Susan Madrak is an art-school dropout, a well-known political blogger and a former award-winning journalist who cut her investigative teeth in Delaware County, home to suburban Philadelphia's powerful Republican machine. She recently finished a stint as press secretary for a Philadelphia mayoral campaign. Her site, Suburban Guerrilla, won the 2004 Koufax Award for Blog Most Deserving of Wider Recognition - for which she received very little recognition. She was only the runnerup in 2005 for Best Writing but felt a lot better after a friend pointed out she'd beaten James Wolcott.

Blog Entries by Susan Madrak

Shut Up and Sit Down

Posted June 1, 2009 | 11:47 AM (EST)


This is an open letter to the anti-choice, anti-sex, anti-woman crazies of the so-called "conservative" movement.

Hey, you. Shut up and sit down. Yes, you.

Now listen, I don't care who you are or what you do for a living. You simply do not have the moral right to foment...

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How Bloggers Changed the Election: Eric Boehlert's 'Bloggers on the Bus'

2 Comments | Posted May 11, 2009 | 10:49 PM (EST)


I was reading this critique of Eric Boehlert's new book by Anglachel, and it reminded me of something I'd thought earlier today: I can't believe that only a few bloggers have reviewed the book so far.

I mean, this is Eric Boehlert of Media Matters, author...

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America's Oldest Public Library Is In Danger of Closing

Posted January 22, 2009 | 10:17 AM (EST)


This library really is a national treasure. (I know, I used to be a board member.) It's believed to be the country's first continuously-operated public lending library (as opposed to a paid subscription library), operating since 1743. It just has the damned misfortune to be in a historic...

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I Have A Dream

Posted November 24, 2008 | 12:50 PM (EST)


For a couple of years now, I've been thinking about how to ground people in community through hard times (because I always knew hard times were coming.)

One of the ideas I have is to have weekly community pot lucks. My idea is that people who are actually hungry and...

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How About Those White People?

Posted November 5, 2008 | 11:39 AM (EST)


The thing I'd like to point out is, just as I kept saying back in the primary wars, that white working-class people are nowhere near the simple racists white liberals think they are.

I have to say, they surprised me, too. I feared they wouldn't, but hoped they would.

...
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Your Librul Media

Posted March 19, 2008 | 08:50 PM (EST)


In all my years in journalism, I've never seen anything quite as disgusting as this.

And I know some of you will snicker, because it "only" hurts Hillary Clinton.

And you would be wrong about that.

The enemy isn't Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. It's the corporate media.

...
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It's A Whole New Ballgame, Michelle

Posted February 18, 2008 | 06:25 PM (EST)


This is the second time Michelle Obama has said something really dumb (the first being her quote that she'd "have to think about it" when asked if she could see herself working to support Clinton if she won the nomination). [Ed. note: Corrected quote.]

This one's a lot more...

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What This War Costs Us All

Posted February 6, 2008 | 08:49 AM (EST)



Are you as tired as I am of the politicians saying we "can't afford" universal healthcare?

Think about all the things we could do if we weren't spending untold sums on this war. Watch the video,...

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It's Still Edwards

Posted February 4, 2008 | 08:57 AM (EST)


One of my readers asked who I'd vote for, now that Edwards has left the race.

If I were going to cast a ballot Tuesday, I'd still be voting for John Edwards. Why?

Because I don't trust either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to carry the banner of progressive causes....

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How To Write For WaPo, Say Silly Things And Get Paid!

Posted January 30, 2008 | 11:21 AM (EST)


I read the Washington Post so you don't have to. Michael Gerson, former Bush speechwriter, today writes:

Proposals such as No Child Left Behind, the AIDS and malaria initiatives, and the addition of a prescription drug benefit to Medicare would simply not have come from a traditional conservative politician....
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One More Stinkin' Example of Why We Need Universal Healthcare

Posted January 17, 2008 | 08:57 AM (EST)


Yes, I know that national health programs have their drawbacks (a Canadian reader wrote me with a bunch of horror stories just this week) but removing the profit motive should take care of many of the problems we have now:

Eric Simpson was strangely calm when the insurance company...
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I Have A Dream (A John Edwards Press Conference)

Posted January 11, 2008 | 07:12 PM (EST)


(At front of hotel ballroom, ELIZABETH EDWARDS taps the podium mike.)

ELIZABETH:
Is this thing on? Oh good.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to today's press conference. As we said, John has an important statement to make. But first, I'd like to make my own statement.

(Flashes...

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Class Chasm

Posted December 30, 2007 | 06:51 PM (EST)


The more I think about Kristol getting a column at the Times, the madder I get. There are several hundred thousand dead Iraqis as a result of the bad information he persistently pushed to the American public, and this is treated as, oh, I don't know, a minor faux pas?...

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Hey, Unto You A Child Is Born!

Posted December 23, 2007 | 12:09 PM (EST)


But as far as I'm concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman - sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the Wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham....
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Merry Christmas. Now Go Home.

Posted December 15, 2007 | 07:45 AM (EST)


This happened two miles from my new house, and although it didn't happen in my neighborhood, it's close by and I can't tell you how very sad I am that it happened. I grew up in a racist working-class neighborhood, and it brings back some bad memories.

Let me...

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The Body Person

Posted November 1, 2007 | 01:29 PM (EST)


As my longtime readers know, I rarely comment on what right-wing blogs do. They're witting tools of the Republican smear machines, they just make shit up. So I ignore them.

But occasionally something comes along that's so outrageous, I have to say something.

The wack job who writes...

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Features, Bugs and Cheesesteaks

Posted October 20, 2007 | 08:44 AM (EST)


In today's segment of FoB: Is it a feature or a bug, that Rudy Giuliani's campaign hires a Minnesota law enforcement official who's know for using the "N" word? You decide!

This, by the way, ties in nicely with this week's Philadelphia Weekly cover story about Rudy's recent visit...

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Slightly Closer To A Miracle

Posted October 13, 2007 | 08:00 AM (EST)


Some other bloggers picked up Miracle's story, and yesterday brought $3000 in donations to the Joseph family in New Orleans - which is great, but nowhere near what they need. (There's now a place to send checks, for those of you who don't like to donate online.)

Mail to:

...
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Bring Miracle Home

Posted October 12, 2007 | 07:19 AM (EST)


The downside of blogging is that you immerse yourself day after day, week after week in such depressing information. After all, there's not always much you can do about these things, and it can really wear on the spirit.

But every once in a while, something comes up where blogging...

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Where Do I Send The Money?

Posted October 5, 2007 | 02:46 PM (EST)


Someone really is robbing musicians, and it's not who you'd think. That's why I would gladly donate $10 to this woman, and so would a lot of other people:

NPR.org, October 5, 2007 ยท A federal judge ordered a Minnesota woman to ante up thousands of dollars for violating...
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