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Brent Budowsky is a regular columnist on thehill.com. He served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent management.
(32 comments) SHARE Friday, May 1, 2009 The Great Bank Robbery of 2009
This week America witnessed Black Thursday for workers and families as the Senate defeated a bankruptcy bill that would have protected distressed homeowners and the House passed a bill that encourages and guarantees banks will continue abuses the bill pretends to remedy for a full year.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 4, 2011 Republicans propose another recession
The big problem with Democrats is they don't fight hard enough against Republican policies. I am in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. It amazes me, with historical evidence that Republican policies so often cause recession, that some Democrats are so relucant to stand up as Democrats, for Democratic policies.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 12, 2010 BP bailout proposal coming soon
There should be NO bailout of BP paid for by ANY taxpayer, period, end of discussion, over and out. If necessary there should be a fund paid for by all of the oil companies doing offshore drilling, as the price of their doing business off our shores and as the incentive to make sure this does not happen again.
(16 comments) SHARE Monday, August 10, 2015 A Bernie Sanders Shocker Is Coming
While the GOP debates pit Republicans who want to cut Social Security against Republicans who want to privatize Social Security and make the most successful government program in history a new profit center for Wall Street, Bernie Sanders wants to increase social security benefits for Americans. Those who support him are applauding the causes he champions, the values he believes in, and the future for America he battles for.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 2, 2018 Manafort pardon would be impeachable, indictable and convictable
While a president can lawfully pardon almost anyone, for almost any crime, a pardon for Paul Manafort could also be crucial evidence in support of an obstruction of justice case, and potentially an additional count in an obstruction of justice case. If Trump pardons Manafort, he protects Manafort only to the degree that Manafort tells the whole truth to the grand jury after the pardon.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, August 3, 2018 Obstruction of justice bombshell will explode before midterms
It is political suicide for Republicans when the president escalates his attacks against the free press to such extreme levels that even his daughter distances herself from these attacks. His attacks against Mueller have reached such extreme levels that he puts the fear of God into Republicans running in 2018.
(18 comments) SHARE Monday, March 15, 2010 The Real Rahm Emanuel Story
The Rahm Emanuel story raises two great issues that will ultimately define the success or failure of the Obama presidency, and the public option debate puts this high drama in clear perspective.
(10 comments) SHARE Tuesday, September 9, 2008 Fox News Attacks 'Lesbian Air America Host'
The sickness and dementia of a purported news network airing with smug laughs and happy chortles a naked appeal to hatred and bigotry in this attack on "a lesbian Air America host" is a low that even a Republican cable organization like Fox should never stoop to. This is war, Barack Obama, and you had better fight back.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 9, 2010 Harry Reid, Sharron Angle and the end of the Tea Party myth
Reid is a populist compared to Angle, who would vote in the Senate like a bank lobbyist and Wall Street bonus baby. If Nevadans are happy that their homes are being foreclosed and their credit card interest rates have risen, Angle is their candidate!
(16 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 18, 2011 Ron Paul: Champion of greed, not liberty
Dr. Paul means well, but fails to understand that monopoly is not liberty. Oligopoly is not freedom. Ripping off homeowners and borrowers is not liberty or freedom, it is ripping off homeowners and borrowers in a market that is not free when consumers are not given real choices.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 17, 2015 The GOP's worst nightmare: A runaway convention
A more likely scenario than a brokered convention is a runaway convention, where the establishment loses control of the convention and the outcome as delegates from the anti-establishment wing take over, threatening first a convention walk-out and then a third-party candidacy if the will of their majority is denied.
(10 comments) SHARE Friday, January 26, 2018 GOP Panics as Signs Point to Imminent Mueller Blockbuster
There is a strong chance that Trump will never voluntarily agree to testify under oath, no matter what he says. What Trump said to reporters on Wednesday, that he yearns to testify under oath, was totally meaningless because he also said his testimony is contingent upon the advice he receives from his lawyers.
(7 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 2, 2011 July 4 infamy: Republicans try to destroy the American economy
The Hope America Fails Republicans are a disgrace as the rest of us celebrate the Fourth of July. It is incredible, amazing and unprecedented that any leader of a major party in Congress could publicly state that his major goal is not to improve the economic lives of Americans, but to destroy a political opponent, while opposing programs to create jobs that Americans desperately want and need.
(19 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 22, 2017 Budowsky: Dems need council of war
There is huge energy and passion in the anti-Trump multitudes that Democrats have barely begun to tap. There is immense political power, moral and patriotic duty, and urgency of time behind the cause of defeating Trump's corrupt and heartless plan to remake America in his image, and Putin's aggressive plan to destroy our democracy. This is the war we face and must fight with fury to win, beginning now.
SHARE Thursday, February 2, 2012 A tale of two Romneys
If George Romney were here today, Mitt Romney would probably be calling him a European socialist, while George Romney would probably be supporting the auto policies of Obama and possibly endorsing Obama for reelection.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Clint Eastwood and Chrysler upset the "Hope America Fails" Republicans
What is good for American auto workers is good for President Obama. What is good for America is good for President Obama. The Republicans can't handle the truth, because they are so negative that what is good for America is bad for Republicans!
(44 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 12, 2015 In new shock poll, Sanders has landslides over both Trump and Bush
It is a fallacy argued by conservatives and, in my view, inaccurately parroted by the mainstream media, that Sanders and other liberals take positions that are far too "left." The polling shows, issue by issue, and increasingly in general election match-ups of Republicans running against Sanders, that it is the left, not the right, which has the upper hand with American voters.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, April 2, 2011 Summer shocker for GOP in Wisconsin recall battle
Minnesota's Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) may not know the state in which the original Lexington and Concord battle was fought, but I will tell you the state where the next Lexington and Concord will be fought. Wisconsin. This summer.
(23 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Five Supremes: Corrupt to the Core
Testifying under oath during confirmation hearings, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito offered assurances about their respect for legal precedent and the appropriate role of the judiciary.
The result is plain to see.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 2, 2010 "Second Amendment Solutions": Why Everyone MUST Vote
The notion that America is turning to the right is a fraud perpetrated by the right, pushed by Republicans, repeated like parrots by the mainstream media. If everybody votes, Democrats win.
(62 comments) SHARE Monday, February 20, 2017 Putingate is our Watergate
Both Putingate and Watergate involve a White House that is contemptuous of the federal judiciary that is a bulwark against authoritarian leaders who are tempted to believe they are above the law. Both involve presidents who at times treated our intelligence services like political enemies rather than guardians of democracy against adversaries who threaten our freedom.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 30, 2018 George Will is right: Vote the GOP out
George Will is absolutely right when he describes many Republicans in Congress as being poodles of the president, and when he recognizes the danger to the republic if this president and his GOP poodles continue their one-party dominance of the presidency and Congress.
(26 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 25, 2017 Sanders, not Trump, is the real working-class hero
Like Sanders in 2016 and today, many Democrats now campaign as and act like true working-class heroes. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), each in his or her own way, are among the working-class heroes in the Senate alongside Sanders.
(16 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 12, 2017 Brent Budowsky: Mueller could indict Putin
Congress should make it clear that any effort by President Trump to fire Mueller or grant pardons to those who are found guilty or suspected of crimes involving this Russian attack against America would constitute an impeachable offense. The president's supporters in Congress state that this will not happen.
(32 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 29, 2017 As Russia probe gains steam, remember why Putin hated Clinton and supported Trump
The great battle in Washington pits Robert Mueller and the American side against Vladimir Putin and the Russian side. True patriots stand on the American side in this battle. Let the facts lead where they may, toward innocence or guilt, in the special counsel investigation.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, August 10, 2018 Manafort, Gates, Cohen and Trump's rat-infested campaign
Observing the Manafort trial, it is a battle of the rats who are ratting on each other about a rat-infested campaign for president. Manafort and Gates are like rats biting each other in court, accusing each other of multiple crimes. Waiting in the wings in this rat-invested sewer is Cohen, who has already begun to rat on Trump.
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 17, 2010 End The Civil War Among Progressives
The health care bill should be treated as a vote of conscience. Progressives in the Congress have every right to vote for the bill, or against the bill, with reservations. Moderate and conservative Democrats similarly have every right to vote for the bill, or against it, with reservations.
