Tag Archives: Charles Krauthammer

From Brave New Films comes this two video about reactionary, protofascist billionaires Charles and David Koch. (hat tip: Down with Tyranny )

Columnist Don Williams spells out some important distinctions that seem to have escaped the media. Start with what's true and what's not. President Obama was forthright last night in telling Americans and the world why we must intervene in Libya. One might disagree with his decision, but who could doubt the evidence he used toContinue reading “Why Obama is right on Libya and Bush was wrong on Iraq”

Andy Kroll at Mother Jones has the scoop: The day after he got punked by a prank caller pretending to be right-wing billionaire David Koch, Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker met with prominent GOP pollster Frank Luntz in his Capitol office. The Feb. 23 meeting with Luntz was a secret to the public and pressContinue reading “Did Pollster Luntz Break the Law in Secret Meeting with WI Gov. Walker?”

The senator's maid even signed a recall petition! Full, juicy details on the man likely to be the first Republican Wisconsin State Senator out the door at the MAL Contends Blog. Hat tip: Folkbum and The New Bushwhacker Brigade.

I met Esther Coopersmith about a decade ago thanks to Jeff Koopersmith (no relation). She's a savvy retired diplomat, and one of the best hostesses in DC. She has invited Beltway-bound diplomats to join her family to enjoy America's Thanksgiving tradition for over two decades.  Politics Daily has the story of the kind of statesmanshipContinue reading “Something to Make You Feel Good for Thanksgiving”

 Dave "Doctor" Gonzo on what the President needs to do next. I forget which comedian said a few months back that it was time for President Obama to turn off the Bill Cosby and start channeling Samuel L. Jackson, but that was pretty much the first thing than came to mind when I watched hisContinue reading “Obama Should Fight, Not Compromise”

Late night results, 9:45AM EST: MSNBC projects Republicans will take the House, Dems hold Senate. Undecided: CO-Sen: Bennet holds narrow lead WA-Sen: Murray holds narrow lead AK-Sen: Write-in projected to win, but every vote must be examined FL-Gov: Scott holds narrow lead IL-Gov: Too close to call Full summary of key races below the fold,Continue reading “Game Day 2010: Teabaggapallooza”

Here. Via First Draft. Now get out and vote.

Rep. Anthony Wiener (D-Bringin' It) will not be shouted down when he shames Republicans. This is how congressional Democrats should be conducting themselves in the House. For that matter, Senate Democrat could learn a few things from Weiner. [Hat tip: Oliver Willis ]

Let's hope President Obama and his team find a way to gracefully push Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner over the side — and put Elizabeth Warren in charge of some serious change.

There is no more aptly descriptive term for what Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee did to the late Thurgood Marshall today.

[UPDATED 6/21/10] Ha'aretz, via the Telegraph, is reporting that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will leave at the end of President Obama's second year in office. Unconfirmed but definitely of interest — especially the detail about Emanuel finding Obama too "idealist" — although Raw Story's Stephen Webster has questions about the story's sourcingContinue reading “Rahm Emanuel on the way out?”

Alan Bisbort and Parke Puterbaugh have the real story behind the forthcoming George W. Bush memoir. The most carefully guarded secrets of the publishing world today are the contents of George W. Bush’s memoir, tentatively entitled “Decision Points.” All we know is that it is scheduled for publication in November. What they aren’t telling usContinue reading “Decision Pints”

Ernest Partridge remembers a prominent force in American politics. Last Saturday I heard the news that I had been dreading: my good and great friend, Stewart Udall, had died. In the coming days, many tributes to Stewart will no doubt be written and published about his distinguished service to our nation as the Secretary ofContinue reading “Stewart Lee Udall (1920-2010): A Personal Memoir”

Progressive activist Harmony Wu meets with her congressional representative — and comes away with a mind-boggling look at the politics of health care reform. Note from the author: Let me be very clear that I am writing MY impressions/understanding of the meeting, and I went to the meeting representing only myself as a constituent—not asContinue reading “My First Meeting with My Congressman”

Story breaking from WJAC, nytimes.com and MSNBC . The congressman, an outspoken and unrelenting critic of George Bush Jr.'s Iraq war, had been readmitted to Virginia Hospital Center's intensive care unit following complications from gallbladder surgery.

