilty of this also).

~The perpetually angry neoconservative WaPo blogger Jennifer Rubin quotes John Woo, the author of the infamous torture memos in the Bush administration, for guidance on War Powers. Good grief.

~Private contractors in Iraq will be able to stay in Iraq long after the remaining troops leave which means they will still be able to line their pockets rebuilding the country we bombed to hell and back.

The End.

Read full story · Comments { 8 }

E. J. Dionne’s Nostalgia for Bush Meets Enemies List

By Taylor Marsh on 16 June 2011

A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him. Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush, said the White House at least twice asked intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor who writes an influential blog that criticized the war. – Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic

E.J. Dionne has written a whopper today by trying to be clever, but just comes off as daft analysis combined with negligence for uttering such blather. His a weird little column about his nostalgia for George W. Bush seems instead like a love letter to encourage Republicans. It’s all predicated on this week’s GOP debate, because he’s scared of Michele Bachmann, forgetting that Obama and the Democrats helped create her, while the Tea Party started as a reaction to George W. Bush on his watch.

That’s why I felt nostalgia for Bush, especially the guy who was a candidate for president in 2000. Unlike this crowd of Republicans, Bush acknowledged that the federal government can ease injustices and get useful things done.

At least he admits Bush’s debacle in Iraq is “why Bush nostalgia takes you only so far.”

This is the kind of stuff that’s written when you don’t hold a president accountable for his unspeakable acts, starting with war in Iraq and Abu Ghraib, but also allowing his vice president to run the show, while the man who killed over 3,000 people got away. A man who kept wars off the books and broke our economy with tax cuts, which Pres. Obama embraced with both arms. This man Mr. Dionne is nostalgic for was a failed businessman, prodigal son and duty dodging Guardsman, ran a race-baiting campaign in South Carolina against John McCain, all of while conspiring with Roger Ailes and one of his relatives on the Fox payroll who was primarily responsible for the Bush won theme that developed on election night.

From Rolling Stone magazine, a president who used Roger Ailes as an adviser, that’s who Mr. Dionne is getting wistful about today:

[...] After Bush took office, Ailes stayed in frequent touch with the new Republican president. “The senior-level editorial people believe that Roger was on the phone every day with Bush,” a source close to Fox News tells Rolling Stone. “He gave Bush the same kind of pointers he used to give George H.W. Bush – delivery, effectiveness, political coaching.” In the aftermath of 9/11, Ailes sent a back-channel memo to the president through Karl Rove, advising Bush to ramp up the War on Terror. As reported by Bob Woodward, Ailes advised Bush that “the American public would tolerate waiting and would be patient, but only as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible.”Fox News tilted the electoral balance to George W. Bush in 2000, prematurely declaring him president in a move that prompted every other network to follow suit. It helped create the Tea Party, transforming it from the butt of late-night jokes into a nationwide insurgency capable of electing U.S. senators. …

Bush ignored warnings about Al Qaeda and bin Laden, with the list of economic incompetency lingering in a legacy that has us still suffering from it economically today.

Mr. Dionne conveniently forgets there was a set-up for all this and it began with Pres. Obama and Democrats not making their own case for what the Democratic Party believes government can do, but instead adopted Republican economic theory that got us into this mess in the first place.

Now we find, unsurprisingly let me add, that George W. Bush wanted to target Juan Cole because of his effectiveness at criticizing the Iraq war.

Suck on that morsel from Mr. Dionne’s nostalgia pie.

However, the pathetic part about E.J. Dionne’s nostalgia is that it’s not his fault. This absurd nostalgia for Bush should be laid at the door of Congress, when Speaker Pelosi refused to strip the bark off a president whose malfeasance and recklessness was the worst since Nixon. When a president turned the C.I.A. into his own personal misinformation center on a war that we’re still fighting in a country that never attacked us.

It’s this same presidential hubris that inspired Barack Obama to bomb Libya and many other things he’s done to mimic the imperial presidency of George W. Bush. Glenn Greenwald keeps a running list if you’ve forgotten.

That Pres. Obama had to tape Afghanistan back together because of Bush’s negligence, which evolved into a nightmare scenario of unending occupation is another example of why nostalgia for anything George W. Bush is simply a pathetic case of selective amnesia. Bush’s Pakistan strategy part of the disaster that allowed the ISI to likely shelter him all these years.

