My dear Democrats, we do not have the luxury of trying to win pretty in 2020. This is the high school rivalry basketball game where you just take the win anyway you can get it and then get the hell out of the gym before the losing team's fans start to riot. For almost two... Continue Reading →
Life is made of cycles. Sometimes we ride the cycles and sometimes we steer our way through them. That makes it hard to tell if we are we in control of what happens in our lives or if things are just "meant to be." Like Forrest Gump explained at the emotional end of his journey... Continue Reading →
Nobody cares about Nate Parker anymore. Unless you count film critics and culture commentators who have chosen him as their favorite whipping boy to take out their frustrations about patriarchy, toxic masculinity and unsettled scores in the gender wars. The fact that Nate Parker himself has nothing to do with those demons haunting American culture... Continue Reading →
Donald Trump fears and loathes Lawrence O'Donnell. And Lawrence revels in Trump's fear and loathing. O'Donnell was the first major media commentator to just come out and call Trump a bald faced liar a full four years before he was elected president. O'Donnell is one of the many media figures that Trump has threatened to... Continue Reading →
Old adages become old adages because they have the ring of truth to them. So is the case with one of the oldest of old adages "When you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas." Hip-hop mogul and media-mega-star Jay Z proves that this saying holds true even when those dogs are billionaires... Continue Reading →
The New York Times has given an incredible gift to the world this season and I hope they are richly rewarded for it. It is fashionable- and not entirely unjustified- to harshly critique The Times for its awkward management of the new realities of news media messaging during the unprecedented candidacy and presidency of Donald... Continue Reading →
Those of us who eagerly anticipated Bob Mueller's testimony did not enjoy it. It really could have been great but it left us feeling unsatisfied. It was like bad sex. It was mechanical. It was obligatory. It was detached and dull. But despite all of that, bad sex can also be highly consequential. Bad sex... Continue Reading →
I think "The Squad" is kind of a corny nickname but I understand that I am not necessarily the target audience for that catchy moniker. I have recently been informed that the ultra-glam pop-music mega-star Taylor Swift goes around with a group of friends who are all young, gorgeous, empowered women that she affectionately refers... Continue Reading →
Jon Meacham is one helluva great writer. And we all know that Abraham Lincoln was a very talented man when it came to turning a phrase. But thanks to both of these men the commentary-class in America has fallen in love with the phrase "the better angels of our nature" and the mythology it carries. ... Continue Reading →
There was a terrifying incident of random violence at an elementary school in North Carolina last year. Seven young children sustained horrible and painful injuries. Hundreds more children in the school will share with them the mental and emotional trauma of this unforeseen attack. Flesh was torn and blood was spilled. Hearts pumped fear and... Continue Reading →
Most Americans do not spend much time thinking about the Supreme Court. It is in the news occasionally but for many of us it is only a little more interesting than the war in Afghanistan, but significantly less interesting than the latest Twitter attack launched by the unhinged White House occupant. This is why the... Continue Reading →
With the news getting crazier by the day, major American media outlets are in desperate need of a check-up from the neck-up. Democratic operatives would be wise to take note as well since they so often craft their message for media approval rather than for the voters who will deliver victories for them. While the... Continue Reading →
It has been evident for the last ten years that the American political system is collapsing. Most informed and engaged citizens have concluded that it was primarily because one of the two major parties has finally devolved into pure partisanship and power-lust. Of course that party is the Republican Party. By any measure the GOP... Continue Reading →
Be careful if you ever notice the political pundit class settling on a big, broad-sweeping media consensus- regardless of the subject. If they do, you can bet your last money that they will all be proven dead wrong. In case you need a very painful reminder, the last time there was such a big, broad-sweeping... Continue Reading →
If you are actively engaged in political discourse you have to know what is being said by the opposition opinion makers in the media. So even though it hurts, that requires some consumption of right-wing talk radio. And don't get caught up in the hype around Sean Hannity's influence; there is no more powerful voice... Continue Reading →
Democrats should have been more honest in 2016. A lot of us bought into the limp-d*ck loser mentality of letting the opponent dictate the rules of the fight. Looking back on it we were probably beaten before the bell rang for the first round and didn't even know it. Somewhere along the way we... Continue Reading →
I am reaching out from the 6th Congressional District of Georgia with a warning for all Democratic voters in America. About a week ago I attended a Town Hall meeting with Congresswoman Lucy McBath. I discovered that the Georgia 6th is Ground Zero for the 2020 election and what goes on here is likely a... Continue Reading →
Let me get this straight: the most openly racist president since Andrew Johnson is running for re-election in 2020 and suddenly- in the middle of 2019- a debate about slavery reparations breaks out? Let's add a little bit more spice to this stew: the most racist president in the last 150 years is also the... Continue Reading →
Barack Obama was fond of reminding his talented, young and idealistic staff members that "Better is good." He made a habit of doing so because quite often the incremental solutions that the administration was able to get through the broken machinery of D.C. politics seemed far too mild to slay the beasts they were battling. ... Continue Reading →
It is time for another check-up from the neck-up on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Let's get the big take-away out of the way up front: Democratic politicians, pundits, candidates, and operatives should take NO counsel from Joe Scarborough or Mika Brzenski. If they do, they deserve to lose. Anyone inclined to take advice or gain valuable... Continue Reading →
Its hard to believe but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was sworn in less than a year ago. But already, she is by far the most famous member of Congress elected in my lifetime- and I go back a while. I crashed this party way back when Richard Nixon was wandering around the White House at night in... Continue Reading →
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