You don't need a weatherman to know which way the (political) wind blows, just follow Arlen Specter.

The constant of Specter's career has been the shedding of one political skin for another.

He begins as a Democratic counsel to the Warren Commission and goes on to serve the...

In good times, Free Enterprise works well for some people. In bad times it doesn't work well for anyone. Believers in the mystic efficacy of the market call this the business cycle. Everyday people, who only awake from our political stupor in times of serious emergency, call this alarming.

Nevertheless,...

I was thinking about going down to DC for the inauguration last month, but decided it was too cold to sell my new "I was there for the fall of capitalism but all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

So I stayed home which was probably a good thing, as...

Philadelphia fans have always been notoriously rough on their teams and often with good reason. The first full season I followed baseball was 1961. I was six: the Phillies lost 107 games that season (they won 47). Between July 29th and August 20th of that year, they lost 23 games...

Yes the time has come to talk of final things, and no I don't mean the end of the Mayan Calendar. I'm talking about Nationalizing Chrysler.

According to Nouriel Roubini's Global Economic Monitor, the Democratic Congressional plan to save the Big 3 would "Allow automakers to tap...

The success of California Proposition 8, banning Gay marriage in the state should be a wake up call for a Democratic Party fairly and righteously hung over after the Obama victory celebration.

While Paul Krugman is correct to hail the "end of the Monster Years" of Right wing dominance over...

"Everyday the bucket go to the well. One day the bottom will drop out" -- Bob Marley

"What we have now is Capitalism on the way up and Socialism on the way down." -- Rep Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex

" . . . there is a huge amount of important...

Over the past couple of months it has become commonplace for the talking heads to refer to the Democratic nomination race as a contest between the "top down organizational politics" of the Clinton's and the bottom up "New Politics" of the Obama campaign.

You can see why. While Hillary got...

The Clinton's are like vampires, they're hard to kill.

Nonetheless, after the dust from last Tuesday primaries settles, one thing will be clear; Hillary probably can't win the nomination herself but she can stop Obama from winning. Obama has now twice failed to drive the stake through Hillary's undead...

I almost called this post "The Last Temptation of Barack Obama," but that would have been slightly deceptive. In this case, the Temptation is not Obama's but my own. Does one drain the chalice and support Obama for no reason other than the rapture he has inspired? And more broadly,...

It's the day after the Super Bowl and a stunningly good game it was. What with the Giants' upset win over the Patriots it would seem like a bad time to talk about what a mess Pro Football is.

Nonetheless . . . every society gets the spectacle they deserve--for...

Two weeks Markos Moulitsas made a plea for Michigan Democrats to vote in the Republican Primary for Mitt "say anything" Romney.

Why? Certainly not because any Democrat, or anyone else for that matter, likes Romney. Mitt is possibly the most unlikable candidate to emerge in either party since Pat Robertson...

I woke up this morning missing Molly Ivins. But there was no need. I soon realized that I could still hear her voice in my head, and she was calling out as if from a great distance.

"It's the system, stupid!" I believe she was saying. And it...

The campaign caravan has moved on and the national press is about to forget Michigan again until some new disaster in the Upper Midwest impresses itself on the national consciousness. Before we go though I'd just like to echo the words of commentator and former University of Detroit basketball coach...

Some years ago a friend of mine moved from Philadelphia out to the Bay Area. A mutual friend of ours had died in tragic circumstances several months before at the age of 21 and my friend, who we will call KC, felt he had to get away from Philly. In...

Hillary Clinton: Center-leftist?

In its recent Election '08 issue, The Nation magazine offers this assessment, "Hillary Clinton has proven herself a dedicated centrist and when the center moves left, she has shown she can move too."

The Nation is certainly not wrong about Hillary, but their evaluation brought to mind...

Dear John,

I've been waiting over the past months for your campaign to take off and I can't help noticing it's not.

This is upsetting to those of us who fear a Clinton vs. Obama race for the Democratic nomination. Personally I don't think this country can...

When I was a kid, during summer vacation I used to go my local branch library and read the sports biographies-- all the sports biographies--Bob Turley, Don Larsen and Sal Maglie. The Jackie Robinson Story, The Billy Martin Story, The Roy Campanella Story, Eddie Matthews and Willie Mays. I read...

Dennis Kucinich is a lightweight -- at most, maybe not even a featherweight. This does not necessarily reflect his worth as a human being. The best fighter of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson started out as a lightweight and arguably the second best fighter of all time, Benny Leonard, was...