In the years before becoming a full-time writer, Sirota worked as the press secretary for Vermont Independent Congressman Bernard Sanders, the chief spokesman for Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, the Director of Strategic Communications for the Center for American Progress, a campaign consultant for Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and a media strategist for Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont. He also previously contributed writing to the website of the California Democratic Party. For more on Sirota, see these profiles of him in Newsweek or the Rocky Mountain News. Feel free to email him at lists [at] davidsirota.com Note: this online publication represents Sirota's personal views, and not the official views of the organizations he works with.
Saturday, January 28, 2012 The Economic Normalcy Bias (1 comments)
...the root of one of America's most destructive traits: our obsession with materialism and consumerism.
Thursday, July 14, 2011 The new "Let them eat cake!" (11 comments)
In the midst of this prole-crushing economic emergency engineered by wealthy speculators and their political puppets, we now find ourselves watching those same modern-day Marie Antoinettes at once celebrating their station and begging for sympathy as if they were the real casualties of the decade-long economic slowdown they created.
Saturday, June 11, 2011 10 stories more important than Weinergate (3 comments)
An irrelevant congressman's bizarre behavior in a silly 140-character-limited medium strikes me as a tad less offensive and less worthy of media focus than at number of other less-covered stories that broke at the same time as the Weiner Scandal.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 Silence Is Complicity and Defensiveness Is Endorsement
When Arizona Tea Party leaders condemn the violence but then nonetheless make a show of publicly refusing to refrain from violent rhetoric, they are acknowledging the tragedy while suggesting they don't mind if future events like this happen.
Friday, November 12, 2010 Thank You, Dick Cheney, For Giving Me the Proper Words (8 comments)
Evan Bayh and Third Way and The Democratic Strategist and the DLC and all the professional pundits and cable-TV zombies and D.C. spokesholes - all of you soul-raping corpses and sh*t-eating poindexters paid to appear on my television screen and scream at me about liberals ruining everything, please, I beg you on behalf of the silent irritated majority: Just go f*ck yourself.
Saturday, June 19, 2010 Sorry, Trillions in Unmined Mineral Wealth Is Not a Reason to Keep Occupying Afghanistan (1 comments)
Whereas it was previously considered uncouth for anyone to even suggest that economic hegemony might motivate U.S. military action, our leaders are now boldly selling wars as commendable instruments of such profit-focused imperialism.
Monday, May 17, 2010 GOP: Recession's Foreclosure Victims "Want a Homeless Life"
After their anti-tax zealotry left their city in the budgetary lurch, Colorado Springs Republicans have slashed their community's social services to the bone. We're talking big cuts to police, firefighters, park maintenance, public transportation - even turning off the city's streetlights (except, of course, in the wealthy areas!).
Saturday, April 17, 2010 Corrupt Practices Accelerating the Decline of American Journalism (2 comments)
Are many of today's opportunity-maximizers destroying journalism? Clearly, yes -" and unless media sachems institute some basic ethics rules, the parasites within their ranks could end up making sure there's no journalism industry left to save.
Friday, March 19, 2010 What's the Matter With Democrats? (3 comments)
Ever since Thomas Frank published his book "What's the Matter With Kansas?" Democrats have sought a political strategy to match the GOP's. The health care bill proves they've found one.
Friday, February 26, 2010 Glenn Beck Finally Admitted His Great Desire: To 'Eradicate' Progressives (7 comments)
We owe Beck gratitude for using his keynote address to CPAC to so frankly outline what the conservative movement has become -- and why it repulses so many Americans. To wild applause, he labeled this alleged tumor of "community" the supposedly evil "progressivism" -- and he told disciples to "eradicate it" from the nation.