(13 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 11, 2011 Al Gore for president
If Gore runs in 2016 he would be the most qualified candidate for the presidency in a century. On the playing field of national politics, Gore is the conscience of the Democratic Party, the soul of what true Democrats stand for, and the fighting spirit that Democrats everywhere hunger for.
(19 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 14, 2015 Obama Hurls Insults at Liberals on Trade
No nation can avoid the economic fact that unfair terms of trade become a job destruction machine migrating jobs from higher wage nations to lower wage nations, creating downward pressure for wages in all nations, while computers and robots replace men and women doing the work of the world. On trade Obama should listen to liberals and work with liberals, not insult liberals who want better jobs under better conditions.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, December 22, 2017 Bernie Sanders and the progressive renaissance of 2018 and 2020
The Sanders platform in the 2016 primaries, which was significantly but not fully included in the Democratic platform at the convention, will provide the policy blueprint for the next Democratic presidential campaign and the next great Democratic president. Sanders or a candidate like Sanders, will turn the progressive vision into the law of the land after the 2018 and 2020 elections.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 1, 2017 Budowsky: Let's discuss impeachment
As Trump stands on the precipice of triggering a constitutional crisis by firing yet one more leader of the investigation protecting American democracy from foreign attacks against us, Congress and leading constitutional authorities representing all points of view should begin a serious national discussion of exactly what would constitute the impeachable offense of obstruction of justice.
(9 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 9, 2015 Budowsky: A warning to Hillary Clinton
The great question about Clinton, which is widely shared and could ultimately derail her aspirations, is this: Clinton has conquered the barriers of sexism, but can she conquer the barriers of calculation, caution and cadres of consultants who appear to endlessly whisper in her ear to tell her who she is and what she stands for?
SHARE Thursday, February 8, 2018 The Devin Nunes scandals
Our president would be wise to end his talk of treason. Republican leaders would be wise to end the scandals of Nunes. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country, not their party.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 30, 2009 Republican Sex Hypocrites Owe Bill Clinton an Apology
Don't let Republicans & assorted other right wingers masquerading as peter pure hearts forget that Eliot Spitzer got it right way before nearly anyone else.
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 25, 2011 Ron Paul should apologize for racist newsletter comments; Rick Perry for misusing Christianity in a sleazy ad
If Ron Paul wants others to take responsibility for their actions, he should take responsibility for his. Otherwise his credo is the same serial hypocrisy he correctly accuses Newt Gingrich of. For the failed, embarrassing and shameful campaign of Rick Perry and his ads misusing Christianity in a partisan attack on opponents, he should also apologize.
SHARE Friday, August 24, 2007 Bring Troops Home by Christmas and Bring More Home Next Year
The tide has turned as the truth emerges.
There is a reason the overwhelming weight of military leadership opinion is to initiate troop reductions.
The war and the escalation have done extreme damage to the American military, to our force structures and deterrence capability around the world, and to the composition of our military itself as standards are lowered so far that obese criminals are recruited for combat duty.
(9 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 26, 2018 End the DNC malpractice
While Women's Marchers, student leaders and minority activists are spearheading efforts to register voters and mobilize turnout, it is malpractice for DNC leaders to be merchandising court filings and discussing legal briefs that voters do not give a damn about compared to their jobs, health care, wages and standard of living.
(18 comments) SHARE Friday, February 16, 2018 Putin will back GOP in 2018
Putin has made a huge investment in Trump, whose policies divide the American people and the democratic alliance, serving major strategic goals of Russian military doctrine. Trump and his allies in Congress continue aggressive attacks against the FBI, which is the enemy of Russian espionage against America.
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Goldwater, Eisenhower, Buckley and Powell for Obama
Republican support for Bush has destroyed the tectonic plate of conservatism. As Election Day arrives, there is Goldwater for Obama, Eisenhower for Obama, Buckley for Obama, Colin Powell for Obama and Julie Nixon Eisenhower for Obama
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 6, 2010 A Manifesto for Progressives
The Progressive Caucus in Congress can save Democrats from a disaster in the 2010 elections that could destroy any semblance of a governing majority and erase any hope for the mandate for change that voters gave Democrats in 2008.
Here's how.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, June 16, 2017 Trump's 2018 GOP curse
As Americans endure the highly unpopular one-party rule of a Republican Congress, led by highly unpopular GOP leaders who tightly embrace a historically unpopular Republican president, the Trump curse will plague Republicans in the 2018 midterms.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, August 28, 2010 Republicans plan McCarthyite persecutions
The party of Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy is so punch drunk with the lust for power and so dependent on extremist supporters who pursue the politics of hate that the party that is no longer the party of Lincoln is virtually bragging about the abuses of power they intend to perform if the given the power to do so.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 8, 2011 Elizabeth Warren's Moment
As President Obama prepares to offer a modest jobs program to a joint session of a Congress with unpopularity rivaling the disapproval numbers for Casey Anthony, the prospect of a progressive populist patriotic revival is emerging in Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Warren, one of the most brilliantly qualified candidates in modern history to be passed over for an important post, appears poised to run for Senate in Mass.
SHARE Monday, January 15, 2007 Chuck Hagel For President
The Republic would be in good hands if both parties nominate candidates for President of substance,stature and leadership.
For the Republican Party my choice is clear: Chuck Hagel.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 2, 2017 McCain lifts the Senate
After casting the decisive vote in favor of proceeding to consider the Republican healthcare bill, and before casting the decisive vote against the GOP bill, McCain gave one of the most impassioned and important speeches in many years about the nature and future of the Senate.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 11, 2011 Liar Weiner, liars everywhere
In the lane at the top of the modern world, crime pays. The criminals do not get prosecuted, they receive bonuses for the crimes. One party lacks the guts to prosecute the crimes. The other party calls the crimes capitalism and lies about opponents, calling them socialists. While both parties seek donations from the criminals who are not prosecuted.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 2, 2018 George Will, the Koch brothers and conservatives in crisis
It is not surprising that the Koch brothers have come forth with criticism of certain wrongs of the Trump presidency. What is surprising is the degree that the authoritarian and intolerant Trump has chosen to personally and politically attack the Koch brothers.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 24, 2017 Budowsky: Dems madder than hell
The biggest single problem for Democrats, and what enrages so many Democrats outside Washington about Democrats inside Washington, is that Republicans play politics like war while Democrats play politics like badminton.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 30, 2017 Tax cut warning to GOP
George Santayana warned that those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are destined to repeat them. Trump Republicans are making the exact same mistakes that caused the financial crash that plagued the nation during the last Republican presidency.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 22, 2017 How Trump hurts America
Trump hurts America when he violates a cardinal tenet of our Pledge of Allegiance by dividing race against race, religion against religion, neighbor against neighbor, American against American and undermines the great patriotic notion that America is one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL.
(7 comments) SHARE Monday, December 26, 2016 Sanders will win the ObamaCare debate
The great debate that will be joined in January 2017 will be framed as Sanders and progressives fighting for Medicare-for-all, which would bring more insurance coverage and lower costs to consumers, versus Republicans fighting for a privatized Medicare that will bring big benefits for big banks, an end to ObamaCare, far higher costs and significantly less insurance coverage to consumers.
