Sahil Kapur

Recent

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:20:00 +0000

"Bulletproof gun lobby strikes again," The Guardian, 30 June 2010

In Wake of Arizona Law, Labor Unites Behind Immigration Reform, Washington Independent, 28 June 2010

"The failure of McChrystal's Afghan plan," The Guardian, 23 June 2010

"McChrystal's Top Aide: We Can't 'Win' in Afghanistan," Huffington Post, 23 June 2010

NRA exemption from campaign finance law ‘defies logic,’ group says, Raw Story, 17 Jun 2010

*Analytical/commentary articles in quotes

My Reporting

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

"If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter." -- Thomas Jefferson

Raw Story

Sound Strike: Rage, Kanye, others refuse to perform in Arizona, Raw Story, 17 Jun 2010

Health expert: BP running Gulf like a ‘prison warden’, Raw Story, 17 Jun 2010

NRA exemption from campaign finance law ‘defies logic,’ group says, Raw Story, 17 Jun 2010

Climate bill architects Kerry, Lieberman vote against repealing oil industry tax breaks, Raw Story, 16 Jun 2010

Environmental groups lash out at Graham over energy flip, Raw Story, 14 Jun 2010

Maddow: 'Stupid' Republicans filibustering 'every single vote of consequence', Raw Story, 12 Jun 2010

Senate aide says cap and trade dead, scaled-back bill likely, Raw Story, 10 Jun 2010

War critics rebuke US-funded 'bribes' to Afghan Taliban, Raw Story, 08 June 2010

Arizona law backers overwhelmingly support path to citizenship: poll, Raw Story, 06 Jun 2010

California passes bill to counteract ‘disturbing’ Texas curriculum, Raw Story, 30 May 2010

Fired-up Kucinich: We’re reducing earth to a ’smoking, glowing, oily mess’, Raw Story, 21 May 2010

‘Declining’ border violence ‘throws sand in the face of’ Arizona law backers, Raw Story, 21 May 2010

NAACP president: Texas curriculum will turn world ‘upside down’ for kids, Raw Story, 19 May 2010

Climate expert: Energy bill doomed without ‘all-out push’ from White House, Raw Story, 12 May 2010

Exclusive: Rep. Garamendi to push for permanent ban on West Coast oil drilling, Raw Story, 05 May 2010

NAACP chief: Arizona immigration law targets ‘people of color’, Raw Story, 03 May 2010

‘Birther’ army doctor faced with court martial charges, Raw Story, 23 Apr 2010

18 veterans kill themselves every day: report, Raw Story, 23 Apr 2010

Revealed: Frank Luntz, GOP message maven, publicly boasts Wall Street clients, Raw Story, 23 Apr 2010

Exclusive: Anti-Tea Party group founder deflects ‘astroturf’ accusations, Raw Story, 20 Apr 2010

Kucinich: US drone attacks in Pakistan could ‘inspire radicalism’, Raw Story, 19 Apr 2010

Conservative think tank: Romney health law ‘identical’ to Obama plan, Raw Story, 16 Apr 2010

Obama mocks Tea Partiers: I cut your taxes, so thank me, Raw Story, 16 Apr 2010

Health insurers cooking books to game reforms, Raw Story, 15 Apr 2010

Feingold bill seeks end to ‘counterproductive’ war in Afghanistan, Raw Story, 15 Apr 2010

Most Tea Partiers deem Palin unqualified for president: poll, Raw Story, 15 Apr 2010

Obama in dead heat with Ron Paul: Rasmussen poll, Raw Story, 14 Apr 2010

Ouch: Tea Party rally cost taxpayers almost $14,000, Raw Story, 14 Apr 2010

Tea Party group rescinds invite to birther Orly Taitz, Raw Story, 14 Apr 2010

Convicted fraudster and health care astroturfer runs… for governor, Raw Story, 13 Apr 2010

Clinton adviser Dick Morris calls Obama ‘first anti-American president’, Raw Story, 13 Apr 2010

Virginia Attorney General to Tea Partiers: ‘Hold your breath’ to save trees, Raw Story, 13 Apr 2010

White House shoots down Hillary Supreme Court rumors, Raw Story, 12 Apr 2010

GOP governor proclaims April ‘Abortion Recovery Month’, Raw Story, 12 Apr 2010

Mississippi gov joins in: No need to cite slavery when cheering Confederacy, Raw Story, 12 Apr 2010

Nervous Murdoch struggles to name one Democrat at Fox News, Raw Story, 08 Apr 2010

Rapists may get federally subsidized Viagra in health law, Raw Story, 07 Apr 2010

Chamber of Commerce attacks effort to ban secretly funded ads, Raw Story, 07 Apr 2010

Pornstar mulling Senate run embraces GOP after sex-club scandal, Raw Story, 07 Apr 2010

Hayworth: ‘Panicked’ McCain trying to ‘encourage amnesia’, Raw Story, 06 Apr 2010

Fox host to Reid: ‘Be careful’ when you ‘demonize’ Tea Parties, Raw Story, 06 Apr 2010

McCain: ‘I never considered myself a maverick’, Raw Story, 05 Apr 2010

Tea Partiers: Obama’s a Muslim because he takes his shoes off, Raw Story, 05 Apr 2010

Steele: ‘Slimmer margin’ of error for me because I’m black, Raw Story, 05 Apr 2010

Jon Stewart mocks CNN: ‘We don’t know what the f*ck we’re doing’, Raw Story, 02 Apr 2010

NYT reporter: Bush’s entire wiretapping program may have been illegal, Raw Story, 01 Apr 2010

Pro-drilling Republicans unhappy with Obama drilling expansion, Raw Story, 01 Apr 2010

Obama swings back to ideological middle with drilling plan, Raw Story, 31 Mar 2010

Exclusive: How The Yes Men duped media into hyping NYT spoof, Raw Story, 31 Mar 2010

The Yes Men call O’Keefe, Breitbart ’sad and pathetic’ for targeting ACORN, Raw Story, 30 Mar 2010

RNC spent lavishly at Reagan Museum shop, liquor store, Raw Story, 30 Mar 2010

Chomsky: Obama is ‘delivering, but for financial institutions’, Raw Story, 29 Mar 2010

Obama’s abortion deal reverses pro-choice campaign pledge, Raw Story, 26 Mar 2010

Chomsky: US-Israel spat is over Netanyahu’s ‘insulting manner, not settlements’, Raw Story, 25 Mar 2010

Watch: Bush ‘torture architect’ shouted down at UVA speech, Raw Story, 24 Mar 2010

Grayson: Palin ‘an inspiration to quitters all over the country’, Raw Story, 23 Mar 2010

