What Bush Needs to Talk About What Bush Needs to Talk About
State of the Union addresses rarely add anything of value to the national discourse. Rather, they are campaign speeches dressed up as major statements of public policy. Until the...
Jan 31, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Checks, Balances and the Duty to Filibuster Checks, Balances and the Duty to Filibuster
No one runs for the U.S. Senate on the slogan: "Elect me and I will maintain the status quo." No one runs for the U.S. Senate promising to go along to get along. Yet, when push ...
Jan 27, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Don’t Cry for Canada Don’t Cry for Canada
After the 2004 presidential election in the United States, a lot of liberal Americans looked longingly to the north. Canada, the theory went, was a social democracy with a sane fo...
Jan 26, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Feingold: Alito Would Be “Dangerous Addition” to Court Feingold: Alito Would Be “Dangerous Addition” to Court
Not to be lost in the reporting on Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee vote to endorse the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the Supreme Court is the fact that U.S. Se...
Jan 24, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
”What the President Ordered in This Case Was a Crime” ”What the President Ordered in This Case Was a Crime”
While Judge Sam Alito's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee has confirmed that he is not one of their number, a dwindling cadre of public servants still take seriousl...
Jan 23, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Gore’s Challenge to Congress and the Media Gore’s Challenge to Congress and the Media
Al Gore did not use the "I" word. But the former vice president did use his Martin Luther King Day speech in Washington to declare that: "A president who breaks the law is a threa...
Jan 17, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Rev. King’s Message to the Faithful Rev. King’s Message to the Faithful
Five decades ago this years, in the fall of 1956, the young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., newly prominent because of the role he played in the boycott by African-Americans of Montg...
Jan 15, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Gore to Address “Constitutional Crisis” Gore to Address “Constitutional Crisis”
It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just one of the more significant speeches of his political career but an essential challenge to the embattled preside...
Jan 13, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
Alito Testimony Swings Pro-Choice GOPers — Against Him Alito Testimony Swings Pro-Choice GOPers — Against Him
Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees should always be about more than the abortion debate. And the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Samue...
Jan 12, 2006 / Blog / John Nichols
“Principled” Embrace of Abramoff “Principled” Embrace of Abramoff
Best response to the Abramoff Scandal? That's easy. As just about everyone else in Congress is rushing to dispose of campaign contributions received from GOP super-lobbyist and co...
Jan 9, 2006 / The Notion / John Nichols