2016 Presidential

Democrats' current and potential candidates for their party's 2016 presidential nomination continue to complain about various aspects of the economy. They continue to make no connection between their complaints and the fact that Democrat Barack Obama has been in the White House for over six years. Obama has for the most part operated either under the conditions created by the 2009-2010 Congress…

In an evident attempt to help their viewers get a handle on the popularity of Donald Trump among the U.S. electorate, Univision’s principal evening newscast recently consulted two left-leaning, Washington-based academics who compared Trump to outsider, populist leaders in Latin America who have also recently successfully appealed to widespread voter dissatisfaction with politics as usual,…

In her "heart?"  Some cynical lawyerly types might say that presupposes a fact not in evidence . . .  Is Harold Ford, Jr. auditioning for an appointment in a hoped-for Hillary administration?  On Morning Joe of late, he's trying out a variety of dubious defenses.  Last week, his line was that although Americans might see her as a "liar" and "dishonest," nobody thinks she's "unpatriotic."  Today…

New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal appeared on a nytimes.com podcast and insulted every Republican candidate in nasty, personal terms, throwing around the words "idiot" and "xenophobic" and insulting Justice Clarence Thomas in a racially loaded fashion. Rosenthal then accused the 1988 George H.W. Bush using the Pledge of Allegiance as an issue "deliberately and specifically…

The debate rages on as to whether Donald Trump represents the essence of the Republican party. Very broadly speaking, conservatives say he doesn’t and liberals say he does. One liberal, Michael Tomasky, claims that Trump, despite his left-of-center positions on several fiscal and economic issues, nonetheless embodies the “two qualities more than any others [that] have driven conservatism in our…

Does Donald Trump’s popularity among Republicans indicate that a big part of the GOP base is more authoritarian than it is conservative? Yes, suggested Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas in a Friday post. “The crazies don't really care about any conservative platform, they just want someone to reflect their own bigotries and xenophobia, all the while telling the weenies to fuck off…

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC’s Tom Brokaw strongly criticized Hillary Clinton’s performance during her interview with colleague Andrea Mitchell, specifically her answers to why she decided to use a private e-mail server while Secretary of State. Brokaw admitted that when Clinton said “I didn't think about the effect of e-mail, I was stunned. I mean, we were deep into the digital age at that…

A lot of attention has recently been given to the highly negative characterizations and condemnations made of Donald Trump and his U.S. immigration policy positions by Univision anchor Jorge Ramos. 

After Hillary Clinton gave a rare interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about her ongoing e-mail issues, the political panel on Fox News Sunday took the former Secretary of State to task for her refusal to fully take responsibility for her use of a private e-mail server. Conservative columnist George Will dismissed Clinton’s claim that she “absentmindedly set up an alternative e-mail system” as…

In the past week, several pundits and alleged "experts" have been on a mission to tell us rubes that Hillary Clinton's email and private-server controversy doesn't rise to the level of being a scandal. They have absurdly argued that even if she "technically" violated State Department protocols and even broke some pesky laws in handling her communications while she was Secretary of State, Mrs.…

Friday's CBS Evening News stood out for not covering Hillary Clinton's interview with NBC's Andrew Mitchell. The newscast didn't even mention the former first lady during their 2016 election coverage. Instead, Scott Pelley played up how Donald Trump "seems to stumble a lot, but never seems to fall" – specifically, his confused answers on foreign policy during an interview with conservative radio…

In the first few hours after Andrea Mitchell’s interview with Hillary Clinton, reactions poured in on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports and MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts that ranged from Rachel Maddow dismissing the growing e-mail scandal as “kinetic activity” to the Washington Post’s Anne Gearan fawning over her “one-on-one” skills to Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd excusing her non-answers…

In an exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton on Friday, NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell began by gently wondering if the former Secretary of State was “sorry” about the e-mail scandal: “You said recently that using your personal e-mail while you were secretary of state was not the best choice and that you take responsibility. Are you sorry?”

Apparently at least two of the Beach Boys are Republicans, but when Daily Kos's Mark Sumner used a GOP/surfing metaphor, it didn't mean “catch a wave and you’re sittin’ on top of the world.” Rather, as Sumner sees it, the party is heading for a wipeout. “For decades, Republicans have been thriving on a theme of Me-firstism and an insistence that it's the sworn duty of every American to fear…