Biden: Passing health reform ‘a big f*cking deal’, Raw Story, 23 Mar 2010

RNC chief: I ‘tamed down’ pic of Pelosi burning in fire, Raw Story, 23 Mar 2010

Stupak repeatedly called ‘baby killer’ on House floor, Raw Story, 22 Mar 2010

Bush speechwriter: Reform is ‘Waterloo all right: ours’, Raw Story, 22 Mar 2010

Chomsky: Health bill sustains the system’s core ills, Raw Story, 22 Mar 2010

Democrats to dodge accountability on public option, Raw Story, 19 Mar 2010

‘Amateur’ Steele deemed a ‘liability’ by most GOP insiders: survey, Raw Story, 19 Mar 2010

DCCC: GOP anti-reform attack dog ‘fighting against his district’, Raw Story, 18 Mar 2010

Fox News host interrupts Obama 16 times in testy interview, Raw Story, 18 Mar 2010

Nuns could provide ‘cover’ for pro-life holdouts on health reform, Raw Story, 17 Mar 2010

After months of opposition, Kucinich flips to ‘yes’ on health bill with no public option, Raw Story, 17 Mar 2010

Revealed: Ashcroft, Tenet, Rumsfeld warned 9/11 Commission about ‘line’ it ’should not cross’, Raw Story, 17 Mar 2010

Health bill protesters jeer at man with Parkinson’s disease, Raw Story, 17 Mar 2010

Turley criticizes Justice’s wife for ‘injudicious’ Tea Party activism, Raw Story, 16 Mar 2010

Fight for single-payer health care will continue after bill passes, senator says, Raw Story, 16 Mar 2010

Rove: Obama ‘let a cowboy president violate the Constitution’ in Honduras, Raw Story, 16 Mar 2010

Glenn Beck ‘has teared up’ during rehearsals, staffers say, Raw Story, 15 Mar 2010

Obama hopes face time trumps ‘millions spent’ to sway undecided Democrats, Raw Story, 15 Mar 2010

Palin resurrects bogus ‘death panels’ and ‘rationing’ claims, Raw Story, 15 Mar 2010

Pelosi: Public option ‘not in reconciliation’, Raw Story, 12 Mar 2010

Colbert carves up Karl Rove’s ‘head’, Raw Story, 12 Mar 2010

Pelosi: Stupak bluffing on health bill abortion threats, Raw Story, 12 Mar 2010

Moore: Democrats behaving like ‘frightened animals’, Raw Story, 11 Mar 2010

Maddow: Anti-abortion language can’t pass through reconciliation, Raw Story, 11 Mar 2010

Maher: Obama’s ‘mistake’ was not telling Republicans to ’suck on it’, Raw Story, 11 Mar 2010

Sanders: ‘One year later, the White House gets it’, Raw Story, 10 Mar 2010

Grayson urges vote on new Medicare buy-in bill, Raw Story, 10 Mar 2010

Bush’s ex-spokesman: Rove ‘living in his own world’, Raw Story, 10 Mar 2010

Exclusive: Websites like Drudge can spread viruses, ‘non-partisan’ techie warned Senate, Raw Story, 09 Mar 2010

Ken Starr: Liz Cheney’s attack on DOJ lawyers ‘out of bounds’, Raw Story, 09 Mar 2010

Kucinich willing to cast the vote that kills health reform, Raw Story, 09 Mar 2010

Palin: Writing on palms ‘was good enough for God’, Raw Story, 08 Mar 2010

Conservative author: Liz Cheney ‘worse than Joe McCarthy’, Raw Story, 05 Mar 2010

Obama promises progressives he’ll revisit public option after bill passes, 05 Mar 2010

‘I don’t answer to my party,’ Democratic senator brags in ad, Raw Story, 04 Mar 2010

Federal agencies may expand internet monitoring to beef up cybersecurity, Raw Story, 04 Mar 2010

Retiring Dem fesses to ’salty language,’ denies harrassment allegations, Raw Story, 03 Mar 2010

Longtime gay rights nemesis quits post due to illness, Raw Story, 03 Mar 2010

Obama demands ‘up or down vote’ on health reform, Raw Story, 03 Mar 2010

Michael Moore: ‘Democrats are a bunch of wusses…It’s disgusting… I’m sick of them’, Raw Story, 03 Mar 2010

Howard Stern: Jay Leno ‘makes me want to vomit’, Raw Story, 02 Mar 2010

Stewart labels filibuster-happy Bunning ‘Kentucky crazy person’, Raw Story, 02 Mar 2010

DNC: GOP should ‘defend jobs,’ not senators-only elevator, Raw Story, 01 Mar 2010

Tea Partiers use Fox to deliver ‘palm message’ to Palin, Raw Story, 01 Mar 2010

Tea Party keynoter says Palin ‘not presidential’, Raw Story, 01 Mar 2010

GOP senator blocks unemployment benefits extension: ‘Tough shit’, Raw Story, 26 Feb 2010

Woolsey: ‘It’s not over’ for public option, Raw Story, 26 Feb 2010

Sole GOPer who backed health bill retreats after fundraising dips, Raw Story, 26 Feb 2010

O’Reilly: ‘Sarah Palin needs to go to college’, Raw Story, 26 Feb 2010

‘The election is over,’ Obama reminds McCain, Raw Story, 25 Feb 2010

Reid blasts GOP: ‘You’re not entitled to your own facts’, Raw Story, 25 Feb 2010

Blue Cross parent hiked rates after paying out $39 million in bonuses, Raw Story, 25 Feb 2010

Torture architect ‘distorts’ investigation timeline to blame Obama, Raw Story, 24 Feb 2010

Rush Limbaugh rebukes Glenn Beck — for attacking Republicans, Raw Story, 24 Feb 2010

Olbermann: McCain ‘lying his way to defeat again’, Raw Story, 23 Feb 2010

Maddow: Christian ignorance revives discrimination in Virginia, Raw Story, 23 Feb 2010

Conservatives livid as Scott Brown backs Dem jobs bill, Raw Story, 23 Feb 2010

Public option removal ‘not a deal-breaker’ for Dem senators, aides say, Raw Story, 23 Feb 2010

Lieberman to sponsor bill repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, Raw Story, 22 Feb 2010

Group wants courts to play ‘keep away’ from torture lawyers, Raw Story, 22 Feb 2010

Reid open to public option reconciliation vote, Raw Story, 19 Feb 2010

Bachmann: Pursuit of happiness the ‘fun’ inalienable right, Raw Story, 19 Feb 2010

Stephen Baldwin: ‘Homey’ Obama needs to ‘lay in it’, Raw Story, 19 Feb 2010

O’Reilly tells conservatives to stop ‘bashing’ Obama: ‘Does Obama bashing accomplish anything?’, Raw Story, 19 Feb 2010

Scott Brown sympathizes with Austin bomber: ‘No one likes paying taxes, obviously’, Raw Story, 19 Feb 2010

CPAC speaker: Obama’s ‘notion of freedom’ is ’snorting cocaine’, Raw Story, 18 Feb 2010

Transparency groups slam lobbyists for plotting ’sufficient cover’ to buy elections, Raw Story, 18 Feb 2010