Saturday, February 20, 2010 Who's in control in the White House? (1 comments)
If you thought the rogue sensibility went away with the Bushes, think again
Friday, February 5, 2010 Tax the Corporations and the Rich or Take Draconian Cuts -- the Decision Is Ours (3 comments)
No matter where we live, this same choice will soon face us all in some form. It is a choice embodied in President Obama's pragmatic initiative to end his predecessor's high-income tax breaks, a choice for which future local and federal elections will serve as proxies. Tax reform or draconian cuts, life or death -- the decision is ours.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 It's Not Mere Cynicism or Demoralization - More Likely, It's Humiliation and Alienation (4 comments)
After a 2008 campaign that saw Dems promise to genuinely take on the health care and financial industries, we've seen a 2009 that has asked Dem voters to fight for extremely small, extremely modest scraps. We've been relegated to having to mount fierce campaigns to keep things like the public option in the debate and not to stop trillion-dollar bailouts - but just make sure they have one or two flimsy strings attached to them
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Why Is the Military Infringing on Obama's Decison-Making Turf? (9 comments)
The Washington Post insisted that Obama's failure to promptly back McChrystal's surge proposal could "dishonor" America, while the New York Times said no matter what the president wants, "It will be very hard to say no to General McChrystal."
Saturday, September 19, 2009 Obsessive Compulsive Bipartisanship Disease (5 comments)
In the blogosphere, we've often discussed Washington's sick fetishization of bipartisanship. Whether it's pundits or politicians, the entire D.C. Establishment has made abundantly clear that it is first and foremost interested in bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake before it is interested in the ramifications of public policy.
Monday, September 14, 2009 On Racism, Death Threats & The Blindness of Those Who Will Not See (6 comments)
We're living in a world where the behavior of right-wing lynch mobs clearly is far less about ideology, and far more about partisanship and racial hate. The tea party protestors were nowhere to be found when George Bush trampled the constitution and grew the government.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 CNN Debate on Van Jones: Obama Sells Us Out to Political Terrorist Glenn Beck & His Lynch Mob (1 comments)
I am at once loathe to help fuel this media-manufactured controversy and eager to use this as a kind of "teachable moment" that Obama talks about, but rarely delivers on. If we as a movement cannot stand up for a genuine progressive hero like Van Jones--a guy with a towering record of real-world accomplishment on behalf of issues and grassroots communities--then we will not be able to stand up for anything.
Friday, September 4, 2009 Progressives Pay the Price for Confusing a Party With a Movement (8 comments)
The difference between parties and movements is simple: Parties are loyal to their own power regardless of policy agenda; movements are loyal to their own policy agenda regardless of which party champions it.
Friday, August 7, 2009 The Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd (3 comments)
the Me-First, Forget-Everyone-Else Crowd isn't interested in fairness, empiricism or morality. They are merely using the argot of fairness, empiricism and morality to hide its real motive: selfish greed.
Thursday, July 30, 2009 "Parochial Considerations"
As the ridiculous debate over health care "reform" careens from one manipulative boondoggle to another, our citizens, and our democracy itself are in peril.
In this article, David Sirota discusses some of the blatant hypocrisy that is driving this discussion.
Saturday, July 25, 2009 How the Ultra-Rich Are Trying to Kill Health Reform
According to government figures, 1-percenters' share of America's total income is the highest it's been since 1929, and their tax rates are the lowest they've faced in two decades. Through bonuses, many 1-percenters will profit from the $23 trillion in bailout the Treasury Department now says could be headed to financial firms. And, most of them benefit from IRS decisions to reduce millionaire audits and collect zero taxes.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 An American Griswold In China, Days 1-3: The Gateway to the Mainland (3 comments)
As some background on our journey, my wife Emily and I visited both coastal and the less-well-traveled interior regions of China for about three weeks in June and July. We were guided around the country by my longtime friend Mike Levy, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in China and who has a forthcoming book about his experiences entitled "Kosher Dogmeat."
Monday, July 13, 2009 Back From My Long Strange Trip (2 comments)
Editor note: This comes via Email, 2 days earlier than David originally promised to be back. So, as he says, Rock the Boat
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Teabags vs. Douchebags Why this May Not be the Second Coming of the New Deal After All. (2 comments)
Teabaggery takes its name from the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Mythologized high-school history texts tell us that colonists tossed British tea into Boston Harbor in America's first populist revolt. Today, as evidenced by the April 15 protests, the original Boston Tea Party has become a transcendent icon of pugilistic radicalism--a symbol of patriotic resistance against unresponsive government and elite douchebags.
