Democrats Never Had Sixty Votes

Democrats Never Had Sixty Votes; Sixty Votes Never Mattered

One year ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated President – and the U.S. Senate had 58 Democrats. We didn’t have 60 votes, but nobody said that health care was doomed. Martha Coakley’s defeat in Massachusetts now means that Democrats have a 59-41 majority – or a net gain of one seat from last year. But judging by the media coverage, it Read more

From Bay State to Red State?

Can health care reform survive a Republican Senate win in Massachusetts?

Will there be joy in Beantown if Mighty Coakley strikes out? Or, having been born on third base (thanks to the Kennedy clan), will she be able to steal home?

We’re talking about Martha Coakley, the attorney general of Massachusetts and one-time shoo-in to inherit Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat and, most assumed, to seal the deal on Read more

The unspeakable truth is that we lost in Iraq. We must not lose in Afghanistan too

Britain has fought more wars than any other country, but rarely has it suffered two defeats in a row. That humiliation is what this country is currently drifting towards, following failure in Iraq with failure in Afghanistan…Westminster might be obsessing over the Iraq inquiry’s revelations about how the decision to go to war was made, but the really important part of the inquiry’s work will come when it turns its attention to what happened after the invasion. Read more

The Best Allies Money Can Buy

In 2003, I was on a trip to Iraq and had arranged an appointment in the Green Zone with a member of the then-Iraqi Governing Council. Security was tight. I was with my Iraqi translator, a middle-aged man who had once been a teacher. When we arrived at the council, after a long walk, I showed my ID to two young uniformed U.S. soldiers. They told me to wait, went inside and out came a man wearing civilian clothes, one of those fishing vests and an Read more

Clinton Emerges as Key Link to Afghan Leader

From: The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — It is far from clear that President Obama can depend on President Hamid Karzai to bring order to this violent country, but it is becoming clear that he will depend on Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his go-between in dealing with the mercurial Afghan leader. Read more

Oprah Bets on Her Future With Cable

From New York Times.com

Oprah Winfrey is giving network television one of her trademark aha moments.

Ms. Winfrey, the billionaire queen of daytime television, is planning to announce on Friday that she will step down from her daily pulpit, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” in two years in order to concentrate on the forthcoming cable channel that will bear her name. Read more

Exclusive Interview–Obama ‘Never 100 Percent Certain’

From U.S.News & World Report Website

President Obama on how he makes tough calls on Afghanistan, healthcare, the economy, and more

President Obama had just received his morning briefings on national security and the economy and was about to confer with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen about the war in Afghanistan. In between, he sat down with U.S. News Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh to discuss one of the most important and fascinating Read more

The Truth Behind Iran’s Election Protests

Don’t take what you see on the evening news at face value.

The media are full of breathless reports of an Iranian uprising. They love this story.… After election results from June 12 showed a landslide victory for hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, angry anti-establishment university students took to the streets. For the moment, their protests are surviving a brutal security crackdown.… Read more

GOP quandary: how hard to swing at Sotomayor

Republicans on Capitol Hill are acutely aware that the tone and content of the nominee’s hearing could redefine the party after two punishing national elections.

Washington — Republicans preparing for confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor see little prospect, barring surprises, of blocking her nomination to the US Supreme Court.

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The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers

Communities across America are suffering through a crisis that could leave a dramatically diminished version of democracy in its wake. It is not the economic meltdown, although the crisis is related to the broader day of reckoning that appears to have arrived. The crisis of which we speak involves more than mere economics. Read more

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