Mori Dinauer

The Obama administration has canceled a Bush-era proposal to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, prompting predictable cries of appeasement from the bellicose right wing which would love nothing more than to escalate tensions between the United States and Russia. If only Obama had looked to history, he would have learned that Reagan […]

While the rest of the political world chews on Max Baucus‘ health-care bill, Harry Reid has indicated that the Senate probably won’t take up climate change legislation until 2010, citing the busy schedule for the rest of the year. Well, maybe that’s true. But the closer Congress gets to Election Day, the more squeamish its […]

Incoherent weekend protests roundup: The Washington Post remains remarkably consistent in it coverage of mass protests over the years; Jonathan Martin points out the obvious; moderate conservative voices are barely audible through the din; should Democrats ignore or engage with the protesters; and crowd estimates ain’t what they used to be. I don’t put a […]

Tim Pawlenty will probably never be president of the United States. But Tim Pawlenty could potentially run for President of the United States in a couple year’s time, so for now we’ll just quietly file away the fact that he refuses to denounce the “death panel” lie and thinks Minnesota could potentially avoid providing wider […]

Can there be any doubt that the Republican party, particularly its leadership, are not serious about governing? I don’t care if Joe Wilson was rude to the president — I’m with my TAPPED colleagues on wanting a more lively Congress — but this is part of a pattern larger than Wilson, who is no stranger […]

Barack Obama is a gifted orator who has given many excellent speeches, but that doesn’t change the fact that good speeches do little to affect presidential approval ratings. That being said, the advance word is that the speech will emphasize that efforts for a “bipartisan” reform bill have failed because only one side is negotiating […]

The policy of health care reform: Max Baucus has finally released the details of the Senate Finance Committee version of health-care reform, and it’s unsurprisingly a mixed bag. Of course, the status quo is untenable, and the would-be Republican alternative (less insurance = more choice!) offers little more than a window into the GOP’s utter […]

Yes, it has gotten crazy out there. And Republicans refuse to denounce it because exploiting the madness helps them in the short term. This is a party that accuses Democratic presidents of indoctrinating schoolchildren with socialism, but not when Republican presidents speak to students. This is a party that financed the Bush years with deficits […]

What is Barack Obama willing to negotiate away on health-care reform? Well, end-of-life counseling probably won’t make it. The public option could be sacrificed. Democrats might need to rely on Olympia Snowe, who has all the leverage. We’re past the point where we can snicker at the crazy claims made by right-wing Republicans. If James […]

Barack Obama has scheduled an address before a joint session of Congress for September 9, presumably to make clear what he wants out of health care reform legislation. According to Politico‘s deep well of anonymous White House sources, the president is considering ditching the public option “to show he is willing to stare down his […]