Friday, May 22, 2009 Facing Progressive Pressure, Obama Backs off Panama Free Trade Agreement (4 comments)
This is huge news for the Make Him Do It Dynamic:
The decision, announced by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Everett Eissenstat at a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, is a reversal from statements in March that the U.S. wanted to pass the accord soon...
Eissenstat's comments follow remarks by John Sweeney
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 When An Intern Can Form a Shell Corporation, It's Time For Trade Reform
Bloomberg News this morning reports that U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk gave a speech yesterday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "saying he hopes Congress will approve stalled trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea within the next year." The good news is that Kirk also noted that Bush-written trade policies are "really a tough sell in this environment."
Saturday, May 16, 2009 First Amendment Rights Watch: Criminalizing the Internet (10 comments)
HR 1966 is called the "Cyberbullying Prevention Act" and includes this section: Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Monday, May 11, 2009 Three Questions About Obama's 'Major' Health Care Announcement Today (12 comments)
Today's press conference has the President effectively saying that the health insurance industry should have a major seat at the health-reform table - and that it should be trusted. But any serious health care reform will need to take on the health insurance industry in a way that will make that industry unhappy.
Monday, April 20, 2009 D.C. Reporters Just Make Sh*t Up, Part 1,489,890,992,384 (6 comments)
I wonder if instead of working in the factual world, I should just start making shit up. It would save me so much time in my work to not have to, ya know, verify anything. I could write entire columns just saying the first piece of conventional wisdom that came into my mind, without even bothering to see if it was true. Wow...what an easy life that would be.
Friday, April 17, 2009 Columbine questions we still don't ponder (12 comments)
I wish I were surprised that Columbine-like shootings are still happening, or even that our national discussion about violence hasn't yet matured past gun control and video games. I wish I were surprised, but sadly, I'd be surprised if it were any different because we still refuse to ask the most uncomfortable questions.
Friday, April 17, 2009 "Either In the Pocket of the Banks or Incompetent" (2 comments)
Stiglitz said there are conflicts of interest at the White House because some of Obama's advisers have close ties to Wall Street.
Stiglitz is reiterating a truth that he and many of us have been saying for months now - a truth that Obama partisans still somehow see as unacceptable to talk about.
Thursday, April 16, 2009 Mainstreaming the Militia (9 comments)
I think between the media coverage of yesterday's Tea Parties and the national Republican Party effectively coming to the public defense of right-wing extremist groups against the Department of Homeland Security, that mainstreaming has gone into overdrive.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Right-Wing Authoritarianism: Gay Marriage & the Selective Indictment of Democratic Institutions (1 comments)
The Right really exhibits a nasty authoritarian streak that lets them, whenever they see fit, offer up selective interpretations of what is and isn't "legitimate" in a democracy - and conservatives are most willing to do this on divisive issues like gay marriage.
Monday, April 13, 2009 The Reward Method of Corruption (1 comments)
If members are interested in someday making the trip across town, Fazio suggested they work more closely with Washington's influence class.
"If you want to be respected in the world of Washington outside the Capitol, you need to make yourself open to that, and you learn a lot," said Fazio, who moved in 2005 to the lobbying law firm Akin Gump.
Monday, April 13, 2009 Feeling Sorry for Yourself? (1 comments)
It's called graft - a surefire wealth creator that takes your investments, modifies laws, and delivers returns that the best stock trader could never dream of. This is the ShamWow of strategies, the Flowbee of economics, the Ronco of investing. Just look at the profits it generates!
