Max Burns was an assistant field director for former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, and is also the webmaster of The Centrist Donkey. He is currently a Government major at George Mason University
In 1993, Republicans stated, quite boldly, that any spending of the Social Security trust fund would be used for Social Security. Riding on this agenda, Republicans were swept into Congress in 1994 to do as they promised. These social-minded Republicans, precursors to today's "compassionate conservatives," sold the American public on their plan to keep Social Security afloat. My, how times have changed.
Who needs an AK-47 when you can kill something just as dead with a sturdy old Winchester? Who needs a cyclic rate of fire of 600 rounds a minute when one shot from a well-aimed hunting rifle will kill something just the same? This was the question I always posed to pro-gun advocates when I was standing up for the now defunct Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. It was a good question, one I've yet to meet a good answer to. Of course, that was before I realized the answer for myself:
As some of you know, Dr. Chuck Pennacchio, the only declared Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Rick Santorum, held a blogger-only conference call yesterday. Dr. Pennacchio was kind enough to take questions from all of the bloggers after introducing himself and giving some information about his background, and the entire discussion was very candid. For a candidate with little name recognition and a hard primary season ahead of him, Dr. Pennacchio seemed, if anything, up to the challenge.
Mitch Daniels was elected Governor of Indiana because he campaigned as a moderate, dropping the normal right-wing rhetoric and focusing on issues that Hoosiers cared about. Deep inside, Daniels must still be at least part moderate. However, it seems a far right legislature has hijacked an inexperienced and inept Daniels Administration and has begun retooling it to fit its own desires. The outcome: politics as usual.
Well, after a week of private work and a few days after the public announcement, it seems DEM Magazine - The Magazine for Democrats is ready to have its first review! The concept cover, with style influenced by magazines such as The Nation and The New Republic, is now up for review on The New Democrat
I've been toying with an idea for a little while now: a magazine for Democrats much like The Nation and The New Republic but based on the internet and carrying the news that the print and television media decide not to touch.
I'm talking Gannongate. I'm talking Republicans being charged with embezzling and associating President Jimmy Carter with terrorism. I'm talking about an online magazine that would take the very best of the liberal and moderate Democratic blogosphere and make it into a publication.
I often find myself wondering about the specifics of stem-cell research, and on the news that Britain would be launching its first major stem-cell laboratory. However, there should be no more wondering in the Democratic Party. It's time to take a strong stand and let the people know it.
Moderate Democrats were choking on their fish sticks when Howard Dean was selected as the grandmaster of the DNC. "A liberal Democrat running the party?" They asked. "What's going to become of the middle?" I've received a dozen e-mails wondering if the end of Senator Evan Bayh's presidential chances was spelled D-E-A-N.
On a dare, a friend of mine ate two cloves of raw garlic without water. He chewed on them for a while as tears welled up in his eyes, and reluctantly swallowed the awful mess. That's what being a moderate during this time of tension within both parties feels like: eating a clove of garlic every day and never getting any water.
Howard Dean is no moderate, and he's proud to say it everywhere he goes. During the 2004 primaries, Dean carried the message of "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" until his spectacular implosion in Iowa. Despite his stumbling exit from the 2004 primary, Dr. Dean resolved to keep the grassroots machine he had built going. Now he's back and stronger than ever, and moderate Democrats ought to be in the front row applauding.
As the Pentagon's Sexgate scandal deepens, it is hard not to feel some of the fallout of the mounting shame that is being heaped upon the armed forces. Today, only after being pushed, he Pentagon admitted to using sexual tactics in order to `break' Guantanamo Bay detainees.inally, though often hindered, accountability has reached the halls of the Department of Defense.
From Richard Nixon's loss in 1960 by Al Gore margins to President Bush's victory in 2004, the Republican Party has been perfecting their ground game. Democrats, satiated for a time by their eight years of President Bill Clinton, were more than happy to let this go on - after all, they may be organizing, but what power could they have with a Democrat in the White House? Now, four years later, the Democratic Party is slowly waking up to how well the Republican game has been received.
It was said to me that it was Massachusetts liberals that gave birth to our freedom; that there were no cowboys in the bunch. I was both pleased and troubled by the content of this joke. Call me too engrossed in my passion, but I ponder things like this when I'm driving home.
Washington, D.C. - While last night President George W. Bush said that the money earned in private accounts would be "yours and the government can never take it away," this morning the Washington Post revealed that the government would actually keep up to 80% of the money Americans invested.
