David Quigg grew up liberal and outnumbered in the evangelical stronghold of Wheaton, IL. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he became a journalist and promptly fell into a necessary and life-changing political hibernation. In his dealings with sources, he learned immediately to ignore ideology and value intellectual honesty above all else. The source he came to respect most turned out to be a Republican. David believes the most dangerous political animal is the smart person who says dumb things to trick the ignorant and the inattentive.

He ended his journalism career as an award-winning reporter for The (Tacoma) News Tribune, a 128,000-circulation daily. He covered the World Trade Organization riots, politics, local government, and all things Seattle for the paper. He quit in 2003 to stay home with his daughter and prepare for the birth of his son.

Once outside of journalism, David came to worry deeply about what kind of future the Bush Administration would mean for his kids. In 2008, he started writing about politics again and has devoted serious energy to understanding what the Iraq War will mean for America's place in the world.

David's personal blog is called Ignorance + Curiosity.

David's latest photography show will be up through September 10. Details are here. Photos from the show can be seen here.

For reasons of expediency that he cannot truly justify, he chose to take his HuffPost bio photo with a camera-phone. Without combing his hair. Some of his less unkempt photography can be seen here.

David lives in Seattle with his daughter, son, and wife, a pediatric ER doctor. He can be reached at quiggblog [at] gmail.com.

Blog Entries by David Quigg

Basic Truths in Hoh Resignation Letter Were True When He Took His Job

4 Comments | Posted October 29, 2009 | 02:38 PM (EST)


I'm pretty pissed off right now.

It makes less than zero sense to me that Matthew Hoh's resignation as "the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province" seems to be swaying sensible people from Christopher Buckley to Garrison Keillor to Andrew Sullivan. We all, naturally, have heard of...

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After the Peace Prize, Give War a Chance

5 Comments | Posted October 9, 2009 | 06:14 PM (EST)


Today, in the wake of his Nobel peace surprise, President Barack Obama should call Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and ask if he really needs tens of thousands more troops in Afghanistan. Then, in the truest spirit of his new status as a peace laureate, Obama should ask McChrystal what America...

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Abolish the Nazi-Commie Nightmare of Public Firefighting

9 Comments | Posted August 18, 2009 | 04:21 AM (EST)


The patriots who have killed off this so-called "public option" for so-called "healthcare reform" need to learn from the mistakes the first President Bush made way back in 1991 when he chickened out and blew his chance to march all the way to Baghdad and dethrone Saddam Hussein.

Unlike...

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A Vote for President Schwarzenegger Is a Vote Against the "Birthers"

18 Comments | Posted July 28, 2009 | 08:22 PM (EST)


Even at my most drunk and grandiose, I would not attempt to convince anyone that I'd make a better president than Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arianna Huffington, Mel Martinez, Jennifer Granholm, Henry Kissinger, Andrew Sullivan, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, or Anh Cao.

None of those people can be your president. I can.

...
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Pitchforks, Torches and Tivos (A Conniption Over Harsh Words About A Captive U.S. Soldier)

2 Comments | Posted July 22, 2009 | 04:10 AM (EST)


Let's start with the Fox News analyst's harsh words about Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier that Taliban forces are holding captive.

Because however bizarre, however stupefyingly premature the Fox pundit's words are, they are something other than what they have become in the re-telling. The faulty re-telling shows how...

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How Abraham Lincoln's "Hot Letters" Can Keep You From Going All Alice Hoffman

1 Comments | Posted July 2, 2009 | 05:25 PM (EST)


Today, just when I found myself musing that we can turn to Abraham Lincoln's exemplary life and leadership to guide us through any dicey situation, I spotted a story headlined "Naked Airline Passenger 'Remembers Nothing'."

We all have our limits. Lincoln's limit is that he left behind...

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Netanyahu v. Obama (Judge Judy Presiding)

3 Comments | Posted June 4, 2009 | 05:48 PM (EST)


Senior Israeli officials accused President Obama on Wednesday of failing to acknowledge what they called clear understandings with the Bush administration that allowed Israel to build West Bank settlement housing within certain guidelines while still publicly claiming to honor a settlement "freeze."

(source: New York Times, 6/3/09)

JUDGE JUDY:...

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Cheney Should Remember -- Really Remember -- Our Fallen Troops

61 Comments | Posted May 25, 2009 | 02:06 PM (EST)


If today were any day other than Memorial Day, I wouldn't make it to the end of this sentence without flinging some heartfelt insult at Dick Cheney.

But this day isn't about Dick Cheney, and it sure as hell isn't about my pampered civilian ass. This day is about Americans...

