Blog Entries

The conventions are behind us, and as the balloons and confetti are swept up, it's time for for the watchdog to make its weekend rounds. The Sunday show line-up particularly interesting this week, both because of the names you see and the names you don't see. 

At least one politician who made a big splash this week isn't taking any questions for a while, but there's lots of time to study (and time for tutoring) on the way home for all the questions to come on the campaign trail. In the meantime, we'll have to make do with the line-up we've got.

• That "JUST SAY NO TO B.O." bumper sticker with the picture of Barack that I mentioned yesterday? I asked one of the vendors selling it, "Isn't it a little juvenile to say your political opponent smells?" Answer: "Well, maybe he does. You never know." more »

Here's another NIXONLAND parallel. In 1966 George Wallace, when he couldn't run for governor again because of Alabama law, decided to run his wife Lurleen instead. more »

I love this bit from a September 2 Wall Street Journal article about Wasilla, Alaska, under the Sarah Palin regime:

Wasilla has neither a planning nor a zoning board, and it shows. “The box stores and businesses are king,” says Curt Menard, mayor of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which includes Wasilla. The town “is a wild, wild West show, in the development sense.” more »

Do you remember the "misery index" that became an iconic feature of the economic debates in the late 1970s and 1980? Well, it's back and it's bad—worse than it has been in more than 17 years. Progressives need to talk about the misery index and argue for bold economic policies. Let's talk about it. more »

Enormously gratifying to see how many bloggers have found my book NIXONLAND illuminating of Sara Palin's speech last night, and of the Republicans' convention narrative generally. more »

In the current issue of The Nation (which also featured a cover story co-authored by our own Bob Borosage), Chris Bowers pointed out a structural truth that lies at the heart of both American political parties. In the Age of Reagan, it came to pass that the GOP consolidated itself as the party of people who are white and Christian. more »

At the Denver convention, Sen. Barack Obama gave a very fine acceptance speech, but not a great one. Winning the battle against conservatism requires going beyond personality and empathy and clearly—and extremely briefly—stating the case for progressive reform. more »

Conservatism is addicted to snidery, and Gov. Sarah Palin looks to be just another pusher. more »

Since Sarah Palin's speech was allegedly already written even before she was picked as John McCain's running mate, I think it's fair game to run a piece I wrote before she was John McCain's running mate... more »