Joe Lieberman, non-Democrat, is always just in it for himself, isn’t he? He’s with McCain and the Republicans before the ’08 election, campaigning vigorously against Obama, then he’s with Obama, if not so much with the Democrats, whom he formally rejected following his loss to Lamont (becoming an “independent”), when Obama wins and the Republicans are reduced to an extremist minority with little hope of reaquiring power anytime soon. Indeed, he only crawled back...

I haven’t blogged on it, but I’ve been following the Iranian election, and post-election, closely — and it’s pretty clear that Iranian democracy is a sham. Here’s Andrew Sullivan, bringing it home with some of the best analysis I’ve read (making a point that is sure to freak out the right): Ahmadinejad’s bag of tricks is eerily like that of Karl Rove – the constant use of fear, the exploitation of religion, the demonization of liberals, the deployment...

Dear Reverend, Please. Stop. I didn’t hold Obama’s long association with you against him, and I still don’t. He was a congregant, yes, but so were so many in the community. Your church was a sort of community center. He was an active member of the community, and he was there. And you were important to him, an important figure in his life. Whether he agreed with you or not is another matter, however. He agreed with you on some things and not on others. Given what I know of him, I...

In his most recent NYT column, occasionally interesting conservative pundit David Brooks came out in support of Sonia Sotomayor and even had some nice things to say about her: If you look at the whole record, you come away with the impression that Sotomayor is a hard-working, careful-though-unspectacular jurist whose primary commitment is to the law. She is quite liberal. But there’s little evidence that she is motivated by racialist thinking or an activist attitude. ***** Looked at in her...

At the Palin-and-Gingrich-blessed Republican Congressional fundraiser the other night, Jon Voight — the actor, not the periodontist — called President Obama a “false prophet”: Everything Obama has recommended has turned out to be disastrous. ***** We are becoming a weak nation. Obama really thinks that he is a soft-spoken Julius Ceaser. He thinks he’s going to conquer the world with his soft-spoken sweet talk. And really thinks he’s going to bring all the enemies...

I have been deeply disappointed with Obama’s overly pragmatic (to put it nicely) approach to foreign policy thus far. In particular, I am disappointed with his emphasis on stability over democracy and human rights, notably with respect to China, Saudi Arabia, and other appalling regimes. As well, like the editors of TNR, I have been “extraordinarily disappointed” with Obama’s apparent inaction over the ongoing tragedy and catastrophe in Darfur. I was also disgusted over his...

In case you missed it, make sure to check out this brilliant column from E.J. Dionne, published yesterday at the WaPo. While it says what many of us have been saying for a long time — namely, that the establishment media are effectively being manipulated by, and have for a long time been dominated by, conservative narratives that shape and frame how the media inform their consumers — it is nonetheless a powerful indictment of the media, and their relationship with the far right, from...

Yesterday was Obama’s big day in Cairo, obviously, but, in the sports world, or at least in the North American sports world, the big news yesterday, bigger (in my view) than Game 1 of the NBA Finals and Game 4 of the NHL Finals, bigger historically, was made in Washington, ironically enough, where one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, The Big Unit, 45-year-old Randy Johnson, won his 300th game, with his San Francisco Giants beating the Washington Nationals (formerly my beloved Montreal...

Politico is reporting that “Conservatives are demanding that Senate Republicans take a harder line on Sonia Sotomayor”: In a letter to be delivered to Senate Republicans Tuesday, more than 145 conservatives – including Grover Norquist, Richard Viguerie and Gary Bauer — call for a filibuster of Sotomayor’s nomination if that’s what it takes to force a “great debate” over judicial philosophy. But in an interview with POLITICO, Manuel Miranda – who orchestrated...

So I get home from work yesterday evening, change, spend some time with my kids, make dinner with my wife, turn on the baseball game (one of our national sports networks was showing Yankees-Indians), and, plopping down at the computer, head on over to the Internets to see what’s going on. And, after checking my e-mail, and my fantasy baseball team, I happen upon this incredible headline at HuffPo: Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage (VIDEO). Incredible because not credible, because unbelievable,...

Liberal media? Yeah, right. Those of us who actually are liberals know just what a joke that is. Here’s another example of a major supposedly “liberal” media outlet regurgitating right-wing spin and enabling the Republican Smear Machine: It’s The New York Times on Sonia Sotomayor. Friday: “Sotomayor’s Focus on Race Issues May Be Hurdle,” by David D. Kirkpatrick. – The article claims, without substantiation, that Sotomayor has “championed the importance...

Here are the headline and synopsis of Fox News’s article on Republican criticism of the Obamas’ Broadway date night in New York: Obamas’ Date Night in New York City Draws Criticism Even before the Obamas left Washington, the there-and-back trip drew criticism from Republicans who questioned the president’s decision to travel to New York for a night of entertainment during a recession and while automakers struggle to survive. This is, as you might (should) expect from Fox News,...

