Left Wing

How Obama Manages the Liberals

by John Stauber — October 15, 2009 - 6:51am

Christopher Hayes reports on the Common Purpose Project: "From day one the (Barack Obama) administration has pursued a strategy of keeping its progressive allies on the White House playbook.

Main Source: 
The Nation, October 26, 2009 (print edition)

Center for American Progress Hangs with the Neocons

by John Stauber — April 2, 2009 - 3:28pm

Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill sees the liberal Center for American Progress teaming up with leading neoconservatives and going to bat for Barack Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

Main Source: 
Jeremy Scahill, April 2, 2009

Branding El Salvador's New President

by Bob Burton — March 17, 2009 - 11:14pm

The narrow election win of Mauricio Funes as President of El Salvador has spurred extensive media coverage on the political success of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a center-left party that has its roots in the guerilla movement of the 1980s. However, none of the media coverage mentions the role of the Washington D.C.-headquartered political consulting firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2009

Has Fake News Become the Real News?

by Anne Landman — August 18, 2008 - 4:16pm

An article in the New York Times asks whether Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's Daily Show has become the most trusted man in America, pointing out that his fake news

Main Source: 
New York Times, August 15, 2008

Netroots Nation Convenes in Austin, True Blue and On Message

by John Stauber — July 17, 2008 - 10:04am
  • Topics: Left Wing, Citizen Journalism, Activism, Internet, Pundits, Politics, War / Peace

    • Netroots Nation, the annual conference for thousands of liberal bloggers, Democratic Party activists and liberal advocacy organizations is underway today, July 17, and through the weekend in Austin, Texas. In the decade since then-First Lady Hillary Clinton railed against the "vast Right Wing conspiracy," Democratic liberals have woven their own with dozens of new think tanks, lobby groups, funders like the Democracy Alliance and George Soros, scores of consultants and hundreds of millions of dollars raised and spent to grease the wheels of collaboration, all designed this year to win the White House and solidify control of the Congress.

    Liberal bloggers are notorious dissenters and critics of mainstream Democratic policies, but there won't be much of that on formal display in Austin, nothing like the "Coffee with the Troops" which injected an unscheduled discussion of the Iraq War into last year's conference in Chicago. Potentially controversial issues including Dennis Kucinich's call for impeachment of President Bush, or the failure of the Democratic Congress to stop funding the war in Iraq, are off the official agenda at Netroots Nation.

    Spinning the Spin on Barack Obama

    by Anne Landman — July 14, 2008 - 1:26pm

    The cover of the upcoming issue of the New Yorker magazine bears a satirical cartoon that incorporates practically every jab the right wing has taken at Barack Obama and his wife Michelle: the couple is pictured standing in

    Main Source: 
    The Boston Globe (Boston.com), July 14, 2008

    A Match Made In Political PR Heaven

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — July 10, 2008 - 2:10pm

    Former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and longtime George Bush advisor and confidante Karen Hughes has taken a position with PR giant Burson Marsteller.

    Main Source: 
    Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), July 9, 2008

    Stauber Interviews Sirota: The War, Dems, MoveOn and The Uprising

    by John Stauber — July 8, 2008 - 12:55pm
  • Topics: Left Wing, Iraq, U.S. Congress, Democracy, Politics

    • Sheldon Rampton and I could see it coming soon after the Democrats took control of the Congress in 2007. In March, 2007 we pointed out that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with the support of MoveOn, was advancing legislation that would fund the war in Iraq while giving Democrats PR cover, allowing them to posture against it while the bloody, brutal occupation of Iraq continues. We were attacked at the time by Democratic partisans, but unfortunately our analysis has proven correct and today the war in Iraq is as much of an interminable quagmire as it was when the Democrats took control of the House and Senate in January 2007.

    Democratic political activist, columnist and author David Sirota has also strongly condemned this failure of the Democrats and "The Players," DC's professional partisan insiders such as MoveOn. On May 24, 2007 he wrote: "Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square in the teeth - all in order to continue the most unpopular war in a generation at the request of the most unpopular president in a generation at a time polls show a larger percentage of the public thinks America is going in the wrong direction than ever recorded in polling history. ... That will make May 24, 2007 a dark day generations to come will look back on - a day when Democrats in Washington not only continued a war they promised to end, but happily went on record declaring that they believe in their hearts that government's role is to ignore the will of the American people."

    This month, more than a year later, the Democratic controlled Congress once again gave the Bush Administration funding to continue the Iraq war well into 2009. David Sirota now has a new book out: The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington. In it he expands on his criticism of the Democratic Party and its partisan, professional antiwar activists in the leadership of MoveOn.

    Sirota writes in his new book (page 82), "The absence of a full-throated antiwar uprising is tragic at a time when the country appears more skeptical of knee-jerk militarism than ever before. ...

    The Hidden War: Big Tobacco and the GOP Team up Against Southern Democrats

    by Anne Landman — June 27, 2008 - 11:59am

    When the major American tobacco companies signed the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with the 46 states who sued to recover the costs of treating sick smokers, the companies agreed to nominal advertising restrictions and massive yearly payouts to the states.

    Main Source: 
    Raw Story, June 24, 2008
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