Democrats Debate, and Gephardt does a little historical revision There were several decent Bush-bashing moments during the Democratic debate last night. One of my favorites was this one, as quoted in the Washington Post: “This president is a miserable failure,” Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) said. “It’s incomprehensible to me that we would wind up […]

The number of jobs in the US shrinks yet again From today’s BLS release, as reported by the AP: Layoffs Rose Sharply Last Month, Report Says WASHINGTON (AP) — The civilian unemployment rate improved marginally last month — sliding down to 6.1 percent — as companies slashed payrolls by 93,000. Friday’s report sent mixed signals […]

Blogs, Dean, and Clark Today’s Salon piece on the Clark movement plugs three bloggers who are probably familiar to most Angry Bear readers. First, Kos gets a plug: …Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, a 31-year-old former U.S. Army soldier turned lawyer turned Dean campaign technical consultant. Moulitsas jump-started the Draft Clark Movement earlier this year before finally […]

Don’t Mess With Texas And Don’t Mess with Democracy. Not normally reading the print edition oif the NYT, I almost missed MoveOn’s first Texas Redistricting Ad in the NYT. MoveOn’s Texas radio and TV ad campaign is also underway, but I can’t find online clips of the ads. If you’ve have a link, let me […]

Doha Update The World Bank will soon be issuing its Global Economic Prospects 2004: Realizing the Development Promise of the Doha Agenda report, which deals mostly with issues relating to trade. Fortunately for those who, like me, can’t wait to see what’s in the report, some website I’ve never heard of has advance details: Under […]

Do They Really Pay Him for This? In today’s Media Notes, inexplicably esteemed media critic Howie Kurtz condescendingly writes about Franken and his book: “… Al Franken, slashing away at the Republicans and the right-wing press for fun and profit.” …”[Franken] is having fun peddling a book about those he deems liars.” “…Franken is trying […]

Whitmire Update Back in Texas, and using the New York Times to respond to allegations of cowardice, Texas State Senator John Whitmire (D-Houston) has this to say: “This is not Alamo stuff. This is serious, but it’s no life or death matter.” And this: “I don’t perceive what I’m doing as caving. I’m pursuing a […]

Even the Conservative Dan Drezner University of Chicago Political Science professor Dan Drezner, a smart guy even if he is conservative, writes in the current issue of The New Republic about Bush’s naked sell-outs on the principles of free trade–when it bolsters his position in swing states: Evaluating the Bush administration’s international economic policy is […]

The Racial Side of Texas Redistricting Politics in the South generally has a strong racial element. In spite of that, so far I’ve mostly viewed the Texas Eleven’s Ten’s fight as a battle over control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Today in Salon, Michelle Goldberg reports on the racial dimension of the DeLay/Rove/Perry plan. […]

Abandon the Alamo? How often does a state senator raise 1/11th of $1 million in a matter of weeks? I’m very dissapointed in Texas Senaor John Whitmire. Here’s Whitmire, explaining his return to Texas, likely facilitating a quorum that will allow DeLay’s inter-Census redustricting to go through:: Whitmire said remaining in New Mexico was counterproductive. […]