Dana Goldstein

Gen. David Petraeus is currently making his opening statement, which relies heavily upon charts and maps displaying decreases in civilian deaths and attacks and increases in found weapons caches. Petraeus says the the “sectarian hardening” of Iraqi neighborhoods — in other words, the actual increase of ethnic separation and tensions — is only “partially responsible” […]

John McCain just made his opening statement in the Senate, where Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are testifying about American progress in Iraq. Demonstrators are periodically interrupting McCain from the back of the chamber. “I have had this experience previously, Mr. Chairman,” McCain joked to Sen. Carl Levin, who shushed the protesters. Unsurprisingly, […]

I’ve been thinking recently about the “two Howard Deans” — the screamer whose candidacy went up in righteous flames during 2004, and the soft-spoken, seemingly ineffectual Democratic Party leader who is presiding over one of the most confusing primary processes in American political history. Now, over at the Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr has an […]

A new poll out from Planned Parenthood and Hart Research Associates finds that half of female voters in 16 battleground states don’t know enough about A new poll out from Planned Parenthood and Hart Research Associates finds that half of female voters in 16 battleground states don’t know enough about John McCain‘s voting record and […]

At At Politico, Ben Smith interprets Mark Penn‘s departure from Team Hillary as a boost that will lift the morale of all his haters on Clinton’s staff. That may be true — within the myopic confines of the campaign. But to my eyes at least, Penn’s long, controversial tenure, and his axing, just echo a […]

In one of her savviest and classiest moves recently, In one of her savviest and classiest moves recently, Hillary Clinton is using today, the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death, to call for the creation of “poverty czar.” In Memphis, she will say: When I say solutions, I mean finally addressing the scourge of […]

Via Lindsay Beyerstein, here’s a rather bizarre story, as reported by Newsday: WEST POINT, N.Y. – Some cadets at the U.S. Military Academy are getting a taste of what Iraq will be like by taking a field trip — to New Jersey. Army Maj. Rebecca Patterson says cadets taking her “Winning the Peace” class will […]

I’ve been meaning to call attention to dear Ezra‘s column on prison rape. Ezra writes, astutely: Prison rape occupies a fairly odd space in our culture. It is, all at once, a cherished source of humor, a tacitly accepted form of punishment and a broadly understood human rights abuse. We pass legislation called the Prison […]

I suppose we’d all be better off if more of us — especially our elected leaders — gave the economic crisis more thought in the middle of the night. But this new Hillary Clinton TV ad, which uses the “3 a.m., phone ringing” trope to critique John McCain on the economy, is really just stunningly […]