(7 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 23, 2010 The GOP is betting America fails
Democrats should run against the abuse of Senate rules that is a direct attack against majority vote in American elections and a direct attack against changes that Americans voted to enforce.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, April 15, 2011 Republican Medicare, Republican Socialism, Massive Republican Tax Increase
The GOP's attack on Medicare is a textbook case of Republicans clutching the third rail with both hands, escalating the blunders that have cost them dearly in elections before, and alienating the voters with the kind of political theology and extremism that voters do not want and will not tolerate.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 16, 2011 March on Washington
A Labor Day March on Washington for Made in the USA jobs will send a powerful and resounding message that Americans want American jobs, that we are not a banana republic doomed to permanently punishing joblessness that dramatically adds to permanently crippling deficits.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 21, 2018 Democrats are the patriot party
Democrats are united as the patriot party, seizing the high ground and a powerful advantage throughout the nation, as the free world watched in horror when a Republican president appeared weak and submissive in the presence of a Russian dictator who is attacking our country.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 10, 2018 A Saturday Night Massacre would bring a midterm mauling to GOP
Monday's raid targeting one of Trump's lawyers, Michael Cohen, may well drive Trump to extreme actions that would be a hostile attack against the administration of justice and bring a death knell for Republicans in the midterm elections. He demonstrated an anger and rage that could soon lead to a Nixon-like "Saturday Night Massacre" that many Republicans as well as Democrats have long feared.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, March 19, 2018 The James Mattis moment
American military and diplomatic strategy should return to the core concept of democratic alliances, democratic unity, democratic initiative, democratic resolve and democratic self-confidence to win the war waged against democracy, without firing a shot, with leaders such as Secretary Mattis.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 13, 2017 Budowsky: What Trump must confess
Trump should say, unconditionally and unequivocally, that American intelligence services are absolutely right and Russia has been attacking American and Western democracy. He should say that while America needs improved relations with Russia, economic sanctions must continue and be strengthened until Russian aggression ends.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, August 19, 2016 "BernieCare" can save ObamaCare
The Sanders response to Aetna is perfectly timed and politically powerful. The public option, which should have been enacted with the original ObamaCare program, would guarantee that every healthcare exchange will have at least one highly affordable choice for consumers to accept.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 26, 2011 The Al Gore Surge
Gore is not the cause of the fierce attacks against progressive values or the stirrings of revival among the oft-maligned "progressive base." But he brings to the battle a powerful voice with a history of game-changing initiatives as congressman, senator, vice president, bestselling author, Academy Award winner, and Nobel laureate.
(23 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 20, 2018 Obama should lift the Dems, now
Obama is the only national Democrat who would galvanize an explosion of attention from the media and voters about what Democrats stand for, who Democrats fight for and how Democrats will make life better in a nation that hungers for not just attacks against Trump, but a compelling alternative to Trump.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 1, 2018 Kennedy carries the torch
Kennedy represents something exciting and powerful that is happening across America in response to Trump. There is a surge of enthusiasm and excitement among young Americans who will inherit the future, blacks who know their votes matter, Hispanics who will not relent in their quest to make their dreams come true and women who are surging to the forefront of national leadership.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 21, 2017 2018 battle cry for Dems
It is a striking and historic blunder for Republicans to gamble their hopes for 2018 on three of the most unpopular measures in modern political history on health care, taxes and net neutrality. It is equally striking that with markets soaring and the economy appearing to hum along strongly, neither Trump nor Republicans in Congress have reaped any political benefit and remain highly unpopular today.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Russ Feingold: The Conscience of the Senate
Our democratic institutions are being obliterated by a surreptitious, evil avalanche of corporate cash targeting our most principled politicians.
SHARE Friday, November 13, 2009 Ron Paul is right: Audit the Federal Reserve Bailout Money
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's obscenely cynical comment that he's just “"doing God's work†should be reason enough to support Ron Paul's efforts to audit the Federal Reserve.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 29, 2019 Budowsky: Democrats will end Trump's migrant child abuse
If statues could cry, there would be oceans of tears flowing down the cheeks of Lady Liberty in New York harbor for the planned, organized, immoral, incompetent, shameful and un-American abuse of migrant children that is being executed by President Trump who insults even his own base by suggesting this is an evil they favor.
(9 comments) SHARE Friday, April 20, 2018 When Barbara Bush praised Bill Clinton, and Clinton praised the man she loved
As Barbara Bush is laid to rest, surrounded by a loving family and grateful nation, many words of affection and respect will be spoken of her. All of those words will be said with sincerity and admiration for who she was, all she did and the American spirit she embodied so gracefully.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 20, 2008 On Obama: What Cable-Television Democrats Don't Tell You
Many of the cable-television Democrats are smirking, chortling and smiling as they say how clever it was for Barack Obama to name Rick Warren to give the Inaugural invocation because they believe, falsely, that this will create some real good will for Obama that will ultimately help him. I believe: It won't matter any more than naming Bob Gates will help Obama with Republicans, unless Obama adopts Bush-like policies on Iraq.
(7 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 18, 2018 Budowsky: Mega-landslide for Dems?
Republican leaders have made the Faustian bargain of binding their party in Congress to Trump. They are locked into Trump's unpopularity, aligned with Trump's behavior and tying their political fate to Trump's unpopularity. They are branding themselves as Trump Republicans, which is political poison for nearly 60 percent of the nation.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 26, 2018 In 2018, women say no to Trump
2018 will be the year when women say no to Donald Trump. They will demand our country be governed like the great American family we are. They will make their stand and stake their claim to take back America from Trump. These women will vote. These women will win.
SHARE Thursday, November 2, 2017 Brent Budowsky: Marie Antoinette tax cuts
A tax bill that raises the federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars, increases taxes on many middle-class citizens by attacking popular deductions and lowers taxes on the wealthy. History teaches that someone will ultimately pay the tab, and endure the pain, and it will ultimately be middle-income and poor Americans.
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 27, 2016 Why Dems pray for a Trump or Cruz win
From Democratic establishment insiders who support Hillary Clinton to populist insurgents who support Bernie Sanders, there is a virtually unanimous view that Trump or Cruz would lead the GOP to a defeat so devastating Democrats would probably regain control of the Senate and have a fighting chance to take back the House.
(22 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 13, 2018 John McCain's timeless truths
When considering the life and works of Kennedy, Hemingway and McCain, it is right and fitting to use the word "timeless." Some values and visions transcend time. In our times, John McCain embodies many of them including notions of duty, honor, country, courage and integrity in all endeavors of life.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 6, 2010 The GOP is blowing it
There is stirring among the Democratic base and rising concern among moderates who look at what Republicans would do, and ask, as Butch asked Sundance: Who are these guys? Speaking of bad ideas, what has Social Security ever done to Republicans that they constantly insist on privatizing it?
(60 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 18, 2007 The Great Democratic Landslide Of 2008
George Bush will go down in history as the new Herbert Hoover for the
Republican Party, creating momentous changes in American politics that
will lead to a realignment as powerful as the FDR coalition.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, July 6, 2018 George Will, Joe Scarborough lead midterm exodus from GOP
Something is happening in America that is large and profound. If Donald Trump is America's first post-truth president, George Will, Joe Scarborough, Max Boot, Steve Schmidt, Pete Wehner and other legitimate conservatives are leading a growing wave of post-partisan conservatives who are rejecting the GOP of Donald Trump.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 24, 2018 A hard lesson for Dems
Instead of waging the fight that they should have waged in the shutdown fight, Democrats first precipitated a mega-crisis and then caved in a mega-surrender. This left many in the base fuming at Democrats who first declared a war they did not fight and then surrendered after a hasty retreat. Democrats talked like lions but surrendered like lambs.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, September 15, 2017 Budowsky: How Dems can win it all
If Trump and/or Bannon continue attacking Republicans in Congress there will be some voters in the Trump base who will stay home on Election Day or vote against Republican incumbents that Trump or Bannon attack. There is also a strong probability that moderate Republican, independent and swing voters will recoil against all Republicans and vote Democratic.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 16, 2008 Caroline Kennedy for President in 2016
Coroline Kennedy is a potential Hillary Clinton rival for the Democratic nomination in 2016.
(8 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 18, 2017 Trump versus a free press
Barely a day goes by without Trump attacking, threatening or seeking to delegitimize or intimidate someone in the press. Even the best journalist can get a story wrong but the sheer magnitude and intensity of Trump's attacks against the press are extraordinary and dangerous to democracy.
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, February 20, 2009 Jesus Would Be a Liberal Democrat, Right?
What would Jesus do? The far right argues that he'd support republican economic policies. The author begs to differ.
SHARE Friday, October 21, 2016 Paul Ryan must address his Trump problem
It is easy for columnists and editorial boards to demand that Ryan completely renounce Trump and announce he cannot in conscience vote for him. But it is excruciatingly hard for a Speaker to go against a presidential nominee of his own party as the presidency, control of both houses of Congress and a Supreme Court majority hang in the balance.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 14, 2017 Budowsky: War, peace and Congress
It would be invaluable for the nation to witness lengthy, in-depth, nonpartisan and high visibility hearings during which internationally respected Americans would discuss at length the threats facing the nation and how we should, and should not, address these threats.