CNN: The tiny town of Hardin, Montana, is offering an answer to a very thorny question: Where should the nation put terror detainees if the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is shut down by the end of the year as President Obama has pledged? Hardin, population 3,400, sits in the southeast corner of Montana, in the state’s poorest county. Its small downtown is almost deserted at midday. The Dollar Store is going out of business. The Hardin Mini Mall is already shut. The town needs jobs —...

“Split threatens to rupture Republican ranks: Conservative vs. moderate divide plays out across the airwaves on Sunday.” Such was the oh-so-dramatic headline of an AP article at MSNBC yesterday. And, fine, Sunday was indeed a big day for the so-called moderates of the Republican Party, with both Colin Powell (on CBS) and Tom Ridge (on CNN) taking to the cable news circuit to criticize Dear Leader Rush and the extremist right-wing faction that currently dominates the party. “I am...

President Obama met the Tyrant Chavez at the Summit of the Americas on Friday — you know, because both men are leaders of countries in the Americas — and, according to Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada, behaved irresponsibly by “laughing and joking” with him. Now, I have been a consistent and persistent critic of Hugo Chavez. As a liberal, I am opposed to all forms of tyranny, whether of the left or of the right. I would rather not have Obama, or any Amerian president...

I understand that George Will is, despite his global warming lies and distortions, one of the smarter conservatives out there — I’ll leave that up to you to decide just how much of a compliment that is (remember: it’s all relative). I understand also that Will was against the McCain-Feingold restrictions on political finance and that he remains opposed to any such restrictions on political “speech.” But is it really the case, as Will remarks again on Sunday, in his WaPo...

If you’re interested, my latest piece at The Guardian — on celebrated public intellectual, former Harvard professor, and current Canadian Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff — is here. In brief, I don’t much care for him. (I supported former Ontario Premier Bob Rae for the leadership, but Rae pulled out of the race late last year.) Here’s a taste: To me, though, he has never seemed to be much of a Canadian, and certainly not enough of one to be our prime minister....

Attorney General Eric Holder, yesterday: Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, a nation of cowards. In predictable fashion, the right-wing likes of Michelle Malkin are turning this around and spewing their venom at Obama, among others, while claiming that “Holder doesn’t want an honest dialogue about race.” The right generally likes to play the racist...

Over the weekend, as you might have heard, Venezuelans voted to lift the constitutional term-limit restriction on elected officials, thereby allowing Tyrant Chavez to run for re-election and essentially to remain in power as long as he wants. It was a huge victory for Chavez, who in December of 2007 lost a previous referendum on this and other constitutional reforms. As I wrote at the time — and I have written extensively (and critically) on Chavez’s slice-by-slice acquisition of power...

With investigations underway in Illinois, an ethics probe launched in the Senate, and more and more evidence that he’s a lying, corrupt scoundrel, it is indeed time for Roland Burris to resign. The Washington Post From the moment that Mr. Burris was selected, he strove to portray himself as a blameless public servant. The sad pictures of Mr. Burris being cast out into the rain by the Democratic leadership of the Senate, which initially refused to seat him, turned public opinion in his favor....

It’s done: 60-38. (The Democrats, the two independents, and three Republicans — Specter, Collins, and Snowe — voted for it, as expected.) Once again, as in the House, Republicans put themselves squarely in opposition to the American economy and the American people. And as flawed as the bill is, at least something was done at this time of historic crisis.

This headline from Wednesday’s Telegraph piqued my curiosity: Female FBI officer ‘tortured Mumbai terror attacks suspect with sex’. According to Fahim Ansari, one of the planners of the attacks, “three foreigners, including [a 'white woman], sexually abused him, causing him ‘severe itching and wounds’ on his body, including his genitals. A Muslim, he claims that “this amounts to torture because it is against his religion.” And I suppose it is, however...

Anonymous Liberal makes a good point: “The Notion of a ‘Bipartisan Cabinet’ Has Always Been a Stupid One.” Very stupid. If you elect a Democrat, you get a Democratic Cabinet. It’s as simple as that. Or should be. There are plenty of ways in which a president can demonstrate that he’s open minded and willing to work constructively with the opposition. But putting members of the opposition in charge of implementing his policy is just dumb. The fact that the Beltway...

From TNR’s Jason Zengerle: Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (who, needless to say, is a Republican, not to mention a potential 2012 presidential candidate) has come out in favor of gay civil unions. It’s not gay marriage, but it is Utah. It is indeed, a deeply conservative state, and yet what Huntsman is taking a pretty progressive position on one of the right’s key wedge issues. For that, he deserves our admiration. But is he crazy, or what? First, does he know what state he’s...

Calling the president “a master rope-a-doper,” Noam Scheiber has an interesting take on what may have been Obama’s strategy in dealing with the Republicans over the stimulus bill: For weeks now, Obama has soared above the fray — inviting dour-looking Republicans to the White House for cookies and patiently hearing them out on Capitol Hill. Once again, the Republicans have exploited this stance, notching a series of tactical victories, like their unanimous no-vote in the House...