But Bush nostalgia really owes a debt of thanks to the Democrats. They’re the ones who allowed former Pres. Bush to ride into the sunset and set up his rehabilitation tour that never should have been allowed, let alone have history rewritten by he and Rumsfeld, with Cheney’s tome about to drop.

E.J. Dionne adds his piece of rewriting history to make 2012 Republicans look bad, by positing that George W. Bush was not a nightmare. His case falls apart as he ties himself in knots trying to prove a case that only could have been suggested by one of his Republican bosses trying to save the GOP from themselves.

I wish the gods could save us from amnesiac political writers in the traditional press and the partisan hacks who suck it up, but it seems people are suckers for stupidity.

Read full story · Comments { 7 }

Cue Obama’s Next Non-War Speech for Yemen

By Taylor Marsh on 14 June 2011

This is another edition in empire.

Pres. Obama started bombing Libya out of humanitarian reasoning, with there no strategic interest there for the U.S. Now he’s turning to Yemen, which is no doubt a dangerous place that does have wider implications. However, why is everyone just shrugging at his Executive hubris? Why is he getting to do it without congressional approval?

From the Washington Post:

The CIA is expected to begin operating armed drone aircraft over Yemen, expanding the hunt for al-Qaeda operatives in a country where counter-terrorism efforts have been disrupted by political chaos, U.S. officials said.
The plan to move CIA-operated Predator and other unmanned aircraft into the region reflects a decision by President Obama that the al-Qaeda threat in Yemen has grown so serious that patrols by U.S. military drones are not enough.
Because it operates under different legal authorities than the military, the CIA may have greater latitude to carry out strikes if the political climate shifts in Yemen and cooperation with American forces is diminished or cut off. [...]

This is taking the excuse to bomb countries and send in covert forces, as long as there are no traditional boots on the ground, to a level that is potentially very messy.

Jon Huntsman has said he thinks we should no longer be in Afghanistan, that Libya is of non-strategic interest, and that he’d rethink our Middle East wars. I wonder what he thinks about drone power?

As commander in chief, Pres. Obama is so far off the reservation I’m not sure he could find his way back to the man who gave the anti Iraq war speech that snared him the nomination.

UPDATE: Read this piece by Bruce Bartlett.

Read full story · Comments { 7 }

TIME: Grand Jury Investigating CIA Abu Ghraib Torture for War Crimes

By Taylor Marsh on 14 June 2011

The ghosts of Bush-Cheney-Rummy torture still hangs over the C.I.A., no matter what Leon Panetta has done to infuse the agency with honor. From TIME magazine:

Manadel al-Jamadi

It has been nearly a decade since Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi prisoner known as “the Iceman” — for the bungled attempt to cool his body and make him look less dead — perished in CIA custody at Abu Ghraib. But now there are rumbles in Washington that the notorious case, as well as other alleged CIA abuses, could be returning to haunt the agency. TIME has learned that a prosecutor tasked with probing the CIA — John Durham, a respected, Republican-appointed U.S. Attorney from Connecticut — has begun calling witnesses before a secret federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., looking into, among other things, the lurid Nov. 4, 2003, homicide, which was documented by TIME in 2005.
TIME has obtained a copy of a subpoena signed by Durham that points to his grand jury’s broader mandate, which could involve charging additional CIA officers and contract employees in other cases. The subpoena says “the grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving War Crimes (18 USC/2441), Torture (18 USC 243OA) and related federal offenses.” [...]

I’ll never understand the sense in allowing former Pres. Bush, V.P. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to walk out of Washington without a serious hearing on the malfeasance surrounding their prosecution of the Iraq war. I never wanted impeachment hearings to be the primary goal after he won reelection, but there’s something craven about the Democratic cowardice to hold our own leaders culpable by investigating their actions when in office. It’s one of Speaker Pelosi’s gravest errors in judgment.

Read full story · Comments { 4 }

Bush Iraqi Boondoggle: Pentagon’s $6.6 Billion Still Missing

By Taylor Marsh on 13 June 2011

From the LA Times we find out just what a disaster the team of Bush and Rumsfeld were for the U.S. From tax cuts that exploded the debt and an unjustified preemptive war kept off the books, add in Abu Ghraib and the plummeting of American credibility throughout the Arab and Muslim world, it’s hard to name a worse run operation than Dick Cheney’s Iraqi debacle.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time. [...]

