Month: September 2014

2014 House GOP hopefuls are farther right than the incumbents One nominee proposed reclassifying single parenthood as child abuse. Another suggested that four “blood moons” would herald “world-changing, shaking-type events” and said Islam was not a religion but a “complete geopolitical structure” unworthy of tax exemption. Still another labeled Hillary Rodham Clinton “the Antichrist.” Congressional Republicans…

Tom Cotton and the era of post-truth politics A couple of years ago, Mitt Romney developed a bad habit. As part of his national campaign, the Republican nominee would attack President Obama over some perceived failing. Then the attack would be fact-checked and be proven wrong. Romney, confronted with proof that he was lying, would…

Venture capitalists are poised to ‘disrupt’ everything about the ‘education market’ (bye-bye democracy if they succeed) Next year, the market size of K-12 education is projected to be $788.7 billion. And currently, much of that money is spent in the public sector. “It’s really the last honeypot for Wall Street,” says Donald Cohen, the executive…

The Clinton team is following reporters to the bathroom. Here’s why that matters Amy Chozick is the reporter tasked with covering the Clintons—and the runup to the now-almost-inevitable Hillary Clinton presidential bid —for the New York Times. Sounds like a plum gig, right? Until, that is, a press aide for the Clinton Global Initiative follows you…

Angry letters to the one member of Congress who voted against the War on Terror Barbara Lee was the lone dissenter in the post-9/11 vote authorizing military force. Many called her a traitor. But her constituents shared her concerns—and history has vindicated them. In the hours after the attacks of September 11, 2oo1, they were…

What Democrats don’t get about 2014 Last week’s reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will take out a $10 million loan to fuel a major closing push for the midterms indicate a smart move. It’s much better to finish the campaign in debt, knowing you gave your team’s players all the assistance they could…

Republican proposal for labor law ‘reform’ ‘a disgrace,’ labor leader says Senate Republicans say they have a plan to save U.S. labor law from partisanship and dysfunction. But their prescription for reform could make for even more gridlock—and critics say that’s the whole idea. On the Senate floor last Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) unveiled a…

Democrats turn on Debbie Wasserman Schultz Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most. Long-simmering doubts about her have reached…

‘They refuse to admit they were wrong’: How nightmare prosecutors pervert American justice Last week, historian Rick Perlstein wrote an important piece about the Nixon pardon, which he shows was the true beginning of the political culture that holds that business elites and government actors cannot be held accountable for corruption and malfeasance because it will “destabilize”…