Edward Luce's trenchant analysis of Obama's top advisers from Thursday's Financial Times (it ran online late Wednesday) has been setting the Beltway and media circles abuzz for the last few days. I had a look at it Saturday morning, and, while I remain skeptical about a number of details, feel it sums up a majorContinue reading “Obama needs to shake things up inside the West Wing”

It looks like SeriousFun and I are not alone: Craig Crawford: "Impeach John Roberts." Dan McIntyre:"Will the campaign to impeach Chief Justice John Roberts be global?" Magnum Serpentine: "Chief Justice John Roberts did what his masters, the Fundamentalist, Big Oil, Big Business, Wall Street, Big Health Insurance, wanted him to do. He made it possiableContinue reading “Calls for Impeachment among Opinion and Citizen Journalists”

Here is the full text of President Obama's weekly address: It has now been more than a week since the attempted act of terrorism aboard that flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.  On Thursday, I received the preliminary findings of the reviews that I ordered into our terrorist watchlist system and air travel screening.  I'veContinue reading “President Obama: We Will Defeat Terrorists and Uphold Our Values”

The big races: NJ-Gov: MSNBC projected Chris Christie (R) at 10:15pm EST over Jon Corzine (D) and Chris Daggett (I) — too close to call VA-Gov: MSNBC projected Bob McDonnell (R) winner over Creigh Deeds (D) at 7:55pm EST — McDonnell had been expected to win NY-23: Bill Owens (D) v. Doug Hoffman (Teabagger andContinue reading “Game Day 2009”

The institutional right's designated whiners have their panties in a bunch over comments made by President Jimmy Carter during an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/32867107#32867107 Visit msnbc.com for MSNBC Breaking News President Carter is right. Take, for example, the so-called "Tea Party Express." One of their leaders, Mark Williams, dug a hole forContinue reading “President Carter Is Right”

… per Politico.com. MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan: no reason given; resignation could happen and take effect as early as today. More as details come in.

Immoral Minority blog reports that Sarah and Todd Palin are Splitsville! — and in their latest update reporting that the Palins "will not be making their break up official for some time." AlaskaReport.com fills in more details. Palin's abrupt, clumsily handled resignation as governor of Alaska is beginning to make a lot more sense.

Updated June 21 If Nevada's Democratic party players are smart, they'll make a point of mailing this letter to every registered voter in the state (hat tip to dKos's Jed Lewison , who not only posted the entire letter but highlighted it as seen below): Thursday, June 11, 2009 Fox News- Corporate Office 1211 AvenueContinue reading “John Ensign, Tom Coburn, Megyn Kelly, FOX News All Owe America an Explanation”

Details here . Earlier today, we reported that The Nation Pakistan ran a story stating that Hersh had told an interviewer otherwise. The fundamentals of the story seemed strongly credible, although the analysis seemed farfetched.

January 29, 2009 – Davos (apj.us) – I had to laugh when the vote on President Obama's financial rescue package was tallied. Not a single doufus Republican voted for it… [more] … despite the fact that President Obama made an unprecedented trip to Capitol Hill to attempt to convince dying Republicans that he had themContinue reading “Letter From Davos; 80% of GOP Dead-enders Think They Can Flip Off American Public”

Jeff Koopersmith on Dick Cheneystein, Igor W. Bush, and the army of Madoffs they have created. January 19, 2009 – Geneva (apj.us) – A Happy 44th Administration Eve to all of you! Oh… and just how on earth are we going to refurbish America? And do you find it strange that cable news channels referContinue reading “Cheneystein’s Monster: Bernie Madoff and His Clones”

December 4, 2008 – New York (apj.us) – Here is a small bit of news that nearly slipped under the radar: the Office of Special Counsel has determined that ex-US Attorney Rachel Paulose not only engaged in a vendetta against prosecutor John Marti but ran a sloppy operation in Minneapolis. [UPDATED with links.] StarTribune.com reports:Continue reading “Paulose “Pwned”: Special Counsel Faults ex-US Attorney for Vendetta against John Marti”