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Opining While Intoxicated (A Field Sobriety Test For Broder's Torture Column)

Posted April 26, 2009 | 05:46 AM (EST)


In the first newsroom where I worked, the bosses posted a sign that read "Good writing is clear thinking made visible."

By this measure, David Broder's Sunday column in the Washington Post is not good writing. The column does make something visible, but it's not clear thinking. Broder's thoughts...

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Don't Let Cheney Pick the Battlefield

Posted April 23, 2009 | 04:00 AM (EST)


My posts sometimes go on a bit.

Tonight will be different. My point is simple: We cannot let Dick Cheney set the terms of America's debate about torture.

The former vice president is calling on President Obama to release more secret documents. Cheney claims Obama is hiding proof that...

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Legalistic Sociopaths and the Torture Apologists Who Love Them

Posted April 17, 2009 | 03:36 PM (EST)


History will judge who's more loathesome: the legalistic sociopaths who wrote the torture memos made public Thursday or the apologists and trivializers rising to their defense.

Among this morning's many new inductees into the Hall of Infamy, I hope everyone gets a chance to marvel at David B....

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Yes We Can (Waste Our Day Being #Teaparty Trolls)

Posted April 15, 2009 | 04:58 PM (EST)


This post by HuffPost's own Jason Linkins got me thinking today about the single most potent force in American politics.

I'm speaking of course of trolls, the Internet's very own peanut gallery.

Trolls, of course, are the reason why Barack Obama lost so decisively to President McCain back in...

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Fiasco Author: Obama's Iraq Optimism "Sounds a Lot Like Bush"

Posted April 10, 2009 | 05:42 AM (EST)


The Pulitzer-winning journalist whose 2006 book so thoroughly debunked the "Mission Accomplished" myth of the Iraq war came to my town a few hours ago and asked his audience to face some nasty new diagnoses about Iraq.

Being so fresh from hearing Fiasco author Thomas Ricks speak...

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A Chance For You To Squander Your Time on Earth Like I Just Did

Posted March 25, 2009 | 02:51 AM (EST)


I just posted a comment on The Anonymous Liberal's blog.

I was responding to a blog post responding to a blog post responding to a newspaper piece. If I'd just written the previous sentence before I started on this whole thing, I could have saved myself some time. Never...

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Keep Yapping, Dick. (Why Even Another 9/11 Can't Redeem Cheney and Bush)

Posted March 17, 2009 | 02:58 PM (EST)


Let's assume Bush and Cheney were right -- right to torture, right to wiretap without warrants, right to set up secret prisons where suspects can be held forever without being charged with any crime whatsoever.

Assume all that and more.

I realize it's hard. It's hard for me, too. See,...

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Why Can't Trickle-Up Economics Save the Bad Banks?

Posted March 2, 2009 | 03:40 PM (EST)


American democracy got a gift this weekend: Public radio's This American Life broadcast the latest in its series of deft, dynamic primers on the financial crisis.

"Bad Bank" -- the show's excellent new episode -- is available as a free download. Download it. Then listen. Actually listen. Seriously. What...

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Facing Unpleasant Facts (And Fictions)

Posted February 10, 2009 | 03:38 AM (EST)


I love to prod people to read great books.

In May, a book on Lincoln and his cabinet helped me believe in a dignified end to the Obama-Clinton rivalry. In October, I implored all of you on HuffPost to read more about America's inexcusable nosedive into state-sanctioned torture.

...
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In Iraq: Forget Michael Goldfarb, Remember Inigo Montoya

Posted January 21, 2009 | 02:26 PM (EST)


As Andrew Sullivan noted in the earliest hours of the Obama presidency, "it only took propagandist Michael Goldfarb twenty-two minutes" to start blaming Obama for Iraq.

Blogging for The Weekly Standard, Goldfarb -- a former McCain/Palin deputy communications director -- claimed at 12:22 p.m. Tuesday that "Obama...

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Look Backward Now That We Have So Much To Look Forward To

Posted January 20, 2009 | 04:48 AM (EST)


To pass the eager hours, as I wait to sit in my daughter's classroom this morning and watch Barack Obama's inauguration on TV with a bunch of first- and second-graders, I just re-read the words that made me a blogger.

Full of way more anxiety, hope, dread, and passion than...

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Israel, Hamas, Gaza: Plenty of Us in America Just Need to Shut Up

Posted January 6, 2009 | 05:29 AM (EST)


Something labeled "Subject: Fwd: Some Differences Between Hamas and the Nazi Party" showed up in my inbox Monday night. The forwarded e-mail came from a loved one who'd skimmed its contents and thought it might prove useful if I decided to write about Israel's offensive in Gaza.

"Some Differences...

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