(7 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 28, 2018 Obama remains AWOL for Dems
Obama should stand up for Americans who are economically savaged by disastrous Republican attacks against ObamaCare that is his noble, popular but wounded and endangered legacy. He should stand up for all who fight with courage and conviction for democracy, human rights, and equal justice under law. Now. Today. Immediately.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Mattis vs. Trump vs. NATO vs. Putin vs. Mueller before midterms
It appears Trump is determined to conduct a secret meeting with Putin, with no Americans present at this critical moment. This prospect horrifies leaders throughout the democratic world who are terrified by what could transpire if Putin and Trump collude in concert, without free-world witnesses, on whatever ventures they secretly discuss. Secretary of Defense Mattis should be present at all meetings between Putin and Trump.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Budowsky: Dems secret 2018 weapon
Democrats can stage a dramatic comeback in the 2018 midterm elections by starting -- now -- to compete aggressively for and win many of the governorships that are currently held by Republicans and to effectively coordinate this campaign with House and Senate Democrats to create a rising tide that lifts all Democratic boats.
(9 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 1, 2010 Republicans starve the jobless, Democrats head for the hills
Today American workers are without jobs because Republicans opposed programs to create jobs and obstructed them with filibusters. Today jobless Americans are without benefits because Republicans opposed them and obstructed them with filibusters.
SHARE Tuesday, July 31, 2018 In midterm disaster, Fredo Corleone Republicans back Trump on Russia
As scandals multiply, evidence mounts, midterms approach and our modern Godfather saga unfolds before voters, the Fredo Corleone faction of Republicans is increasingly the brand of the GOP. Even the modern Godfather in Moscow must be worried that too many rats will abandon the sinking ship, and Democrats in Congress will ultimately end this sad saga with a massive victory over the Fredo Corleone Republicans.
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, August 20, 2010 Healthcare Fisaco
Congress completely botched health care for the American people & while their incompetence is intolerable, it's not too late for the people to fix the mess.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Doug Jones for Alabama
Doug Jones has a chance of defeating Moore in the December election because his appeal and credibility are so strong, and Moore's politics are so extreme, that there will be some moderate Republicans, centrist Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who will quietly vote for Jones or refuse to vote for Moore on Election Day.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, September 5, 2008 Spiro Palin vs. Hillary and the Democratic Women
The McCain convention ended with the theme all white, far right. Now comes the charge of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic women who will fight for economic opportunity for all, who will lift people up regardless of race, gender and nationality, and who champion the idea that Sarah Palin does not represent a glass ceiling to be broken, but an iron chain of reactionary policies around the necks of average Americans.
(28 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Finally, Putting Country First
As the United States faces a severe financial crisis, many of the key players in politics, business and the media continue to act out their tiresome roles to the detriment of the nation.
In this guest essay, former Democratic congressional aide Brent Budowsky warns of the dangers from this unpatriotic approach."I propose a solution as our nation faces the moral equivalent of war"
(6 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Progressives In Crisis: The Democrats' Lobbyist-Industrial Complex
The greatest threat to the Democratic Party and progressivism in America is not Sarah Palin. It is not the tea party right. It is not the Republican Party. It is not Rush Limbaugh. It is not Fox News.
The greatest threat to the Democratic Party and progressivism in America is the lobbyist-industrial complex that always obstructs true change and always seeks to destroy the greatest programs for reform.
(6 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 27, 2018 Mueller and Trump star in a Shakespearean drama that grips US
How will this Shakespearean drama end? Most likely when the special counsel achieves the words that Shakespeare wrote in the Merchant of Venice, wherever they may lead: "truth will out."
SHARE Friday, September 8, 2017 Budowsky: Trump betrays Dreamers
It was an unnecessary and wrong betrayal for Trump to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy initiated by President Obama. Congress must now pass a Dream Act to ensure that Dreamers are welcome in America today, tomorrow and forever.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Matt Drudge and the Republican Delusion
Matt Drudge may be the single most important figure in media today, but his right wing "triumphalism" could be deluding his readers. Noting imbalance and selectivity in spotlighting anti-Obama polls and news and squelching Obama's recent wins, Drudge's happy bubble may create a false reality for Conservatives come election day.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, January 14, 2012 What do abused dogs and laid-off workers have in common?So: Let's have this debate, based on facts, based on sound economics and business, and based on deep principles of faith and the degree that faith (in my case, the Sermon on the Mount) should have an impact on policy.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 27, 2017 Brent Budowsky: Trump debases the nation
It debases our nation when the president governs like a schoolyard bully, demeans even some who work in his administration and wages vendettas against facts, truth, science and knowledge while calling our free press the enemy of the people. It debases the nation when the president challenges the veracity of a Gold Star widow at her moment of bereavement.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, September 3, 2016 Clinton should lead with daring jobs plan
It would make her more capable of governing effectively as president if Clinton would take a true leadership position on the central issue of creating jobs. She should vow to push for passage of a Rebuild America plan with congressional Democrats and Republicans, business leaders, labor leaders and economists not in her first hundred days in office but in her first hundred minutes in office.
SHARE Saturday, March 28, 2009 Best Friend of George Soros and Billionaire Short-Sellers: The Republicans!
Here is the hypocrisy and hilarity of the recent attack on George Soros by Republican John Feehery. The economic policies championed by Feehery and other Republicans provide huge windfall profits for Soros and everyone else in his situation.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 23, 2016 Why Warren masters Trump
While Warren spent decades battling against corruptions of money and power, Trump spent decades committing them. Warren knows this, and it gives her confidence. Trump knows this, and it gives him fear. Democrats know this, and the rafters will shake when she says it in Philadelphia. This is why Trump reacts to Warren the way Count Dracula reacted to the cross. Her truths are the antidote to his poisons.
SHARE Thursday, December 14, 2017 Schumer on the march
The election of Jones creates a seminal and defining moment for the Senate. McConnell and Ryan should step back, think carefully, negotiate with Democrats, rewrite the tax bill, do it right, and avoid the economic disaster the bill could create for the nation and the political disaster it will cause for Republicans.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 2, 2018 Trump war against Mueller will make Dem midterm turnout soar
Trump has put Mueller atop his enemies list. He is waging a war of political destruction against Mueller. He has deployed Rudy Giuliani, who was cheered by New Yorkers after the terror attack in September 2001 and was recently loudly booed at a New York Yankees game, to execute a crude strategy in his name.
SHARE Sunday, March 5, 2017 Anti-Trump wave in 2018?
Words cannot fully express the increased turnout that is coming in 2018 from anti-Trump voters who angry, alarmed and fearful of a president and Republican Congress who are taking the nation in a far different direction than most voters supported in 2016.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 24, 2009 Truth or consequences: The lobbyists win, the people lose
For the first year of Democrats in control of everything, the big winners are the lobbyists, at the expense of the people.
There is a reason the president's popularity has fallen from the 70s to the 40s and a reason the Democratic Congress now has an unfavorable rating of almost 70 percent, similar to Republican negatives before 2006 and 2008. Democrats can barely achieve anything today, even with their huge majorities.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 21, 2018 On guns, the students are leading the nation
Trump has the opportunity of a lifetime if he wants to be the president of all the people, if he can think like a father protecting his children and not the leader of a faction protecting their interests. He can leave a lasting legacy for life over bloodshed by standing with the students, and telling his friends and foes that guns that kill enemies in war should not kill students in schools.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 3, 2008 Save the Auto Industry, The American Way
Unlike the financial services sector, the target of so much of Hank Paulson's largess, the auto industry, with all its faults, actually produces concrete products.
To pour nearly 1 trillion dollars into the industry that is responsible for this mess, while ignoring the auto industry, would be a devastating failure.
SHARE Friday, January 19, 2018 If Dems stare down Trump in Dreamer shutdown showdown, they will win
Senate Democrats should stand up for what is right, stare down President Trump and his GOP allies in Washington, and demand that the recently proposed bipartisan compromise to save the DREAM Act be included in the pending spending bill that would prevent a government shutdown.
(13 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Credit-Card Law Has Painful Impact
President Barack Obama and members of Congress are promising a new law to stop credit card companies from using fine print to exploit cardholders. But there's a catch in the bill "" a one-year delay so the companies have time to adjust their business models, essentially another loophole that is hastening rate hikes and credit-limit cuts before the new law can take effect.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 12, 2012 Conservatives in crisis
As conservatives prepare for an urgent meeting this weekend to discuss their options in the 2012 campaign, they face an epic crisis of identity and electability that creates rising odds for the reelection of President Obama.
