Matt Singer's Blog

Nader v. Norquist

MattSinger — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 12:59:29 EDT

Matt Stoller takes a look at the New New Left and thinks the comparisons to both the New Left and the New Right are overblown. He's right, but he's incorrect in a comparison he makes of Ralph Nader and Grover Norquist.

Thinking Big and Thinking Through

MattSinger — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:10:23 EDT

When Democracy: A Journal of Ideas launched as a rival to the neocon journals started a generation ago, the promise was the left may have another piece in the intellectual infrastructure to build a true, lasting, and ideologically cohesive movement.

It appears that we still have some work to do.

90% of America v. Somebody from a Fake Think Tank

MattSinger — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 16:56:40 EDT

The modern notion of journalistic balance is truly incredible. To get a snapshot image of how horribly it distorts media coverage, take a look at this AP Story titled "Americans Want Universal Coverage, Group Says:"

"Assuring health care is a shared social responsibility," says the interim report of the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, a 14-member committee that went to 50 communities and heard from 23,000 people.

[...]

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said he and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, came up with the idea for establishing a group that would work outside of Washington to find out what Americans want. He said they were tired of years of gridlock on health care issues.

[...]

[S]ome groups are already wary.

Steny Hoyer and Mike McCurry: You're Fired

MattSinger — Wed, 03 May 2006 01:05:04 EDT

Talk about toxic. Steny Hoyer and Mike McCurry claim to be good, honest progressives, but they hop in bed with the world's dirtiest scoundrels at the sound of a cash register.

It's time for them to be fired and kicked out of this movement for good.

Don't believe me? Read more below. (Cross-posted to Left in the West.)

An American Hero

MattSinger — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 12:02:13 EDT

Marine Lance Corporal Jose Gutierrez:

In 1995, Jose Gutierrez was a 14-year-old orphan in Guatemala when he decided to do what 700,000 other Guatemalans had done -- enter the United States illegally. Two thousand miles and 14 freight trains later, Gutierrez crossed the border. He was promptly arrested by the Border Patrol. Being a minor and without a family, he was spared deportation and turned over to California's welfare system. He spent the next four years in foster homes, learning English, attending and graduating high school, getting his medical needs taken care of by the public-health system. As the lexicon of neo-flag-wavers would put it, Gutierrez was freeloading on the American taxpayer.

Why to Fight on Alito

MattSinger — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 13:34:38 EST

This shouldn't even be a close question. Sammy Alito opposes Roe, opposes worker's rights, opposes fundamentals like "one man, one vote." This stuff is all clearly part of the public record. But on top of his clearly outside-the-mainstream thinking, he lies about it. He says these aren't legal opinions. That's a load of hooey and he's smart enough to know it or he ain't smart enough to be a justice.

If that isn't enough, he's lied to the Senate a couple times already to get a job. Finally, he was a member of an openly bigoted organization at Princeton.

So why the hell are liberal pundits encouraging rolling over?

Bandow's Soul Selling is S.O.P. for A.L.E.C.

MattSinger — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 17:20:01 EST

Blogs are slightly abuzz this morning about news that Cato Fellow and syndicated columnist Doug Bandow was busted by Business Week for trading cash for opinions. To whom did Doug sell out? None other than Jack Abramoff, a.k.a. the point of singularity in the black hole of Republican scandal.

50 Cent Gives Us 2

MattSinger — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 17:38:02 EST

50 Cent has apparently split with Kanye West on the George Bush doesn't like black people front. He has also said Hurricane Katrina was an act of God, saying it was meant to happen. The humble singer has also taken credit for Kanye's success, arguing that people were "looking for something non-confrontational" after 50 Cent showed up.

pH Matters

MattSinger — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:07:46 EDT

Yesterday, Matt Yglesias wrote at TPMCafe that Democracy for America has made a bad decision by calling for a public litmus test on Iraq.

Essentially, he argues that this sort of talk actively undermines any sort of big tent that progressives might build, since regardless of an individual's stance on Iraq, there are still likely to be key differences between a hawkish liberal and hawkish conservative in other areas, like labor policy and tax cuts.

