Joan Walsh

Ken Starr vs. Liz Cheney

Joan Walsh — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:09:00 PST

Right now I'm watching Kenneth Starr denounce Liz Cheney on MSNBC's "Countdown," and it's very disorienting. Starr was one of the villains of Clinton's impeachment, dragging his investigation far beyond the Whitewater questions that triggered it, leading the nation through a tale of stained blue dresses, sad Oval Office trysts and more than we ever needed to know about cigars. But he's delivering sense about our justice system tonight on MSNBC. Saying something nice about Ken Starr on Salon might cause our servers to meltdown – but I'm going to have to. Liz Cheney made it happen.

Are 2010 Dems as corrupt as the 2006 GOP?

Joan Walsh — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:20:00 PST

I predicted Wednesday that Republicans and the mainstream media would soon have a new but typically simplistic partisan line: that recent scandals involving Democratic Reps. Eric Massa and Charlie Rangel and New York Gov. David Paterson would make 2010 what 2006 was for Republicans -- the year voters punished the party for its corruption. Throw in oldies but goodies like former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, both Democrats, and I foresaw an avalanche of 2006-2010 comparisons. And I was right.

Andrew Breitbart's side of the story

Joan Walsh — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:29:00 PST

I learned on Saturday that Andrew Breitbart's Big Government site had directly responded to my blog post from last weekend: "Breitbart's breakdown: A video tour." Fairness requires that we share Breitbart's side of the story.

The Democrats' next big step on healthcare reform

Joan Walsh — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:25:00 PST

Maybe Mike Madden caught Sen. Tom Harkin at a low moment Wednesday, when Harkin told Madden he couldn't see the healthcare public option passing the Senate right now. A passionate public option promoter, if Harkin thinks the game is over, it's hard for me to argue otherwise -- but I'm still watching Adam Green's effort to get Senate Democrats to sign onto the public option (they're up to 23). Maybe if Thursday's bipartisan healthcare summit is a (predictable) bust, more Democrats will grow a spine and return to the public option.

Why so little attention to Vernon Hunter?

Joan Walsh — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:23:00 PST

I traveled this weekend and missed the identification of the only person killed by Joe Stack in his unsettling attack on the Internal Revenue Service office in Austin last week (h/t Crooks and Liars, Will Bunch). He is Vietnam veteran and IRS worker Vernon Hunter.

Breitbart's breakdown: A video tour

Joan Walsh — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:21:00 PST

We'll get Mike Madden some kind of hazard pay for spending the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Committee. He captured Dick Cheney's calling Barack Obama a one-term president (as Cheney was, after George W. Bush shook him off a bit in his second term) and 2012 wannabe Tim Pawlenty making a poor-taste Elin Woods joke on the same morning Tiger Woods made a relatively moving apology (within the tired genre) for his transgressions. He caught Human Events editor Jed Babbin making a joke about the IRS bomber Joseph Stack. Madden even had to stay for Glenn Beck's Saturday night hysterical meltdown.

Who's to blame for Joe Stack?

Joan Walsh — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:19:00 PST

I admit that when I first heard reports that an angry tax protester flew his plane into a building housing the Internal Revenue Service in Austin, Texas, I thought: Was he a tea partier? We all jump to conclusions. Having read his manifesto several times, in all its ideological incoherence and self-pity, and watched the news all day, I don't see evidence for my conclusion-jumping and I'm glad I kept it to myself (even on Twitter).

A new low for the Cheneys and their friends

Joan Walsh — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:16:00 PST

An extraordinary array of Republicans have been bashing the administration for "Mirandizing" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab over the last few days -- including Lindsey Graham, Kit Bond, Rudy Giuliani, Mitch McConnell and Michele Bachmann, to name a few -- even as the media admirably did its job reporting that the Bush administration had Mirandized every single terror suspect caught on its watch as well. Despite those facts, former Vice President Dick Cheney stepped up the attack on Obama Sunday on ABC's "This Week" -- and also admitted he's a war criminal (but more on that later.)

