There is simply no rational basis for any Democratic Senator to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court–and every reason in the world for Democrats to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination. Is Judge Gorsuch technically qualified to do the job? Sure. So was Merrick Garland, and we all saw what happened there. Is Judge […]
Al Gore
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Normalization Process
Let’s be honest: Donald Trump was far from the first lunatic the mainstream media normalized. It was 25 years ago tonight that ABC’s Nightline aired a debate on environmental issues facing the United States at the outset of the 1992 presidential campaign. Normally, a debate would involve two individuals with different approaches to reducing environmental […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Worsening Political Climate
Sometimes, you just have to appreciate the small things. Ten years ago Monday, George W. Bush–you know, the last Republican to slide into the Oval Office without winning the popular vote–delivered his second-to-last State of the Union Address, and for the first time in a Bush SOTU speech, he acknowledged the reality of a problem […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
No More Drama
Let’s all make a New Year’s Resolution for 2017: no more hand-wringing about why Hillary Clinton didn’t win the Electoral College. In the days following the dark night of November 8, I have been mystified as to why most Democrats and progressives didn’t come to the obvious conclusion that the Electoral College win of the, […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Learning from Hillary’s Loss
There’s a lot to be learned if Democrats want to win in 2020.
Posted inPolitical Animal
Why Shouldn’t Gore Meet With Trump?
Simply acknowledging that Trump is the President-elect doesn’t legitimize him.
Posted inPolitical Animal
Drowned World
Among the many reasons why the “Progressives must reach out to Trump supporters!” argument is so questionable is that it’s hard to reach out to people who have made it quite clear that the health and safety of future generations doesn’t interest them much. If you’re a progressive who spent years fighting the threat posed […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Deplorable Behavior
It’s not going to happen Wednesday, either. Joe Romm of Climate Progress noted last week that if Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz failed to introduce a specific question about climate change at the Clinton-Trump II debate, the question would never be brought up in Clinton-Trump III: We’ve had two debates where the moderators ignored the […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
If Trump Wins
It could happen. It could happen. In his 2009 book The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980-1989, right-wing author Steven Hayward describes the aftermath of President Carter’s defeat on November 4, 1980: By Thursday the magnitude of the election was starting to course through the news cycle. “The election was a shocker,” Washington Post […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Burning Down the House
It’s sadly ironic that as worldwide temperatures continue to rise, mainstream-media coverage of the most pressing issue of our time–human-caused climate change–continues to fall. Fortunately, documentary filmmakers and writers have stepped up to do the job that so much of the Fourth Estate won’t on climate. Speaking of writers combating carbon pollution, 2014 produced the […]