Monday, April 6, 2009 Hands-Off Attitude Towards Financial Regulation - Cause & Effect? (2 comments)
Was there a quid pro quo whereby Summers took cash from Wall Street and then entered the administration and did Wall Street's bidding? Not explicitly, no. Bribery in our country most often operates in the world of the implicit - Summers got the cash because he was a solid Wall Street investment
Monday, March 30, 2009 Why Can the Auto Industry CEOs but Spare Bank CEOs? (18 comments)
I'm genuinely asking this question, and not in a way aimed at defending Rick Wagoner. I just want to know what possible public explanation there could be as to why the White House would push auto company CEOs around while coddling banking CEOs?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Lying Or Incompetent - Either Way, Geithner Needs to Be Fired (6 comments)
This comes on top of Geithner and Summers dishonestly insisting that they are unable to stop the AIG bonuses because of Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) executive compensation legislation that exempted AIG-style bonuses from limits. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal and Hill newspaper long ago reported, Dodd's original bill would have limited such bonuses
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 America Is Really Angry - Obama Aides Still Fretting About Elite Opinion (1 comments)
This was the reason why Obama was originally right when he said "change doesn't come from Washington, it comes to Washington" - because Permanent Washington is predisposed to see public passion and anger as a threat rather than an opportunity.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 Is U.S. Trade Policy About to Change? (1 comments)
Because of mixed messages from President Obama on trade, many are looking to his nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, to clarify things and answer the fundamental question on trade policy: Which side is the president on? There are encouraging signs.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Um, No - We're Not Governed "In A Way That Is Entirely Consistent With Free-Market Principles" (1 comments)
What's not a good thing is Obama effectively validating the right wing's frame. In going out of his way to insist he's for the "free market," the president is signaling that he believes that the "free market" must always be worshiped and publicly glorified, even though this is an historic opportunity to reframe the entire debate on far more pragmatic, less ideological, terms.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 "Swinging for the Fences": The Major League Moment In American Politics (4 comments)
Yes, the budget has some bad "business as usual" ideas in it, including more increases in defense spending, and what amounts to a second $700 billion bank bailout. But on the whole, Republican Sen. John Thune (SD) is (gasp!) actually right: the administration is "really swinging for the fences" on progressive policy. That's a paradigm shift from a past era that pretended We the People didn't even exist.
Friday, February 20, 2009 The Growing Anger In the Heartland (14 comments)
[His]passion exemplifies a level of rage out in the country that isn't being fully appreciated in Washington, D.C., as evidenced by everything from the continued no-strings-attached bailouts to the criticism of the most basic "Buy America" laws. The anger out here is real and it is breaking through the Beltway din. It is only going to get worse if genuine change doesn't happen in short order.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 Announcement of Audie Award
A feather in the cap of an OEN member:
I wanted to let you know the good news - my 2008 book, The Uprising, was nominated for an "Audie" - the publishing industry's most prestigious set of awards for best audiobooks of the year. You can download the audiobook at Audible.com or order the CD at this link:
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 The 4.6% Truth: How Absurdly Small Stimulus Spending Really Is (1 comments)
Of course, that doesn't mean the stimulus bill should be rejected, even in the overwhelmingly mediocre state it's in - but it does mean that we should have a little perspective and stop judging everything by conservatives' know-nothing parameters.
Monday, February 9, 2009 Energy Taxes' Faustian Bargain
Revenuewise, it's easy to see why severance taxes are an attractive target in an era of belt-tightening. Energy companies are making big profits, and severance receipts have doubled in the past five years to almost $11 billion nationwide.In an age of money-dominated politics, that warning may, indeed, be valid - at least in the short term. The trick for severance tax reformers, then, will be to find ways of making deals
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 Blacklisting Progressives: The Untold Story Beneath the Daschle Headlines (8 comments)
Leo Hindery, one of the few business leaders to use his wealth to challenge deregulation, corporate trade deals and anti-worker policies was blacklisted by the Obama administration well before the Daschle flap ever happened.
Thursday, January 29, 2009 There's Something Happening Here (9 comments)
Suddenly, we have a Congress pushing the executive branch to be more progressive - and that's a big deal.
If......we're going to close the gulf between the rhetoric of hope and the real action of change, it will be through our work continuing to create the conditions for this new dynamic to thrive. The bolder the Democratic Congress, the more it can reject czarism and reassert its constitutional role.
Friday, January 23, 2009 U.S. Moving Toward Czarism, Away From Democracy (12 comments)
[T]his culture of "presidentialism," as Vanderbilt Professor Dana Nelson calls it, has justified the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps and a radical theory of the "unitary executive" that aims to provide a jurisprudential rationale for total White House supremacy over all government. But only in the past three months has American czarism metastasized from a troubling slow-growth tumor to a potentially deadly cancer.