When elites bash elitism

Joan Walsh — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:19:00 PST

The same day the Washington Post released a poll showing a staggering 71 percent of Americans -- and a majority of Republicans -- don't think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, the Post's David Broder and Time's Joe Klein wrote columns proclaiming Palin a towering political force on the American landscape. It's rare that Beltway conventional wisdom gets proven false the very same day it surfaces. But that probably won't stop it from spreading.

The pitbull in lipstick is back!

Joan Walsh — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:07:00 PST

Eric Hoffer didn't live to see Tea Party Nation, but I always think of his most famous quote when I'm forced to deal with it: ""Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."

Tea partiers just want my respect!

Joan Walsh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:05:00 PST

I was invited on "Hardball" to debate Pat Buchanan over whether Ronald Reagan would be "Reaganesque" enough for the modern Republican Party. (News hook: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is trying to beat back a right-wing challenge for the state's open Senate seat by making that claim.)

What won't the GOP do to block Obama on security?

Joan Walsh — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:20:00 PST

Glenn Greenwald laid it out well today: It's astonishing how many Republicans, and even some Democrats, have decided that controversial Bush-Cheney detention and interrogation policies, even some widely repudiated during the 2008 presidential campaign, didn't go far enough.

The President Obama we voted for

Joan Walsh — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:30:00 PST

Like a lot of people I had to work Friday -- as in, do my job as editor here at Salon and not just watch television. But I kept my eye on President Obama's engagement with the House GOP at its annual retreat as best I could.

Finally, some spine

Joan Walsh — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:01:00 PST

In case he wasn't fully aware that Republicans are impervious to his political charm, President Obama saw it early in his first State of the Union address. After ticking off a list of taxes he'd lowered, the chamber was in cheers -- except for the GOP side of the aisle, where traditionally tax-cutters have clustered. Obama smiled and ad-libbed, "I expected some applause for that one."

The State of the Union I'd like to see

Joan Walsh — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:28:00 PST

Over the weekend, I had the good or bad fortune to pick up George Packer's "Interesting Times," a collection of his columns between 9/11 and the Obama election. I only suggest it was bad fortune because it put me in a deeper funk about Obama than I had been before. And if you've seen my recent blog posts, you'll know it was already pretty deep.

Is America ungovernable? Who's to blame?

Joan Walsh — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:27:00 PST

I had a long bloggingheads.tv conversation with Time's Joe Klein. You can watch it all here. We set ground rules; we would not talk about John Edwards, nor Glenn Greenwald, whom I worship and with whom Klein has, well, clashed. (We did discuss his telling the lefty blogosphere to "grow up.")

Dead wrong, or deeply cynical

Joan Walsh — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:26:00 PST

(Updated with Paul Krugman's latest, below)

David Axelrod and the "zeitgeist"

Joan Walsh — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:21:00 PST

My "Hardball" segment Wednesday ended with me ranting about Obama advisor David Axelrod using the word "zeitgeist," as Chris Matthews realized the show was over and had to cut me off quickly. It's pretty funny to watch, below. Lots of my Twitter friends asked me what I was going to say. To make sure "zeitgeist" doesn't become my "Rosebud," here's the point I was trying to make.

Learning the wrong lessons from Massachusetts

Joan Walsh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:20:00 PST

Ah, Democrats must be loving this familiar old position: the circular firing squad. It's like a comfy sofa you’re your childhood home! Seriously, it was appalling that national Dems began carping at the Coakley campaign before the polls closed, and almost as silly (but understandable) that the campaign responded in kind, blaming lack of material party support, as well as President Obama's Wall Street friendly policies, for Coakley's impending loss. All this with at least 4 hours before the polls closed. If I was a Massachusetts Dem, I'm not sure that would have inspired me to brave the cold and go vote before coming home to make dinner.

"He looks like the real candidate"

Joan Walsh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:20:00 PST

Just when I'm trying to stay focused on the issues behind Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown's likely victory over Attorney General Martha Coakley in today's race to succeed Sen. Ted Kennedy, Donny Deutsch, Mike Barnicle and Peggy Noonan showed up to remind me of the ugly intangibles behind the race. On "Morning Joe" this morning they chatted about one of Brown's primary assets: In Noonan's words, Brown "looks like an American."