MISSING FROM THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE is a national conversation about the work we have left to do to combat HIV/AIDS right here in the United States. I can’t mention this statistic enough: In the city of Washington, D.C., 1 in 20 people is HIV-positive, an infection rate higher than that of many African nations. […]
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.
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IRAQ WAR “LARGELY ABOUT OIL.”
IRAQ WAR “LARGELY ABOUT OIL.” That’s the conclusion Alan Greenspan comes to in his new memoir. I’ve always thought that argument deserved to be taken more seriously, not as the only reason for the push to war, but as the major economic rationale motivating the idealistic neocon project of “democratizing” the Middle East by force. […]
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EDWARDS ON POVERTY, IMMIGRATION, THE WAR AT SEIU.
EDWARDS ON POVERTY, IMMIGRATION, THE WAR AT SEIU. A key distinction emerges between John Edwards and Hillary Clinton; Hillary discussed the history of labor in terms of the creation of the middle class, Edwards portrays it as a fight against poverty: “The greatest anti-poverty movement in American history is the organized labor movement.” This is […]
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MAN OF THE HOUR?
MAN OF THE HOUR? The feeling coming into this SEIU candidates’ forum was that today’s event was John Edwards‘ to win or lose. But that was before Barack Obama truly blew the crowd away earlier this afternoon. Edwards isn’t going to be able to match Obama’s energy — the Senator from Illinois was in rare […]
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QUOTABLE HILLARY.
QUOTABLE HILLARY. We’re awaiting John Edwards at the SEIU forum, but in the meantime, here are two interesting quotes from Hillary’s speech, which just ended. On the Petraeus report and Bush‘s refusal to redeploy more than 30,000 troops from Iraq, she said, “Those troops were coming home anyway. The President taking credit for that is […]
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HILLARY ON HEALTH CARE.
HILLARY ON HEALTH CARE. On the day she released her universal health care proposal, Clinton promises the SEIU that health care will be her number one domestic priority as president. She outlines her proposal as thus: Getting rid of coverage denials due to pre-existing conditions, genetic test results, or disabilities. She talks about employers and […]
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HRC AT THE SEIU.
HRC AT THE SEIU. Hillary’s goal today is to recast herself as a populist, despite organized labor’s skepticism of her husband’s trade policies and her own ties to corporate donors and advisers. “People say, ‘Well, when you’re president, will labor have a seat at the table?’ Labor built the table,” she says. To a great […]
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HERE COMES HILLARY AT SEIU.
HERE COMES HILLARY AT SEIU. We’re watching her “day in my shoes” video. Clinton went to work with a nurse and she speaks about the importance of lowering nurse-patient ratios. Now she’s actually coming on stage to the cheesy tune that won her campaign song contest, “You and I” by Celine Dion. We were all […]
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INTERPRETATIVE DANCE.
INTERPRETATIVE DANCE. This is bizarre. In the break before Hillary speaks, a modern dance troupe is leading SEIU members here at the Washington Hilton in a “step up, speak out” dance. Back here at the press tables, cynicism prevails. —Dana Goldstein
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OKAY, HE’S DOING PRETTY WELL.
OKAY, HE’S DOING PRETTY WELL. Richardson is giving a broad speech here, linking labor issues with some other, very important ones. He has just promised to increase funding for public transportation with the goal of combating environmental degradation, preserving open space, and of course, creating jobs. Good stuff. Richardson got a sustained standing ovation as […]
