August 27, 2008 10:14 AM

Convention Dispatch: Schweitzer Hits the National Stage

When I first went out to Montana in 2000, most people I knew in politics had no idea who Brian Schweitzer was, much less that he had a shot to win a statewide office in the then-red Rocky Mountain West. When I told my book publisher I was going to devote a whole chapter in my new book to my time working with Schweitzer, they were intruiged. Now, thanks to Schweitzer's Democratic convention speech last night, a lot of folks understand why I've always thought he was one of the most impressive progressive political leaders around.

You can watch Schweitzer's speech on energy here:

The Los Angeles Times said Schweitzer "was the surprise hit of the party's national convention" garnering "rave reviews for [the] rousing speech." Newsweek called him the "highlight" of the night. And the Denver Post reported that CNN's Jeffrey Toobin declared "Schweitzer the night's real winner, the Barack Obama of '08, for his impassioned speech."

With Barack Obama in Billings today for a campaign stop in Montana's now-competitive presidential contest, the Illinois senator would do well to take some populist tips from Big Sky country's governor. He might consider picking up this Washington Monthly piece I wrote about working on Schweitzer's 2004 political campaign, or checking out The Uprising, which includes a whole chapter on the governor. The kind of rural populism and left-right coalition building that Schweitzer is pioneering may have gotten some national attention last night, but it's been a powerful political force for a few years now.

August 26, 2008 1:00 PM

Who Said I'm a Divder, and Not a Uniter?

At various times in my career - as with anyone in the business of making trouble - I have been attacked as a polarizer, a finger-pointer, and/or a divider. But the picture above should tell you, in fact, I am neither.

Continue reading Who Said I'm a Divder, and Not a Uniter?

August 26, 2008 7:28 AM

CONVENTION DISPATCH: The Rise of the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party

Yesterday morning during a CNN discussion from the floor of the Democratic convention in Denver, I told anchor John Roberts that despite the personality tiff between the Obama and Clinton people, and despite some blemishes on Joe Biden's record, one thing is undebatable: The progressive wing of the Democratic Party - the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, as Paul Wellstone famously called it - has finally defeated the corporate wing of the party. You can watch the clip here:

This morning, the Wall Street Journal's headline reiterates this point with a striking headline: "Party's Left Pushes for a Seat at the Table.". The story takes a deeper look at the remarkable rise of progressives - a rise that was so powerfully woven into the fabric of this convention by Ted Kennedy's emotional speech last night.

As someone who has fought the trench war against corporate front groups like the Democratic Leadership Council way back when it was considered uncouth, I can tell you that I have never seen the party so ideologically unified. After years of watching the Washington Democratic Party Establishment attack economic populists and anti-war activists, progressives have come back. The turnaround can be explained by two factors: George W. Bush and the 2008 Democratic Primary.

August 25, 2008 11:19 AM

Oil & Water On Radio Row

The Pepsi Center's concourse level you'll find something called Radio Row. It's basically long card tables, folding chairs and local and national radio hosts from all over the country broadcasting live. This is where I've been hanging out with AM760's Jay Marvin and his producer John Turk, and when we go to commercial, we've been (like high school kids) cracking jokes about the jackasses right nearby.

For instance, while everyone else is sitting and broadcasting, check out the picture above. Jay is the guy sitting (like every other host), and right behind him is a right-wing radio host from WMAL named Chris Plante standing up and screaming his entire broadcast. - utterly unconcerned that he may be disturbing the scores of other hosts also broadcasting. Then there's Steve Roberts - one of the loudest, most offensive elitists the American media has to offer. At 4:30am this morning, I was in the security line with him, and he made a point of loudly telling everyone around that "I've got to be on air in 5 minutes." Now he's here running from radio station to radio station as a guest - most likely peddling his propaganda.

So while there may be a Big Sort in the public, at radio row, the progressive and conservative world is mixing all together. It seems funny now - but I wonder what the mood will be like after 4 days of all these people together. I'm guessing by that time, some nerves will be rubbed raw - especially at that Guy Smiley-looking WMAL guy continuing to scream in everyone's ear.

August 25, 2008 8:42 AM

Convention Dispatch: Does It Always Have to Be About the Clintons?

Does it always - ALWAYS - have to be about the Clintons?