Monday, January 19, 2009 Busting myths that FDR prolonged Great Depression (1 comments)
...the truism we must all remember in 2009: As conservatives try to obstruct a new New Deal, they're not making any arguments that are remotely serious.
"Excepting 1937-1938, unemployment fell each year of Roosevelt's first two terms (while) the U.S. economy grew at average annual growth rates of 9 percent to 10 percent," writes University of California historian Eric Rauchway.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 The Sign I've Been Waiting For
Many of have our own "signs" - the things we take from our lives that seem to suggest a deeper force in the universe. Most of these signs are mundane - a breeze here, a coincidental encounter there.
This week, though, I found my superstitious sign that something very different - very special - is happening. That sign came in the form of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Sunday, October 19, 2008 Here Comes the Onslaught (3 comments)
This Newsweek cover piece is the starting gun of the elite pushback against what could be a new progressive era. Penned by one of the most reliable peddlers of Establishment talking points, Jon Meacham, it argues that a President Obama will have to govern America as a slightly more moderate Ronald Reagan.
Friday, August 8, 2008 West will be where it's won
From Butte, Montana, David Sirota considers how the West is listening to Democrats. His syndicated column appears in the Denver Post.
Monday, April 28, 2008 Clinton Criticizing Closure of Indiana Factory That Clinton Helped Close (3 comments)
Clinton is airing a television ad in Indiana, bemoaning the closure of a defense contractor Magnequench's manufacturing plant in Valparaiso (she is also echoing this line in her stump speeches). Looking at the camera, she tells us she's upset that the 200 jobs that were sent to China, and that "now America's defense relies on Chinese spare parts." Problem is, it was Bill Clinton who could have stopped it.
Thursday, March 20, 2008 White House Papers Expose Lies of Clinton, Emanuel & Gergen On NAFTA (2 comments)
Finally, the dishonesty is being unmasked. Finally, we see just how much we're being lied to when it comes to economic policy. Finally, we see it hasn't just been Hillary Clinton lying about her role in championing NAFTA, but we see it is the entire Clinton machine.
The facts are clear: The Clinton machine joined with K Street to manufacture the very international economic policies that are destroying the economy.
Sunday, February 10, 2008 Local Pressure Builds On Superdelegates
What we have on our hands is a potential back room effort to use undemocratic "superdelegates" to anoint a Democratic presidential nominee - with many superdelegates potentially using their power in defiance of how their states and communities voted.
Monday, January 21, 2008 Are We Ready to Rise Up Again? (1 comments)
The question on this Martin Luther King Day is - are we ready to discard our pessimism and rise up to the challenge like generations past?
Monday, September 10, 2007 The Innocent Bystander Fable Goes Into Overdrive
The Washington Post is the latest Establishment media organ to push what I have called the Innocent Bystander Fable. This is the myth that Democrats have no power to stop the war, despite controlling both houses of Congress.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 Democrats Beware: An Economic Populist Is Rising In the GOP's Presidential Primary (2 comments)
Huckabee has an extraordinarily different message than any of the other Republican presidential contenders - a populist economic message that may be shunned by conservative operatives and K Street lobbyists in the GOP-dominated Money Party in Washington, but likely has an appeal among rank-and-file working-class Republican voters.
Monday, July 16, 2007 More Proof the West Is A Heckuva Lot More Colorful Than Red vs. Blue
From the Rocky Mountain West's Department of Shifting Politics comes dispatches out of two key states that show, once again, how fractured the old Republican coalition has become, and how many opportunities there are for Democrats - if they can shake off their Wall Street wing and embrace their populist roots.
Monday, July 9, 2007 SECRET TRADE DEAL - DAY 60: Dems Reassure Bush As K Street Begins PR Push
This is another in a series of ongoing posts following the announcement of a secret free trade deal on May 10, 2007 between a handful of senior Democrats and the Bush administration. That deal encompasses free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, South Korea and Colombia, and is designed to pave the pay for the passage of presidential fast track authority - the authority that lets presidents eliminate all labor, environ...
