Politics

After blocking extensions of programs that “mainstream” economists said would create jobs and stimulate the economy, some Republicans want to make former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich permanent. How could you forget the drama over adding to the deficit by extending temporary benefits to the unemployed and Medicaid for states? That…

by Christopher Beam Rep. Charlie Rangel had to decide on Thursday which he cares about more: his party or his job. The answer, for now: his job. As the House ethics committee prepared to read its 13 charges against Rangel—the culmination of a two-year investigation—there was a flurry of reports that Rangel would strike a…

Andrew Breitbart, blogger and darling of the conservative movement, surfaced this weekend at a Tea Party rally in Philadelphia. Yes, the man who edited a video that led to the downfall and subsequent uprising of former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod joined a Tea Party rally at Independence Mall denouncing a “media cabal,” the NAACP, liberals…

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and chief executive officer of the NAACP, strode into the media spotlight last month when he called on the Tea Party to “repudiate the racist element and activities within” its ranks. He immediately became the focus of attacks from the right and emerged as a visible advocate for racial justice, following the announcement…

As they say in the Budweiser commercial, “Here we go!” The Shirley Sherrod incident provided one of the most fertile and significant opportunities to focus attention on the toxic racism of the far right, the dynamics of race and class in the rural South, the cynical use of the “reverse racism” charge to ignite opposition…

Those who attempt to paint the president’s appearance on The View this Thursday as a reaction to the Shirley Sherrod situation or as a political triumph miss the point. President Barack Obama did not appear on the ABC midmorning show because he was on the defense after the Sherrod-Breitbart bungle. He was going on the…

President Barack Obama opened up to the ladies of The View about race and pop culture. He said that the controversy over Shirley Sherrod’s firing was made up by the media, and his office overreacted by firing her. President Obama admitted that the drama surrounding the Sherrod incident proves that racial tensions still exist in…

In his address to the National Urban League’s Centennial Conference in Washington, D.C., this morning, President Barack Obama laid out the future of America’s embroiled educational plan while also chastising some of the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Prefacing the meat of his speech by saying, ”I was elected not just to do…

Shirley Sherrod says she will file a lawsuit against conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart for posting a video that wrongly portrayed her as racist. The former U.S. Agriculture employee told a packed session at the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in San Diego that she would “definitely” take legal action against Breitbart.…