This is the question on Day 1 of the Democratic convention. About a week and a half ago, the Denver Post previewed the convention with a story about how the Clinton forces are attempting to make the first two days of this convention a celebration of the Clintons - and Clintonism. As one Clinton ally told the newspaper, "We want to make this all about her."

Now, on the first day of the Democratic convention, top Clinton aide Howard Wolfson has taken to the pages of The New Republic to publish a screed demanding Barack Obama use the convention to make amends with Bill Clinton. Wolfson writes:

"There is still work to do on the Bill Clinton front. He feels like the Obama campaign ran against and systematically dismissed his administration's accomplishments. And he feels like he was painted as a racist during the primary process."

As disgusting and disingenuous as this is, it is pretty predictable. The Clintons are doing everything they can to make this convention all about them - and to absolve themselves from the substantive criticism of both Clintonism and Bill Clinton's behavior on the campaign.

Yes, many of the Obama campaign's themes indict the Clinton record - and rightly so, because so much of the country has turned against Clintonism. In places like Wisconsin and Indiana, Obama turned the primary into a referendum on the Clinton-backed NAFTA-style trade policies that have decimated the heartland swing-states that will decide the 2008 election. According to polls by the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine and CNN, those policies are now wildly unpopular - and Obama is capitalizing on the populist anger they have fostered.

No, Bill Clinton was not "painted as a racist" - he was a racist during the campaign. He famously downplayed Obama as a new Jesse Jackson - a not-so-subtle attempt to tie Obama to all the unfair and racially-charged animosity regularly directed at Jackson. The Clinton campaign told the Associated Press that Obama was "the black candidate." And perhaps worst of all, Bill Clinton claimed the Obama campaign "played the race card on me" - a clear attempt to stoke the usual anti-affirmative action backlashes that mark so many campaigns.

That Clinton's top surrogates are now saying Obama's major task is to appease Bill Clinton - rather than, say, win the election - shows just how egomaniacal the Clintons really are.

What Obama should respond with is a very simple directive: President Clinton, please exit stage Right.

August 25, 2008 6:57 AM

The World's Fair 2008

When you fly into New York's LaGuardia Airport, you fly over the old World's Fair site at Flushing Meadows. Whenever I see it, I'm always struck by how they constructed a bunch of buildings and that huge globe sculpture all for the fair, which was a one-time, temporary event. It reminds me of what Denver looks like right now with the Democratic convention blanketing the city. Millions of dollars have been spent to construct all sorts of elaborate sets, buildings and tents. As just one example, check out the picture I snapped at dawn this morning - it's a photo of a building right next to the Pepsi Center that CNN took over.

All of this, for an event that lasts just 4 days. It is as if political conventions have become the modern-day World's Fair. I'm not sure that's a good thing or a bad thing.

There's certainly an upside - conventions generate a huge amount of money for the host city and stir up interest in the political system. Then again, they have become giant television shows, with no real drama other than that which the media (tries to) create. And when you consider the budget cuts to social services and education in a state like Colorado, the thought of all this money coming into Denver to pay for garish parties is more than a bit nauseating.

August 25, 2008 4:43 AM

5:30am - The Unspeakable Hour

It is 5:30am, and I'm in the basement of the Pepsi Center, in the CNN Green Room (aka. a mess of laptop computers, frazzled producers, makeup people and giant jugs of coffee). I think I just saw Carly Fiorina - John McCain's economic adviser - get made up, though its very early so I couldn't be sure. I'm sort of shocked at how totally awake and caffeinated everyone is here at this, the time of day we call "the unspeakable hour" in my household. Then again, I'm told that people don't sleep much during these conventions.

OK - I'm being called to go onto the floor to do the spot. It's about Joe Biden. I'll post the YouTube later, if I can track it down. I'll be discussing Biden more thoroughly on AM760 - Denver's big progressive talk show. You can tune in at www.am760.net this morning.

August 24, 2008 8:08 PM

Convention Eve: Kaine's Geography Lesson, The People Party's HQ & Connective Tissue

I'm just home from the first unofficial day of the convention (officially, the event starts tomorrow). I'll give you a blow-by-blow of my day, and some random thoughts in between. This is the first convention I will be going to in any real way (though I was at the 1996 convention for two nights, I was only a college student) - so it should be an eye-opening - or maybe eye-closing - experience, especially with it in my hometown.

