Whenever a new controversy comes up over the content of textbooks in Texas, we’re reminded that because the state is so large, the demands it makes on textbook publishers can set an agenda for the whole country. The latest controversy concerns some conservatives’ belief that textbooks have been indoctrinating students with pro-Islamic propaganda. Sure, it’s […]
Paul Waldman
Paul Waldman is a weekly columnist and senior writer for The American Prospect. He also writes for the Plum Line blog at The Washington Post and The Week and is the author of Being Right Is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success.
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The Pledge to Whine at America
(Flickr/bbaunach) A quick note on the GOP’s “Pledge to America,” which I’m sure we’ll all have more to say about later. There isn’t much that will surprise you — they hate taxes and want to repeal the Affordable Care Act — but I have to point out this line from the rather lengthy document, in […]
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Sharron Angle’s Fundraising Genius
Via Taegan Goddard, the Las Vegas Sun gets a recording of Sharron Angle explaining her fundraising strategy at a house party: When I get a friendly press outlet — not so much the guy that’s interviewing me — it’s their audience that I’m trying to reach. So, if I can get on Rush Limbaugh, and […]
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Rich “Small Business” People = Rich People.
Republicans and Democrats have been spending time arguing about just how much of a blow to small businesses it will be if we allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire, while keeping the cuts for everyone earning less than $250,000. The answer is that a) the overwhelming majority of people with small-business […]
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Real Americans Losing Evolutionary Race to Fake Americans.
Less disease-ridden than you’d think. (Flickr/TheDreamSky) Many politicians, most notably Sarah Palin, portray those who live in small towns and rural areas as “real” Americans, while those who live in cities are presumably unreal, or not quite American. Well, those urban hipsters with their fixed-gear bikes and tolerance for diversity may be on to something. […]
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Tea Party Standard
All the talk of shaking up the establishment notwithstanding, once they take office the Tea Partiers will fit comfortably within the GOP.
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The Force Is Strong With Them.
When the Obama administration was deciding how to deal with the Elizabeth Warren question, they faced a lot of competing pressures. Progressives had become invested in Warren’s appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that exists because it was Warren’s idea in the first place. Banks and Republicans, on the other hand, don’t […]
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The Opposite of Humble.
When attendees at last week’s Values Voter Summit made Indiana Congressman Mike Pence the winner of their presidential straw poll, he wanted everyone to hear one message: I, Mike Pence, am a man of great humility. Not only that, his wife is humble too. “Karen and I are humbled by the results of today’s straw […]
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Happy Koufax Day.
(Flickr/rbglasson) Over at The Atlantic, Alan Siegel reminds us that it was 45 years ago today (by the Jewish calendar, anyway) that Sandy Koufax decided that he was not going to pitch on Yom Kippur. His decision still resonates, particularly since we continue to fight about who counts as a real American. This was at […]
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Now They’re Really in Trouble.
Yesterday, Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine unveiled the DNC’s new website, logo, and slogan (“Change that matters”). I looked at the site and the logo, and my first reaction was, “This kind of sucks.” See for yourself: I’m all for getting past the donkey, but that “D” in a circle almost looks like a […]
