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Sara Robinson's picture

Talking Turkey: Ten Myths Conservatives Believe About Progressives

Firing BackIt is that time again: Thanksgiving, the official kickoff of the 2008 holiday season. As you prepare to head once again into the family fray to spend quality time with your conservative relatives, it helps to note that most of the right wing's favorite anti-liberal slanders are rooted in some deeply-held—and deeply wrong—assumptions about who liberals are, and what we believe. Your best defense is to listen closely for these underlying myths and fables at work—and be prepared to challenge them head-on. Here's how.

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Fed’s $1.6 Trillon Bet

washingtonindependent.com — Amid the clamor over the crisis on Wall Street, the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Rescue Program, or “TARP,” bill and the evolving collapse of the global banking system, little attention has been paid to the extraordinary credit extensions at the Federal Reserve. But these are now without parallel in Fed history, including during the Great Depression.

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Robert Borosage's picture

The Next Fight

How about a little "straight talk" in the last presidential debate? The conventional wisdom about cutting domestic spending and balancing the budget is wrong for today's economic crisis. Let's focus instead on what must happen: a large, bold plan to rebuild America, put people to work, and get the economy going.

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Isaiah J. Poole's picture

Framing the Progressive Victory

Even though polls show majorities of the public favoring progressive positions on issues, Bernie Horn—senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and author of the book, "Framing the Future"—fears that the movement could lose opportunities to win elections this year because of how advocates talk about issues with swing voters. more »


Isaiah J. Poole's picture

Don't Let Anyone Question Your Patriotism

Our political disagreements over the direction of the country and who is best qualified to lead it in the right direction should never be used as a weapon to question our love for this country. In fact, the willingness to be intensely engaged in the struggle to being this nation closer to its ideals is the very mark of a patriot. That's why we're telling Fox News and the right in general: Stop attacking patriotic Americans simply because you don't agree with them.

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Jeremy Baker's picture

Help AFSCME Tell Congress to invest in America

Friends, more »

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All Aboard the McCain Express

thenation.com — The most important glue binding conservatism together is a shared sense that someone, somewhere is looking down their noses at them with a condescending sneer. And to conservatives, McCain has been too often one of the sneerers. That helps explain the strange McCain contortions Republicans have been forcing themselves into in recent weeks.

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Bill Scher's picture

Take Back America: Podcast Preview

Take Back America 2008Listen as our communications director, Toby Chaudhuri, offers a preview of "the progressive convention," Take Back America 2008, on my "LiberalOasis Radio Show."

Links to the complete schedule and more on the main conference page.

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Progressives Rising

2008: A Sea-Change Election

Progressives-rising-240px.gifThe 2008 election has the potential to be not simply one of change, as conventional wisdom suggests, but of sea-change—an election that marks the end of the conservative era that has dominated our politics for the past three decades.

"Progressives Rising—2008: A Sea-Change Election" details the signs of the emergence of that era, and cautions that progressives will not only have to continue to drive the debate in the election season, but will also have to define, expand and claim the mandate after the election.

Also see:

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Andrea Batista Schlesinger's picture

DMI Sends Members of Congress Home with Their 2007 Grades!

If the middle class could give your Congressmember a grade, what would it be? Today, DMI releases grades for every senator and representative, evaluating their votes on key legislation that affects the current and aspiring middle class. more »


Isaiah J. Poole's picture

Obstruction Alert: Renewable Energy Stalled in Senate

Take Back America: New Power, New Vision for New EnergyAs oil prices hit record highs, all indications are that a stubborn conservative minority in the U.S. Senate will stand in the way of sensible energy legislation that would shift tax breaks away from Big Oil, which doesn't need them, and toward renewable energy companies that do.

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Rick Perlstein's picture

Parting the Red Sea

Take Back America 2008Why should you take a progressive politics vacation in Washington D.C. March 17-19? Thinks of it as a Nation cruise, only without Alexander Cockburn in beachwear. Plus, in one of the first sessions of the conference, we will be parting George Bush's Red Sea.

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Our Demand: Create American Jobs

A planned $1.5 billion dollar Texas wind farm—seeking financing with U.S. stimulus money—will create only 30 permanent jobs in America, but 2,000 wind-turbine manufacturing jobs in China. We asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu to prohibit this type of use of Recovery Act funds and have called on the Obama administration to use taxpayer dollars to foster the creation of a green manufacturing sector, with good-paying jobs, here in our own country. These articles explain the issue and why it is important. more »


Jacob S. Hacker's picture

The House Public Plan: Yes, It's Worth It

with Diane Archer

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Eric Lotke's picture

New Unemployment, Old Solutions

Today’s unemployment data contain gloomy news. Gloomy, but expected. The interpretation of the data is even worse. more »

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Isaiah J. Poole's picture

Message To Energy Department: U.S. Greenbacks For U.S. Green Jobs

News of the potential use of U.S. more »

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The Underlying Reasons For The Shooting At Fort Hood

airamerica.com — It’s hard to pinpoint what’s the most shocking thing about Major Malik Nadal Hasan’s shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas. Let's start with this: there’s nothing all that ground-breaking about it. Happens all the time, it’s just that we’re a nation of amnesiacs who forget all the unpleasantness, and refuse to learn the valuable lessons.