A Rather Political Answer

MattSinger — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 19:31:25 EDT

Conservative Rep. Mark Green (Wis.), now running for Governor, let his Chief of Staff (and current campaign manager) take advantage of the perks of being a Platinum Abramoff Mastercard holder. Mark Graul, the Member's CoS, took advantage of skybox opportunities, apparently multiple times.

The extent of Graul's answer when pressed by local media?

Well, he said he didn't attend one specific event and that he has never "met Jack Abramoff." Now, maybe he never took advantage of these ticket giveaways. But it sure does make you wonder why he was asking for so many tickets.

Did Reid Trap the Right?

MattSinger — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:52:31 EDT

We've all read the stories about the wingers plotting a conservative reactionary insane revolution against the White House after Bush's announcement today that Harriet Miers would be his nominee for Associate Justice.

Indeed, the howls have been so loud, it has left many of us to wonder, "Just what, precisely, is that they know about her that has left them so angry?"

My honest answer is that I don't know, except that she doesn't appear to be a complete nut herself and in many ways, her appointment is among the most heinous examples of cronyism possible coming just political moments after the Mike Brown/FEMA fiasco.

Split Loyalties

MattSinger — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 11:43:30 EDT

Someone in Texas squealed on Tom DeLay. One of my fathers lessons has long been that conspiracies fail because people have different motivations and loyalties. Virtually always, those loyalties will come into conflict.

A Little Homework and a Semester Project

MattSinger — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:58:16 EDT

If I was H. Lee Scott, I'd be very afraid right now. America's largest grassroots organizations are coming together and utilizing some of the best internet tools in the country to stop Wal-Mart's war on workers and a fair economy (Wal-Mart's slogan? "Always lowering the bar. Always.")

Democracy for America and Wal-Mart Watch are working together to price compare objects at Wal-Mart and elsewhere. A campus guide comparing local retailers to Wal-Mart and helping students save money without funding this nasty corporate entity would be a great longer term project, but for now please participate in the price check.

DC Sucks

MattSinger — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:33:45 EDT

Here's a hint: It's not just because Republicans are in control.

I remember a couple years ago, early in his Presidential campaign, Howard Dean blasted Congress on a number of levels, but largely for working on issues of little importance to real Americans (why, he wondered, was the patient's bill of rights that would leave our health care system fundamentally unaltered, considered the keystone battle when it came to the state of American medicine). A number of prominent Democrats hit Dean back, saying it was unfair to attack Washington, DC.

Yeah, unfair like a grandmother picking on the mafia.

All Falls Down

MattSinger — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 11:39:12 EDT

Denise St. Just offers up a must-read with "25-to-life." I'm reminded of a recent conversation I had with a friend who was talking about her desire to make more money (she already has pretty decent paying job working in progressive politics) so that someday she can send her kids to college.

It was supposed to be so easy...

MattSinger — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 16:26:26 EDT

So I got really, really excited about this new CampusProgress contest to hilariously quote prominent figures in misleading ways to make them seem really horrible.

"Ha ha!" I thought, with a grin on my face. "This will be easy. What a wonderful way to hoist conservative pundits on their collective petard."

GIF on MSNBC

MattSinger — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 17:40:59 EDT

Stephanie Nyombayire of the Genocide Intervention Fund is on MSNBC discussing Darfur right now.

National Conference: Recovering and Reflecting

MattSinger — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 23:46:51 EDT

Following the 1st Campus Progress National Student Conference and a convention in my home state, I'm just starting to recover. DC is something else. And this Conference is something else. I met so many people who have done and are doing work all across this country that is great. And I met even more with plans in the works to do even better work.

CampusProgress Conference: Days Away

MattSinger — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 16:24:07 EDT

Only two days until the conference. There's already one place to discuss it, but I thought I'd put this up.

I'm flying into National at 4:30 on Tuesday. If anyone else is arriving at a similar time and wants to share cab fare, drop a line in comments (my email is down right now).

And feel free to use this thread to discuss other travel/housing issues.

Who else is going to the film screening on Tuesday evening?

What are people's Thursday plans?

And so castles made of sand...

MattSinger — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 14:20:18 EDT

There's a lot of online discussion regarding a likely indictment of Karl Rove in the Plame incident.