Monday, May 28, 2007 The Innocent Bystander Fable
The Innocent Bystander Fable teaches that every politician in America except the President of the United States has absolutely no power at all to stop or even slow down the escalation of the war in Iraq - an escalation that is expected to deploy "more than 200,000 [troops to Iraq] -- a record high number -- by the end of the year..." The Innocent Bystander Fable is convenient for all players involved, even if it is a fable -
Thursday, May 24, 2007 We Gave Them Our Hearts, They Gave Him A Blank Check (2 comments)
Today was a dark day in our nation's history. That sounds melodramatic - but it is true. Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square in the teeth -
Monday, May 7, 2007 Lou Dobbs Challenges The Great Objectivity Scam (1 comments)
CBS 60 Minutes' piece on Lou Dobbs last night told us a lot more about traditional journalism's biases than it did Dobbs' on any given issue he covers.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Where is America's true center?
Polls showing more conservatives than liberals mean little in terms of party policy.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 Congress's upcoming "free" trade fight: The good, the bad & the ugly
in the new Congress the battle is going to be fierce and nasty over "free" trade (read: trade deals that are filled with protectionist measures for corporate profits but free only of protections for human beings).the trenches being dug by both sides, and incredibly - when many senior congressional Democrats aren't helping the K Street crowd dig its trench, they are making threats of retribution against their own freshmen
Tuesday, January 9, 2007 The Iraq War Is Not Michael Jordan
Kennedy's new legislation will force lawmakers to publicly state whether they have the guts to exercise their constitutional responsibilities or not.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Rangel: Preserve Millionaire Tax Cuts, Consider Soc. Security Cuts, Pass More Free Trade Pacts (3 comments)
In the weeks after the congressional election, Rangel has expressed interest in preserving President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy; considering Social Security benefit cuts and retirement age hikes; and supporting lobbyist-written trade pacts that have no wage, environmental or human rights protections in them.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 For the Love of God, Please Stop. It's Embarrassing. Like, Really Embarrassing (3 comments)
take a quick look at what's going on in the race for House Majority Leader between anti-Iraq-War leader Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) and recently-reconstructed pro-war mouthpiece Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
In the last few days, both the DLC and Hoyer's own allies on Capitol Hill have mimicked Lieberman's tactics in an effort to reposition Hoyer as one of the longtime leaders of the global anti-war movement.
Thursday, September 21, 2006 The Tidal Wave Heading Straight For the Hall of Mirrors (1 comments)
There are times every now and again where you just have to step back and behold the absurdity of it all. You have to step back from the day-to-day trench wars and just marvel at how entrenched power really is in this, the country where we still cling to Horatio Alger fables or "anyone can grow up to be president" myths. Amazing-- the propaganda system that holds this whole structure up.
Sunday, September 17, 2006 The Prima Donnas Endangering A Democratic Victory In 2006
Last week, in response to an awful article in Roll Call newspaper, I posted an open letter to Nancy Pelosi asking her to tell her fellow House Democrats to stop running to reporters bragging about how they are shaking down Big Money interests for cash. Such behavior insults the intelligence of voters, since it is happening at the same time Democrats are hammering the GOP for its "culture of corruption."
Thursday, September 7, 2006 Fear & Loathing In the Senate Democratic Club (1 comments)
Change does not come easy - it never does. And change never comes from D.C. - it is always forced on that city. But I must confess - for some reason (call me a naive idiot) I thought change among Democratic lawmakers in Congress would occur after Democratic primary voters spoke. Apparently, I was wrong. In a spate of stories today, we see that Democratic Senators yesterday tripped over themselves to applaud Sen. Joe Lieberman
Monday, September 4, 2006 The War on Workers (1 comments)
Republicans are waging a war on the very workers they purport to care about this Labor Day as they make their rounds of stump speeches.
Friday, September 1, 2006 GOP Bankruptcy Vote Comes Back to Crush U.S. Troops
The GOP corporate-written Bankruptcy Bill is punishing US troops, especially National guardsmen who are forced to take a pay cut from their regular jobs when they are called into service and deployed overseas. Lord knows our soldiers serving in Iraq have enough to worry about...
Sunday, August 27, 2006 Beltway Media Distorts GOP Position on Iraq
top Republican leaders have repeatedly gone on record making statements or taking concrete steps that support actually KEEPING large amounts of U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely.
