It’s even more disgusting now than it was then. Five years ago this Thursday, the Heartland Institute–the industry-funded think tank notorious for rejecting the settled science connecting smoking to cancer and the burning of fossil fuels to climate change–engaged in one of the sleaziest media campaigns of all time: Drivers moving along Chicago’s inbound Eisenhower […]
D.R. Tucker
D. R. Tucker is a Massachusetts-based journalist who has served as the weekend contributor for the Washington Monthly since May 2014. He has also written for the Huffington Post, the Washington Spectator, the Metrowest Daily News, investigative journalist Brad Friedman's Brad Blog and environmental journalist Peter Sinclair's Climate Crocks.
Posted inPolitical Animal
Democratic Resolve in Georgia, Montana and Beyond
Ten years ago, then-Representative Martin Meehan (D-MA) resigned from the House to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Meehan’s Congressional seat had not been held by a non-Democrat since the early-1970s, and the prospects of the Republican Party capturing the seat in a special election seemed rather remote. However, Republicans did not shrug […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Lack of Courage: Why the Fourth Estate is Rather Intimidated by Trump
Remember when the right-wing noise machine wouldn’t stop celebrating its role in the departure of Dan Rather from CBS News? “Rathergate,” as the wingnuts called it, is still regarded as a moment of glory for the right. In a 2004 Boston Phoenix piece, Dan Kennedy explained the history behind the right’s lust for Rather’s scalp: […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Casualties of War
Forty years ago this Tuesday, President Jimmy Carter nailed it going away in a nationally televised address. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly. It’s a problem that we will not be able to solve in the next few years, and it’s likely to get […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Other Wingnut Who Wants Warren
Hey, you can’t blame ‘em for trying. The right-wing hatred for Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) increases on an exponential basis, and like longtime Mitt Romney pal John Kingston, that hatred has motivated another far-right Republican to make an effort to unseat her: Republican state Representative Geoff Diehl on Wednesday took a stride toward challenging Democratic […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Will Republicans Blame Trump if Jon Ossoff Wins?
It appears that Republicans remain nervous about holding on to the seat in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District vacated by current Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price–a seat the GOP has owned since 1979: Conservative ads are pummeling [Democratic contender Jon] Ossoff. Spots from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to House Speaker […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Next Voice You Hear…
It’s not that far-fetched of an idea. Not in this world, anyway. Think about it: we are told that James Murdoch, the head of 21st Century Fox, wants rid of Bill O’Reilly in the wake of increased media scrutiny (and decreased advertisers) over his history of alleged sexual harassment–a history that reportedly caused Megyn Kelly […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The New York Times Commits Ecocide
To quote the late hip-hop artist The Notorious BIG, it was all a dream. A dream that the world’s most prominent newspaper would actually cover the most important story of our time with the seriousness it deserves. A dream that the publication would recognize that false balance on climate science was nothing more than an […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Donald Trump’s Weapons of Mass Distraction
The gambit worked. He knew it would. He knew the media would allow him to get away with it. He knew the press would be guided by the supposed beauty of his weapons. He knew the Fourth Estate would get off on his show of force. Donald Trump knew exactly what he was doing. By […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Fourth Estate Has an Obligation to Question Trump’s Motives in Syria
Last week, after the Washington Post published a bizarre story suggesting that the Trump administration had come around to supporting both a federal value-added tax and a carbon tax, Kevin Drum labeled the story bullpucky: Sure they are. This sounds more like a strategic leak to demonstrate “seriousness” on Trump’s part than anything that’s really […]