Exclusive: Sanders joins Dems in final push for public option, Raw Story, 17 Feb 2010

Failed IN Dem candidate reached out to ‘Tea Baggers’ for help, Raw Story, 17 Feb 2010

Majority say Obama doesn’t deserve second term: CNN poll, Raw Story, 17 Feb 2010

Congressman brags about offing ‘crazy raccoon’ with Desert Eagle, Raw Story, 16 Feb 2010

Fox Business ‘concerned’ Blue Cross rate hike could help health reform, Raw Story, 16 Feb 2010

Fox News to cover Stephen Baldwin’s ‘gnarly’ lounge for ‘next gen’ conservatives, Raw Story, 15 Feb 2010

Update: Bayh says he has no interest in presidency, Raw Story, 15 Feb 2010

Utah eyes slashing senior year of high school to save money, Raw Story, 15 Feb 2010

Reid’s updated jobs bill tosses ‘pathetic’ corporate tax giveaways, Raw Story, 12 Feb 2010

Howard Dean: Democrats ‘need a spinal transplant’, Raw Story, 12 Feb 2010

Lieberman’s concerns about torture seemingly limited to Iran, Raw Story, 11 Feb 2010

Limbaugh to GOP: ‘Be proud of being the party of no’, Raw Story, 11 Feb 2010

White House assails GOP senator’s ‘pathetic attack’ on Brennan, Raw Story, 10 Feb 2010

Henry Paulson: My close ties with Wall Street were ‘a huge help’, Raw Story, 10 Feb 2010

Matthews: Palin has ‘nothing going on mentally’, Raw Story, 10 Feb 2010

Air Force pulls ad following legal threat from White Stripes, Raw Story, 09 Feb 2010

GOP senator’s family builds igloo to mock global warming, Raw Story, 09 Feb 2010

O’Reilly: Some tea partiers ‘nuts, loons, out of their minds’, Raw Story, 09 Feb 2010

Obama would destroy Palin in hypothetical race, poll finds, Raw Story, 08 Feb 2010

Justice Department seeking lawyers with ‘mental retardation’, Raw Story, 08 Feb 2010

Fact check: Palin’s claims in Tea Party speech debunked, Raw Story, 08 Feb 2010

Palin: When Limbaugh says ‘retards’ it’s fine, Raw Story, 08 Feb 2010

Contradicting his GOP colleagues, Cornyn declines rematch with Obama, Raw Story, 05 Feb 2010

Exclusive: NAACP calls Tea Party speaker’s quip ‘outrageous, insidious’, Raw Story, 05 Feb 2010

Exclusive: Author of single-payer health care measure expects it on ballot by 2014, Raw Story, 05 Feb 2010

Health care will eat up ‘one in five dollars’ of US GDP by 2020, Medicare says, Raw Story, 04 Feb 2010

Garamendi: ‘unending negotiations’ damaged health care bill, Raw Story, 03 Feb 2010

Frank Luntz to GOP: Tout ‘Washington’s incompetence’ to kill financial reform, Raw Story, 03 Feb 2010

Consumer groups: Breaking up banks ‘crucial’ to avoid another meltdown, Raw Story, 03 Feb 2010

Harry Reid taunts McCain: ‘The election’s over, get over’ it, Raw Story, 02 Feb 2010

Woman sets up website to marry for health insurance, Raw Story, 02 Feb 2010

Crist rips Rubio, says ‘no truth’ to rumors he’ll run as independent, Raw Story, 02 Feb 2010

Exclusive: ‘Ellie Light’ regrets damage done to Obama, blasts right-wing ‘conspiracy theorists’, Raw Story, 31 Jan 2010

Gays riled over Joint Chiefs’ silence on DADT repeal, Raw Story, 28 Jan 2010

Exclusive: Kucinich to Obama: Be ‘bolder’ or ‘we could lose our country’, Raw Story, 28 Jan 2010

Obama: ‘Despite our hardships, our union is strong’, Raw Story, 27 Jan 2010

Landrieu phone plot: Men arrested have links to intelligence community, Raw Story, 27 Jan 2010

Pentagon calls for ‘Office of Strategic Deception’, Raw Story, 27 Jan 2010

Candidate Obama criticized McCain’s spending freeze idea as ‘hatchet’, Raw Story, 26 Jan 2010

Obama: ‘I’d rather be a really good one-term president’, Raw Story, 26 Jan 2010

Another Dem backs down: ‘Scale back’ our agenda, Raw Story, 25 Jan 2010

41 industry leaders call on Congress to halt corporate ‘bribery’, Raw Story, 22 Jan 2010

Grayson: Fight now or ‘kiss your country goodbye’ to Exxon, Wal-Mart, Raw Story, 22 Jan 2010

NOW: ‘Kill the Senate health bill entirely’, Raw Story, 22 Jan 2010

Exclusive: Kucinich shreds Democrats for betraying the promise of change, Raw Story, 21 Jan 2010

Barney Frank backtracks on opposition to Senate health bill: ‘I was overreacting’, Raw Story, 20 Jan 2010

Obama concedes: Don’t ‘jam through’ health care reform, Raw Story, 20 Jan 2010

Top blogger on health care: ‘Walk away, get slaughtered’, Raw Story, 20 Jan 2010

Dems tied with GOP in generic Congressional match-up, health bill approval sinks, Raw Story, 19 Jan 2010

Sniping underway: White House, Dems, Coakley blast each other, Raw Story, 19 Jan 2010

Conservatives using sketchy videos to suggest Dems guilty of voter fraud, Raw Story, 19 Jan 2010

FBI’s ‘cutting edge’ photo of bin Laden doctored from Spain lawmaker’s portrait, Raw Story, 19 Jan 2010

Dems revive anti-Bush narrative in Clinton’s Massachusetts robocall, Raw Story, 17 Jan 2010

David Axelrod smacks Karl Rove’s ’shamelessness’ on deficit, Raw Story, 15 Jan 2010

Gretchen Carlson: Asking if Pelosi is a ‘kook’ is tough question for Palin, Raw Story, 13 Jan 2010

Public says health care bill doesn’t go ‘far enough’, Raw Story, 11 Jan 2010

Afghan bomber turned radical due to US Mid-East policies, reports say, Raw Story, 10 Jan 2010

Gay advocates mock Rick Warren’s ‘urgent’ donation pleas, Raw Story, 31 Dec 2009

Dem lawmaker smacks Cheney: ‘Political diarrhea of the mouth’, Raw Story, 31 Dec 2009

Gingrich openly says let’s ‘profile’ and ‘actively discriminate’, Raw Story, 31 Dec 2009

Politico’s Mike Allen slammed as Cheney ’stenographer’, Raw Story, 30 Dec 2009

Maddow: Conservatives using ’sick torture fantasies’ to politicize terror plot, Raw Story, 30 Dec 2009

