Republican Party

House Republicans voted in line with environmental interests on key environmental legislation an average of just 5 percent of the time in 2013, according to a new scorecard. The scorecard, released each year from the League of Conservation Voters, tallied…

Barack Obama

Dick Cheney Broke US Military, now blames Obama for Cuts

Juan Cole

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has lambasted the Obama administration for its announcement that it will cut 8% out of the military budget and reduce standing army troop levels to the lowest level since before World War II (from 550,000 at the height of the Iraq War to 440,000). Cheney told CNN he believed that […]

censorship

The Deep State is Vulnerable to People Power

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) My remarks below were published at Bill Moyers’ site this weekend. They came in response to Mike Lofgren’s important essay, “Anatomy of the Deep State” . Lofgren is a former congressional staffer. Mike Lofgren’s long experience on the Hill has given him a small window, he might say only an aperture, into […]

Barack Obama

The GOP, Race and Ted Nugent: If you won’t Denounce Nazi Insults, What does that Say about You?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Musician Ted Nugent called President Barack Obama a ‘subhuman mongrel.’ He has not been denounced for this language by Greg Abbott, the Republican who wants to be the next governor of Texas, though Abbott brought Nugent along on two campaign appearances. On Friday, Nugent “apologized” (though “not to president Obama”) for using […]

Featured

Dear GOP: Top 5 Biblical Marriage Moments far worse than Gay Marriage

Juan Cole

David Edwards at Raw Story quotes Mitt Romney from Meet the Press as saying “But I think marriage should be defined in the way that it has been defined for several thousand years . . .” implying, by the Bible. (Mitt says it is all right with him if gay people just shack up with […]

Plutocracy

The Koch Brothers’ Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble got Rich undermining Democracy

contributors

(By Kim Barker and Theodoric Meyer via ProPublica) For a brief, giddy moment, Sean Noble—a little-known former aide to an Arizona congressman—became one of the most important people in American politics. Plucked from obscurity by libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, Noble was tasked with distributing a torrent of political money raised by the […]

Republican Party

We’re all Living in the World Dick Cheney Made

Juan Cole

(By Mark Danner via a href=”http://www.nybooks.com/”>NYRB and Tomdispatch.com) If you’re a man of principle, compromise is a bit of a dirty word. — Dick Cheney, 2013 1. “We Ought to Take It Out” In early 2007, as Iraq seemed to be slipping inexorably into chaos and President George W. Bush into inescapable political purgatory, Meir […]

Featured

Top 10 Reasons Rand Paul’s Lewinsky Gambit Can’t Obscure GOP War on Women

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Sen. Rand Paul, in preparation for his run at the presidency in 2016, has been attempting to deflect the GOP disadvantage with women by bringing up the Bill Clinton/ Monica Lewinsky scandal. It is a desperate ploy and, like many of Paul’s initiatives, quirky and a little bit creepy at the same […]

Iran

A $9 Trillion War? Top 10 Reasons Americans will Regret it if GOP Derails Iran Negotiations

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) 40 Republican senators are making a last-minute push to bring further Iran sanctions up for a vote despite the opposition of senate majority leader Harry Reid. Some 59 senators signed on to a plan to increase sanctions during President Obama’s negotiations with Iran, which Iranian leaders have argued could derail the talks. […]