Do you really think they have any idea what they’re in for? Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the handful of Democratic Senators supporting Sanders’s Medicare for All initiative certainly deserve credit for getting behind such a bold effort–but they are profoundly naive if they think a bill establishing such a policy will make it through […]
Rush Limbaugh
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Course to Chaos
When, precisely, did the Republican Party “snap”? The exact moment when the GOP went rabid will be debated for decades: you may recall that last year, I argued that the point of no return for the Republican Party was August 1, 1988–the day Rush Limbaugh’s Sacramento, California-based right-wing talk show was nationally syndicated for the […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Hurricane Havoc and the Climate Conversation
Will they say this was the moment when America finally grew up on climate? After the multi-billion-dollar impact of Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria, it’s safe to say that if the ideological barriers preventing Americans from working together to solve the climate crisis have not been knocked down yet, those barriers will never fall. It’s […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Will ABC Execs Stand Behind Jimmy Kimmel? No.
They wouldn’t sell him down the river, would they? Oh, come on. Of course they would. Call me cynical, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if, a few months down the line (to make it look good), ABC announces that it’s wishing Jimmy Kimmel all the best in his future endeavors. Kimmel has […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Hurricane Rush’s Downpour of Lies
I’d say the old man has lost it, but he never had it in the first place: Rush Limbaugh didn’t say the magic words, but on Tuesday he basically accused the media of creating fake news about Hurricane Irma, which is threatening Florida after hitting Barbuda and Antigua. The storm’s 185-mile-per-hour winds tied the record […]
Posted inMain, Political Animal
The GOP Bears Full Responsibility for the Havoc in Virginia
The madness in Virginia is the natural consequence of decades of GOP normalization of hate and rationalization of racism.
Posted inMain, Political Animal
How the Repeal of the Fairness Doctrine Gave Us Donald Trump
The decision by the Reagan administration has given us three decades of broadcast news that recklessly reaffirms prejudices.
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Republican Party is a Weapon of Mass Destruction
Imagine, for a moment, an organization that sought to deprive millions of people of access to medical treatment. An organization that did all within its considerable power to remove policies that ensured access to clean air and clean water. An organization that took the side of arms manufacturers who wanted no restrictions on the ability […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Is the Right’s Lack of Empathy a Pre-Existing Condition?
You probably know somebody like this. You heard them complain in 2009 about “what Barack Obama’s doing to health care in this country.” They considered it an unconstitutional takeover of a critical part of the economy. They thought Sarah Palin nailed it when she talked about death panels. They agreed with Rush Limbaugh when he […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
No, Charlie Sykes, There’s No Merit in Spotlighting Crackpots
As if Bret Stephens wasn’t bad enough, now the New York Times turns over valuable op-ed space to longtime Wisconsin right-wing radio host and frequent MSNBC guest Charlie Sykes–you know, the guy who hates Donald Trump but thought Scott Walker was just swell. Sykes tries to defend the sleazy decision by Megyn Kelly and NBC […]
