“Something is happening and you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones?” Bob Dylan sang. Mr. Jones was the typical suburban “square,” and the “something” that was happening was the sudden explosion of the new left and the counter-culture during the Sixties. Something extraordinary is happening now in European and American politics. READ MORE >>
The Unlikely Celebrity of C. Everett Koop
As surgeon general, he infuriated the right and became famous
Chuck Hagel is, of course, not the first presidential nominee to face stiff opposition in the Senate. In 1981, Democrats spent eight months battling the nomination of C. Everett Koop to be surgeon general. Ronald Reagan's choice of Koop, who was known as an outspoken foe of abortion, was seen as a sop to rightwing evangelicals and to the new right, which had successfully used opposition to abortion as a wedge issue to defeat Democrats in the 1980 election. But Koop, who died on Monday at age 96, turned out to be one of the great surprises of the Reagan years. READ MORE >>
A decisive turning point in the recent political history of Palestine came in June 2007, when Hamas defeated Fatah’s security forces in Gaza and took over uncontested administration of the strip. This was the moment that Palestine became divided in two with rival governments in charge—Hamas in Gaza and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in West Bank—which meant the end of a single, coherent Palestinian leadership that could negotiate with the Israelis. READ MORE >>
Former Sen. Chuck Hagel didn’t acquit himself well in the hearings that the Senate Armed Services Committee held today on his nomination to be Secretary of Defense. He was equivocal, often unconvincing, and seemed taken aback by questions that had been swirling around the rightwing blogosphere for weeks. READ MORE >>
Paul Krugman vs. Joseph Stiglitz
How income inequality could be slowing our recovery from the Great Recession
Given today’s report of economic contraction, it’s worth tuning in to a recent debate between liberal economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman. READ MORE >>
Barack Obama’s second inaugural speech was excellent, but an ambiguity lies at its center that has haunted – and, to some extent, distorted – American politics since the debates over the Constitution in 1787. READ MORE >>
Obama Wasn't Rolled. He Won!
The Civil War Endures in the Fiscal Cliff Fight
If you look at the House Republican vote, you find regional divisions that mirror the Red-Blue divisions in the national electorate. All in all, 85 Republicans voted for the Senate resolution and 151 voted against it. The opposition was centered in the Old South. Southern Republicans opposed the measure by 83 to 10. The delegations from Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina were unanimously opposed. As one might expect, the bill got support from five Florida Republicans, including Republicans from Cuban districts. READ MORE >>
