Michael Tomasky's Blog, page 60

John McCain's primary purpose | Michael Tomasky

Tea Party influence has pulled Republican primaries to the right, but John McCain's win holds out hope for a more centrist GOP

Tuesday's primaries yielded another big night for America's hard right. And the question now in Florida and Alaska is whether the Tea Party energy is going to attract moderate voters, come November, or repel them.

Let's start in Florida, where rightwing businessman Rick Scott self-financed his way to a three-point win in the GOP primary for governor over the more...

The mosque, Saudi Arabia and American values | Michael Tomasky

Have you noted the return to the public sphere of tea party movement honcho Mark Williams, the man who a few weeks ago wrote that twisted "letter to Abe Lincoln from the NAACP"? Well, his specialty seems to be passing ethnic and racial judgments on ethnicities and races to which he doesn't belong, because now he's back, calling Mike Bloomberg and another New York Jewish pol, Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer, "Judenrat" because they support the mosque. You know what the Judenrate...

Enemy territory | Michael Tomasky

There's another big Glenn Beck-tea party rally in Washington this weekend. On the same date as the great 1963 civil rights march. These people are incomprehensibly self-regarding and delusional.

Anyway. Via TPM, we read of a Maine tea party activist who offers a few kindly tips for people who may be visiting Washington for the first time:

But D.C. is a scary place, Maine tea partier Bruce Majors writes, full of "immigrants, frequently from east Africa or Arab countries." (They are most often...

Stem cells, politics and the law | Michael Tomasky

You may have read that yesterday, federal judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the Obama administration's policy regarding embryonic stem-cell research violated a law Congress passed in 1996. It's a big setback for stem-cell research in this country. From the Washington Post:

The ruling stunned scientists and other advocates of the research, which has been hailed as one of the most important advances in medicine in decades because of its potential to cure many diseases but has been embroiled in...

Good list of races to watch | Michael Tomasky

At OpenLeft.com, the progressive activist and consultant Mike Lux has produced an interesting list of 16 key House races liberals ought to pay attention to. It's definitely worth a read.

Lux puts Tom Periello's reelection campaign at the top of his list because he is a freshman progressive Democrat who barely won in 2008 and has voted pretty much down the line for HCR and so on. If he can somehow get himself reelected, which at this point is a bit of a long shot but not impossible, that would ...

'They marry their cousins' | Michael Tomasky

I'm sorry to go on about this. Really. No, actually, I'm not. It's August and a slow news time, but even if it weren't, this is important. I draw your attention to Frank Rich's excellent column yesterday dissecting the history of the mosque controversy, thus:

We owe thanks to Justin Elliott of Salon for the single most revealing account of this controversy's evolution. He reports that there was zero reaction to the "ground zero mosque" from the front-line right or anyone else except marginal...

The fear factor| Michael Tomasky

My print column today concerns the fact that the Democrats haven't hit upon a strong message for the midterm elections and concludes by arguing that when you get right down to it, the Democrats are basically afraid of the Republicans. They're afraid of standing in the ring and trading punches. They know that, whatever attack they come up with, the Republicans will come back with an attack that's bigger and meaner and harder and a grander lie, and they think "we'll never win that arms race...

Sharia, the scare word | Michael Tomasky

Here you will find an excellent explanation by Lee Smith, writing at the tablet.com, on what sharia law actually is, and why Newt Gingrich is being rather over-the-top. Smith is a conservative, by the way, just so you know that I'm not referring you to someone who's in on the vast conspiracy of American surrender.

Sharia is a system of laws and jurisprudence. I'm not saying it's all grand. From the things I've read it is in many respects deeply reactionary. I believe, at least by some...

Democrats' fright club | Michael Tomasky

Obama's approval rating is fine, but his party's fear of the Republicans means they'll suffer at the polls

Question: among Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, which one had the highest approval rating at this 20-month mark in his presidency? The answer is Obama, who, at 44% or 45%, is a few points better than each of those predecessors was. The Bushes were both more popular, but they were governing under special circumstances – George HW Bush was launching the Persian g...

Okay, then, a music charts quiz | Michael Tomasky

Remember the short-lived Billboard chart quizzes? Well, they're back. At least for today. Since I let you down this morning, I'm feeling guilty. Due to time constraints, I can't deliver on a real Friday quiz, so I'm reviving for the moment the pop music quiz.

Ever since last Friday's quiz, which had the question asking you to name which tumultuous event of 1968 came first, I've had that year on my mind a bit. So let's roll it back to this past week, 42 years ago (!), and look at the charts...