My 2009 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 1]

Chris Weigant, 12.26.2009

Author, Political Commentator, and Blogger (ChrisWeigant.com)

Welcome once again to our year-end wrap-up and awards ceremony. Honesty dictates that I immediately genuflect to The McLaughlin Group, from whom I have stolen all these award categories.

Who Does the NRA Represent?

Dennis A. Henigan, 12.23.2009

Brady Center Vice President and Author of "Lethal Logic"

At a recent social gathering, I was approached by a gentleman who had heard I had written a book about the gun control issue. "I am a gun owner," he ...

Obama Dresses As Santa Claus, Meets With Children

Matthew Filipowicz, 12.23.2009

Comedian, Cartoonist, Satirist

After several unpopular compromises on health care reform, and after the revelation that the White House didn't put any pressure on Joe Lieberman to s...

Gun Lobbyists Against 'Wellness And Health'

Paul Helmke, 12.22.2009

President, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

While our massive health care reform package was hammered out in the back offices of the Capitol, Senators still found time to bend over backwards for the Gun Owners of America.

What the Media and Obama Never Understood About the Public Option

Cenk Uygur, 12.21.2009

Host of The Young Turks

What I'm afraid of is that this bill makes private insurance larger and stronger -- and thus, gets us further away from curing the main problem of our health care system: perverse incentives.

Year of the Rahm: Get 'Em, Then Gut 'Em

Jeffrey Feldman, 12.21.2009

Author of Framing The Debate and Outright Barbarous, Founder of Frameshop blog

In blunt remarks, Emanuel revealed how he planned to get 60 votes in the Senate: bring left-wing Democrats on board early to generate enthusiasm, then turn on them in the end game to woo conservatives.

Friday Talking Points [105] -- One Bad Week

Chris Weigant, 12.19.2009

Author, Political Commentator, and Blogger (ChrisWeigant.com)

The health care debate is teetering, not "on the precipice of success" as President Obama put it, but rather on the precipice of outright farce.

Left/Right Populist Outrage Will Defeat Senate Health Care Bill

Jane Hamsher, 12.19.2009

Founder, FireDogLake.com

An impoverished left/right dialectic dominates the media coverage of politics. But it turns out that progressive bloggers and tea party activists are saying almost the exact same thing about health care.

It Didn't Have To Be This Way

Chris Weigant, 12.16.2009

Author, Political Commentator, and Blogger (ChrisWeigant.com)

The void created by both Barack Obama and Harry Reid in the leadership department has been quickly filled instead by "centrist" Democrats who realized that every senator can be called "the 60th vote".

Fire Rahm

Lee Stranahan, 12.16.2009

Filmmaker, Writer, Photographer

Barack Obama has been praised as a smart politician whose long view pragmatism and patience belie shrewd instincts. President Obama is certainly effic...

Ignore Lieberman to Win Real Health Care Reform

Michael Kieschnick, 12.16.2009

President of CREDO Mobile

If we play by the 60 votes are needed rule, coupled with a weak White House that only threatens progressives, then the 60th Senator -- that is, the most unprincipled paid off Senator -- gets to write health care reform.

The Year of the Man-Child

Catie Lazarus, 12.16.2009

www.doctorlazarus.com

What Did You Learn in 2009? Test your knowledge by answering these objectively scientific questions about the celebrities, politicians and fifteen minute famers who made headlines.

The Last Hurrah to Reform Health Care

Miles J. Zaremski, 12.16.2009

Attorney and writer

To use a metaphor from the great American pastime, we are all in the 9th inning, with two outs, and the bases loaded.

Keeping the Wheels on the Obama Presidency

Lincoln Mitchell, 12.15.2009

Assistant Professor in the Practice of International Politics, Columbia University

Because he cannot provide peace and prosperity, Obama needs to pass some meaningful legislation to demonstrate that he is doing something positive. Just getting a health care bill passed will mean nothing to many Americans.

A Rahm Too Far : Time For Obama Voters To Pull The Plug

Lee Stranahan, 12.15.2009

Filmmaker, Writer, Photographer

A little over a month ago, I wrote a piece called Badfellas about how Rahm Emanuel and President Obama had killed health care reform. At that time, I ...

Bust the Filibuster, Not Health Reform

Jamie Court, 12.14.2009

President, Consumer Watchdog

If the White House really wants historic health care reform and climate change legislation, there is one good alternative left. Change the number of votes to stop a filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

The Blue Bayou Climate Solution

David Helvarg, 12.14.2009

President, Blue Frontier Campaign

It's been said that rainforests are the lungs of the world. But the oceans are among the most susceptible environments when it comes to feeling the impact from human generated atmospheric carbon.

NRA Members For Reasonable Gun Restrictions

Paul Helmke, 12.11.2009

President, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

it is time for Congress to start listening to the American people -- including NRA members and gun owners -- instead of responding to the dictates of NRA bosses.

Gaps in Protection for Us and the President

Paul Helmke, 12.10.2009

President, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

We want security not only for the president and our top officials, but also for ourselves and our families. Yet as a nation we make it very easy for dangerous people to arm themselves.

The Heart of Fools

Jim Lichtman, 12.01.2009

The House of Mirth is a dark and depressing Edith Wharton novel about a self-absorbed young woman obsessed with the goal of fitting into the upper-cru...

Obama-nation: From Hope to Cynicism

Denise Dennis, 11.30.2009

Neither Lincoln nor FDR resolved the enormous challenges that faced the United States during their first months or even years of their administrations, yet they went on to become two of our greatest Presidents.