Throughout the 2012 campaign, there has not been one credible conservative candidate for the presidency.
SHARE Sunday, March 25, 2018 Stop Trump from firing Mueller
All concerned about justice in America should be angry, outraged and alarmed. Republican leaders should act now and support bipartisan legislation to prevent Trump from firing Mueller, which the president could sign to national applause if he truly intends to not fire Mueller.
(11 comments) SHARE Monday, May 10, 2010 Democratic Delusions
Americans are in an ugly mood for good reasons. If Democrats fail to rally their base in the upcoming midterm elections, there may be a train wreck ahead.
(6 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 21, 2018 God bless Laura Bush
Trump has ordered a temporary halt to the family separation policy. It should be made permanent. Period. Trump's abuse of these children is witnessed by a restive, troubled and committed citizenry that largely opposes this moral outrage. His abuse of these children is witnessed by a troubled world whose most fervent believers in freedom and democracy ask what has gone wrong in our beacon of justice and light.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, December 8, 2017 A plea to Alabama voters
If Jones wins, middle-class Alabamians will have a fighter on their side. Poor Alabamians will have a champion for their cause. If Moore wins, the big winners will be wealthy billionaires, multinational conglomerates and giant Wall Street banks who receive the most lavish benefits from the policies Moore and McConnell promote.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 4, 2010 GOP to jobless: DROP DEAD!
What an outrage. Republicans want tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to be permanently extended, but they don't want to pay for them. Republicans delay the passage of jobless benefits, and would only support them if they are paid for.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, May 23, 2016 Budowsky: Trump: The GOP's big lie
Trump said he would punish women for abortions. Then Trump said he would not punish women. Trump said he would cut taxes for the wealthy. Then Trump said he would raise taxes of the wealthy. He said he would order U.S. troops to commit war crimes. Then, perhaps, he would not. Trump would never cut Social Security benefits. But then he might. Trump will self-fund his campaign. Then he won't.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 1, 2017 Rising up vs. TrumpCare
When the Senate reconvenes after its July 4 recess, voters will witness a war of the worlds over the future of healthcare in America. The consequences of this epic political battle will affect every American, directly or indirectly, for generations to come.
(10 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 29, 2009 Obama's Middle East Moment
While most of our media remains fixated on trivial trials in Illinois and similar mundane matters, the President of the United States is making one of the great U-Turns in diplomatic history and making a sincere and credible attempt to bring a historic transformation to the bloodstained carnage and crises that far too often engulfs the troubled lands of the Middle East.
This is huge.
This is historic.
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 2, 2016 Budowsky: A Clinton transition, if she wins
Whether Trump or Clinton is elected, the worst case for America -- which is the most likely outcome today -- would be continued gridlock, government dysfunction and endless partisan wars in Washington that would create even more public disgust toward business as usual in the capital.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, May 23, 2011 GOP has an extremist problem
Make no mistake, the Republicans have an extremist problem. This is the weakest GOP field in decades. Republicans would be well-advised to say goodbye to the nutcases and stop advocating torture, denying science and trying to destroy Medicare.
SHARE Friday, March 22, 2019 Budowsky: Biden or Beto: Where's the beef?
With former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) campaigning across the nation offering high-sounding slogans and much talk about himself, and former Vice President Joe Biden poised to present himself as a candidate to lead the nation and free world, it is time to ask big questions.
(17 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 25, 2007 Senator Hagel: If He Declares Independence He Will Change The World.
When Senator Hagel joined with Democrats and sponsored the Iraq resolution, and was the only Republican to vote with them... and said the President has no plan, and the Senate damn well better know the plan before sending the troops, it was a true and magic moment in the Senate.
SHARE Saturday, October 25, 2008 Limbaugh, Palin, Bachmann: Three Musketeers of McCarthyism
Led by McCain in 2008, the Three Musketeers of this new McCarthyism (Limbaugh, Palin, Bachmann) are essentially attacking the Americanism of more than half the nation, the ultimate conclusion of the fear, smear and division politics of their mentor, the discredited and inept George W. Bush.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, February 18, 2011 Wisconsin to Washington: GOP declares war against workers
The GOP is waging a war against teachers, against firefighters, against police, against programs that create jobs, against men and women who hunger for jobs, against pay equity for women, and against the economic recovery that has only begun.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, August 17, 2007 Gilded Age Crime: Poor Go Homeless, Wealthy Get Bailouts
When the banks, hedge funds and private equity firms make bad deals, they keep the personal profits, while the corporate profits are protected by bailouts. Meanwhile, when the average Americans in the middle class, or the poor, fall a little behind, they get the boot, they lose their jobs, they are thrown into the street without homes and often without food.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, April 1, 2016 Sanders Deserves an Apology From Clinton on Fossil Fuel Donations
In one of the more bizarre and unfortunate outbursts in a presidential campaign season that will not be praised by historians for a high level of discourse, when Hillary Clinton was asked by an environmental activist on Thursday whether she will refuse to accept campaign donations from donors who have interests in fossil fuels, she replied angrily that she is fed up with the Sanders campaign lying about her.
(8 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 9, 2010 If Obama names Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic base erupts like a volcano and votes
If Obama names Warren, consumers would have the strongest possible friend fighting for them all day, every day, at a time of major consumer rip-offs and disastrous consumer confidence that would be lifted with the Warren selection. The Democratic base is dispirited and tired, but the Warren nomination would rally them beyond the imagination of the most cynical pundits and politicians.
SHARE Friday, April 8, 2011 NBC should fire Donald Trump or hire Ron Paul
If NBC insists on continuing its promotion of presumed Presidential candidate Donal Trump on the public airwaves, then NBC should also give Ron Paul a show of his own.
(8 comments) SHARE Thursday, March 25, 2010 Right-wing death threats rise: Republicans should condemn Rush Limbaugh
Death threats are rising against Democratic public officials. Abusive calls and threats are made against the homes of prominent Democrats. Extremists call on supporters to bring guns to Washington. Enough is enough.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Who Will Replace Dick Cheney?
Let's have a serious talk about America and set aside the punditry, the pageantry and the pap of an election year that has become a festival of slander and a feast of mediocrity led by a media that is incapable of serious discussion of serious issues at a serious moment for the nation.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 6, 2018 From Bernie to Beto, a Progressive Era Begins
After the great Democratic victory in the 2018 midterm elections, creating a Democratic House of Representatives that must approve any legislative measure that will become law during the final two years of President Trump's current and probably only term in office, the 2020 presidential campaign has now begun.
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, January 30, 2016 Sanders Surge Panics Washington Establishment
The Washington establishment is now in full panic as the Iowa caucus approaches. While it is not a pretty sight to see, Democrats should be thanking Bernie Sanders for inspiring so many people to become active in the Democratic Party, bringing the change to our democratic process that the party, and our country, certainly needs.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 3, 2010 Future Shock: Dems to Keep the Congress
Republicans started the bailouts, set up the economic policies that caused the crisis & destroyed the economy. G.W. Bush's book, Decision Points, & Karl Rove will remind voters of the Bush/Cheney nightmare & Democrats will retain control of Congress in November.
SHARE Monday, June 18, 2018 Americans love Canada, not Kim
For the first time in American history we are led by a president who treats our friends as enemies, treats our enemies as friends and acts to destroy the alliances between our country and our democratic friends around the world.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 7, 2008 John McCain: The Mount Vesuvius of Mud
Equity markets collapse. Credit markets are strangled. Economic pain skyrockets. Global markets shake. And John McCain campaigns on Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, pit bulls with lipstick, slanders, smears, falsehoods, lies and fear - a Mount Vesuvius of mud that will drag Republicans to defeat. Barack Obama will win because faced with this deluge of dirt, he stands tall as an oak with his dignity, cool and calm.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 22, 2011 Truman moment for Dems
Listening to Republican leaders and watching Republican debates make the GOP today appear to be a party run amok. It denies science, reason, facts and even, at times, the president's birth. They attack and abuse core interests of a majority of voters. Their tactics are often alien to the basic notions of civility, moderation, fair compromise and respect that constitute the American idea.
