Mori Dinauer

What the hell, let’s engage in some irresponsible 2012 presidential speculation. I see that the Republican primary is essentially (I don’t consider the former governor of Alaska to be viable) down to Romney and Huckabee, which, as David Weigel puts it, “emphasizes the power Mike Huckabee has to shape the race.” Why is this? Because […]

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Republicans are now suddenly talking about the filibuster as an undemocratic abomination or that they would continue to lie out of convenience or ignorance about the costs/benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Whatever principles inform the conservative mind are conspicuously absent in the modern Republican Party. Since it’s politically possible […]

Yesterday, First Read had an item correcting a Washington Post article that claimed “federal authorities” were attempting to move the Jared Loughner trial to San Diego, which is actually up to the judge. Now, I bring this up because it’s a great example of the mainstream journalism correcting a false meme. But my question is […]

According to the Heritage Foundation, America continues its steep descent on the “economic freedom” scale, dropping to ninth overall, firmly in the “mostly free” bracket. Now, I happen to believe economic freedom is a good and important thing. But it is one freedom among many. For the libertarian right, however, economic freedom is freedom, QED. […]

I know we’re all feeling unified as Americans after last night’s speech, but Sen. Mark Udall‘s idea to have bipartisan seating for the upcoming State of the Union Address feels gimmicky. As Dan Amira writes, the normal separation allows viewers to see “in real time” politicians’ “positions on the president’s agenda” and “allows us to […]

Yesterday, David Weigel noted that compared to four years ago, no one has so much as launched a presidential exploratory committee, but as of today Herman Cain has thrown his hat in the ring. Who’s Herman Cain? Read Weigel’s follow-up for that. Jonathan Bernstein explores the reasons why there’s such a slow start for the […]

It looks as though an emerging conservative narrative coming out of Saturday’s violence is that once again, a Democratic president will knowingly exploit the event to blame the conservative media for inciting violence. Or in the words of the ever classy Rush Limbaugh, “What Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of […]

Nothing in our politics is responsible for Saturday’s horror. But it was inevitable that a discussion about the tone of our politics would ensue. It was a problem before Saturday, and it remains a problem now. Here’s a quote from a Tea Party leader, defending his members’ revolutionary language: “When we talk about Barack Obama, […]

Democrats certainly lack the message discipline Republicans have, but it wouldn’t hurt to remind everyone that Republicans do not care about the deficit. They rely on gimmicks to falsely claim the ACA explodes the deficit. They are repeatedly on record voting for policy that increases the deficit. They ignore CBO scores that disprove their nonsensical […]

That conservatives, and the conservative Republicans they helped elect, would read aloud a sanitized Constitution that Huck Finns or edits out the embarrassing stuff about human beings owning other human beings speaks volumes about the cowardice at the heart of “American Greatness/Exceptionalism” that animates American conservatism. How fragile do you have to be to be […]