Professor: GOP sees failed bombing as ‘holiday gift’, Raw Story, 29 Dec 2009

Feingold blasts health reform ‘deal making that secured votes’, Raw Story, 24 Dec 2009

Obama: Health bill ‘most important social legislation since 1930s’, Raw Story, 24 Dec 2009

Teabagger 2010 opponent shreds McCain aide: ‘You left your brain in the lobby’, Raw Story, 23 Dec 2009

Burris reads Christmas poem slamming GOP on Senate floor, Raw Story, 22 Dec 2009

58%: Bush years ‘awful, not so good’, Raw Story, 22 Dec 2009

Dean, Lieberman point to Obama for death of public option, Raw Story, 21 Dec 2009

Teabaggers promise ‘pink slip’ for Reid in new ad, Raw Story, 21 Dec 2009

Upset over health care, McCain compares Democrats to Bernie Madoff, Raw Story, 21 Dec 2009

Nelson: Tax the rich and I’ll oppose health care bill, Raw Story, 21 Dec 2009

Olympia Snowe confirms she’ll filibuster health reform, Raw Story, 20 Dec 2009

Public option inventor: ‘I still believe in this bill”, Raw Story, 20 Dec 2009

Ed Schultz to Obama: ‘Your base thinks you’re nothing but a sellout’, Raw Story, 18 Dec 2009

MoveOn tops $1 million in 2 days from anti-Lieberman donations, Raw Story, 18 Dec 2009

Kucinich: ‘Class war is over, working people lost’, Raw Story, 17 Dec 2009

Exclusive: Fox-backed seniors group exposed as conservative front, Raw Story, 17 Dec 2009

Dean: I won’t “vigorously” support Obama’s re-election, Raw Story, 17 Dec 2009

Sanders: America will embrace single-payer health care, Raw Story, 16 Dec 2009

Beck defends clause counting blacks as three-fifths of a person, Raw Story, 16 Dec 2009

Dean says kill the Senate health bill: report, Raw Story, 15 Dec 2009

Lieberman falsely insists he didn’t change mind on Medicare buy-in, Raw Story, 15 Dec 2009

Franken slams GOP on Senate floor: ‘You’re not entitled to your own facts’, Raw Story, 15 Dec 2009

Fox News: cutting minimum wage ‘better for workers’, Raw Story, 14 Dec 2009

Another senator backs out of healthcare compromise, Raw Story, 14 Dec 2009

Palin: Obama’s foreign policy speech could’ve come from me, Raw Story, 11 Dec 2009

Bachmann laments that foreign citizens have rights, Raw Story, 11 Dec 2009

ACLU: Obama creating ‘a sweeping immunity doctrine for torturers’, Raw Story, 10 Dec 2009

Six in ten Americans support public option: poll, Raw Story, 09 Dec 2009

NOW may oppose Senate health bill: still ‘damaging to women’, Raw Story, 09 Dec 2009

Howard Dean: Senate health compromise ‘a positive step forward’, Raw Story, 09 Dec 2009

Blue Cross pushing plan to declare health reform unconstitutional, Raw Story, 07 Dec 2009

Obama: No to ‘legalizing prostitution, gambling, drugs and non-violent crime’, Raw Story, 04 Dec 2009

Palin to Obama: ‘Boycott Copenhagen’ because of ‘Climategate’, Raw Story, 04 Dec 2009

Exclusive: Beck’s movie bombs in New York, Boston — and Washington, D.C., Raw Story, 04 Dec 2009

Group promoting climate skepticism has extensive ties to Exxon-Mobil, Raw Story, 03 Dec 2009

Did top Pentagon official create imaginary LLC to pad resume?, Raw Story, 01 Dec 2009

Exclusive: Hip-hop lawyer counts White House crashers and Pentagon official as clients, Raw Story, 01 Dec 2009

Dem defends bill that would make Massachusetts colleges insure students, Raw Story, 30 Nov 2009

ACLU: Obama’s reversal on Patriot Act reform ‘a major travesty’, Raw Story, 30 Nov 2009

Republicans united only in opposition to Obama and Democrats: poll, Raw Story, 30 Nov 2009

9/11 pager messages reveal how banks responded to attacks, Raw Story, 25 Nov 2009

Fewer than four in ten whites approve of Obama: poll, Raw Story, 25 Nov 2009

Senator in prostitution scandal caught checking out lingerie, Raw Story, 25 Nov 2009

AARP: Public option ‘not a priority’, Raw Story, 25 Nov 2009

Large majority supports undocumented immigrants’ path to citizenship, Raw Story, 24 Nov 2009

Students held in jail overnight without food in tuition hike protest, Raw Story, 20 Nov 2009

Rape victim upset KBR trying to modify $3M arbitration award, Raw Story, 20 Nov 2009

Democrats blast McConnell for ‘lying’ about health reform, Raw Story, 20 Nov 2009

Stewart to Dobbs: Your views are ‘abhorrent, wrong, but consistent’, Raw Story, 19 Nov 2009

New kid’s book hits Pelosi as radical, uses Yiddish term to depict Jewish senator, Raw Story, 18 Nov 2009

Washington Independent

In Wake of Arizona Law, Labor Unites Behind Immigration Reform, Washington Independent, 28 June 2010

Dems Easily Defeat GOP Motion to Repeal HCR Mandate, Washington Independent, 15 June 2010

Rep. King: Spot Illegal Immigrants by Their ‘Shoes,’ ‘Grooming,’ ‘Accent’ or ‘a Sixth Sense’, Washington Independent, 15 June 2010

Kaine: We’re ‘Very, Very Glad’ to Make November About Health Care Repeal, Washington Independent, 10 June 2010

Rep. Foxx: ‘I Agree’ That Immigration Equals ‘Invasion', Washington Independent, 09 June 2010

Obama’s Troop Deployment to Border Draws Rebuke From Both Sides, Washington Independent, 25 May 2010

Asian News International

Obama ordered drone attacks on Pak 'inspiring anti-American fanaticism': Congressman, Asian News International, 24 Apr 2010

US to give Pakistan "smart bombs," surveillance drones and F-16 fighter jets, Asian News International, 05 Apr 2010

Huffington Post

Mike Enzi: GOP Gang Of Six Senator's Ties To Insurance Industry, Huffington Post, 12 Sept 2009

Only 4% Of Israelis Say Obama Is "Pro-Israel", Huffington Post, 29 Aug 2009

Jeremy Scahill Slams Chuck Todd, Media, Congress Over Blackwater On "Real Time With Bill Maher", Huffington Post, 23 Aug 2009

New MoveOn Ad Blasts Insurance Companies: "They Kill People Each Year", Huffington Post, 07 Aug 2009

Transparency Groups Urge Obama To Involve Public In Executive Order Revisions, Huffington Post, 06 Aug 2009