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 24, 2016 As Sanders Soars, Clinton Goes Negative -- A Bad Move
Clinton needs to inspire voters about why she should be president, not become a negative candidate who reminds voters of the kind of politics they want to end. When Clinton attacks Sanders for the vision and programs he believes in, she is attacking the large numbers of Democrats and independents who believe in what Sanders believes and favor the same changes and reforms that he promotes.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 15, 2016 Budowsky: A cancer on conservatism
It is a cancer on conservatism for the shape-shifting Trump to suggest President Obama may secretly want terrorists to attack America, to suggest the father of a conservative opponent may have been involved in the Kennedy assassination and to ridicule the heroism of American prisoners of war.
(8 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Big Mistake: Bob Gates at Defense
With Bob Gates as secretary of Defense and Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, what is shaping up is a reunion of strong supporters of the Iraq war. Judgment is not a factor, as promised: Both were wrong on Iraq early and long. Nor is loyalty. Nor is clarity. Nor is principle. I must dissent.
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 18, 2011 Now Obama must lead
Yes, President Obama inherited a mess. But it is unacceptable that in the third year of his presidency he still blames his predecessor and does bus tours to promote jobs programs that do not exist. The president should not be touting free trade deals and a patent bill as his major jobs programs. This is not merely false. It is farce.
(10 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 19, 2009 Let's Have a Real Tea Party
This is not partisan: I don't see the Obama administration officials taking the lead to fight for consumers; in fact, the banks are eating their lunch, whatever their intent.
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 9, 2011 Cut the crap and create jobs
Shame on the president. Shame on the Republicans. Shame on the Democrats. Shame on the media. Shame on them all. It is time to cut the crap, create the jobs and fight like hell for what Americans want: jobs.
(8 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 12, 2018 Past presidents should join forces, speak out on Trump
As the current occupant of the Oval Office stands on the brink of historically disastrous actions that would do great damage to America, all living former presidents should speak out loudly and clearly together, as one, which would be one of America's finest hours.
SHARE Friday, April 29, 2016 Trump's war on women
The Republicans' problem is that Trump describes politics as war, and an abnormal number of his war-like insults over the years have been targeted against women, including a Fox News host, a GOP candidate for president and the wife of a GOP opponent. If Trump is nominated, a number of prominent Republican women, along with Republican men, will announce their preference of Clinton over Trump.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 30, 2010 2011: Year of upheaval
2011 will be a year of controversy and conflict for President Obama, Congress and national politics that will bring revolts within both major political parties and a rising demand for a third-party candidate in 2012.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, April 6, 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. lives today
King lives today because he was a man of greatness and humanity who championed a timeless cause that is beloved by good people everywhere. He was taken from us much too soon, but we continue his march to justice with his memory and model by our side and in our hearts, today and forever.
SHARE Saturday, February 19, 2011 Wisconsin to Washington: GOP declares war against workers
This is not a war against deficits, it is a war against collective bargaining, a war against job-creating programs, a war against the very idea of government creating jobs. In many cases this is a war against policies that help women, a war against pay equity for women, a war against new jobs for women and a war against poor women and their daughters and sons.
SHARE Saturday, January 10, 2009 Moment of Truth: Bush prepares pardons, Obama prepares to ban torture.
Under George Bush and Dick Cheney the intelligence community has been used as a partisan foil for their own sick goals.
Torture is un-American and only results in damage. Damage to the tortured and, yes, the torturers. But also the very integrity of what is supposed to be the United States of America.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 21, 2011 Banana Republicans
The Banana Republicans oppose the very concept of negotiating in good faith. They have certain views far outside the mainstream of traditional Republicanism, and far outside the mainstream of traditional Americanism, which views our nation as a melting pot of diversity, requiring a coming-together of shared purpose.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, November 11, 2011 The Norquist Factor
There is real danger for Republicans, especially House Republicans, of being trapped by the Norquist pledge into taking absolutist positions that voters view as an aggressive attack against the majority view of the nation.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, October 19, 2008 McCain Lies; Powell Endorses; 3 Million Obama Donors Rally
The battle is joined. Within 24 hours John McCain told more lies about Obama, claiming he was for socialism. Colin Powell wielded the big bat for Barack with a powerful endorsement of Obama's presidential temperament and character and an equally powerful condemnation of McCain's lowball negativity.
(14 comments) SHARE Monday, March 29, 2010 The Moscow Subway Bombings
The essential method driving the evil of terrorism is killing innocent people. What is needed is an international alliance of decency to undermine the effectiveness of terrorists.
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 20, 2010 Ron Paul wins huge victory in conservative straw poll
Congratulations to Ron Paul for his stunning and well-earned victory at the conservative meeting. Paul is a true conservative in the classic sense who enriches our national debate and is respected by friends and foes alike.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, March 5, 2010 Republican National Committee advocates a party of hate
The issue is that the modern Republican Party does not have opponents, it has enemies. The modern Republican Party does not seek to win a debate, it seeks to destroy its opponents.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 20, 2010 President Should Listen
To the chairman of BP, it's all about the "small"(poor) people as opposed to the "large" (rich) people. There is a dust up in Texas between the two. Obama & the Democrats should be paying attention.
SHARE Friday, September 24, 2010 The GOP's real Contract With America
Voters are starting to "get it" about what the real Republican Contract with America would do to them. For middle America, it isn't pretty, and for the Democratic base, it is a great motivation to vote.
(9 comments) SHARE Monday, December 8, 2008 Fiasco: Still on Our Knees, to Big Oil
The latest agreement to "help" the auto industry is not a "breakthrough" as described, but a fiasco that continues almost 40 years of incompetence and dereliction involving the automotive industry and America remaining on its knees to foreign oil. From the oil crisis of the early 1970s what was needed, on autos specifically and energy generally, was clear.
SHARE Thursday, October 13, 2011 Occupy Repatriation
If job-exporting firms conclude they can use influence-peddling to win a tax break every 7 years, they would export jobs in greater numbers. To promote a jobless American economy, and further destroy the revenue base and fiscal soundness of the nation. If these firms create the jobs first, give them their tax break. If they do not, we should Occupy Repatriation and say to them: Hell, no.
SHARE Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Boozing Bankers Celebrate Their Wealth and Triumph
The controversial TARP program to save Wall Street bankers fortunes has turned out not to be the savior of the credit system after all.
This article by Mr. Budowsky discusses in detail what a debacle it is becoming.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 8, 2010 When a black Republican plays the race card against a black president
Invoke the Panthers, try to tie them to the president and attorney general. Since certain white voters feel hatred or fear toward the Panthers, try to direct that toward the president, the attorney general or anyone opposing your candidates on the ballot.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, August 28, 2009 Kennedy's legacy: Dreams that never die, hopes that never surrender
Kennedy's legacy will advance again with a mobilization for the public option on the healthcare bill in September, not whispered hints of a Democratic surrender with a progressive president and large majorities in Congress.
(7 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 18, 2009 The President Should Fight for the Public Healthcare Option
The pundits who write off the public option are wrong. The decision can be made as late as Christmas Eve and there is plenty of time for the truth to triumph over the falsehoods. The president favors the public option. The House will pass the public option. A majority of the Senate favors a public option. And a healthcare bill, to bring true reform, must include the public option.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Will Elizabeth Warren be Blago'd by bank lobbyists?
Elizabeth Warren is by far the best, strongest and most qualified candidate to lead the new consumer protection agency created by the financial bill. My hope is that President Obama selects her, but if he does not, the reason would be that she was Blagojevich'd by bank lobbyists who would have veto power over their regulators.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 19, 2015 Sanders wins small donors, Trump wins endorsement from Putin
While Sanders is clearly an underdog in the campaign for the Democratic nomination and has been subject to a virtual media blackout in television coverage of the campaign -- compared to the media's almost complete obsession to the daily doings of Trump -- it would be a huge mistake to count Sanders out in the campaign.
SHARE Friday, February 10, 2012 Calling wealthy Democrats
Citizens United destroys the American notion of citizenship by creating separate and unequal classes of Americans. It creates a de facto American House of Lords in which the wealthiest 10 percent of the wealthiest 1 percent are given unlimited financial power to attempt to buy our democracy in secret, while all other Americans are relegated to second-class citizenship.
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 24, 2007 The State Of The Union: A President Who Is No Longer The Leader Of The Free World
Had George Walker Bush begun his speech with "Ladies and Gentleman I am taking my leave and retiring from the Presidency" there would have been tidal waves of standing ovations sweeping from the Congress through the nation to the far corners of the free world.
