Back in the 1980's and 1990's, millions of American children learned the basics of global geography with the software and later TV show, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? As his latest geographic blunder suggests - this time regarding the "Iraq/Pakistan border" - John McCain would have done well to tune in to the […]

On Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama will cap his European tour with an address in Berlin to an audience whose numbers may approach one million. But while the media will focus on Obama's call to strengthen America's trans-Atlantic alliance with France and Germany, lost no doubt will be John McCain's essential role in undermining […]

Neocon godfather Irving Kristol once famously said that "a neoconservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality." By that standard, the political right will need to coin an altogether new term to describe John McCain in the wake of the beating he has taken over the past several days. In the span of just […]

The first two days of the Netroots Nation conference have already produced a bumper crop of highlights and sound bite moments. As was widely reported, the DLC's Harold Ford was showered with cries of "Why?" and "Who?" when he told the lunchtime audience, "I have great, great respect and admiration for my former colleagues" at […]

Just one month after he took to the floor of the House to appropriate the memory of the late Tim Russert to push for offshore drilling, California Rep. Darrell Issa is at again. Rushing to defend former Attorney General John Ashcroft over charges that the Bush administration's practice of waterboarding detainees was tantamount to torture, […]

In 2007, Americans learned that they had relinquished their 200-year hold on the title of world's tallest people. Now a devastating new report shows that across a growing range of indicators of health, wealth and education, Americans simply aren't measuring up. The "Measure of America" study by the American Human Development Project (funded by Oxfam […]

For the next few days, I'll be blogging intermittently from the Netroots Nation (formerly YearlyKos) conference in Austin, Texas. While most eyes will be on the headliners like Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Lawrence Lessig, Wesley Clarke and Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, there are a number of intriguing sessions I'll be checking out. On Friday morning, […]

President Bush this week played a game of chicken on Medicare - and lost. Congress easily overrode Bush's veto of legislation designed to prevent an 11% cut in physicians' compensation under the health care program for elderly Americans. And speaking of chicken, John McCain was nowhere to be found. On June 26, Congressional Republicans led […]

In response to Barack Obama's address today on Iraq and Afghanistan, Republican presidential nominee John McCain declared, "I know how to win wars." Now for the first time, the man who brought you Ahmad Chalabi and 100 years in Iraq offers all his war-winning secrets in How to Win Wars for Dummies. Insightful chapters like […]

Two days ago South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford admitted "I'm drawing a blank" when asked if there are "significant economic differences" between his man John McCain and President Bush. In a White House press conference today, Bush himself offered yet another compelling argument why John McCain is his natural successor. As it turns out, […]