D.R. Tucker

Speaking of George W. Bush, Al Gore, and political conventions of yore, today is the tenth anniversary of the commencement of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, held at the TD Garden (then known as the FleetCenter) in Boston, Massachusetts. On the first night of the convention, 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore delivered a tremendous speech: […]

Whatever you are selling, Sen. Rand Paul, I’m not buying–and I hope that no one of sound mind, regardless of color, buys it either. It is profoundly irresponsible on the part of the New York Times and the Washington Post to treat Paul’s manifestly phony efforts to promote himself as the new Jack Kemp as […]

Last summer, Professor Anthony R. Ingraffea of Cornell University warned about the false promise of natural gas in an outstanding op-ed for the New York Times. Ingraffea noted that the concept of natural gas being a “bridge fuel” that could put us on a gradual path to a carbon-free future was absurd: Many concerned about […]

You know how Republicans always hide the Christian right during their presidential conventions? After Pat Buchanan’s repugnant culture war speech at the 1992 convention, the GOP made sure to keep the fulminating fundies out of sight and out of mind when the prime-time cameras were on. Sure, every now and then Republican personalities would use […]

One of the most high-profile House races this year is taking place in California’s 52nd Congressional district. Granted, it’s only high-profile because Carl DiMaio, the Republican challenger to Democratic Representative Scott Peters, happens to be openly gay, and is therefore a diversity symbol for a party that doesn’t exactly have a positive reputation for LGBT […]

This morning, MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart marked the one-year anniversary of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin: Sadly, Capehart and guests Joy Reid and Michael Skolnik failed to bring up the unforgivably evil role that right-wing media entities played in promoting the notion that Trayvon Martin was some sort of inner-city gang-banger […]

I’m not quite sure why The New York Times even bothered to do a story on the demise of Jewish Republicans on Capitol Hill; that’s a problem the GOP obviously brought upon itself. As Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler notes in the story: It is a very right-wing party, more so than in the past…And by […]

In the little-seen 1997 film 187, Samuel L. Jackson played a Los Angeles high school teacher in a one-man war against the school’s gang members. The film is only memorable for a classic Jackson line in the film’s climax: “If you’re gonna be stupid, don’t be half-ass stupid, be all the way stupid!” I couldn’t […]

Not to gainsay the importance of the conflict in Iraq, but it would have been nice to see Bob Schieffer ask Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) about another matter with international consequences this morning on CBS Face the Nation: Just a few days ago, Manchin joined Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to discuss their effort to find […]

Ten years ago, then-Boston Phoenix columnist Dan Kennedy profiled ultraconservative pundit Mark Steyn in a piece labeling him “the most toxic right-wing pundit you’ve never heard of.” Kennedy noted that Steyn “may possess more depth and range than Limbaugh or Coulter, but he shares much in common with them. To wit: a shrill, mocking tone […]