There is much more at the link, including that the Iraq government believes it was the job of the U.S. to guard the cash, so they intend to try to recoup it.

On a tangential note, there’s simply no reason to be in Iraq anymore.

Read full story · Comments { 5 }

Sunday Morning Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 12 June 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

On this day in history, June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court in the landmark case Loving vs. Virginia, struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

I’ve rounded up some news links, you know, so you can sound smart and on top of the news at breakfast or lunch…

~Joe Lieberman tries to undermine the President’s foreign policy.

~As everyone who hasn’t been stranded on a deserted island knows, Representative Weiner is taking some time off to get some sort of treatment for something (they didn’t say what), do some soul-searching and probably more to the point- sit back and hope this all blows over so he can stop the flow of fellow Democrats calling, one after the other, for his resignation. Anyone care? No? Ok, moving right along…

~What is wrong with the Democrats that they can’t make this a political issue? The GOP is waging war on Elizabeth Warren of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)- could the GOP make it any more obvious that they don’t give a damn about the average American, preferring instead to create a platform based on enriching the very people that caused the collapse of the global economy? And yet what are the Democrats doing to get this message out? All I hear is *chirp* *chirp*

~GOP Rep. Dana Rohrbacher has been asked by the Iraqi government to please leave their country after he publicly called for Iraq to repay the U.S. for the cost we incurred invading and occupying their country.

~John Aravosis of AmericaBlog calls out CNN’s Roland Martin for defending Tracy Morgan’s homophobic rant. It’s worth a read.

~So, how much have the Bush tax cuts cost the U.S. thus far? $2.5 trillion. And yet the Democrats and the media continue with the farce that the GOP is serious about deficit reduction. They weren’t during the Bush years and they aren’t now. Rather, they are interested in gutting social programs they never liked to begin with and are using the deficit as an excuse. Anyone who takes defense spending completely off the table can’t be taken seriously about deficit reduction.

~Alabama has passed a draconian anti-abortion bill based on a “fetal pain” rationale. Naturally, there is no exception in the case of rape or incest.

~I’d like to introduce you to Texas Governor and possible GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry.

~The neocon hawks who want to “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” don’t really understand the Green Movement there although they are more than willing to use their purported concern for the Green Movement to try to make it sound like their war-mongering is born of humanitarian concerns.

~A major bump in the road to reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

~After the death of Osama Bin Laden, will Obama take advantage of the opportunity to make a significant reduction in troops in Afghanistan or will he follow the advice of the departing Secretary Gates and General Petraeus? The question everyone should be asking is ten years from now, will we still be saying “we’re making some progress but if we leave we could lose what gains we’ve made”? I can’t help but think the answer to that is “yes.”

~The real reason the WH rejected the French proposal to hold a Mideast peace summit with the Palestinians and Israelis- the administration is afraid another country might actually act like an honest broker and mediator.

~Dana Milbank provides a good example of everything that is wrong with the Washington press in this piece. Note he makes sure to tell us he knows Goolsbee personally and that Obama’s economic policies were initially “extreme” (the stimulus that didn’t have enough stimulus?).

~Daniel Ellsberg of “Pentagon Papers” fame reminds us just how crappy our government really is. He notes that much of what Nixon did would be legal today under an expanded definition of Executive power and laws like the PATRIOT Act. By the way, the Pentagon Papers have finally been declassified.

~The Obama administration’s war against whistleblowers was dealt a major blow in the NSA leak case. The government’s case fell apart in an effort to not have to expose some evidence to public scrutiny. Former NSA employee Thomas Drake was charged under the seldom used Espionage Act, which many felt was a draconian way to go after whistleblowers such as Drake, who exposed a multi-billion-dollar government boondoggle of waste and fraud and in the process, also revealed the NSA’s illegal (at the time) domestic surveillance data mining operation. If that isn’t the definition of “whistleblower” I don’t know what is. If we actually had a major media figure with some guts, they would actually dain to ask President Obama exactly what his definition of “whistleblower” is, particularly given he lauded them as champions of justice as a 2008 Presidential candidate. Oh, but he said a lot of things in 2008, didn’t he.

~Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ripped NATO in his farewell speech.

