http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact
To continue my “state of State” discussion, this article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker is startling proof that the Administration has not confused the roles of the State and Defense Departments so much as actively subvert State-style diplomacy to empower Defense. It has gone as far as to sideline the CIA in favor […]

During the election season (and since) there has been a lot of noise coming from the Right about liberals, Democrats, the media, feminists, and of course, Al Qaeda hating America. It’s one of the most common refrains in conservative talk radio. California wants to tax shopping bags — those crazy liberals hate America. New Yorkers […]

Repeat the following sound-bites after me:
Democrats care for the sick and elderly
Democrats are for your children.
Democrats are for the family.
The Democratic Party is the party for education.
The Democratic Party is the party for economic competition (alt: The party for keeping America economically competitive) (re: education).
Democrats want you to keep your job (re: outsourcing, relocation)
Republicans are […]

Yushchenko was sworn in as President of Ukraine today. This is a true victory for freedom and liberty, unlike those ‘delivered’ to Afghanistan and Iraq by the United States. This is a victory for the United States, however. It is a victory for the State Department and its commitment to helping countries develop the tools […]

Maureen Dowd’s column today http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/opinion/23dowd.html mentions that the regressive Christian leader James Dobson “claims the president’s re-election was more a mandate for his ideas than George Bush’s.” Well I don’t know if he actually claims it, but looking at the assaults the Christian fundamentalists have taken on evolution, abortion, gay rights, and now Sponge Bob […]

http://www.techpolitics.org/congress/ssa109jan05.php
This is a very useful site for the Social Security debate. It is a table of every Congressional district that details the number of SS beneficiaries, the percentage they make up of the voting population, and the party that represents each district.
Sort the table by percentage of beneficiaries and take a look at top […]

Listening to Howard Dean last week in an interview with Hannity and Colmes was like a breath of fresh air. He was clear, smart, forceful, concise, and right. Essentially, he was everything this blog and our thinkers here want the Democratic party to be. Some of his gems:

You can’t trust a Republican with your money.
Democrats […]

PA Metuchen was kicking an idea around with me last week: the Democratic Rifle Association. Democrats have been hemorrhaging lower and middle class voters that have strong economic interests in voting Democratic, but vote on Republican because of single issues (guns, abortion, gays, etc). We believe that in order for the Democrats to become the […]

Clearly the Bush administration is trying to create a perception that the situation with Social Security is dire through the use of very simple rhetoric, as the Stuffed Tiger points out. And yes, the Democrats need to find a way to fight fire with fire. I believe the solution is to create fear […]

To quote Philo:
“Most importantly, I think that any product of this blog should strive towards simplicity and concreteness.”
Social Security is going to be the first test of the Democrats vs. Bush II. Bush’s ‘ownership society’ ideology is simple and appealing. It is also bull-headed and wrong. But to successfully argue against it requires getting at […]