Mori Dinauer

Late yesterday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously (with five nations abstaining) to create a no-fly zone in Libya and to use “all necessary measures” to ostensibly protect civilians who might be crushed in backlash against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Although the resolution allows for airstrikes and artillery fire, it prohibits the use of an […]

Kevin Drum comments on Matt Yglesias‘ suggestion that “there’s often a tendency to systematically underrate the extent to which it’s possible to change minds over time” and notes the following of public opinion: But at its core, it’s an argument that we should spend more time trying to change public opinion, and when I’ve talked […]

The greatest question in the political blogosphere right now is whether Mitt Romney is a dead man walking or the inevitable 2012 Republican candidate. I’m joking, but as I’ve mentioned before, I think this question is answered pretty easily by looking at how he fared in the 2008 primaries. 2012 will likely be a repeat. […]

There’s nothing new in yesterday’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is strongly supported. So is cutting defense spending and making the rich pay a larger share of tax revenue. Least surprising of all, Americans prefer the federal government do more to combat unemployment than reduce the deficit. Polls […]

Ezra Klein is right that the significance of the Koch prank call to Scott Walker is that certain interest groups have the governor’s ear, any time, all the time. But the issue here is how “special” became a pejorative way of describing what is a dominant feature of our political system. As always, you have […]

The fact that the Koch brothers are planning to pony up $88 million for next year’s elections tells me just one thing: the conservative movement’s paranoia about the consequences of the Obama presidency are incredibly out of whack with the actual accomplishments of the Obama administration. This is a big problem if you’re serious about […]

It’s the first day of CPAC, so let’s take stock of the conservative movement’s success in taking over the Republican party for the good of the nation: The newly empowered Republican House majority is riven with factionalism and can’t get anything done; by one measure, the GOP is less popular than Democrats on the generic […]

Here’s another depressing entry in America’s continuing descent into intellectual stupor, with 15 to 20 percent of high school biology teachers giving lectures on “creationism” instead of the foundations of modern biology. Look, this isn’t hard. Teachers can acknowledge the “controversy” from the outset, and explain that this is a science class, not theology. It […]

I think you could safely assess, on the basis of this New York Times article, that House candidates who ran against earmarks actually had no idea that their constituents expect federal dollars to fund projects in their districts. If, as they say, all politics are local — and I certainly think that is the case […]

Last week, Conor Friedersdorf observed of the conservative noise machine, “It is hard to think of anyone who disrespects and takes advantage of conservatives more than they do.” Now, I’m not a conservative, but I happen to think this is a very big problem. When Rush Limbaugh dismisses as crazy the idea that Ronald Reagan […]