From crisispapers.org: Three times they met, face to face. The 72 year-old military and political veteran, and the 46 year-old “rookie.” And after the final debate, there was little doubt in the minds of most of the sixty million Americans who watched which of the two contenders was the grown-up.  Throughout the years, Ernest PartridgeContinue reading “A Man for the Season”

Jeff Koopersmith tips us off to this brilliant report from Onion News Network: http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swfCindy McCain Claims She's ‘Just Like Any Other Female Human’

Don'tBeFooledAgain at YouTube posts one of the best guerilla Obama ads we've yet seen:

Click image for super-sized version! Jeff Koopersmith provides an answer – and insight into just what it is that the McCain Scam-paign is up to. October 22, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – I love my country and would fight to the death for any threatened American, but I have to wonder just where these redContinue reading “Just How Stupid is Joe the Dimwit Plumber?”

At the height of a presidential campaign, a respected retired general turned retired diplomat does not get booked on Meet the Press to talk about Upper Ossetia or Waziristan. The only suspense… …was which candidate  Powell would endorse – and given the hints Powell had dropped over the last few months, there was not much.Continue reading “Gen. Colin Powell Endorses Sen. Barack Obama for President”

Via Lisa Derrick at the reliably ahead-of-the-curve Campaign Silo (whose missile-implying name always seems to bring to mind Onion News Network's War for the White House reports… and if you've never seen the opening FOX-News-eat-yer-heart-out title sequence… but I digress…), we read that the terrific advice columnist Margot Howard, daughter of the iconic Ann Landers,Continue reading “When You’ve Lost Ann Landers’s Daughter?”

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY15) is one of our favorite pols. He's a skilled advocate in the halls of Congress and one of the most affable, down-to-earth pols when he speaks to crowds or one-on-one with constituents. This afternoon, he was stumping for the Obama campaign today in New York, and recalled with humor an earlyContinue reading “Rep. Charles Rangel on change then? and now”

Click image for enlarged version. Jeff Koopersmith on the vice presidential debate – and the surprisingly obvious comment by Sarah Palin that the clueless pundits missed. July 14, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – I had to laugh this morning as I read the clueless pundit herd's drivel about Governor Sarah Palin having supposedly held herContinue reading “Sarah Palin: Debate Superstar Without a Conscience”

Courtesy Chris at AmericaBlog: McCain utters expletive at 0:19. Chris also points out that "In 2000, the pundits went crazy when Al Gore sighed. We should [see] as much furor over McCain's mutterings." Hello? Mainstream media? Anyone home?

This should make Jeff Koopersmith smile: courtesy of Oliver Willis, check out this "tribute" to right-wing black Republican and academic "reform" troublemaker Ward Connerly.

September 24, 2008 – New York (apj.us) – Either John McCain has let his impulsive side get the best of him yet again, or he thinks you're stupid, or both. [more] The republican nominee announced he is suspending campaigning to head for Washington and pretend he's going to lead the GOP in cobbling together aContinue reading “Cowardly McCain Abandons Campaign, Hides Behind His Talking Points”

Via AmericaBlog comes this superbly produced political ad:

An inflammatory video compiling footage of respected POW war hero John Sidney McCain in… well, less than a flattering light.

… is right here. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1679097&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1Sarah Palin’s Churches and The Third Wave from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo. Bruce Wilson, who produced the mini-documentary, details the purpose of the video and its questionable removal from YouTube at TalkToAction.com. Wilson writes: If Sarah Palin may hold apocalyptic end-time beliefs or believes that she has a divine mandate toContinue reading “The Sarah Palin Church Video censored by YouTube?”

September 8, 2008 – New York (apj.us) – Newsrooms in Washington and New York are on alert this evening as a smattering of revelations from Gary S. Chafetz's forthcoming book, "The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff". have been leaked to political news and progressive Web sites. According to Politico.com'sContinue reading “Abramoff: During lobbying probe, McCain withheld and conceaed e-mails implicating his own cronies!”