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Fort Hood Has Enough Victims Already

guardian.co.uk — Whatever was in the mind of alleged shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan is no reason to question the loyalty of Muslim Americans.

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From the Party of "No," To the Party of "Slow"

climateprogress.org — Senate Republicans are demanding lengthy economic analyses of progressive clean energy policy, despite having spent careers voting for and against major energy legislation without such delay.

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Attack of the Palinites

washingtonpost.com — Democrats have some thinking to do after Tuesday's elections, but Republicans don't have time to think. They're too busy trying to survive the party's internal purge and avoid being shipped off to political Siberia.

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It's Not About What Congress Does, But What It Delivers

openleft.com — When most voters believe their lives are getting better, then the party in power will benefit politically. Ideological abstractions about the size of government or appealing to the base don't matter quite as much. It really is about delivering the goods. The smart post-election political argument for a governing party should be about what policies they can pass that will improve people's lives, not about how to appeal to voters on a more abstract level.

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The Tea Party's Takeover of the GOP

motherjones.com — The anti-health care reform rally in Washington indicates the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement are increasingly one and the same.

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The Republican Health Plan

nytimes.com — House Republican leaders have produced their own health care reform bill. Here is the first thing you need to know: It would do almost nothing to reduce the scandalously high number of Americans who have no insurance. And it makes only a token stab at slowing the relentlessly rising costs of medical care.

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Obama Faces His Anzio

nytimes.com — Remember those Republican boasts that they would turn health care into President Obama’s Waterloo? Well, exit polls suggest that to the extent that health care was an issue in Tuesday’s elections, it worked in Democrats’ favor. But while health care won’t be Mr. Obama’s Waterloo, economic policy is starting to look like his Anzio.

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We Are What We Trade and How We Trade It

truthdig.com — In 2009, trade and globalization have transcended their “old economy” ghetto and become central to the “new economy,” health care and even the Earth’s very survival.

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Bill Scher's picture

Progressive Breakfast: Hunt For Jobs As Unemployment Breaks 10%

The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.

BREAKING NEWS: Unemployment Breaks 10%, Though Pace of Job Loss Continues To Slow. more »

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Dave Johnson's picture

Getting Serious With China -- New Pipe Tariff

The Obama administration is taking steps to begin rebalancing trade with China -- and creating JOBS. In this case it looks like China has been "dumping" steel pipes --selling at prices that are below market -- to capture business away from American companies, causing them to close factories and lay off workers. more »

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Bill Scher's picture

CBO Score? Check. Bill Online For 72 Hours? Check. No Excuses To Vote Against House Healthcare Bill.

The House is expected to vote on comprehensive health care reform Saturday. And conservatives have no excuse for voting against it. Their main concerns have been addressed. more »

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Bill Scher's picture

Boxer Avoids The Baucus Trap

Today, Sen. Barbara Boxer rammed through the Environment and Public Works Committee her version of clean energy jobs and climate protection legislation without any amendments, in order to circumvent the Republican boycott of the committee proceedings. more »

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Rebecca Lehrman's picture

The Republican Party Is a Party of ‘NO’

The Republicans in Congress are at it again, stonewalling everything. Last time we called it “block and blame.” Stop everything, then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done. more »

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Robert Borosage's picture

Obama's First Year: It Ain't No Crystal Staircase

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners...

—Langston Hughes

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Isaiah J. Poole's picture

Make Them Afraid Of Wall Street's Money

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Armand Biroonak's picture

Higher Ed Slashed, Left Dripping in Red

The Chronicle of Higher Education released a survey of chief financial officers at four-year universities across the country and it is no treat; their outlook for this budget year (FY 2010) was gloomy, by next year? Even scarier. more »

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Natasha Chart's picture

The National Security Supply Chain

Did you know that the Army can no longer purchase domestically produced Howitzer triggers? Yesterday at the Building the New Economy conference, Carolyn Bartholomew, chair of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission explained that she'd seen this news turn on lightbulbs in the minds of Republicans as to why it's important to preserve manufacturing capacity in America. more »

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Terrance Heath's picture

From Crash to Meltdown in 80 Years

It's was 80 years ago this week that the Crash of 1929 kicked off the Great Depression.

