Liberal Talk Radio

The key insight of Tom Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? was that rural, conservative voters were inexplicably voting for a party — the Republicans — who went against their economic interest. Frank thought it absurd that these poor people would vote for a party that, when you really looked at their record, was [...]

I have to say that I didn’t tear up or choke back anything in the final scenes of Juno, like A.O. Scott says he did; the film was too glib and slick to be believable — not to mention unfunny (not that it was unfunny, but it wasn’t consistently humorous, just grating like someone who [...]

CNN has, in its infinite wisdom, bent over and pledged not to ask the Republicans any hard questions — er, “gotcha” questions — during the upcoming YouTube debate.
In other words, no firefighers asking Rudy why they didn’t have the radios he was supposed to get them, and above all, no questions about teh gay. [...]

Paternity kits now being sold in drug stores threaten to render Maury Povich’s show pointless:
Genetic testing is now available at the drugstore. A company called Sorenson Genomics has started selling a paternity test kit through Rite Aid stores in California, Oregon and Washington. It appears to be the first time a DNA test is being [...]

Sentencing Commission to consider making the cocaine sold in black neighborhoods only slightly more illegal than the cocaine sold in white neighborhoods:
The commission is taking up one of the most racially sensitive issues of the two-decades-old war on drugs. Jurists and civil rights organizations have long complained that the commission’s guidelines mandate more stringent federal [...]

Merle Haggard, as quoted by Joe Klein:
“This is America. We’re proud. We’re not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. But this government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We’re changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other’s dresses. Fear’s the only issue the Republican [...]

To: President G.W. Bush, Red America
From: Norwegian Nobel Committee
Re: You
_________
Dear Red America,
Eff you.
Sincerely,
Norwegian Nobel Committee

Isn’t liberals and white supremacists collaborating one of the signs of the apocalypse? Cover your heads:
In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two advocacy groups from opposite political traditions — New England and the South — are sitting down to talk.
Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing [...]

Lots of fun stuff in this piece on a new condom ad that’s “controversial” because it dares to say that condoms might prevent pregnancy. The ad has been banned in most markets except… Seattle!
I loved this defense from Comcast:
Comcast, the cable provider for both Pittsburgh and Seattle, would not allow Trojan to purchase [...]

Elizabeth Edwards’ pro-gay marriage views are welcome, of course, but aren’t they a little convenient?
It’s pretty obviously a way to wink at the gay community and signal support while her husband barnstorms South Carolina talking about how he’s “uncomfortable” with the issue. I suppose it’s pretty clever, as base-winking goes. Much better than [...]