RNC Refuses To Accept Calls About New DNC Ad, Huffington Post, 05 Aug 2009

DNC Blasts "Sham" Town Hall Protests, Huffington Post, 05 Aug 2009

Pennsylvania Senate Battle Heats Up: Top Candidates Hammer Away At Each Other, Huffington Post, 04 Aug 2009

Dem Advantage Over GOP Has Expanded Since Election: Gallup, Huffington Post, 03 Aug 2009

Conservative Democrats Most Vulnerable If Health Reform Fails, Huffington Post, 29 July 2009

Despite Dip In Job Approval, 67 Percent View Obama As "A Strong, Decisive Leader": Gallup Poll, Huffington Post, 24 July 2009

Military-Industrial Complex Loses F-22 Battle, But Still Reigns Strong, Huffington Post, 23 July 2009

"Nonpartisan" Front For Insurers Has Been Widely Cited, Huffington Post, 22 July 2009

Howard Dean Dismisses Criticism Of Work For Biotech, Accuses Media Of Devouring GOP Talking Points On Health Care, Huffington Post, 21 July 2009

Health Insurance Lobby Supports "Bipartisan Reforms," Attacks Public Option, Huffington Post, 20 July 2009

Defense Contractors Lobby For More F-22s, Obama Threatens Veto, Huffington Post, 16 July 2009

Most Favor Health Care Reform In New Poll, Huffington Post, 14 July 2009

Only Six Percent Of Scientists Are Republicans: Pew Poll, Huffington Post, 10 July 2009

John Oliver Rips Beck, Limbaugh: "Kind Of A Joke In Themselves", Huffington Post, 09 July 2009

Pelosi Promises Passage of Health Reform Bill With Public Option, Huffington Post, 09 July 2009

Inhofe: Nothing Could Make Me Vote For Climate Bill, Huffington Post, 07 July 2009

Climate Change Bill Fight Just Beginning, Huffington Post, 30 June 2009

Manzullo Fumes Against Tougher Consumer Protection Laws, Huffington Post, 25 June 2009

Battle Erupts Over Gun Rights For Terror Suspects, Huffington Post, 23 June 2009

On Health Care, Americans Trust Obama And Dems Far More Than GOP: Poll, Huffington Post, 17 June 2009

Betsy McCaughey The Health Care Slayer, Huffington Post, 12 June 2009

GOP Increasingly Unpopular With Republicans, Huffington Post, 11 June 2009

My Analysis & Commentary

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Talking ideology and IQ on Air America radio

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0000

My appearance on Air America radio's Ring of Fire Saturday -- talking conservatism, tea parties and IQ with Mike Papantonio.

The basis of the interview was this post I wrote for True/Slant (and the links therein) regarding a study on political ideology and IQ by the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Hangin' with my acoustic

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

March 8, 2010 -- New guitar!

Country Disappeared (Wilco cover)

December 22, 2009

Jesus, Etc. (Wilco cover)

Lit Up (The National cover)

Moved!

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:29:00 +0000

This blog has moved to True/Slant. I'll henceforth be publishing my musings on politics, media, economics, culture, life and the sorts at this address:

http://trueslant.com/sahilkapur

See you kids around the bend.

Deepak Chopra smacks Sarah Palin

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:45:00 +0000

This is weeks old but it's worth a mention:

[Palin's] tactic of appealing to the worst impulses of the electorate had a long history in the Republican Party. Indeed, Palin inherited the selfish, mean-spirited values of another politician with a gleaming smile, Ronald Reagan.
When it first dawned in American politics, the shadow was shocking. Values were turned upside down. The AIDS crisis? Ignore it. They deserve what they got. The deficit? Doesn't matter as long as the rich get what they want. Huge unemployment and falling incomes among the working class? Feed them crank social issues so they have someone to hate. Palin breathes this noxious atmosphere like the clear air of Alaska and thrives on it.

I have nothing to add.

'08 Flashback: Obama ridicules Cheney on campaign trail

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:47:00 +0000

His real target of course is John McCain, but the sleight of hand to Dick Cheney is undeniable. Looks like Dick hasn't forgotten.

Do conservatives really care about social order?

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:55:00 +0000

Michael Tomasky makes an interesting point:

In valuing social order during a historical moment of extreme (as they see it) social disorder, conservatives are willing to assert an unusual degree of control over the people. In such a circumstance, they don't want reasoning citizens. They want children-citizens, wards of the state, who look to the daddy-state for protection and preservation of the social order.

In general, I think this is a true and important psychological distinction between liberals and conservatives. Tomasky adds:

I am not saying this is necessarily cynical or malevolent on their part. It simply fits with the extremely high value they place on hierarchy and order, and with their idea of how to maintain both in society.

True also, but it hardly seems to apply to the modern right wing. Conservatives only seem to care about social order and hierarchy when they like the guy in power. The right's vicious assault on Obama's very legitimacy and right to be president -- which Republican leaders have either outwardly endorsed or tacitly approved of -- (despite him destroying John McCain in an electoral landslide by the largest margin in 20 years) speaks volumes about this.

When Republicans are in power, it's borderline treasonous to question or criticize the president on matters of national security or war or foreign policy in general. Tomasky's theory would mean conservatives held the same view no matter who the (democratically elected) president is at the time. But on that matter, nothing could be further from the truth -- when Democrats are in power, this apparent moral worldview completely breaks down.

Democrats didn't lift a finger to blame George W. Bush for his criminal negligence of the threats and intelligence preceding 9/11. And that was the deadliest attack ever on American soil, which happened under a Republican US president, a Republican governor of New York, and a Republican mayor of New York City. (Can you even imagine how Republicans would have reacted if 9/11 happened on a Democrat's watch? Oh, the humanity.)

Republicans, however, are cynically blaming Obama for an attack that didn't even work. How don't more people see how hypocritical this is? If it's important to respect national leaders in times of peril, why doesn't that apply under this president as it did the previous?

So for the average modern conservative, it's not so much about protecting the social order or hierarchy; that only applies when it's one of their own who's running the show. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachmann (who am I forgetting?) have been actively encouraging a revolution since Obama took office (Bachmann even called for an "armed" revolution) but slammed anybody who dared to criticize anything Bush did on national security.

It goes back to what I've been saying for a long time: Conservatives don't really want limited government; they want a government limited to Republicans.

