“The role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now—and will soon flame out. Whether he does or not, he isn’t the face or disposition that should represent modern-day conservatism. At a time when we should aim for intellectual [...]

To all of those Donklephant commenters, this one’s for you… How am I supposed to complete my English assignment on finding fallacy in political blogs when all you people keep backing up your sources!? Where are all the non sequiturs and equivocations!? I suppose there were a few hasty generalizations, but I need more please. [...]

I write one, Jason writes one, I write another, and Jason writes another. And so I write this…

Perhaps he’s seeing the bipartisan/populist writing on the wall? So, will the Baucus bill begin to get some traction in conservative circles? More as it develop…

“We finally have a bipartisan health-care bill, the Baucus bill–both sides hate it equally.” – Huckabee talking to Values Voters conference (via @thenote) I think he meant it as a slight, but when neither side is getting what they want…that’s a pretty good sign to me that you’ve found something that both sides should be [...]

This is partially in response to Jason’s post over at Poligazette that the Baucus bill doesn’t represent bipartisan compromise and the lion’s share of blame shouldn’t fall on Republicans to accept it. In fact, he states that the tenor of this debate (which he claims liberals are equally responsible for) is the real reason why [...]

Here are the facts. Racism has been rising steadily over the last few months. In recent polls, President Obama’s job approval number has dropped from 70% to 50%. This means the percentage of racists in this country has risen from 30% to 50% – a 67% increase in only eight months! Even more alarming, close to one out of two Americans are now racist. We have reached a tipping point. If this trend continues, the racists will soon be in a majority. Now, more than ever, we need the pundits and sages of the mainstream media to speak out.

The bill that Baucus passed today didn’t have a public option in it. Let me repeat that…Baucus’ bill had NO PUBLIC OPTION in it. Yes, there are decentralized not-for-profit co-ops, but that’s definitely not a public option as had been proposed. Here’s more about what’s in the bill, from Politico: The bill requires individuals to [...]

The ballyhooed bi-partisan bill isn’t anymore and that could spell big political problems for Dems and the White House. More at True/Slant…

Between multiple outside projects and general blogging malaise at the end of the summer, I’m fairly unmotivated. Pile on top of that the fact that most of the people I invited to help out on the blog a couple months ago have either dropped out, barely done anything or haven’t even started (with the notable [...]

There we were on vacation. [side note: I just got back from a week-long hiatus] Able, for once, to actually watch news as-it-happens. The Wife and I decided to take a break from reading various novels and making piña coladas to watch President Obama address a joint session of Congress — and the nation at [...]

Independent Voters Health care debate tide turns — again… Obama must prod Demos toward agreement on health-care legislation (By Dan Balz, The Washington Post) The most immediate task at hand for President Barack Obama in his drive to win enactment of health-care legislation is to bring together members of his party behind a single piece [...]

“Sometimes you have to make the tough decisions. If you think this has to be done, you have my blessing. But someday you guys are going to need to tell me how we ended up with a system like this. I know this is not the time to test them and put them through failure, [...]

If you’re not familiar with Talk Talk, a weekly news analysis by independent strategists Fred Newman and Jackie Salit, I highly recommend you check it out. Here’s last week’s from Sunday, September 6, 2009 Every week CUIP’s president Jacqueline Salit and strategist/philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts [...]

Independent Voters Independent voters may be “all over the map” ideologically, but most think the US should get out of Afghanistan… Pelosi Sees Support Ebbing for Afghan War (By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and NAFTALI BENDAVID, Wall Street Journal) Support among Democratic and independent voters for the Afghan war has been evaporating for months, and a [...]

CNN’s American Morning Speaks to Independents on 9/11 Jackie Salit, IndependentVoting.org President, to Appear Polarization has frequently been part of America’s political culture, but the divisions over healthcare and the President’s education speech have flooded the airwaves. As we mark another anniversary of 9/11, the sense of fellowship that emerged from that tragedy seems to [...]

First off, my takeaways about the policy in the speech… You can’t be dropped because of pre-existing conditions. No surprise there, but to me this is the most important reform. Also, no more yearly or lifetime caps. For catastrophic illness, this is a must. Stressing that nobody will be forced to change doctors or insurance [...]

Just in case you haven’t seen it… Would love to hear your thoughts, but please be civil.

And [our predecessors] knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil [...]

In a post about excerpts of Obama’s health care speech released earlier today I predicted the following… Republicans who don’t want health care reform to pass will be out in full force filling the airwaves with disinfo. That’s nothing new, but this time they’ll be desperate because this speech will be positioned as a game [...]