~No, Hillary doesn’t want to be President of the World Bank. Guessing her next move after Secretary of State has become a full-time parlor game in DC.

~I agree with Senator Harkin- Obama has fallen into the GOP trap of prioritizing the deficit over job creation.

~Rep. Giffords has released her first set of photos since the Arizona shooting in January. She really has made an amazing recovery thus far. She’s a very strong woman.

~The Obama admin. is funding a mobile-phone compatible shadow internet for dissidents to use to get around their own government censors.

The End.

Read full story · Comments { 12 }

Sarah’s Supporters Validate the Vagina Vote

By Taylor Marsh on 06 June 2011

When Palin first uttered her Paul Revere gaffe, I wrote a short post about it, then went over to conservative site because the writer was offering an excuse for Palin and asked if critics would apologize to her, because she was actually correct. The post over at Legal Insurrection foreshadowed the insanity that’s ensued since, which includes Palin fans trying to rewrite Revere’s ride in order to provide cover for Palin over at Wikipedia; Little Green Footballs links to an eye-opening page over there.

I very rarely do this, but in the comments over at LegalInsurrection I wrote the following: This post is representative of what’s wrong with our politics on both sides of the aisle. The lengths some people will go to in order to offer cover to politicians, whether it’s Palin or Obama, who actually deserve the ridicule they’re receiving at the moment.

A “constitutional conservative” promoting “Sarah Palin 2012″ responded to my comment on Twitter like this: Analyst @taylormarsh upset with @LegInsurrection & others for setting record straight re: #Palin Revere “gaffe” http://bit.ly/jTdPlz #tcot

Setting the record straight is actually code for Sarah and her fans making stuff up.

It’s alarming to me that as the second decade of the 21st century begins people are more interested in propping up a celebrity politician than standing up for the truth. That it’s Sarah Palin isn’t surprising, but it’s astonishing so many people think she’s worthy of such defense on a matter that should instead having her smacking herself up side the head.

Conservative women are rightly enthralled about a woman with their political viewpoint being nominated for the presidency. I’ve been covering Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann seriously, but is Sarah Palin’s inability to be honest going to be their standard?

That’s a serious question after Palin’s supporters went to the lengths they did on Wikipedia.

In 2008, Democratic women weren’t enamored by Hillary Clinton simply because she was a woman, but instead expected her to have the policy goods and the requisite experience, which is at it should be. They held Clinton to account for Iraq, but also didn’t side with her out of gender.

Michele Bachmann looks like Margaret Thatcher compared to Palin these days, who seems to be in a world of her own that includes her own facts too.

It’s hard to believe that conservative women only care about ideology, with everything else ignored as long as they can check the boxes on issues where they agree. History being outside those bounds evidently.

With Sarah Palin, it looks like we’re actually seeing the vagina vote validated and vaulted to credibility.

Ever since Palin appeared I’ve written about her instincts, her “it” factor, as well as the power she wields, even if most others shrug it off. This latest episode takes the notion of political loyalty and puts it in another category altogether.

No matter what ridiculous thing comes out of Sarah Palin’s mouth she will be defended, even against the indefensible.

Read full story · Comments { 12 }

The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

By Stacy on 05 June 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday!

On this day in history, June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles. Also on this date in 1967 the Six Day War erupted between Israel and the surrounding Arab states.

Here are some morning links for your perusal:

~Former U.S. diplomat Lawrence Eagleburger died yesterday at the age of 80 years.

~The Yemeni President is in Saudi Arabia for medical care. That could be awkward for the U.S. For now, power has been transferred to the Vice President.

~Defense Secretary Gates is in Afghanistan saying his “goodbyes” and reassuring the Afghans that we will be there for the long haul. Obama has set himself up to have to battle not only the GOP on a myriad of issues but now his own party on Afghanistan. The troop surge didn’t work and the underlying problem- a corrupt, illegitimate government that is playing both sides- won’t be “fixed” by counterinsurgency.

~Speaking of Secretary Gates, why does the media help perpetuate the myth that Gates has been a leader in terms of cutting defense spending? Because really what he’s done is just moved money around. If people like David Gregory had stones they’d confront Gates with this but instead they fawn all over him in a rather embarrassing manner.

~The heroes of Jopin, Mo.

