US Chamber of Commerce

Apparently the august and statesmanlike Mr. Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (his real name) was a little displeased by our piece in the Huffington Post this weekend, "Why Progressives Keep Losing and the Right Keeps Winning."  He read it out loud on his show this morning, and I'm about to say something about that which might shock and surprise you:

He was neither as courteous as one might hope nor as well-informed as once might expect. Disappointing, I know.

Rush spent nearly ten minutes of air time reading my piece and commenting on it. It wasn't all bad: After initially mispronouncing my name, he corrected himself and said it correctly. The man's a pro; gotta give him that. Almost nobody gets my name right.

You'll notice that he does change my words in one way: Whenever "Democratic Party" appears in the text he says "Democrat Party" instead. Oh, and he calls the Huffington Post the "Huffington Puffington Post." Très drôle, no?

Rush was furious at the suggestion that the Right won this weekend's negotiation. Do you feel like you won? he asked his listeners. Who cares? Judging by the hate mail I've received since the show aired, I doubt his listeners can feel their toes.

More »»

In a response to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission releasing its final report on the financial crisis today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pitched a hissy fit calling the report an "abuse of the process" that would create "job-killing lawsuits." (So much for the new tone in Washington.)

more »

More »»

Mort Zuckerman's recent opinion piece in the Financial Times, "Obama needs to stop baiting business," is a tawdry, sorry spectacle. Paul Krugman's already explained how Zuckerman, the publisher of US News & World Report and the New York Daily News, distorted the President's words with a little Andrew Breitbart-style editing. While Zuckerman's proclivity for truth-twisting isn't a complete surprise, here's what is: If he's not lying about how he and his fellow CEOs are managing their businesses, then he and his friends are also incompetent executives.

In fairness to Zuckerman, let me be clear from the outset: I don't think he's an incompetent executive. more »

More »»

The United States Chamber of Commerce has released an "open letter" to the President, Congress, and the American people which lays out its blueprint for our political future. It lays out the current Republican playbook in stark terms, and it reads like the battle plan for those alien spaceships from Independence Day: Drain the resources, take everything from the population, strip the land to a husk ... and then presumably sail away in mile-long spaceships toward the next targeted planet. more »

More »»