Raw Stories, holiday edition

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

Gay advocates mock Rick Warren’s ‘urgent’ donation pleas, 31 Dec 2009
Dem lawmaker smacks Cheney: ‘Political diarrhea of the mouth’, 31 Dec 2009
Gingrich openly says let’s ‘profile’ and ‘actively discriminate’, 31 Dec 2009
Politico’s Mike Allen slammed as Cheney ’stenographer’, 30 Dec 2009
Maddow: Conservatives using 'sadistic torture fantasies’ to politicize terror plot, 30 Dec 2009
Professor: GOP sees failed bombing as ‘holiday gift’, 29 Dec 2009
Feingold blasts health reform ‘deal making that secured votes’, 24 Dec 2009
Obama: Health bill ‘most important social legislation since 1930s’, 24 Dec 2009
Teabagger 2010 opponent shreds McCain aide: ‘You left your brain in the lobby’, 23 Dec 2009
Burris reads Christmas poem slamming GOP on Senate floor, 22 Dec 2009
58%: Bush years ‘awful, not so good’, 22 Dec 2009
Dean, Lieberman point to Obama for death of public option, 21 Dec 2009
Teabaggers promise ‘pink slip’ for Reid in new ad, 21 Dec 2009
Upset over health care, McCain compares Democrats to Bernie Madoff, 21 Dec 2009
Nelson: Tax the rich and I’ll oppose health care bill, 21 Dec 2009
Olympia Snowe confirms she’ll filibuster health reform, 20 Dec 2009
Public option inventor: ‘I still believe in this bill”, 20 Dec 2009

Keeping his credibility with progressives

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:11:00 +0000

A more developed version of this post has been published in the Huffington Post.

Ross Douthat writes:

Obama doesn’t enjoy the kind of deep credibility with his base that both Reagan and Kennedy spent decades building. When Kennedy told liberals that a given compromise was the best they could get, they believed him. Whether the issue is health care or Afghanistan, Obama’s word doesn’t carry the same weight.
This leaves him walking a fine line. If Obama’s presidency succeeds, it will be a testament to what ideology tempered by institutionalism can accomplish. But his political approach leaves him in constant danger of losing center and left alike — of being dismissed by independents as another tax-and-spender, and disdained by liberals as a sellout.

It's true that Obama is losing considerable steam among his most ardent supporters, and this could spell danger for him in the future. Presidents seem to do better when they have an enthusiastic ideological epicenter -- and while it may be true that Obama personally prefers strong progressive legislation on a number of issues, it's not so clear to his base anymore.

Maybe Obama's calculation was right and a public option wasn't passable through this Senate no matter what he did (although it'd have been nice if he tried harder). Where Obama lost ground with progressives is that he didn't level with them and explain what was going on in the various stages; he obviously knew it's a huge deal to progressives, but he didn't unequivocally champion it, nor did he come clean when it was scrapped and say that he really really tried but couldn't get it.

Instead, he told the Washington Post that "he didn't campaign on the public option" -- a claim that progressive blogs and organizations have ripped apart.

Obama may be underestimating the pragmatism of the progressive base. If he simply explained the compromises that occurred at the different stages of the process -- and told his base why they were necessary -- I think many of the dismayed progressives would be much warmer about the final outcome. I think liberals understand the realities and constraints on presidential power and won't blame Obama every time they don't get exactly what they want.

But first, they need to know and trust that Obama is really one of them. It's the movement progressives from places like DailyKos and FireDogLake who organized and fought and made Obama's election possible. And there's nobody else who will do it. Losing them would be a huge strategic blunder.

He knows he's president of the United States and not liberal America, and he's constantly doing an awful lot to reach out to moderates, independents, conservatives and Republicans. But he can't be everywhere at once. He's been president for a year, and if he continues to hold an ambiguous identity, he's going to lose people left right and center.

The core conservative/Republican base already despises him and always will no matter what he does. That these people revere the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck shows how pointless it would be for Obama to even bother with them. And Independents and moderates tend to be less enthusiastic or politically active. So Obama would be smart to maintain the support of the progressive base, and, most importantly, not take it for granted.

Confusing cowardice for toughness

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Matt Taibbi offers a characteristically insightful (and entertaining) take on the modern neo-con:

It’s because nebbishly little dorks like [David] Brooks and Paul Wolfowitz and David Frum got their books dumped in high school that we end up dropping daisy cutters on Afghan sheep herds and shipping working class American kids halfway around the world to get their nuts blown off. That sounds like a simplistic explanation, but anyone who doesn’t have a keen ear for the pencil-pusher’s eternal quest for macho cred is going to have a hard time understanding Washington politics.

There's an extremely understated yet extremely important truth to this. It's a well-affirmed psychological theory that the people who have the most feverish need to prove their macho and toughness are the ones who are least secure about it on the inside. (Case in point: John Bolton.)

It's an attitude that extends well beyond the halls of the White House and Congress, to the highest levels of the mainstream media and punditry and think tanks -- all the dominant players who construct the social and political apparatus of America.

And that's the problem. Instead of doing their jobs and calling out (or at least questioning) the motives of pseudo-warriors like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld -- whose macho posturing has nothing to do with rationality but rather exists to mask their deeply-entrenched cowardice and fearfulness -- the dominant meme among mainstream thinkers is that anybody who wants to drop bombs on other countries and is always, inherently Rational and Serious; and anybody who wants to refrain out of basic sensibility (not to mention, international law, human rights, the Constitution and silly things like that) is weak, docile and unfit to make foreign policy decisions.

It doesn't matter how much historical evidence there is that proves this attitude to be irrational or nonsensical. The Beltway mindset seems incapable of seeing war (in its initial stages, at least) as anything other than Noble and Virtuous and Right, and it's hard to tell whether that's because mainstream journalists and pundits also let crisis of courage get in the way of rational thinking, or whether it's out of subservience to the powerful.

It doesn't matter how legitimate a question it is, you'll never hear David Gregory or Charlie Gibson suggest that it was Dick Cheney's gutlessness and cowardice and eagerness to prove his mettle (far from the Resilience and Toughness it's so commonly portrayed as) that led to all the lies and propaganda that catalyzed the Iraq War. Such thoughts seem to be off limits to the entrenched Beltway mindset.

As if it takes great courage to snap your fingers and send tens (or hundreds) of thousands of other people to die because you received a few too many wedgies in school and ended up with a desperate fixation to put your testosterone on display at all times.

Either way, it's a sad, dark reality that I, at a mere 22 years of age, am slowly understanding, after years of bafflement that led me to try and learn what really governs the foreign policy mindset of Washington decision-makers.

Senate passes historic health reform

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:13:00 +0000

This morning the Senate passed the most significant piece of legislation in decades. My thoughts are here at The Guardian:

Democrats in the Senate have finally passed historic healthcare reform – the most significant piece of progressive legislation in generations. It's deeply flawed, but for all the compelling arguments against it, the bill's success is far better for America than failure would have been.

This legislation is the single biggest expansion of America's social safety net since Medicare was passed in 1965. It will insure 94% of legal US residents by 2019 and significantly reduce the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office's estimates [PDF].

If this bill were to have been struck down, it would have denied coverage to 30 million who will now have it. It would have continued the trend of tens of thousands dying needlessly (and many more going bankrupt) for lack of healthcare. It would have led to a higher federal deficit than we'll have now.

Also, I know we're going to be hearing for years and years the silly charge that it was all a partisan game for Democrats, that Republicans were actively shut out, and so on. Steve Benen counters David Broder, who makes that exact claim this morning.