SHARE Thursday, August 14, 2008 John McCain on Russia: Angry, Bellicose, Belligerent and Extreme
John McCain needs to calm down, stop telling the world he speaks for the American people, stop escalating his warlike rhetoric almost by the hour, and stop the phony tough talk that makes a bad situation worse and would only heighten the danger at a dangerous enough moment.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 26, 2012 How Obama can win big
If the president runs as the champion of patriotic capitalism and Made in America jobs and works his heart out to bring the next Morning in America while his opponents act like the "hope America fails" party that has bet its ranch that the American economy fails -- Obama will win, by a knockout.
(3 comments) SHARE Monday, April 26, 2010 Dems chance to save 2010
Conventional wisdom says the Democrats are going to lose some seats in this election cycle. This article discusses a vector which could prevent a true meltdown.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, June 22, 2007 Abu Ghraib Cover-up About to Explode
At some point Gen. Taguba will be called to testify publicly and will prove one of the most explosive witnesses in six years, while investigative reporters and almost certainly congressional committees are currently looking into Abu Ghraib.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 18, 2010 The Kagan Retreat
Devoid of a track record as a practicing lawyer, Progressives fear Kagan's right wing impulses. Does the Clinton library hold records which can reduce those fears?
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, August 16, 2010 Conservatives should denounce bigotry that hurts American troops
The so called Ground Zero mosque has the right wing commentariat frothing at the mouth. This anti-Muslim bigotry is fanning the flames of intolerance here at home, and showing every citizen of Muslim nations that the US is a nation of hypocrisy.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, January 5, 2016 Trump makes America hate, not great
In the America envisioned by Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, our country would be a place where justice rules the day and economic fairness becomes a way of life. In the America envisioned by Trump, when a black man is beaten up at a rally filled with the politics of dog-whistle bigotry, the candidate suggests that perhaps that man deserved the beating.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 6, 2009 How Dems Win in 2010
Going rogue seems to be all the rage. The rough & tumble skinny on how Democrats win big in 2010.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 26, 2008 PUMA: Party Unity, My America
As the lion in winter brings tears to the eyes and a convention to its feet as Ted Kennedy passes the torch to Barack Obama; as Michelle Obama brings light to the eyes of Democrats with an all-American story about the dreams that do come true, the battle in earnest has begun.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 26, 2007 The War
Imagine if FDR addressed the world and vowed to answer Pearl Harbor by invading Ethiopia. Imagine if battleships were burning at Pearl Harbor and FDR summoned Americans to go shopping, while his partisans prepared negative ads attacking leaders of the opposition who were awarded bronze and silver stars for valor.
SHARE Friday, February 1, 2008 Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy Pass the Torch
Robert Kennedy often quoted Dante that the hottest places in hell are for those who in times of crisis maintain their neutrality.
For Caroline Kennedy and for Ted Kennedy, the 2008 campaign was no time to maintain neutrality. They did not calculate the odds or hold out for the best offer or take the easy and convenient path
(5 comments) SHARE Monday, November 3, 2008 Obama for America
The great truth about Obama is that he believes, in the core of his soul, in the American idea that would be the heartbeat of his presidency. We are in this together. We will rise to the occasion with common purpose.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Go All Out: End Price-fixing by Insurers
Insurance is a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't con game & the health sector is no exception. Both sides are fed up with it.It's time to stop the price-fixing & gouging.
SHARE Saturday, January 2, 2010 If Napolitano should resign, Bush and Cheney should have been impeached
If Janet Napolitano should be fired for her role in the Christmas bombing plot, George W. Bush should have been impeached for being warned about planes flying into buildings in New York and ignoring those warnings, and Dick Cheney should have been impeached for his role in the CIA leak case and prosecuted for his role surrounding torture.
(8 comments) SHARE Friday, October 5, 2007 Born In The U.S.A.
In an upcoming 60 Minutes Bruce Springsteen will advance a profound debate about the true nature of Americanism.
It is time for progressives to light up the sky with patriotism, to rewrite the rules of our current debates, to rekindle that timeless spirit that has made America America for more than two hundred years.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Democratic Strategists
The key to success for Democrats is to focus on the issues: jobs, homelessness, financial abuses of women & children, the neglect of veterans. The list is long & Republicans are weakest when dealing with the problems it reveals.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 16, 2009 The Secret Democratic healthcare filibuster
Voters elected Democrats to 60 seats along with a Democratic president and strongly Democratic House. Enough is enough. If there are Democrats who want to defeat change in favor of special interests, they should do publicly, and be accountable to those who elected them.
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 23, 2008 McCain Slanders Obama, Scarborough Slanders Olbermann
the latest in a long list of cheap-shot, low-blow politics. McCain has learned nothing about why the American people are rejecting the Republicans and why the Republican brand has been compared to the appeal of defective dog food.
This morning, right-wing former congressman Joe Scarborough essentially said that Keith Olbermann is "too stupid to be on television."
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, August 23, 2008 Biden: Barack Obama acted like a president
Here is a big thought about Barack Obama: He usually takes a while, but then gets the big decisions right. The pundits will soon label Biden "the good Cheney," but the truth is far different. Obama has a world vision;
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, August 2, 2008 McCain, Media Allies Play the Uppity Black Card
Recently I challenged what I called three McCain lies about Obama and wounded troops. Today I challenge a lie that was included in the recent Washington Post column by Dana Milbank, repeated without correction many times, and used by Joe Scarborough and others to demean Obama.
SHARE Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Laissez Unfair
We must end the corrupting collusion between Wall Street money and Washington policy, and begin a serious and thoughtful relationship based on sound business and true capitalism.
Jon Stewart said it perfectly. Americans ask, "Who is on our side?"-
SHARE Thursday, December 31, 2009 Bailed-out bankers foreclose churches during Christmas season
With so many Americans hurting, in large measure because of the financial abuses that required huge taxpayer bailouts, many churches are forced to use scarce money to satisfy the voracious hunger of banks. That money cannot be used to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe the needy, and perform their vital missions in the service of the Lord.
SHARE Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Government of National Unity
Democrats should demand an end to attack campaigning by presidential candidates, and offer the nation a unity program of historic economic reconstruction to win a historic landslide victory.
If superdelegates act like potted plants and allow this campaign to fall farther into the abyss, and then try to steal the nomination from the winner of elected contests in favor of the loser, after a campaign of personal destruction...
(10 comments) SHARE Friday, April 11, 2008 Hillary Will Withdraw and Her Stature Soars
Ignore everything you hear on cable talk shows. This is what will happen, and why. First, sometime between the days after the Pennsylvania primary and the days after North Carolina and Indiana, Hillary Clinton will drop out of the presidential campaign, endorse Obama, and watch her stature among Democrats and independents soar.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, August 3, 2007 Hillary Threatens Using Nukes in the Middle East
Let us be blunt: It would be a profound and catastrophic disaster for America to launch a nuclear attack, as Hillary Clinton suggests may be proper.
(7 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 21, 2007 Steve Colbert Out, Rich Little In, The Rise, Fall, and Rise Of The Free Press
Dante's inferno will be full of candidates for accepting blame and responsibility for the death of over 3000 Americans and countless Iraqi civilians. At the top of the list will be: the Free Press That Wasn't.
All the news that's fit to print: if you want to drive the country to war and carnage through fear and lies, take the front page of the New York Times to lunch, and they will print it.
Cozy up to Tom Friedman...
(9 comments) SHARE Wednesday, July 30, 2008 McCain Lies About Obama and Wounded Troops
John McCain personally told Larry King that Barack Obama wanted to bring reporters, cameras and campaign aides to a meeting with wounded troops in Germany. It is an outrage that many in the media, whom McCain has long called part of his political base, fail to report this story with integrity, clarity, facts and truth.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Obama's fat cats.
President Obama has delivered hundreds of billions of dollars worth of taxpayer money to the very Wall Street cartels that created the financial crisis.
The fat cats have been taken care of extravagantly. What has happened for the rest of us?
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Ask what you can do for your country
Democrats can win a great landslide in 2008 to bring a Democratic president, Democratic Congress, and new era of patriotic reform and renewal similar to the years of FDR and JFK.