~Question: if the U.S. is willing to entertain the idea of having talks with the Taliban, a group that is killing Americans as we speak, why is negotiating with Hamas under certain conditions such a taboo? I’m not being sarcastic here, I’m honestly just asking the question.

~Are you tired of hearing about the Weiner scandal? Well, here’s the thing- we know the media loves anything having to do with sex, or anything that even hints of sex, because it’s so much easier to cover than, say, the latest Supreme Court decision. But it’s also a morality tale of sorts. Whoever was advising Rep. Weiner to go on the teevee box and give winding, circular, vague non-answers to basic yes or no questions should be fired or voted off the island.

~Just what President Obama needs, more photos of him on the golf course.

~Operation Cupcake.

~Donald Trump is jealous that Sarah Palin and her American history lessons are getting more attention than he has been of late.

~Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Any mention of the anniversary is forbidden in China and they have done everything in their power to erase the tragedy from China’s history.

~You have to hand it to Fox News, they really take on the big issues!:

~Never under estimate the ability of far right conservatives to dumb down almost any issue. They are allergic to nuance and prefer instead to see everything as Black or White, Good vs. Evil. That’s all well and good and it certainly makes for much easier political messaging but at the end of the day, that’s not how the world works.

~I realize that Sarah Palin supporters get really, really angry whenever someone criticizes her but I simply don’t understand why someone would defend someone with such a limited grasp on national and foreign policy. Every politician makes mistakes or stretches the truth and no politician can be an expert on every subject, but Palin’s statements are simply incomprehensible and it is just not acceptable for any candidate or political figure to blame their lack of basic knowledge entirely on the media.

~Ambassador Chris Hill has an interesting commentary about the Mideast peace process, or lack thereof. There seems to be a widening gap between long-time diplomats and foreign policy experts and politicians in both the U.S. and Israel. Regardless of where one stands on this issue one thing is certain, the current politicization of the peace process won’t help resolve the conflict or keep either the Israelis or Palestinians one iota more secure.

~The administration and the media have reacted dismissively to Sy Hersh’s New Yorker article about Iran’s supposed nuclear capability. It would seem that the media really haven’t learned anything since the Judith Miller, Scooter Libby days of reporting in the run-up to the Iraq War. Glenn Greenwald rips Politico for their journalistic hypocrisy and their acting as stenographers to those in power. The way in which the media has responded to the Hersh article is more proof that the media don’t report the news so much as decide what is and isn’t worthy of national debate. Irrespective of what one believes about Iran or Hersh’s reporting on this issue, it’s interesting how the administration and those in the media seem unwilling to even allow a debate to take place.

~Richard Cohen gets paid to write this stuff? Actual money?

~Meet GITMO’s evil twin, Bagram.

Ok, this is your daily dose of cute- the video went viral but in case you haven’t seen it, it’s hard not to smile as you watch it:

~While few people are watching, the situation in Sudan worsens.

~The Iraqis must be so thankful to us for fixing their country.

~Rather than screaming non-stop about the debt, which has been a problem in the making for well over a decade, we should be screaming for campaign finance reform so that voting isn’t just window-dressing for democracy.

~This is interesting- some religious Christians are questioning the morality of the GOP budget proposals. Apparently some people think selfishness and screw the poor isn’t a great Christian rallying cry. Good for them. A politician’s faith is/should be a personal matter unless they make it a center piece of their political platform and in that case, questioning some of the more blatant hypocrisy is justified.

~It’s official, hardly anyone in Congress agrees with Obama’s Libya strategy. Of course, the irony of the GOP maneuver is rather rich given most of them never met a war they didn’t like. The wording of the congressional resolution should have been applied to the authorization for the use of force in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The End.

Read full story · Comments { 10 }

Jill Abramson Named First Female Executive Editor of New York Times in 160-year History

By Taylor Marsh on 02 June 2011

Ms. Abramson said that as a born-and-raised New Yorker, she considered being named editor of The Times to be like “ascending to Valhalla.” “In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion,” she said. “If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth.” – Abramson to Replace Keller as The Times’s Executive Editor

Unfortunately for Ms. Abramson, the New York Times is no longer associated with the “absolute truth.” That image collapsed almost 20 years ago when Jeff Gerth conjured up the Whitewater scandal in 1992, using subterfuge and misinformation to arm the Right against a man who hadn’t even been elected to the presidency yet.

