Paul Ryan Goddam! Paul Ryan Goddam!
It’s time to update Nina Simone's iconic song title—the GOP veep candidate is just as extreme on women’s health and rights as he is on economics.
Aug 22, 2012 / Column / Melissa Harris-Perry
Mitt Visits Foreign Lands Mitt Visits Foreign Lands
(And not to hide money) The Mittster, while taking a three-nation swing, Showed talent for saying the very wrong thing. He teed off our English friends lickety-split; The tabloids in London town called him a twit. Apparently having no motives ulterior, He seemed to be calling the Arabs inferior. In English and Arabic venom Mitt bathed. ’Twas only in Poland he came out unscathed. His trip, meant to show foreign-policy cred, Because of Mitt’s gaffes was a model instead Of what not to say when abroad one doth roam. So here’s the consensus: he should have stayed home.
Aug 8, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Gun Control? Dream On. Gun Control? Dream On.
As the country reels from two mass shootings in two weeks, meaningful gun restrictions feel as far away as ever.
Aug 8, 2012 / Column / Katha Pollitt
Guns and Mental Illness: Tragedies in Waiting Guns and Mental Illness: Tragedies in Waiting
There is a certain kind of madness in peddling guns to Americans while dismantling our mental health system.
Aug 8, 2012 / Column / Patricia J. Williams
Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns
Demands come from left and from right. Mitt Romney, though, says he’ll sit tight. We’ve given you people enough, Says Ann, sounding suddenly tough. Conspiracy theories abound. Mitt’s critics relentlessly pound. Why go through this sort of ordeal? What doesn’t Mitt want to reveal? Some shelters far off from our shore? Well, sure, but there has to be more. And, really, we already know His tax rate is terribly low. Could some corporate losses have meant That one year he paid not a cent? What’s in there to make voters squeal? What doesn’t Mitt want to reveal? What deed was so sleazy that he’ll So desperately try to conceal Exposure with such stubborn zeal? What fiddling did Romney feel Showed even a wealthy big wheel Who feels some gray area’s appeal Is slippery, just like an eel? What doesn’t Mitt want to reveal?
Jul 25, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans AND the Media Are the Problem Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans AND the Media Are the Problem
No wonder the public remains so misinformed, as bigfoot pundits not only whitewash Republican extremism but paint Obama’s soggy centrism in false hues as its ideological equi...
Jul 25, 2012 / Column / Eric Alterman
With Aurora, Another Mass Killing Shocks America. Why? With Aurora, Another Mass Killing Shocks America. Why?
James Holmes’s rampage was horrifying, but it was not unfathomable.
Jul 25, 2012 / Column / Gary Younge
We Hate It ‘Cause It’s His: A Republican Sea Chantey We Hate It ‘Cause It’s His: A Republican Sea Chantey
“[The individual mandate had] been at the heart of Republican health-care reforms for two decades. The mandate made its political début in a 1989 Heritage Foundation brief titled ‘Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans,’ as a counterpoint to the single-payer system and the employer mandate, which were favored in Democratic circles…. The mandate made its first legislative appearance in 1993, in the Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act—the Republicans’ alternative to President Clinton’s health- reform bill.” —Ezra Klein, The New Yorker Oh, why do we so loathe this thing? We used to love it so. We used to say, “For health reform This is the way to go.” We said it was free enterprise (And we explained just how). If this was our idea back then, How could we hate it now? We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. That’s what our hatred is. You needn’t be a whiz, lads, to ace this simple quiz. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his. If Mitt’s plan was the model here, What caused this great upheaval? If Mitt’s makes sense, then why is this Just socialistic evil? If this approach once seemed so good That all of us were for it, How come it is so wicked now That all of us abhor it? We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. That’s what our hatred is. You needn’t be a whiz, lads, to ace this simple quiz. We hate it ’cause it’s his, lads. We hate it ’cause it’s his.
Jul 11, 2012 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Barclays and the Limits of Financial Reform Barclays and the Limits of Financial Reform
Those demanding change in response to the Libor scandal forget how deeply the corruption is rooted.
Jul 11, 2012 / Column / Alexander Cockburn
Obamacare(s) for Women Obamacare(s) for Women
The Affordable Care Act extends coverage to almost 14 million women. Ladies, give the president a hand.
Jul 11, 2012 / Column / Katha Pollitt