Author: Isaiah J. Poole

There is a telling graphic inside Friday\’s New York Times that puts into perspective the Republican Party\’s summer theme song, \”Do-Nothing Congress.\” It bears remembering as just one example of the difference Democrats are trying to make in how our country is governed—and evidence that the Republican spin that Congress can\’t get anything done under…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has lately been taking a tough line on ending the Iraq war. That comes in the face of weeks of stubborn Republican opposition to any attempt to bring the troops home or to even curb President Bush’s imperial use of power to keep the war going. Reid should know that…

\”Sicko\” is required viewing, not because it\’s a contender for the Oscar for Best Picture—though given this year\’s paltry offerings, anything is possible—but because it is far better than the play now being staged by the White House. Two days before Michael Moore\’s documentary on the health care crisis went into wide release Friday, President…

The pundits have been saying that Sen. Barack Obama lost his stride at the most recent presidential debates, but there was no evidence of that Tuesday when he made a passionate, forceful speech at the Take Back America conference. What a standing-room-only-crowd heard in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton was the kind of…

For an audience that was eager to hear a presidential candidate say that they would not compromise progressive principles for political expediency, former Sen. John Edwards knew what to say. When it comes to ending the war in Iraq or issues such as universal health care, “No more pontificating, no more vacillating, no more triangulating,…

Campaign for America\’s Future co-director Robert L. Borosage debated staunch Iraq war defender Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., on the MSNBC news talk show \”Hardball with Chris Matthews.\” Borosage offered a realistic assessment of the reality of the war and the truth about how the majority of the public wants their elected representatives to respond. Gingrey,…

The three freshman progressive senators who participated in the \”kitchen table\” discussion at Take Back America Monday night all said they would support a strategy of not backing down from efforts to end the war in Iraq in the face of veto threats and political retaliation from President Bush. What Democrats ought to do in…

Freshman congressman Keith Ellison took on one of the movement’s most serious problems when he told progressives not to allow their frustrations with Congress’ inability to stop the war in Iraq to divide them. “You might be mad at the Congress because they didn’t and the war in six months but I’m here to ask…

Isaiah J. Poole is the executive editor of TomPaine.com. We’ve made some changes to TomPaine.com that will make it faster-paced, more interactive and more compelling. You will notice that we have elevated our editor’s blog to be the centerpiece of our site, and we have renamed it “Common Sense.” We have also given you the…