The reality, as honest viewers of every ideological stripe know, is that the GOP decided from the word go they would oppose this bill. The evidence of this is so overwhelming as to be undeniable -- be it Jim DeMint's "Waterloo" comment, Tom Coburn's flat-out proclamation that Republicans are trying to kill the bill, Mike Enzi's early admission that he's merely blocking the bill, or John Cornyn's internal memo saying it's good politics to block reform.

Couple all that with the clear reality that obstructing health care reform has historically been extremely lucrative for the GOP, and the fact that this is the most ideologically fiesty and anti-progressive Republican Party in generations. I just don't see any journalistic argument challenging the theory that the GOP would have opposed any serious incarnation of health care reform that Democrats put forth.

Sunday news on health care reform

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:49:00 +0000

All Republicans will filibuster, all Dems and Independents will support:
Olympia Snowe confirms she’ll filibuster health reform, 20 Dec 2009

Father of the public option says it's "wrong" to kill the bill:
Public option inventor: ‘I still believe in this bill”, 20 Dec 2009

Kill it and start again? Well, not anytime soon

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Matt Taibbi and Bob Kuttner debate whether the health care bill in its current form is worth passing. Tabbi says Democrats should have

used as a politically strategy that we're just going to do what the vast majority of our constituents want and pass a bill that was real, that had real teeth to it, that provided real benefits, that actually fixed the problems... []

and if the bill fails, he wonders:

Couldn't that crushing defeat be good for the Democrats? Couldn't that teach them a lesson, that maybe they have to pursue a different course in the future?

Taibbi is in the camp with Howard Dean, Jane Hamsher and other progressive activists who say Dems should scrap this and get back to it in a couple of years to do a better bill.

I'm extremely skeptical of this approach, primarily because the history of health care reform shows that once a sweeping bill fails, it takes 15-20 years to try again (see the failures of Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Bill Clinton), for a variety of reasons. And subsequent attempts at a systemic overhaul almost always turn out weaker than the previous.

History also shows that once Dems fail on this issue, their base becomes disconcerted and GOP gains massively as a result. Republicans are already projected to pick up some seats in the House and Senate next year. Which means that this is probably as progressive a Congress as there'll be in a very long time (it's certainly the most progressive one in decades).

So, as problematic as this bill is, I just don't see the prospects for sweeping health reform improving if this bill fails. On the other hand, Paul Krugman points out:

We can some back to this. Progressives can push for bigger subsidies; stronger exchanges; a reinstated public option; stronger cost controls. Some of these things can be done through reconciliation. Having this bill in place will make it easier, not harder, to do these things than having passed nothing.

Sarah Palin and the media

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:05:00 +0000

I only just got around to reading this gem by Matt Taibbi. Instead of excepting it I highly recommend reading the whole thing.

Maybe I'm naive, but I always thought the generally negative media coverage toward Palin was mainly because she's a mean-spirited dunce who's unqualified for high office. In other words, I thought it was more about substance than the perverse attitudes at the top of the media establishment.

Taibbi's piece is great, but I do think he underplays that fact. One could of course make the point that George W. Bush wasn't much of an Einstein either and the media still ushered him in as a bipartisan, uniting maverick of sorts because he was well-connected. But Bush was frankly a bit more clued in and less of a loose cannon than Palin.

But again I recommend you read the whole thing; it's the most candid and entertaining insight into mainstream media establishment.

The week in Raw Stories

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:39:00 +0000

A huge one for health care reform..

Ed Schultz to Obama: ‘Your base thinks you’re nothing but a sellout’, 18 Dec 2009
MoveOn tops $1 million in 2 days from anti-Lieberman donations, 18 Dec 2009
Kucinich: ‘Class war is over, working people lost’, 17 Dec 2009
Exclusive: Fox-backed seniors group exposed as conservative front, 17 Dec 2009
Dean: I won’t “vigorously” support Obama’s re-election, 17 Dec 2009
Sanders: America will embrace single-payer health care, 16 Dec 2009
Beck defends clause counting blacks as three-fifths of a person, 16 Dec 2009
Dean says kill the Senate health bill: report, 15 Dec 2009
Lieberman falsely insists he didn’t change mind on Medicare buy-in, 15 Dec 2009
Franken slams GOP on Senate floor: ‘You’re not entitled to your own facts’, 15 Dec 2009
Fox News: cutting minimum wage ‘better for workers’, 14 Dec 2009
Another senator backs out of healthcare compromise, 14 Dec 2009

A very bad week for health care reform

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:56:00 +0000

From today's Guardian op-ed:

This week has been a nightmare for healthcare reform. In a series of twists and turns, Democrats jettisoned not only the critical public insurance option but also the provision they traded it for – the Medicare buy-in programme for people aged 55-64. Progressives are deeply divided as to whether the remaining legislation is worth supporting at all, and by Wednesday the White House and Howard Dean were sniping at each other in public.
There are copious individuals and groups that can be blamed for these events, but the larger, ugly message this stridently sends is that Washington is rigged against the interests of regular people.

Read the whole thing here.

"ClimateGate" only exposes the paranoia of conspiracy theorists

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:26:00 +0000

From my latest Huffington Post column:

Watching the fallout of the so-called "ClimateGate" incident in recent weeks, one would think these revealed emails actually created a dent in the science of anthropogenic climate change. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

The leaked emails from many years ago show zero evidence of a global conspiracy; nor do they reveal motivations for peddling false science; nor do they suggest that any research on the issue has ultimately been manufactured; nor do they cast serious doubts on the exhaustive conclusions of the entire international scientific community over the last couple of decades.
All they really show is that a couple of scientists were afraid some narrow data they found would be misinterpreted and overblown so as to undercut their much larger, more encompassing conclusions on climate change.

Read it all here.

Public policy in terms of lives

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Ezra makes a fairly air-tight case against Charles Lane's heated slam of his rhetoric describing the consequences of Lieberman's decisions.

I have to say it's refreshing to hear journalists for once talking about public policy in terms of its actual impacts on people's lives and livelihoods -- rather than the petty games and maneuverings of Beltway politicians.

Ezra's right to say the money spent insuring people -- including offering them a public option or the chance to buy into Medicare -- will get more people health care and thus save lives. That much is indisputable by any mildly honest account. So then why is it so controversial to say that scuttling health reform over any specific provisions will lead to preventable deaths?

Lane prefaces his indignation on the notion that it's a legitimate argument to say the health care bill is weak and there are better ways to achieve the goals of lowering costs and extending coverage. Unfortunately, neither he nor any Republican has offered a viable solution. What is one to extrapolate from that except that it's not a priority for the leaders on the right?

But what's even more curious is that the claims conservative activists and GOPers are making against this bill simply don't hold up. I've tackled those here, referring to the debate over the House bill (and the context hasn't changed much, if at all):

They said it'll bankrupt America, but the CBO has deemed it will lower costs and slash the deficit. They said it will harm the elderly, but the American Association of Retired Persons, the mighty seniors group, has endorsed it. They said it will disrupt the doctor-patient relationship, but the American Medical Association, the powerful doctors group, has endorsed it. They said it will ruin the fabric of American civilisation, but amnesia can be quite convenient, because they once said the same of Medicare, and how'd that work out?

