For what seems to be the first time, President Obama put on his oft-mentioned but rarely seen “comfortable shoes” to support union rights at a speech in Michigan today. It was Obama at his best; serious but funny, calm but pointed. And not a moment too soon: last week the lame duck Republican legislature pushed [...]
It’s a phenomenon that began as soon as George W. Bush was safely installed in office; all that hogwash about “compassionate” conservatism and “humble” foreign policy went right out the window, to be replaced with Bush’s natural “sore winner” pose. Policies appeared to be designed not for their efficacy, but for their offensiveness to key [...]
At the opening of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell describes Scarlett O’Hara thusly: “…she wasn’t beautiful, but everyone thought she was.” Now, before you start thinking I’m going to bring up the battle axe of the borealis, I’m not, because my argument isn’t really about beauty (or lack thereof). It’s about the deep and [...]
What seems to define modern Republicanism as we approach the 2012 elections is a firm, Randian belief that the only acceptable model for governance be that of a particularly ruthless and avaricious corporation beset by a self-interested and narcissistic CEO bent on looting it. Like their corporate sponsors, Republicans have abandoned any sense of creating [...]