I wish Cheney ran in 2008

The Times carried a fascinating op-ed piece today. Ross Douthat posits that a Cheney bid would have ended in total defeat, demonstrating that the country has had enough of the right-wing chicken-hawks we endured the last 8 years. In other words, Cheney and his ilk would have gotten smoked last November. As he emerges from his cave to cast doubt on the Obama administration, he can safely do so as one who was never truly tested in an electoral campaign. He can pretend that his way (torture, lies, outing a CIA operative in an act of pure treason) was endorsed by the American public. But as the republicans and the conservative media continue to embrace him, it is clear that he is the titular head of the party. This bodes well for the Democratic Party in the mid-terms.

A story only a Red Sox fan can love

The New York

papers are all

agog about the

empty premium seats

at the two shiny new

ballparks. The photo appears

in this April 20

article from Newsday. The writer

makes a

fascinating comparison between the teams

and the larger forces that have brought on this

terrible recession.

Since the Age of Jackson, this country has battled over the degree to which the national government should be involved in the banking system. Edmund L. Andrews reports in the New York Times today that the Government may take an equity stake in as many as 19 banks. This will antagonize conservatives, not doubt, ramping up the accusation that we have a socialist regime in Washington. But the strategy worked for Sweden in the '90s, I've learned.

Teabaggers

With these folks as the opposition, I think the future is bright for the Democratic Party and my country.

(thanks to Time Magazine, this week)

Here is an impressive argument presented in Charles Blow's recent column: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/opinion/18blow.html

This matter came up in class this week as we were discussing Free Speech guarantees. I asked if they were willing to extend the right to groups that spout hate. Save for s student from Germany, the vocal participants think you can stamp out hate by suppressing voice. My German student explained how that strategy failed in her country in the 1920s, and is failing again today.

Why we need another blog

I named this blog for the emotions derived from the defeats the republican party has suffered the last several election cycles. After 28 years of reaganism, there is an opportunity for the nation to set a new course.