progressive strategies – Post Tenebras Lux

State of the Democrats, 2014

ByLars February 5, 2014 2 Comments

Well, it’s that time of year again, when politicians from Chris Christie to Barack Obama are giving their “State Of…” speeches, so I thought I’d give my own little version. Call it: State of the Democrats. These speeches are usually little more than formalized excuses for executives of local, state and federal government to grab some headlines and unearned face-time with the cameras...

Haters Gonna Hate

ByLars October 9, 2013 0 Comments

I missed this one yesterday, but Digby (and The Economist) got it exactly right: When Mr Obama stops speaking as a partisan advocate of ambitious liberal goals, adopts his mature school-principal voice, and demands simply that political players adhere to reasonable norms of democratic governance, Republicans are left with nothing to oppose except the reasonable norms of democratic governance. ...

Is This Hope, Or Change?

ByLars December 2, 2010 0 Comments

I can’t tell. Dave Dayen at FDL notices OFA’s latest plea to their email list: Here’s what OFA is reduced to. I just got this email: A decade of irresponsible spending led to a projected $1.3 trillion deficit that President Obama inherited upon taking office — putting America on an unsustainable fiscal course. From Day One, this administration’s top focus has been growing the economy...

Blaming The Voters

ByLars November 4, 2010 2 Comments

Voters? Shouldn’t that be ‘blaming the victim’? That’s the traditional formulation, yes. But I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend since before this election among entrenched Democratic types and their hardcore supporters: blaming the voters. Not all of the voters, of course, just those voters who the Democrats perceive to be responsible for their losses. Before the election, the...

Cave-men

ByLars September 24, 2010 2 Comments

If I were the paranoid type, I'd have long ago begun to wonder whether the Democratic leaders in this country had hatched a secret plot to kill me and make it look like an accident. How? By causing me to bang my head into my desk upon reading about their boneheaded political manueverings so often that I cause a massive subdural hematoma, rapidly filling my brain with blood and killing me within...

The Stupidity of Jonathan Cohn (and others)

ByLars August 4, 2010 3 Comments

Before I begin, let me offer up the usual disclaimers: no, I don't think Jonathan Cohn is the worst thing since sliced dogshit. No, I don't think he's never had a decent idea or never taken a position I agreed with. But it's pretty clear from Cohn's recent column in The Joe Lieberman Gazette The New Republic (see here for explanation of why I call TNR the "Lieberman Gazette") that Cohn thinks...

Learning The Wrong Lessons, Going The Wrong Way

ByLars February 1, 2010 0 Comments

Bob Cesca (via DougJ at Balloon Juice) lays out a frighteningly familiar scenario, in which the Republicans gain back control of the House, and begin impeachment proceedings against President Obama. If you're like me, you read such predictions or musings with a sick feeling in your stomach. Sick, because you think “no WAY, they'd never do that – I mean – what possible grounds would the...

Why Air America Failed

ByLars January 27, 2010 0 Comments

Excellent piece at Crooks and Liars regarding the difference in strategy between the conservative and liberal establishments when it comes to recognizing the importance of a media infrastructure and being willing to fund it in order to further the wider spread (and thus, understanding and acceptance) of progressive ideas. It's too long - and has too many good ideas - to excerpt it all, but do...

PCCC-MoveOn Poll Tells The Story Of Massachusetts

ByLars January 21, 2010 2 Comments

**UPDATE, 5:30PM EST** Apparently, the White House seems to have at least partially gotten the message - or perhaps I should say, gotten at least part of it. Obama today announced "The Volcker Rule," with a bang-up press conference by the President, including the following line: So if these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have. And my resolve is only strengthened when I see a...

Protected: Reply to Arrgh Paine's Letter To Jane Hamsher

ByLars December 27, 2009 1 Comment

This post was originally going to be a reply to R. Paine's "Open Letter To Jane Hamsher" which he posted on his blog. Unfortunately, in order to tell the back-story that accompanies my opinion which rebuts much of his position expressed in his open letter, I had to write extensively enough that I exceeded blogger's character count for comments. Thus, my reply is posted here - though it should...