Continue reading Convention Eve: Kaine's Geography Lesson, The People Party's HQ & Connective Tissue

August 24, 2008 1:40 PM

Live from Main Street - Denver

This is the first of what I expect to be many convention posts over the next week. I'm in the Big Tent right next to the convention center, getting ready for the Live from Main Street production. You can tune into that here.

August 23, 2008 11:07 AM

What Biden Means

I was on Fox News this morning about what the Biden VP nomination means. You can watch it here:

If you don't want to watch the clip, let me summarize my thoughts with a quick rundown of the good, bad and ugly of Biden's nomination.

The Good: As the Drum Major Institute shows, Biden has a fairly progressive record on basic economic issues, and has gotten more progressive on specific issues like trade. He's also been a strong voice opposing unilateral war against Iran. And rhetorically, he seems comfortable painting a stark contrast between Democrats and Republicans on issues.

The Bad: He is one of the most arrogant and conceited people in Washington - one of the jokes in D.C. when I was there is that Biden uses the term "I" more than anyone else. Because of this self-importance, he consequently shoots his mouth off in ways that can undermine progressives. For example, he has made insulting racial comments about African Americans and Indians. This might not only be dredged up by Republicans, but Biden may commit additional errors in his new platform as VP nominee. Additionally, Biden is an insider's insider, having spent most of his life in Washington, D.C. That doesn't exactly underscore Obama's message of change.

The Ugly: He was one of the most ardent supporters of the credit card-industry written Bankruptcy Bill of 2005, which was one of the most regressive pieces of economic legislation in the last generation. And though he cites his foreign policy experience as an asset, he used his position as one of Democrats' top foreign policy voices to support the Iraq War.

So, all in all, the Biden choice is a shade on the good side of mediocre, though Obama's willingness to anoint a senator who voted for two landmark travesties - the Bankruptcy Bill and Iraq War - gives us some disturbing clues about the Illinois senator's attitude toward the economic progressive movement and the antiwar movement. It also shows how much work those movements have in front of them - and how, in particular, the antiwar movement's strategy of focusing all attention on Republicans has actually helped create the situation whereby the Democratic Party feels perfectly comfortable rewarding supposed Serious Foreign Policy Voics like Biden even after they voted for the war.

August 22, 2008 3:20 PM

Meet the Bloggers w/Michael Moore

I did Meet the Bloggers today with Michael Moore. You can watch a snippet here, or go to www.meetthebloggers.org to watch the whole thing.

August 22, 2008 12:29 PM

What Does Presidentialism Look Like?

I've gotten some email today about my column in the Denver Post about the concept of "presidentialism" - ie. the obsession with presidential election politics to the exclusion of all else. People are asking me whether presidentialism is as pronounced as Vanderbilt professor Dana Nelson's new book makes it out to be - and what it looks like in practice. To answer those queries, I present to you the above graphic, juxtaposing two pages of the Denver Post, where my column runs every week.

As you can see on the left, most of the entire front page is taken up with presidentialism - specifically, speculation about who one candidate might choose for vice-president - an office that has almost zero power or impact on ordinary people's lives. Now take a look at the right side where there's an image of page 7A. Right, you see it there if you squint hard enough - a tiny AP story headlined " U.S., Iraq Negotiate Gradual Pullout" about a potential end to the war in Iraq, wedged next to a Dillard's ad.

Mind you, I'm not at all trying to pick on the Post (in fact, the paper's coverage of serious issues like energy and water has been far better than most, and you could argue that with the Democratic convention coming to Denver, the paper has a reason to focus on the presidential hullabaloo - and also, in this same paper, they ran my column questioning presidentialism). This is merely a mundane example of a much broader phenomenon that all of us are part of. I checked around other media today and found that many major dailies (for instance, Boston Globe, Detroit News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Columbus Dispatch and Columbia State) made little or no mention of the potential end to the longest and most expensive war in American history among others, but carried stories about the latest presidential gossip.

But as I said in my column, the media is just as much a reflection of presidentialism as a manufacturer of it in our culture. Politics has been celebrified to the point where everyone from bloggers to activists to regular voting citizens see the American Idol quality of a presidential campaign as more important than the actual issues that campaign is supposed to be about. We are left to believe that the only thing that matters in American democracy is the White House horse race - and what a travesty that line of thinking really is.