Democrats on the March

Battle for the Catholic Brand

By Justin Katz | November 25, 2009 |

To some extent, I’m probably out of sync with the perceptions of the general public, on this one, but I find this sort of thing astonishing: In a televised forum that was by turns casual and bitter, the two leading Democrats vying for US Senate were both heavily critical of the Catholic Church during a…

Progressive Warns: “If Conservatives Ran Healthcare”

By Marc Comtois | November 19, 2009 |

Maggie Mahar of the Century Foundation warns: If you’re a progressive like me, and you’re upset by the Stupak amendment, which bars federally subsidized insurance from covering abortions, consider this: What if we had a single-payer health-care system and someone like Jeb Bush or Sarah Palin were running the country? Many liberals remain angry and…

Swing and a Miss

By Marc Comtois | November 6, 2009 |

This morning, the NEA’s Pat Crowley’s lamely attempted to use Alinsky’s Rules #5 (Ridicule) and #11 (” Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it”) on Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and put up a post that displayed the sort of empathy and prudence we’ve all come to expect. In the post, Crowley vaguely alluded…

Kennedy and Obama vs. Catholic Church and Fox

By Justin Katz | October 23, 2009 |

Something’s been gnawing at me since Andrew posted video of Congressman Patrick Kennedy proving once again why we should all hope his handlers keep him well away from any real power, and it took a revistation of Ed Achorn’s concern about the Obama administration’s jihad against Fox News to jar the pest loose. Here’s Achorn:…

Party of the Rich

By Marc Comtois | October 14, 2009 |

USA Today: Democratic members of the House of Representatives now represent most of the nation’s wealthiest people, a sharp turnaround from the long-standing dominance that Republicans have held over affluent districts. A USA TODAY analysis of new Census data found that Democrats represent a far different constituency today than they did in 2005, when they…

Godwin’s Law in Paragraph Seven

By Justin Katz | October 11, 2009 |

Some columns are best ignored, and Tom Plate’s recent op-ed would easily have been one of those were it not for a telling little slip of the old Reductio ad Hitlerum (emphasis added): Not even the most mature and sophisticated of columnists are immune to the temptation to occasionally hurl a shoe at someone. My…

Re: Socialists to Protest Beck

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 3, 2009 |

Desperately trying to avoid several household projects I should be working on, I decided to see if anything interesting would happen associated with the protest of Glenn Beck’s book signing at Borders Bookstore in Providence. Here’s a quick photosummary. The world’s mellowest angry mob, inside of the store, about a half-hour or so before Glenn…

Socialists to Protest Beck

By Marc Comtois | October 3, 2009 |

I don’t watch or listen to Glenn Beck, but I do know he stirs up those on the left (and some Republicans). He’s going to be in Providence late this afternoon and the local branch of the International Socialist Organization is organizing a protest. Talk about playing to type and feeding the beast. (At least…

House joins Senate in De-Funding ACORN

By Marc Comtois | September 17, 2009 |

The U.S. House of Representatives has joined the Senate in overwhelmingly voting to defund ACORN after recent voter fraud allegations and a grassroots undercover investigation revealed a willingness by ACORN operatives in various states to encourage breaking U.S. law. This follows a decision by the Census Bureau to bar ACORN from assisting in the 2010…

Sit Down, Community, and Be Organized!

By Justin Katz | August 8, 2009 |

If anything, Mark Steyn’s latest lays on the wordplay a bit too thick, but apart from his usual humor, this one’s worth reading if only to sow the last four sentences of this block quote into the conservative repartee: “The right-wing extremist Republican base is back!” warns the Democratic National Committee. These right-wing extremists have…