President
MEMBERS ONLY: Beto Shouldn't Run In 2020, But Not Because He Can't Win
This week, outgoing Congressman Beto O’Rourke said he would not rule out running for president in 2020. While a tantalizing prospect, should Beto run, he may be missing an opportunity to build something else far more powerful in the long run.... To continue reading this article, ...read more
The Left Needs to Acknowledge Its Sexism, Part Two: Kamala Harris Edition
Note: the following is the second in an ongoing series about the sexism problem on the left. To read the first of these pieces, click here. I’ve been dissatisfied with Bernie Sanders’ supporters since he announced his campaign back in June of 2015, not because I was angry that ...read more
Washington, DC Is the Least Honest Place in the US
Washington, DC is not a popular place. That's not really new. For years I have been told that people "inside the beltway" are disconnected from the ordinary, hard working Americans that live outside of it. New polling data released this week shows Congress' approval rating ...read more
Bill O'Reilly's Severe Cognitive Dissonance
In an astonishing segment on his show, Bill O'Reilly goes on a rant about 'far Left' elements in America that can only be described as an epic bout of cognitive dissonance. The segment starts with O'Reilly plays a clip of himself pre-election stating that: "20 years ago, ...read more
Left Needs to Monitor Obama on Social Programs if he Wins
As most of our readers know, I'm squarely in the Obama camp for the Presidential election. This isn't because I agree with everything he has done or pledges to do in office - far from it - Obama has disappointed me on many, many issues to the point where my defense of him has ...read more
Quote of the Day: Who Loves Debt More, Democrats or Republicans?
Steve Clemons looks at the data and concludes one thing: Republicans love debt a whole lot more than the Democrats: As the debates on who is responsible for the levels of federal debt continue to play out in the next 10 days before the election and the 66 days before the US ...read more
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Top Romney Adviser John Sununu Should Step Down over Powell Comments
By Ben Cohen: Romney campaign co-chairman John Sununu told CNN's Piers Morgan on Thursday night that Colin Powell endorsed President Barack Obama not because of his policies, but because Obama was somebody of Powell's 'own race'. Sununu served as the 75th Governor of New ...read more
Third and Final Presidential Debate Live Blog!!!
[liveblog]Ok, we're off to a ripping start. Obama goes on the attack immediately accusing Romney of being completely out of touch with reality. He accuses Romney of thinking the biggest geo political threat is Russia! He then lambasts him for being wrong 'every single time' ...read more
Quote of the Day: What Obama Needs to Remember for the Debate
Michael Tomasky on what the President needs to bear in mind when he goes into the debate with Romney tonight: I hope that someone can say to him, “Mr. President, 70 million or more Americans are counting on you. They voted for you, they’re planning on voting for you again, and ...read more
Breaking News: Mitt Romney Likes Cute Puppies
After several days of doing research, interviewing sources and writing up the two pieces we put out on Mitt Romney's hidden fortune (part 1 here, and part 2 here), we received a fair amount of traffic on the site. The two pieces we put out generated in excess of 3000 views ...read more
The JFK Era: When Democrats were Democrats
Politicians today could learn a thing or two from JFK. In this excellent speech, the 35th President of the United States lays out a forceful defense of government and its positive role in society: This is what we need to hear from Obama in the next debate. The poll numbers are ...read more
Ok, Now Obama Needs to Worry
The latest from Gallup: The polling is still not quite settled, but there does appear to be a trend favoring Romney at the moment - and this should cause Obama to take note. Writes Nate Silver: That’s an awful lot to accomplish in one night, especially considering that Mr. ...read more
The Difference Between Obama and Romney: Outcomes
In a thoughtful piece about the choice Americans have this election, Gary Younge concludes that despite Obama's many flaws, a vote for Romney leads to quantifiably worse outcomes: Insisting it makes no difference who wins is not tenable. Last year Chelsea Shinneman of Roanoke, ...read more
Romney Should be Very, Very Worried about this
Nate Silver's latest projections if the election was held today (blue is Obama, red, Romney): We've still got the debates to come, the economy could go into free fall, and Obama could make a catastrophic error, but it seems highly unlikely Romney will be able to pull back from ...read more
Keith Olbermann Hysterical Over Romney Video
I'm still annoyed that Keith Olbermann's gigantic ego destroyed his own career - he'd be extremely useful right now in piling on the Republicans, and he really only has himself to blame. Despite his flaws as a person, he was a voice of sanity in the corporate media and routinely ...read more
The Daily Banter Mail Bag!! Boycotting Chick-Fil-A, Romney vs Bush and Voter Apathy!!!
Welcome to this week's edition of The Daily Banter Mail Bag! Today we talk about boycotting Chick-Fil-A, whether it's acceptable not to vote for Obama this fall if you're a Democrat, and whether Romney is as bad as George W. Bush as a Presidential candidate. The questions:I ...read more
Top Ten Gore Vidal Quotes
By Ben Cohen: I'm sure lots of outlets will be doing similar lists of the late iconic Gore Vidal's best quotes, but I thought I'd chime in with my own as there are plenty to choose from. Here are the ones I believe capture the genius of the man who stands as one of the most ...read more
Obama on Colorado Shooting: "Life is Fragile"
President Obama dropped his planned campaign speech in Florida over the weekend and instead held a moment of silence for the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shootings. Said the President: "And if there's anything to take away from this tragedy it's the reminder that life is ...read more
Romney Redeems Himself....Sort of....