This tradition continued during the Bush-Cheney era, when the Times was culpable for their part in the worst reportage in the history of journalism which was led by Judy Miller and her infamous aluminum tubes.

On Oct. 3, The Times ran yet another piece revising its prewar coverage of Iraq’s mass-destructive capabilities. Following the lead of The Washington Post—which had broken the same news 14 months earlier—The Times meticulously demonstrated how the Bush administration had tilted evidence so that captured aluminum tubes, meant as Iraqi artillery rocket parts, could be passed off as nuclear centrifuge components. And if The Times was more than a year late reacting to The Post, it was more than two years late reacting to itself. Far down, the Oct. 3 piece offered an implicit confession of institutional and reportorial failure: “[O]n Sept. 8 [2002], the lead article on Page 1 of The New York Times gave the first detailed account of the aluminum tubes. The article cited unidentified senior administration officials who insisted that the dimensions, specifications and numbers of tubes sought showed that they were intended for a nuclear weapons program …. The article gave no hint of a debate over the tubes.” (source)

But the Times did print Joseph Wilson’s op-ed, someone I’ve had the pleasure to meet and interview, so perhaps Ms. Abramson will reignite this energy back into the New York Times, instead of what the paper long ago became, just another traditional news organization losing ground to new media.

The most representative tweet of what the New York Times has been reduced to today came from David Weigel: BREAKING: Jill Abramson to become first female NYT editor to have her content aggregated by HuffPo. #ikidbecauseilove

The appointment of Ms. Abramson is still important, however, because too few women hold posts in the lofty editorial arena. Not even the Times lowered prestige can change that fact or that her appointment makes history. That we’re into the 21st century before something like this happened is quite an indictment of the print press and traditional journalism.

Read full story · Comments { 2 }

1 2 … 9 Next »