Not quite 79 years later, the fall of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, sent the stock market into a meltdown precipitated by the crises of such Wall Street Giants as Bear Stears and AIG, among others.

Comparisons between now and then are, of course, inevitable.

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Dave Johnson's picture

Wall Street Pukes On Our Shoes

At the New Economy Conference, Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers just said that deregulating Wall Street was like leaving a 3 year old in a candy store unsupervised for a day. more »

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Mike Elk's picture

Escaping the Claws of Wall Street and Building an Economy on Making Things

Today, the Campaign for America’s Future is holding a “Building the New Economy” conference. As we build the new economy, it’s important we build one not based on the assets bubbles of the past but on the firm rock of manufacturing.

As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka argues:

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Monica Sanchez's picture

Health Insurance Monopolies Are Legal

Health insurance companies are exempt from federal antitrust laws — laws that protect commerce from monopolies and unfair business practices in most other types of markets. As a result, health insurers have become highly concentrated and premiums have soared. There is movement on Capitol Hill to remove this exemption, but the best way to quickly infuse competition into health insurance markets across the country is with a strong, national public health insurance plan option.

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Bill Scher's picture

Big Oil Claims Climate Bill Would Shift Jobs Offshore, But Completely Ignores Border Tariff

At today's Senate hearing on the Kerry-Boxer clean energy jobs and climate protection bill, the oil refinery lobby claimed, "this legislation will export carbon dioxide e more »

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Eric Lotke's picture

Building a Smart Grid, Smartly

President Barack Obama announced today $3.4 billion in government grants to help build a "smart" electric grid. Like many Obama initiatives, it’s a smart first step. But much more is needed and one piece is rarely mentioned at all. more »

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Natasha Chart's picture

Senate Climate Bill To Protect Trade-Exposed Industries

This past Saturday, 350.org kicked off the largest, most diverse, international day of action in the history of the environmental movement. more »

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Roger Hickey's picture

Support for the Public Option Keeps Getting Stronger

New Life for the Public Option” is the headline of Dan Balz’s excellent article in Sunday’s Washington Post.  It’s not an accident that this powerful idea has made yet another comeback.  And it is not surprising that public and Congressional support, always more »

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Richard Trumka's picture

The Chamber of Commerce's Jobs Deception Campaign

Unions are popularly known as "the folks who brought you the weekend." In contrast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has the distinction of trying to take away the weekend--along with overtime pay, the minimum wage, Buy America rules, workers' freedom to form unions, child labor standards....The list is long and ugly. more »

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Andrea Buffa's picture

The Missing Link In Clean-Energy Policy

There was a certain irony in the U.S. decision to hold the recent G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh to show off the former steel town’s success at creating green jobs. Pittsburgh transformed itself from a polluted and declining industrial metropolis into a clean and booming green one by crafting deliberate economic development policies to support the growth of clean-energy industries. more »

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Terrance Heath's picture

AHIP's "Mask of Sanity" Slips

Maya Angelou has been credited with saying "When people show you who they really are, believe them," which is sometimes expanded to "When people show you who they really are, believe them the first time." The idea is that doing so may be crucial to protecting your well-being and your life.

Well, the folks in the health insurance industry have shown us who they are, again. And while we've had several opportunities to recognize who were dealing with, we now have more reason to believe them than ever.

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Clean Trade

smoke_stack-jj-001.jpg
We often talk about free trade or fair trade, but what about clean trade? American industry continues to move jobs to nations who cut their costs by poisoning the air and the water at levels that are threatening to us all. It doesn't matter how good climate change legislation is in the United States if corporations can get out from under it by moving production to other countries that don't have the same regulations.


How The Climate Change Bill Can Help Save 4 Million Jobs
by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | October 2, 2009
Climate Change Legislation Must Stimulate Demand, Be Tough On Pollution
by Natasha Chart, OurFuture.org | October 2, 2009
Key Senators, Krugman Call For Tariffs On High-Carbon-Footprint Imports
by Mike Elk, OurFuture.org | September 23, 2009 more »

Robert Borosage's picture

Will We Curb Wall Street's Casino?

Even as the health insurance companies draw down on health care reform, another showdown is just beginning in Washington. On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee will begin marking up the first legislation to try to curb Wall Street's casino. more »

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Isaiah J. Poole's picture

Voters Want The Banks Reined In

House members should beware when bank lobbyists come calling: Ceding to their wishes might get you campaign cash but it will likely cost you the next election. more »

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