democrats

Spangles and Bojangles: Scenes From the Pre-Convention

Hamilton Nolan · 09/04/12 04:20PM

The Time Warner Cable Sucks™ Arena is, just as you might have guessed, abuzz with activity, right now, just minutes before the Democratic convention's formal kickoff. Would you like to tour the wonderful, wacky, and very mildly amusing scene, in photos? Why not???

Charlotte Welcomes You: Live From the DNC

Hamilton Nolan · 09/04/12 02:48PM

REPORTING LIVE FROM THE CHARLOTTE BOBCATS PRACTICE COURT/ TEMPORARY DNC PRESS CENTER, CHARLOTTE, NC—Welcome to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, gentle reader! Your correspondents have arrived, soaked by a freak rainstorm but unbowed, for three about two and a quarter days of solid "on the scene" coverage of the Most Important Political Nomination Convention of 2012, Democratic Edition. Come along on our harrowing journey through artifice, won't you?

Unions, Money, and the Politics of False Equivalence

Hamilton Nolan · 07/10/12 11:18AM

There are two equally valid and not incompatible reactions to have towards the WSJ's big investigative story today on political spending by unions. The first is that there is clearly some effort here by the (not particularly pro-union) WSJ on behalf of the right wing and/ or business interests to insinuate that union spending is a counterbalance to corporate Super PAC spending, so everything is fair. The second is that unions need to spend their money on different shit.

Republicans Watch The Worst Shows on TV

Brian Moylan · 12/06/11 05:47PM

Entertainment Weekly hired a fancy research company to figure out what shows liberals and conservatives like best. They should have just hired us to make up the answers, because they're really stereotypical. Liberals like The Daily Show, 30 Rock, Glee, and David Letterman. Conservatives like, well, a whole bunch of crap.

Election Night 2011: Good News for Once

Max Read · 11/09/11 01:00AM

Just one year after getting used as Pine Sol by Republicans in the midterms, Democrats and progressives came back to score a bunch of victories in the 2011 elections—in particular, two important ballot measures in Ohio and Mississippi. Here's a roundup of election night news:

Democrat Wins Race for West Virginia Governor

Max Read · 10/04/11 08:15PM

West Virginia's acting governor, Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin won tonight's special gubernatorial election despite the fact that, according to his opponent, he loves Obamacare, loves it so much he wants to gay-marry it. There'll be another election in 2012. [AP]

Is This the First Openly Gay Campaign Ad to Feature the Candidate's Kid?

TPM · 10/03/11 09:05PM

A lot is changing on the gay rights landscape. The military - once a home for staunch homophobia - is now one of the more welcoming employers for openly gay people. Where the last Democratic president sat down and signed the Defense Of Marriage Act into law, the current Democratic president is on a mission to tear it down.

Republicans Demand That Fed Stop Trying to Help Economy

Max Read · 09/21/11 01:40AM

Doing their part to keep the struggling U.S. Postal Service afloat, Congressional Republican leaders sent a letter a to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday, demanding that he stop doing whatever it is that he's thinking of doing to help the economy, because they said so.

Obama to Wage Class Warfare

Max Read · 09/18/11 05:16PM

What are you doing tomorrow at 10:30? Meeting some guy from Craigslist who says he'll buy your kid? If you're near a television, check out President Obama's Rose Garden address—he's going to propose class warfare!

Democratic Treasurer Arrested For Stealing $1 Million in Campaign Funds

Seth Abramovitch · 09/14/11 01:35AM

Kinde Durkee, a veteran campaign treasurer working for the Democratic Party in California, was arrested on Sept. 2, suspected by federal authorities of having embezzled $1 million. She allegedly ran a kind of campaign-fund Ponzi scheme — funneling money between accounts like a shell game — leading some to call her the "Bernie Madoff of campaign treasurers." (Madoff, who would never be caught dead in a chartreuse smock, would probably bristle at the comparison.) Now several candidates' campaign funds have been completely wiped out, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein's.