TAYLOR MUST READS

Lanny Davis Joins Booker and other Democrats Slamming Obama Bain Ads Against Romney
The attacks on Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker (D) by the more vitriolic liberal commentators for what he said about [...]
It’s Not News that Romney Can Win
MITT ROMNEY’S LUCKY the Republican primaries unmasked his warts long before anyone started paying attention. Sure America saw the clown [...]
The Choice for Romney is Liz Cheney
Why not the best for President Obama and the Democratic party? And how much more will victory be worth having [...]
Oh Donna, How We Danced
DONNA SUMMER was writing “Love to Love You Baby”; I was Miss Missouri. “Last Dance” came out in 1978, the [...]
Edward Klein’s Jeremiah Wright Interview Goes Wide with Swift-boating Proposal, and Sean Hannity’s Help
“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in [...]
Trayvon Martin Knuckle Injury: Small Abrasion, 1/4 Inch in Size
DEFENSE HACKS led by “Just One Minute” made a lot of noise on Wednesday, writing Trayvon Martin “showed bloody knuckles,” [...]
Romney’s Bill Clinton Swipe Followed by Whopper Rove Ad
MITT ROMNEY IS betting that tweaking Pres. Obama on Bill Clinton in Iowa will land, while just making stuff up. [...]
Hillary’s Vogue
“I feel so relieved to be at the stage I’m at in my life right now. Because you know if [...]
Republicans Already Lost Hispanics, Now Shoot for Losing Next Generation
“While President Obama has played politics on this issue, the Republican Party and our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney have been [...]
Obama’s Composite Girlfriend Creates Rip van Winkle Awakening
The success of “Dreams” has given Obama nearly complete control of his own life narrative, an appealing tale that has [...]
Ann Romney’s Style
IT’S FABULOUS and she can afford it. When I saw it on CBS “This Morning,” I knew it would catch [...]
Arrogant Amnesia: Obama Gets OBL, Republicans Stuck with ‘Mission Accomplished’ Cod Piece Photo Op
AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA in the Situation Room with Brian Williams on the bin Laden raid has exploded. Sen. [...]
Gritty GIRLS Takes Over
“You could not pay me enough to be 24 again.” – female doctor giving Hannah a pelvic exam Inspired genius. [...]
Beyond Timothy Leary and Valley of the Dolls: Psychedelic Drugs and Healing in the 21st Century
“Rick Doblin has done a lot for the field, but he is more of a populist,” Grob says. “We need [...]
Shrill for the Women’s Vote: Ann Romney and Hilary Rosen Go to War
My Twitter feed was on fire after an appearance last night on CNN’s AC360, where I said that I thought [...]
For Zocalo Public Square: When My Butt Kicked Me, by Taylor Marsh
A Former Dancer Learns to Work Out Again After a Puzzling Injury Beyond politics. A very different type of piece [...]
Erick Erickson Gets the ‘Joe Scarborough Award’
As an added bonus, it was more than a bit ironic to hear Barack Obama call Paul Ryan a social [...]
Mad Men Megan Draper’s Black Pantie Moment
“You’re too old. I don’t need an old person.” – Megan Draper, “Mad Men” Megan Draper’s cutting “old person” line [...]
The Hill: Women are the Real Game Changers, by Taylor Marsh
I wrote a piece for The Hill yesterday. Here’s a snippet: HBO’s “Game Change,” adapted from the blockbuster book by [...]
America is a Woman
**updated** The bishops’ opposition to contraception is not an argument for a “conscience exemption.” It is a way of imposing [...]
Joe Scarborough’s Weird DM Rant Invades My Weekend
*updated below* So much for keep calm and carry on, what Joe Scarborough proclaims to be his motto. It was [...]
The Weekend Pres. Obama Gave Women Their Own Social Security
But the reality of life here is that Mr. Gulbranson and many of his neighbors continue to take as much [...]
Joe Scarborough Compares Obama Contraceptive Mandate to Federal Govt. Mandating Southern Baptist Female Deacons
“… I think women should be deacons as well as men. …But if the federal government, if the Justice Department [...]
Susan G. Komen Puts Romney’s ‘Not Concerned About the Poor’ In Perfect Context
The decision, made in December, caused an uproar inside Komen. Three sources told me that the organization’s top public health [...]
U.S. News & World Report: Time for a Tea Party of the Left, by Taylor Marsh
President Obama takes his base for granted on issues like the Bush tax cuts, Plan B, and the economy - US [...]
Ryan Lizza and The Hillary Effect, Case Proved Beyond Any Doubt
The reason I wrote my book was to tell a piece of history. It was to set the record of [...]
Capitalism Out of the Closet
**UPDATED** Would we be any worse off with Stephen Colbert as president? I doubt it. Politifact has watched the video [...]
UK Guardian Interview for The Hillary Effect
Last week was busy for me. One interview I did was for the UK Guardian, which is up today: Does [...]
The Party’s Over
There’s a reason Obama reelect doesn’t have a slogan. All they’ve got is a question: Are you in? Symbolic of [...]
A Word from Amb. Joseph Wilson about The Hillary Effect
“During the primary elections that pitted Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, Taylor was the leading analyst of, and most articulate [...]
Not Disappointed in Pres. Obama
**Postscript added** President Obama is now neck and neck with a generic Republican challenger in the latest Real Clear Politics [...]
Fan Politics
Despite rising public concern about the federal budget deficit, Americans favor keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are [...]
Money Quote that Would Make Reagan Laugh
“Cantor and Kyl just threw Boehner and McConnell under the bus. This move is an admission that there will be [...]

TM Connect

The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

Pres. Obama’s Deficit Debacle, National Security, and Warmaking

Buying Time for the White House, Reid Postpones Vote Until Sunday 1 pm

Reid Shoots, Scores, by Ending Wars

The Sunday Early-Bird News Round-Up

Mitt Romney, King of Layoffs

Obama’s ‘Deal of the Century’ for Republicans

Senators Merkeley & Udall: ‘Let’s Not Linger in Afghanistan’

’1776′ John Adams: One Useless Man is Called a Disgrace; Two are Called a Law Firm; Three or More Become a Congress

The Sunday Early-Bird News Round-Up: The Red, White and Blue Addition

The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up: Father’s Day

E. J. Dionne’s Nostalgia for Bush Meets Enemies List

Cue Obama’s Next Non-War Speech for Yemen

TIME: Grand Jury Investigating CIA Abu Ghraib Torture for War Crimes

Bush Iraqi Boondoggle: Pentagon’s $6.6 Billion Still Missing

Sunday Morning Early Bird News Round-Up

Sarah’s Supporters Validate the Vagina Vote

The Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

Jill Abramson Named First Female Executive Editor of New York Times in 160-year History

Follow Taylor on Twitter

TAYLOR MUST READS

New Media