The Tea Party is frequently described as a new phenomena in American politics, but as Kevin Drum notes in a piece for Mother Jones, the opposite is true; like the John Birch Society or Arkansas Project before it, the Tea Party is the latest instance of a right-wing reaction that happens whenever we have a […]
Jamelle Bouie
Jamelle Bouie is a staff writer at The American Prospect.
Follow @jbouie
Posted inArticle
To Halt Executive Power, We Need Another Watergate.
On Twitter, after Julian Sanchez floated the possibility of GOP opposition to the Obama administration’s push for Internet wiretaps, Matthew Yglesias made a funny — but correct — prediction about the likely path for civil liberties and executive power: My prediction: Continued erosion of civil liberties –> massive Nixon-style political abuse scandal –> restoration of […]
Posted inArticle
The Complacency Gap.
In his interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama admonished Democrats for their low enthusiasm: “It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election,” the president told the magazine. Obama went on to describe his administration as the “most successful in a generation in moving progressive […]
Posted inEducation in America
Nonbelievers, Privilege, and Religious Knowledge.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently conducted a survey where they phoned more than 3,400 Americans and surveyed them on basic religious knowledge. The results, I gather, were a little surprising: Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions […]
Posted inArticle
White Men Are Pretty Conservative.
Writing at Politico, Ben Smith notes that men are the driving force behind the massive GOP surge in elections across the country: Men are not only more loyal to the GOP than two years ago but also more motivated to vote, recent polls suggest. This year’s central issues are ones that politicians traditionally use to […]
Posted inEducation in America
The Upsides of Misplaced Focus.
Writing at her blog, Dana Goldstein reminds would-be education reformers that most American schools actually serve their students pretty well: This is, in part, the point Nick Lemann made in his New Yorker column on “the overblown crisis in American education.” It’s important to note that the major problem with American education is the problem […]
Posted inArticle
Tyranny in the Real World.
There’s a portion in the GOP’s “Pledge for America” where the authors decry an “unchecked executive” who “strikes down long-standing laws and institutions” while “scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.” Given their past rhetoric, Republicans are probably referring to our duly elected executive’s decision to pursue health-care reform and other tyrannical measures like […]
Posted inArticle
Crime and Recessions, Cont.
Mona Charen‘s latest piece is on the “dodged bullet” of lower crime during a high-poverty recession. She repeats the conventional wisdom about crime increasing during periods of economic decline, and wonders why that isn’t the case for this recession: Here is a curious thing about that increasing poverty, though, and it’s something that has received […]
Posted inArticle
Enter John Thune.
By way of Mike Allen‘s Playbook is Stephen Hayes‘ Weekly Standard piece on South Dakota Sen. John Thune. According to Hayes, Thune — touted previously by David Brooks — has all but committed to a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012: Several people close to the senator say they would be surprised if […]
Posted inArticle
The More Things Change…
In an interview with Bloomberg, Bill Clinton offered some tidbits of advice to Democrats: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said his fellow Democrats should stop “mealy mouthing around” and start taking the fight to Republicans in the final weeks before this year’s congressional elections. “The Democrats ought to stand up and fight,” Clinton said in […]