In 2006, Alaska Democrats did what John McCain's campaign didn't bother doing – they vetted Sarah Palin. Download the dossier here. (Hat tip: Mudflats blog.)

Sept. 4, 2008 (democraticunderground.com) – Forget shrill and all the words that will get PUMA's panties in a twist. There are plenty of better words to describe what we witnessed tonight. Try mean, as in it is mean spirited to say that a community organizer does not have actual responsibilities. If Palin is correct, thenContinue reading “Plenty of Non-Sexist Words for Palin’s Shockingly Poor Performance”

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster updates the initiative to require federal legislators to wear mandatory EMD "shock bracelets." September 2, 2008 – Santa Barbara (HtNSF-Blog / apj.us) – Mark Slocum has nominated John McCain as the legislator  most worthy of strapping on an EMD bracelet so that Americans can let him know just what they think of hisContinue reading “Mark Slocum Nominates John McCain for the First “Congressional Shock Bracelet””

American Politics Journal has obtained exclusive footage of Cindy McCain's first meeting with her husband's running mate, Sarah Palin. The full footage is below the fold.

Jeff Koopersmith reveals details of the fistfight in the Cheney Bunker. August 18, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – Some readers know that I have a few “insiders” at Congress, the White House, and the Cheney Bunker.  One of them, a Cheney watchdog, finally earned the fifty bucks a week I give her and sent meContinue reading “Condi-con Four”

Steve Young asks: is Obama playing fair? In what is the latest attack of on the divisive campaign being run by Barack Obama, John McCain is alleging that Obama has gone obscenely negative, by appearing in his commercials and speeches as a "young, black, Democrat." "Barack Obama has played the elderly, white, Republican Card andContinue reading “McCain Claims Obama Playing Elderly White Republican Card”

From OpEdNews.com: Rob Kall on McCain's nightmare surrogate. July 14, 2008 – Washington (OpEdNews.com) – We've heard ten thousand times about how awful it is that Obama kept worshipping at the church led by just awful Reverend Wright, how he kept going for 20 years. Well, it sure seems to me that McCain's decades long,Continue reading “McCain’s Phil Gramm: Worse Than Rev. Jeremiah Wright”

We're not going to wait for righties to smear Michelle Obama…     (Hat tip: The Talent Show via This Modern World.)

More fun at Grampy McSame's expense here (WARNING: avoid drinking while browsing link, as it may result in oral spraying of liquid upon your monitor).

May 23, 2008 (huffpo / APJ) – How can it be said that Senator Clinton is expanding the boundaries of what is possible for all women when she keeps defining her continued legitimacy by claiming working class, particularly older, white women voters will never expand theirs – i.e. will not, no never, vote for BarackContinue reading “Even More Confused about Women and Hillary”

Here's a story the loyal Bushies tried to slip under the radar at the tail end of the weekly news cycle: Hans von Spakovsky, the notorious anti-minority, anti-elderly disenfranchisement specialist "voter fraud" guru, has withdrawn his name from consideration for a seat on the FEC.  Politico.com claims he was "[p]leading financial hardship," but the truthContinue reading “Buh-bye Hans! Don’t let the door hit’cha…”

The mainstream media hasn't exactly been going out of their way to report on one particularly explosive revelation in Cliff Schecter's new book, The Real McCain: Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain’s intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on theContinue reading “John McCain and the “C” Word”

Bill Richardson llama por teléfono Hillary Clinton:  Soy el hijo estropeado y privilegiado de un banquero mexicano con un apellido inglés. Soy también un traidor! Hehehehe! Viva Obama! (Bill Richardson makes a telephone call to Hillary Clinton: I am the spoiled and privileged son of a Mexican banker with an English surname. I am alsoContinue reading “?Usted tambi?n Richardson?”