You have to give credit where credit is due, and at a town hall meeting in Ohio on Tuesday, Romney was asked a question by a woman who called Obama “a monster.” Amazingly (for Romney at least) he didn't wait for any polls to come out before he responded. “That’s not the term I ...read more
Obama Campaign Video Hits Romney Where it Hurts
I know, I know, the people responsible for running Barack Obama's media campaign are the same people who sell you Pepsi, but the new campaign video is actually pretty good (and accurate): I've been wondering about this whole 'retro actively' retired business for a couple of ...read more
The Fox and the Pig
By Chez Pazienza: There's an old saying that I'm a big fan of: Never try to teach a pig to sing -- it wastes your time and annoys the pig. I think of this every time I get the urge to lash out at Fox News for some irresponsible, grossly unethical thing or other that the network ...read more
Quote of the Day: Romney "Terrified By His Own Mouth"
Joe Klein on team Romney's extraordinary efforts to stop reporters talking to him: Mitt Romney is clearly a candidate terrified by his own mouth. What other explanation for his campaign’s extreme efforts to prevent reporters from asking him questions? I know that there isn’t ...read more
Quote of the Day: Don't Apologize for Supporting Obama
Bob Cesca hammers home the point: Everyone with a realistic view of the the Obama administration knows what's what — for better or worse. At this stage in the proceedings, with another pivotal election around the corner, there's nothing wrong (and everything right) with making ...read more
Quote of the Day: The Real Election
Matt Taibbi on the hidden election this year: In the wake of the Tea Party, the Occupy movement, and a dozen or more episodes of real rebellion on the streets, in the legislatures of cities and towns, and in state and federal courthouses, this presidential race now feels ...read more
Chart of the Day: The Real Debt Villains (and it isn't the Democrats)
A Treasury department graph highlighting the debt under Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton and Obama (via Bob Cesca): Of course this graph is a reflection of reality and the Republicans aren't really interested in that. The Republican line states that Obama started two foreign wars while ...read more
Quote of the Week: Planet Republican
Bob Cesca on the alternate universe created by the Republican Party: Their ability to shape their own reality -- to blame the president for the entire recession while simultaneously rigging the game against the recovery is unprecedented in American political history. It's ...read more
Republicans Believe Those Without Insurance Should be Left to Die
If you are a liberal dissatisfied with President Obama and are threatening not to vote for him in 2012, just watch this video from last night's Republican debate where Ron Paul was asked whether he thought someone without health insurance should be left to die. Paul waxed lyrcial ...read more
Is Obama Getting Serious About a Jobs Program?
This is a snippet from President Obama's Labor Day speech in Detroit in front of an audience of blue collar workers: Judging by the rhetoric, it would seem that Thursday's speech about job creation might actually involve something substantial. There will no doubt be the usual ...read more
George Bush Was Liberal Compared to Rick Perry
Yes, it has really come to that. The Republican party is now so extreme that George Bush would be considered a liberal in the current Presidential field. Michael Tomasky draws a comparison: Bush—and it leaves me speechless that he’s starting to look reasonable by comparison ...read more
Obama's Poll Numbers Are No Predictor of Second Term Chances
There's much talk of Obama not having the numbers to get a second term, but according to history, it's just that - talk. Here's an interesting chart looking at previous President's gallup ratings and whether they got a second term (via Andrew Sullivan): According to history at ...read more
Obama Dealing With Fanatics in Debt Talks
Image by BlueRobot via Flickr A couple of years ago I made a decision to ignore arguments coming from the establishment Right. So far removed from reality, it seemed pointless to engage with people who didn't believe in evolution, thought Obama was a Muslim terrorists and ...read more
Sean Hannity Lies About Birther Record
NewsHounds debunks Sean Hannity's assertion that Birtherism wasn't his 'issue': Sean Hannity’s Great American Panel unanimously and emphatically broke ranks with Hannity last night (6/29/11) as each panelist agreed that Donald Trump’s birtherism was offensive and racist. ...read more
Taibbi Slams Douthat
Matt Taibbi takes conservative NYTimes columnist Ross Douthat to task for his recent transformation from war hawk to pacifist: The recent conversions to the cause of foreign-policy prudence by people like Douthat would be obnoxious even if they were believable. It’s easy to ...read more
Cornell West Needs to Substantiate his Claims About Obama
Image via Wikipedia I have been sympathetic to Cornel West and his recent brutal assessment of President Obama, but I can also sympathize with those who found his attacks to be unproductive and unfair. Writes Ta-Nehesi Coates: Both are afflicted with a species of blindness, and ...read more
Chris Hedges on Liberal Sell Outs
In response to the liberal media's hostile reaction to Cornel West's tirade against Obama, Chris Hedges counters with a withering critique of what he sees as the dissipating left in America: The liberal class, by allowing radical movements to be dismembered through Red baiting ...read more
Cornell West Rips Obama
In a scathing interview with Chris Hedges, Princeton Professor and one time Obama campaigner Cornell West tears into Barack Obama for what he sees as a political and personal betrayal on every conceivable level: "It became very clear to me as the announcements were being made,” ...read more
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Democracy
by Chalan Moon Political ideology panders to the imagination very much like pundits persuade the intellectually meek and corruptible. I imagine the efforts of a candidate. He or she boldly delivers unabashed honesty and everyone recognizes it as such. My vote is clear and ...read more