We all know that most big money interests responsible for the recent financial collapse got off scot free -- and then managed to bounce right back while the rest of us were left holding the bag. "Responsible," in some cases, even means criminally responsible for

"The heartbreaking events of this weekend," said one young lady, early on in the evening -- one of Gabby's interns. She got a round of enthusiastic applause. It kind of threw me. But it was just one of multiple rounds of applause to come -- they were a constant throughout,...

I recently got involved in the making of a documentary about celebrity culture called Teenage Paparazzo. It was directed by Adrian Grenier, the star of Entourage on HBO. Adrian is also featured in the movie, which shows in a very personal way what it...

Taylor Branch is a progressive to be reckoned with when it comes to documenting the history of the American civil rights movement. That's why I was so shocked to read his account of Glenn Beck's Fox-hyped rally in Washington on the anniversary of King's historic...

It's been a depressing spectacle. One of the many drawbacks of postmodern political discourse in a mediated age is how quickly and inevitably essentially symbolic "issues" become as real--or even more real, hyper-real--as old-fashioned real issues like tax policy and war. The reason it's so hard to...

What's getting the most attention right now is Dr. Paul on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bravo Rachel Maddow. And of course that is the most offensive of his loony libertarian literalisms. But that's not what Democrats should focus on going into the November elections. That issue...

What I want to get to is the unique sense of self-importance that informs some of the language that Churchmen have been using in response to criticism. I don't need to go into just how vile were the deeds--the actual abuse and the cover-ups. Activists among the abused are tending...

The positive comparison says, yes, it's OK to require people to buy health insurance--we require them to buy auto insurance, don't we?

Republican Attorneys General planning lawsuits are featuring this response: you aren't required to buy a car, that's a choice. So, if you choose to buy...

What is most essential now is creating a "conventional wisdom narrative." Is it going to be that Democrats defied an angry public and rammed this bill through the Congress by manipulating the system -- without a single Republican vote because they were hanging tough? Or is it going to be...

Reality check: Obama carried Massachusetts by 26% in 2008 -- but he couldn't get enough people out to overcome the motivated forces behind Scott Brown. Of course, Brown could have been a pumpkin, it wouldn't have mattered. What got those forces organized was fear of Obama and his Bolshevik-Muslim agenda,...

I feel so ambivalent about the way Hollywood packages progressive messages -- messages I agree with, in substance. But the way they do it, it's a symptom of a basic problem.

The obvious cases are movies about the war in Iraq, from In the Valley of Elah to The Hurt...

It's a minor holiday--but only Christmas gets more build-up. Partly it's the decorations. In the stores, all over people's porches and yards. It's when the weather really starts to turn, and that's like announcement music in the background of the days. Also, it's for kids--grown-ups pretend, so kids will have...

He's trying hard to make that case. As I write, there he is, leading by example on every Sunday morning talk show -- except the Crazy Channel. Which was an interesting choice, especially when coupled with his core message, repeated in almost identical language in every interview. Namely, that the...

The situation facing supporters of the public option going into this crucial month was made hilariously clear in this doozy of an anecdote from a recent Paul Krugman column. It seems that, at a recent town hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told Representative...

First off, I have no idea what the Obama administration should do to support reform in Iran. I try to keep up with events, I have read a couple of books, but I know what I don't know -- and that's enough about Iranian reality to make a judgment.

How smart is this move? How dumb are the true believers on the Republican Right? We shall see.

After months of trying to gain traction on something, anything, against the Obama administration, they finally had something going. The closing of Guantanamo problem and, even more effective, the possibility that Pelosi...

Mark Danner continues to serve us as the best source out there on the issue of "enhanced interrogation techniques." But his latest piece for the NYRB goes beyond informing us. It offers the most compelling argument I know of against Obama's "let's look forward not backwards" position. I have...

My guess right now is that ASU will fold and give Obama an honorary degree after all. But that would not be the best result for Obama on the political/cultural stage. It would be much better if they stick to their guns and, if they do, here is Obama's...

OK, so the heat is on Poor Tim, that's clear. Richard Shelby, that pillar of political rectitude, is leading the charge of the vengeful to secure his resignation. Like Boss Limbaugh, they are happy to see America fail if it means Obama fails--and that's practically Shakespeare's definition of tragedy....

As part of reaching out to Republicans, Barack might consider inviting Rush to the White House. He might say something like this: my schedule does not permit me to respond to your invitation to come down to your Florida studio for a debate. But, he could then say, it...