Kate Sheppard

DECIDEDLY PURPLE. E.J. Dionne Jr. ponders whether Mark Warner will be able to turn purple Virginia blue, and help bump the red/blue divide a little further south. But the thesis of his article is that the Dems can, and will, win these states by putting forth moderate candidates who appeal to suburbanites. “Safe, soothing and […]

SUCK ON THIS. Via Chris Hayes, Tom Friedman on the Charlie Rose Show: “We hit Iraq because we could.” I appreciate his candor, but what’s that mean now that we’re stuck in this remnants of that bubble, clutching our ever-shortening stick? Points for honesty though. –Kate Sheppard

FACT CHECK. Our own Terence Samuel examines the implications for Republicans of Bush’s embrace of the Petraeus report, and gets at the point I made last night: “The Iraq war, judged by the number of American troops engaged at the front, will look next spring the same as it did last spring — more than […]

NUMBERS. ABC News is reporting that Bush will announce plans to pull 5,700 troops out of Iraq by the end of the year during tonight’s speech. The New York Times reports that he’s going to call for a troop reduction of 30,000 by July 2008. Both numbers are far below what most Dems would like […]

ARE WE HAVING FUND YET? A scientific panel created in 2002 at the behest of President Bush is failing largely due to Bush administration funding cuts and delays, according to a report issued by an independent review by the National Academy of Sciences issued Thursday. The Climate Change Science Program was intended to improve climate […]

OP-ED AUTHORS PERISH IN IRAQ DURING PETRAEUS TESTIMONY. As Gen. Petraeus was testifying before Congress this week about the progress of the surge, two of the seven soldiers on active duty who penned last month’s New York Times op-ed questioning whether we are making any gains in Iraq died in a vehicle accident in western […]

NYET GAIN. Via the Progress Report, we learn that today has been designated the Day of Conception in Russia, which just happens to coincide with Putin’s unceremonious disbanding of the government. Today falls exactly nine months before Russia Day, and as one of Putin’s policies to encourage more breeding in his country, he’s offered SUVs, […]

THE GAS REGULATIONS WE PASS. A federal judge in Vermont ruled against the auto industry today, upholding states’ rights to set tougher fuel economy standards than the federal government. Automakers have attempted to block California, Vermont, and 13 other states from instating new efficiency requirements that would require vehicles to get at least 43 miles […]

HELLO, NURSE. Could nurses simultaneously save unions and lead the fight for a solid, universal health care plan? If what’s going on in California is any indication, caregivers could reinvigorate the movement and take it beyond the bargaining table and into national politics. Nurses in California marched on the capitol Monday, and prompted Gov. Arnold […]

RE(A)D ALL OVER. To jump on the discussion of the new Media Matters report that finds that conservative syndicated columnists are published much more frequently than their liberal counterparts, while I’m on board with Ezra and Matt‘s musing about the possible reasons this is true, I think there may also be another factor at work, […]