Friday, August 25, 2006 Lieberman Defended FEMA Director Before and AFTER Katrina (1 comments)
How could our congressional leaders allow an inexperienced Republican political campaign operative like Mike "Brownie, You're Doing a Heck of a Job" Brown to head up FEMA? How could he be allowed to be put in such a position, especially considering his nomination was overseen by a Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate? The answer is found in one man: Joe Lieberman
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Politics 101: Don't Reinforce Your Opponents' Lies
Progressives who say they aren't "moderate" or "centrist" or who claim their opponents are more "moderate" or "centrist" are by definition saying they believe they themselves to be "extreme" or "more extreme."
Tuesday, August 8, 2006 Rejecting the McGovern Complex (1 comments)
The psychology of the middle-aged, self-described partisan/media political "expert" is something of a puzzle to me. Strip away all the bloviating, all the self-importance, all the haughtiness, and you'll find a deeply-rooted hatred of all things relating to George McGovern.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 Bush Walks Right Into Castro's Trap
In political campaigns, the worst thing a candidate can do is publicly walk into their own stereotype.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 CAUGHT ON TAPE: Tom Friedman's Truly Shocking Admission (1 comments)
Now, in a little-noticed interview, Friedman actually went on record admitting he advocates for specific trade deals without knowing anything about what's in the trade deals he is writing about.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 REPORT: Oman Trade Pact Permits Foreign Ownership of U.S. Nat'l Security Assets (2 comments)
In an explosive report tonight, top House Democrats discovered provisions in the controversial Oman Free Trade Agreement that would permit foreign ownership of U.S. ports and other key national security assets. Three Democrats and one Republican held an emergency press conference today to expose the provisions just before the House is scheduled to vote on the Oman pact on Thursday.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 After VA Loss of Records, Congress Tries to Hide Key Vote (1 comments)
Politicians in Washington today are tripping over themselves to trumpet their outrage at the Veterans Administration's admission that the agency potentially lost the personal data of 26 million of our nation's veterans. It is true - the news is awful.
Monday, May 15, 2006 Supreme Court Helps Corporate America Emasculate Taxpayers
In a unanimous decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a lower court ruling that would have invalidated massive taxpayer giveaways to Corporate America.
Friday, May 5, 2006 Rick Santorum's Hostile Takeover (1 comments)
As I head back to Philadelphia for the launch of my new book on the money culture of politics, I'm thinking of just how used to political corruption Pennsylvanians are, thanks to Santorum.
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 Wall Street Dems Unveil Plans to Undermine the Progressive Movement (2 comments)
Here's a big shocker - the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party today announced it is beginning a new war on the grassroots elements of the party that are demanding serious public policy changes from the Establishment. As the Financial Times reports, Citigroup Chairman Bob Rubin held a press conference at the Brookings Institution to announce the formation of the so-called "Hamilton Project."
Sunday, April 2, 2006 The taboo subject at the heart of the immigration debate (1 comments)
Amid all the buzzword phrases being thrown around in the immigration debate, one phrase has barely been mentioned: "free trade." . How does "free trade" fit into immigration? It's pretty simple: had America actually had a trade policy that lifted up the economic conditions for ordinary workers both at home and in other countries, there would likely be far less demand by desperate workers for illegal entry into our country.
Thursday, March 30, 2006 Pundits still dumbfounded, even as workers' share of gains hits 40-year low
Commentators look at today's Wall Street Journal headline blaring that "Corporate Pretax Profits Jump 14.4% - Strongest Gain Since 1992" and wonder: why ordinary Americans aren't jumping with joy? The answer is simple if you actually look at the underlying data, you see that those profits aren't actually benefitting ordinary workers - they are increasingly benefitting only those at the very top of the economic ladder
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 Fusion's Third-Party Path to the Center (1 comments)
Watching the national Democrats' often disappointing and flaccid behavior these days, a lot of folks often ask me - what's the alternative to the Democratic Party? The answer is that it doesn't have to be an either/or, zero-sum alternative with fusion voting. One third party is using this system to build up very real, very centrist and very progressive power in one of America's largest states.
David Sirota is a full-time political journalist, best-selling author and 