A JFK-like call to action will rouse a nation ready for revival.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, April 6, 2007 Speaker Pelosi Is 100% Right About Syria
With the administration of the most failed and catastrophic national-security policy in history in full-throated attack demeaning the Speaker, and mainstream media as usual parroting the attack with minimal response for the first 24 hours, it is time to make this case: The Speaker is absolutely right and it is important to consider exactly why.
SHARE Friday, April 20, 2007 Super-Disaster Tuesday ahead
2008 began as a perfectly rational system, with Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina giving voters in diverse states an opportunity to seriously consider the candidates.
Then, 2008 degenerated into a nuclear arms race, with one megastate after another elbowing each other until we have a giant blob at the front end, which disenfranchises every state that comes later and makes a mockery of serious dialogue
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, August 10, 2007 The Battle for the Soul and Spine of the Democratic Party
The old establishment is composed of the Democratic pollsters and consultants who told Democrats to support the Iraq war and, only days ago, to let Republicans gut the American Constitution. The old establishment parades to the cable networks and editorial boards on behalf of their candidate, telling the world that the Democratic nomination is over and decided.
(19 comments) SHARE Friday, January 26, 2007 Hate Versus Hope, On The Blogs, And All Media
There is too much hate from the Bush believers and from the media arsenal of the right.
But there is also too much hate in response, from some who we consider friends. It is understandable, but it is wrong, and it hurts our cause, as much as our opponent's.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 4, 2007 Reid And Pelosi Have Bush Flanked
America, Iraq and the Middle East may have entered a profound and historical turning point. At this moment, the Reid-Pelosi flanking maneuver is brilliant and powerful. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moves aggressively to turn around the military escalation, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) moves aggressively to support Middle East peace initiatives.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Many Democrats Wrong on Iraq, Again
Many Democrats are again missing the first principle of the matter and treating Iraq in political and tactical terms.
The latest view from Democrats is to adopt their politics and tactics around the proposition that the Iraq escalation is working but the Iraq leaders are not.
(6 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 2, 2008 Rock the Vote: To Iowans for Biden, Dodd, Richardson, Kucinich, Paul and Gore
If Obama and Edwards finish first and second in Iowa, the closed process opens, and the voice of the disenfranchised majority will be heard.
Our democracy will be replenished with the only restoration that matters, the restoration of the Democratic Party as the party of the people, and the restoration of our democratic government being of the people, for the people, and by the people.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 7, 2006 The First Catastrophic President In American History Says: "Not Satisfied With The Pace Of Progress In Iraq"
The truth about official Washington is this: the one area of bipartisan consensus is that people across the aisles ask whether this President is dangerously close to crossing a Captain Queeg line as a leader who sails further and further away from a rational and sane understanding of the damage he does.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Born in the USA, Sold to Foreign Buyers
America is being sold at a discount to foreign buyers at bargain basement prices and it is time for a serious discussion about why.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, January 11, 2008 The Last Stand of John Edwards
John Edwards has a chance to thoroughly win the upcoming debates with a smaller number of candidates and a greater chance to get out his message, but he must retool the message. Angry populism alone does not win presidential campaigns, and he had every chance in Iowa, where he virtually lived for six years, and it did not happen.
SHARE Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Cable's Psychosexual Clinton Disorder
Listening to the weird, strange and obsessive discussion about Bill and Hillary Clinton on cable talk shows, one can only conclude that counseling and treatment is required in certain cases, and turning the channel is required in others.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, February 2, 2007 The Cheney Trial, Within The Libby Trial
For the judge and jury, it is the Libby trial.
For America and American politics, it is the Dick Cheney trial and the stakes are far higher than reported in the media.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, August 31, 2007 The Bad Judgment of Gen. David Petraeus
Gen. David Petraeus is a good man and a great soldier with a track record of almost complete failure in his previous tours of duty in Iraq"¦
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, May 2, 2008 Forget Wright - The Super Surge to Obama Has Begun
While the pundits, never missing an opportunity to be wrong, are enraptured by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the party has already begun a powerful and profound movement of superdelegates to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, December 15, 2006 Senate Control Should NEVER Change Hands by a Governor Disregarding The Will Of His People
if the voters have elected a United States Senator, for a Governor to appoint a successor from the other political party is a dishonor to the voters of that state, a direct attack on the democratic process in that State, and a partisan violation of the integrity and honor of the democratic system.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 9, 2009 Republicans Rejoicing with More Americans Jobless?
Sure seems to me that certain Republicans appear to be taking unseemly joy as more Americans lose their jobs. The party of Bush and the Party of No is dangerously close to being the party that hopes America fails!
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, February 23, 2007 U.S, Should Name Sandra Day O'Connor To Investigate Iraq Rape Allegations
There are now multiple reports from Sunni women that they have been raped by men serving in Iraqi forces. It is possible these allegations are contrived propananda. It is possible these allegations are true. It is inexcusable and shameful that Prime Minister Maliki has begun attacking the women.
SHARE Friday, January 5, 2007 Democratic Leaders Take Charge, Joe Biden Stands Tall, The Surge Battle Is Joined
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Joe Biden should receive standing ovations and support for joining the battle and opposing the surge.
From the very beginning of this war, the greatest dereliction of duty is that there have not been high level resignations in protest from either civilian or uniformed officers who knew these disastrous policies were disastrous, but played along.
SHARE Wednesday, January 3, 2007 The Decider Lays Down The Law, Reid and Pelosi Should Lay It Right Back
Democratic Leaders might remind the President that bipartisanship does not mean the President makes unilateral and preemptive decisions to escalate the war, and then open the New Year by threatening the Party the people elected, with charges of stalemate, if the Party upholds what the voters decided.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, January 4, 2008 Obamism: The Politics of Hope in the Year of the Political Independent
Americans will be astonished and amazed at the outpouring of idealism, inspiration, hope and good will that will flow like a mighty river when the Age of Bush is finally ended.
The next great historic political realignment is at hand, comparable to the Democratic realignment brought by Franklin Roosevelt and the Republican realignment brought by Ronald Reagan.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, December 22, 2006 Everyone Is Losing This Insane War. U.S. Should Champion A Cease Fire
The U.S. is losing the war. The Sunnis are losing the war. The Shi'ites are losing the war. The people of Iraq are losing the war. The civilians who get slaughtered are losing the war. This is a war in which everyone is losing, yet everyone confinues.
It is insane.
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 5, 2007 Al Gore, Live Earth Concert, and the Coming Surge of American Optimism
Sooner than people realize, Americans are going to be astonished and amazed at the rekindling of American optimism and the can-do attitude that good people who care passionately can make a difference.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 8, 2007 Brent Budowsky: Letter to Senators Hagel, Warner, and all Senate Republicans
For four years, you said no and voted yes.
For four years, you enabled policies in war you knew were wrong.
For four years, the failure became more deadly, the carnage became more ugly, the casualties became more painful, the damage to our troops and our country and our credibility around the world, and our military force structures, and our deterrent, and our national unity became more grave and extreme.
SHARE Thursday, February 8, 2007 It Ain't the Speaker Who Needs the Getaway Plane
A month ago U.S. News and World Report printed the "inside poop" that Republicans were planning to attack the Speaker as a "Marie Antoinette" and would politically decapitate her. (Their spin).
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Will Kennedy or Gore Lift Obama to the Nomination?
Strangely silent in the Democratic nominating process are the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of Democratic politics: Ted Kennedy and Al Gore.
They are both standing on deck, wielding the big bat. Will they step up to the plate and swing for the fences on behalf of a candidate?
SHARE Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Barack Abroad: Winning Big
Barack Obama is taking a commanding position in the national security debate. Governments in Iraq and Afghanistan clearly prefer the Obama strategy.
SHARE Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Which Hillary Will Debate Tonight?
Hillary Clinton champions her 35 years of experience and has been running for president forever. After New Hampshire she claimed she found her voice, which apparently was racially oriented rhetoric from her campaign, for which she has now apologized.
SHARE Thursday, September 6, 2007 What Petraeus must answer
When Army Gen. David Petraeus testifies next week, here are the hard questions that the nation deserves to have asked and answered, clearly and unequivocally:
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, March 16, 2007 Valerie Plame Stands Tall
I know and admire Valerie Plame and consider her an American hero, an American patriot, and an invaluable national resource in defeating global terrorism who has been compromised by shameless and despicable acts, by partisans and ideologues.
The president of the United States owes Valerie Plame and every covert officer a profound apology.