And the alternative proposed by Republicans turned out to be absurdly ineffective according to the CBO -- it hardly lowered costs, hardly covered anyone and didn't reduce the deficit by as much in the long-run.

When their main case against this bill is that it's too expensive and will increase the deficit, and all analyses of the bill (most notably the public option) say it'll do the opposite, they have a pretty weak argument to say the very least.

The only thing that can be realistically extrapolated is that the modern conservative movement's rigid dedication to their anti-government ideology takes precedence for them over its real-life consequences of their positions. All reality-based signs show that in the case of health care, their views simply don't hold up.

Why is the public option so significant?

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Jane Hamsher knows:

The public option battle has become a proxy war over who controls government, whether Congress has the slightest responsibility to reflect the will of the public, whether Democrats from Obama on down can just casually abandon their campaign promises in the wake of unrelenting influence peddling and whether progressives are going to take a stand for something and refuse to back down.

The actual substance of provision is of course critical, but this larger symbolic meaning helps us understand why it's such a huge deal.

I don't get Joe Lieberman (or politics in general)

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:24:00 +0000

He's continuing to toughen his stance against health care reform, now demanding that more components beyond a public option be removed from the bill in order to win his vote.

I don't get it.

Yes, I get that he loves the limelight. Yes, I get that he's still bitter about Ned Lamont and losing the '06 Democratic primary. Yes, I get that he's been cozying up to Republicans more and more all decade. And yeah, I see that he's in bed with the health care industry. That's all there.

But from a purely political standpoint, it seems suicidal (to say the least) for a senator from Connecticut to oppose a public option when his constituents favor it by an overwhelming margin of 68 to 21 percent. The fact of a whopping 47-point polling differential in favor of the public option in his state ought to make any senator quake in his boots before opposing it.

But Joe isn't even equivocating. He flat-out, deeply, resolutely opposes it -- and given his inability to make a coherent or consistent argument for his stance it clearly has nothing to do with principle. It's baffling.

And it's comparable to other Democratic senators -- like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln -- who are also fearful of supporting the public option even though their states also favor it (though not by as large a margin as in Connecticut). The fact that these senators, especially Lieberman, are so confident they can get away politically with opposing this highly popular provision shows where the balance of power in the system lies.

It's also a sign of a media culture that's more deferential to lawmakers than it is a watchdog of them, or mainstream journalists would be hammering away at Lieberman for defying his constituents. We know how much Lieberman loves being powerful, so clearly he isn't afraid of any backlash. And I won't be surprised if there isn't one.

It moreover shows the weakness of the progressive movement in demanding their leaders stand up for them -- even when they have a massive advantage on the issues -- and is a powerful testament to the notion that the US political system is rigged against the interests of regular people.

Lieberman and other senators pinching health reform are blatantly shunning the overwhelming wishes of the people they claim to represent, and other than a few progressive blogs nobody bats an eyelash. Yeah, I don't get it.

Liz Cheney: let's torture but never admit we torture

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Words can hardly express how wretched and obscene this is:

But we still had in this speech, you know, it is almost like it has become reflexive, this notion that America abandoned its ideals after 9/11. And I think that as we see this president repeatedly go on foreign soil, and accuse America of having tortured people, talk about Guantanamo Bay as an abandonment of our ideals, you know, that part of the speech to me really is nothing short of shameful. And it is not just an attack on political opponents. It really is casting dispersions and, I would say, slandering the men and women in the CIA who carried out key programs to keep us safe and the people frankly right now at Guantanamo Bay who are guarding some of the worst terrorists.

The hypocrisy here is very difficult to overstate. Liz loves to defend torture, secret prisons and other such demonstably immoral, illegal activities -- but criticizes the president for... admitting that these things happen. What?

It's a level of jingoism masked in clueless, brazen arrogance that's highly destructive to global stability and security. Liz and her dad (and many other neo-cons) interpret "American Exceptionalism" as the notion that America is inherently superior and therefore doesn't have to follow any laws or code of ethics (when all it actually means is that the United States, as a result of how it came to be, was founded on a set of ideals, unlike other nations).

And what's really immoral, according to Liz Cheney, is for a US president to be honest about the fact that the exact things people like her want to happen have happened. Again, what?

Yes, this is exactly the type of rhetoric that fuels anti-American sentiments throughout the world -- and who's to blame people in other countries, especially those the US is dropping bombs on, for taking issue with this kind of heinous nationalist superiority complex regarding human rights and the rule of law when people like the Cheneys frequently tout it but so blatantly refuse to follow it?

It's important to note that the people who take this Cheneyite stance on torture have absolutely zero credibility in criticizing other countries or groups if any American happens to be tortured at their hands. If you want to make a moral case in favor of torture, it can't simply apply to you and no one else.

Arianna: Afghanistan a 'dumb, immoral war of choice'

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:28:00 +0000

From her Sunday Roundup:

What exactly are the threats to the American people coming from Afghanistan? The Taliban? Or the 100 al-Qaeda members who didn't get the "we're moving to Pakistan" memo? In his 2002 denunciation of the war in Iraq, Obama said: "I don't oppose all wars...What I am opposed to is a dumb war." Well, escalating troop levels to 100,000 and spending $30 billion a year to take on 100 terrorists -- that's 1,000 U.S. soldiers and $300 million for every one al-Qaeda fighter -- while the real threats lie elsewhere strikes me as the gold standard of a dumb, immoral war of choice.

Very nicely put. It hardly merits a 2000 word feature article to get this point across.

She makes the same point on ABC's Sunday Roundtable this morning.

Politics before policy or principles

sahilkapur@gmail.com (Sahil Kapur) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:07:00 +0000

A rather revealing internal GOP memo circulated to Republican senators and candidates by NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn touts the virtues of obstructing the Democratic health care bill -- all in terms of the political perks of watching Dems fail.

Cornyn cites various polls casting doubt on the legislation and refers to 1994 when President Clinton's failure to pass sweeping health care legislation -- in the face of massive GOP opposition -- led to huge Republican victories in the midterm elections.

"It is reasonable to conclude that history could repeat itself in 2010," wrote Cornyn.

Well... um... surprise!

Following the House vote on health care, during which many GOPers literally said the bill would lead to the destruction of freedom in America, I wrote:

So, it's clear that the ferocious Republican opposition to this bill isn't really about principles or healthcare. If it were, they'd have addressed the issue while controlling the White House for 20 of the last 28 years and Congress for 12 of the last 14. Their real fear is that this bill will be a landmark accomplishment for Democrats, deflating Republican electoral prospects for many years to come.

Just sayin'. This wasn't hard to see coming.