The atmosphere on the morning of Monday, January 23, was more of a bad dream than a press conference. I was in a small room in the basement of the U.S. Capitol; sitting directly behind me amid the rows of cheap folding chairs was a young man from the National Union for Democracy in Iran, […]
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Wage War
Bob Schwartz is out to raise Arizona’s minimum wage. Or, more accurately, he’s trying to create one, since the state has no minimum wage of its own and relies instead on the federal standard, which has been stuck at $5.15 since 1997. Last summer the Tucson lawyer launched a campaign to collect 300,000 signatures to […]
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Ashes of ACT
In the summer of 2005, the director of the largest voter-mobilization organization that progressives have ever seen, sent e-mails out to most of its 30 staffers warning them that their paychecks would be cut off by the end of August. America Coming Together (ACT), the flagship progressive “527” organization, headed by former ALF-CIO political director […]
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The Italian Job
Rome — In this ancient city, just as in Washington, the origins of the infamous Niger yellowcake forgeries — the documents purporting to prove that Iraq was contracting to purchase vast quantities of uranium and cited by George W. Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address as a pretext for war — continue […]
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Prescription for Leadership
Seemingly, divine providence has delivered the Democrats the perfect issue for 2006 — the epic Medicare prescription-drug screwup. Far from being an abstract (if grave) public issue like nuclear non-proliferation, this one hits up close and personal. If you don’t feel the drug debacle directly, you know about it from Mom or Grandpa. With its […]
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Marital Blitz
This November, anti-gay-marriage bills will be back on ballots with a vengeance. But this time around, the gay and lesbian activist network is ready to play hardball.
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If Washington Blows Up
November 2009: After a hard-fought victory the year before, the new Democratic administration has come out of the starting gates in good shape. With the airwaves full of brave talk of new initiatives, there is real hope of a new beginning. Then the unthinkable happens. A small nuclear device rips the heart out of Pennsylvania […]
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Sour Charity
Ever conscious of political fashion, Rick Santorum wanted to demonstrate that he, too, was a “compassionate conservative” in 2000, when the Bush campaign popularized the phrase. Santorum helped sponsor the Good Neighbor Initiative, a fund-raising drive that netted $700,000, mostly from big corporations, to do good works in Philadelphia. “When I found out the Republican […]
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With A Little Help From His Friends
“In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to.” — U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, in his 2005 book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good * * * The estates at […]
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Meet the New Boss
“What, is Katherine Harris counting the ballots in there?” Several journalists shot out the same joke after flak emerged from the closed-door House Republican conference meeting to announce that more ballots than actual voters had been tallied in the February 2 election for majority leader. The snafu resonated uncomfortably in the air of corruption and […]