I’ve seen a lot of brain-crushingly stupid stuff coming out of the so-called “paper of record” in recent years, but this just takes the aneurysm-inducing cake:

To achieve the change the country wants, he says, “we need a leader who can finally move beyond the divisive politics of Washington and bring Democrats, independents and Republicans together to get things done.” But this promise leads, inevitably, to a question: Can such a majority be built and led by Mr. Obama, whose voting record was, by one ranking, the most liberal in the Senate last year?

I love the fact that Robin Toner (or his/her editor) just threw in that “inevitably,” as if it’s just such a commonly accepted piece of wisdom that a liberal politician cannot possibly unify disparate points of view under their banner. It only gets better from there: Full story »

Right now the Clinton campaign carnage is focused on whether or not falsely claiming to be shot at on a Bosnian tarmac qualifies you to be ready to answer the red phone at 3 am. But there are other, subtler issues surrounding her that give me serious pause when considering whether or not she can truly be a progressive, or even Democratic president.

Her approach to dealing with the mortgage meltdown and resultant economic crisis is generally sound, especially in terms of endorsing the plans put forth by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, both of whom have been doing some serious heavy lifting on this issue for the past few years.  But Clinton runs the risk of sabotaging the plan in a major way by putting none other than Alan “Irrational Exuberance” Greenspan himself in charge of the working group handling the initiative. Full story »

My old friend Adam Marsland has just released Daylight Kissing Night: Adam Marsland’s Greatest Hits, a greatest hits collection that draws from the best of both his solo and Cockeyed Ghost efforts, and boy howdy, am I jacked. If you don’t already know Adam’s music, let’s go ahead and get the triangulation out of the way. He’s kinda like a modern-day cross between Elton John, Brian Wilson, KISS and Todd Rundgren, with a dash of Elvis Costello, Raspberries, Big Star and Foo Fighters sprinkled in for good measure.

And now, for my favorite Adam Marsland moment. Full story »

I guess there’s probably nothing Earth-shattering about revelations that FOX News “journalist” Sean Hannity was BFFs with a white supremacist. I mean, even if you don’t expect it, it’s not the sort of information that’s going to turn your whole worldview upside-down, you know?

But the latest screed from Pat Buchanan almost buckles the knees. We don’t exactly look to Pat for enlightened thinking on race or, well, on anything. But even by his standards these March 21 comments are barely to be believed. Full story »

The upcoming presidential election and the economy are pretty poor excuses for our inability to focus on Iraq. Especially since we’ve not only passed the 4,000 mark of American dead, but 25 were killed in a recent two-week span.

It’s frightening how comfortable we’ve learned to live with the war since the “surge” supposedly turned things around. The continuing carnage among those who were supposed to enjoy some of the fruits of our liberation isn’t even on our radar screens.

Not only aren’t most of us following Iraq in the news, we turn our backs on books and movies that dramatize it. Yet our veterans aren’t just returning with problems, but with a whole lore. You can’t help but conclude that their experiences need to be watered down to be made palatable. Full story »