Hillary Clinton has essentially two options: hang on to her determination to win the Democratic presidential nomination by any and all means necessary, which will almost certainly result in the election of John McCain, or let go of her personal ambition and join a united effort to elect a Democratic President in November. Winning bothContinue reading “The Monkey Trap, and Hillary Clinton’s Blind Rush to Defeat”

Just to change the subject… March 4, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – Just to change the subject, I thought we might begin to think about Vlad "The Impaler" Putin and his innovative hand-picked president, Dimitry Medvedev, the jockey-sized academic who will replace Mr. Putin as President of Russia in several weeks. I have to sayContinue reading “Speaking of Vladimir Putin and Dimitry Medvedev…”

The Democrat's optimism is built upon a foundation of demonstrably false assumptions, of which Democratic party officials and Democratic voters might be readily disabused, if they bothered to soberly reflect upon the most recent presidential elections and upon evidence that is plainly before them. "The man that once did sell the lion’s skin while theContinue reading “Let’s Stifle the Happy Talk”

Hillary Clinton remains the best choice for Americans – perhaps for reasons you have not considered… Feb. 4, 2008 – Feb. 4, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – My family and I have been fighting in the trenches and the sidelines for not simply equal rights but equal access and equal future possibilities for nearly aContinue reading “Why Barack Obama Should Not Win on Super Tuesday”

It has arrived – in the form of the notorious Don Siegelman case. Jan. 30, 2008 (crisispapers.org) – Today, Don Siegelman, former governor of the state of Alabama, sits in a federal prison, sentenced to a seven year term for bribery. Every day that Siegelman remains in prison every American citizen who openly dissents fromContinue reading “The Gulag Comes to America”

Jan. 3, 2008 –Geneva (apj.us) – Oh, no! Surly old Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has just been given the figurative kiss of death: Human Events magazine endorsed him this weekend! The poor guy.

What the heck is tobacco lobbyist George Mitchell doing investigating anyone? Dec. 14, 2007 – Washington (apj.us) – Why was former Senator George Mitchell chosen to write a report on baseball players' use of steroids?  Certainly his own prostrate cancer was not caused by his taking steroids, and it seems kind of weird to haveContinue reading “Lynching Baseball Players”

Jeff Koopersmith reviews Mark Penn's new book, "Microtrends." August 30, 2007 –Geneva (apj.us) – Many of you have no idea who Mark Penn is, or what he has accomplished during his lifetime, yet I can tell you candidly that he is one of America’s most accomplished thinkers, businessmen, societal geomancers, and both a political andContinue reading “Seeing America and the World through Mark Penn?s Eyes”

FOX News creates “Cleopatra’s Son” for your redneck amusement I am not certain about you, of course, but I have an out-of-the-ordinary feeling about Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama and his lightening-like, high-speed leap into world stratosphere politics. One thing I do know: Senator Obama’s people pay far more attention to the jackals readyContinue reading “Whipping Barack Obama”

June 13, 2007 (crisispapers.org) – The Administration of George Bush has, in effect, suspended the Constitution of the United States. At Guantánamo in Cuba, in military prisons in the United States, and in secret detention facilities abroad, American citizens and non-citizens are being held without charge, without counsel, without prospect of a jury trial, inContinue reading “The Delinquent Congress”

So much for Condi, Dick and George W. Bush ZURICH – Can you imagine just how uncomfortable it is to be Tony Snow, a man who rose from his hospital bed to “serve his president” with a litany of lies sure to lose his place in heaven, if his stint at Fox News didn’t doContinue reading “In Case You Did Not Notice, Musharraf is Toast”

Another Chapter in the Criminal History of the Bush Administration May 17, 2007 – Imagine this.  It's winter in 2004 and Condi Rice, former oil company executive – now President Bush’s national security advisor – decides to re-implement a national eavesdropping program that smacks of Soviet Russia under Stalin.  This program was so criminal thatContinue reading “Felons in the Night ? Including Attorney General Gonzales”

What next? Dennis Kucinich supporting a nuclear attack on Iran? March 3, 2007 – Zurich (apj.us) – I just returned to Switzerland after my jaunt in the Middle East, saddened by what I witnessed in Iraq the this week.  There was Senator John McCain, with a couple of other Republicans, telling the world that theyContinue reading “Never Sadder: Watching Senator McCain Chuck In the Sponge”