Progressive News and Commentary from the UK, EU and US by Europe-Based US Journalist Denis Campbell and Colleagues.

Thursday
20th November, 2008

Politics

The Morning After The Night Before’s Debate

By Charley James • Sep 28th, 2008 • Category: Politics

 
by Charley James
Living in the Eastern Time zone, it was well after midnight before I got to bed after watching the debate and flipping the dial to see what the Commentariat would pronounce as post-debate truth, wisdom, justice and The American Way. 
As usual, all of the pundits got it all wrong: Most called it a [...]



Little Sarah Palin: Witchcraft Free At Last!

By Charley James • Sep 25th, 2008 • Category: Politics

by Charley James
I’ve finally found a positive quality Sarah Palin might bring to the vice presidency: She would be the first veep guaranteed to be witchcraft-free, thanks to Rev. Thomas Muthee.
This would be a refreshing change from Dick Cheney who clearly is a warlock; it’s one of the few things that can explain adequately his [...]



From A Dog Named Checkers To The Wholesale Looting Of America.

By Charley James • Sep 23rd, 2008 • Category: Politics

 
- by Charley James
On Today in 1952, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the “Checkers” speech. Appearing on flickering, black-and-white sets across America, his wife seated next to him like the stage prop she’d play for the rest of Nixon’s life, he denied allegations of [...]



National Masochism: Only Way To Explain Tight Presidential Poll Numbers

By Charley James • Sep 22nd, 2008 • Category: Politics, Politics Too

by Charley James
I don’t understand.
Republicans came to Washington in 2000 with a solid majority in both houses of Congress and on the Supreme Court, allowing them to steal the presidency. If you ever wanted to know what a pure Republican Party government unhindered by Democrats or anyone else might look like, this was the moment.
After [...]



Voting Transparency: Through The Looking Glass of Technological Ballot Boxes

By Denis Campbell • Sep 21st, 2008 • Category: Features, Politics

 

By Denis Campbell
Throughout the primaries we heard, “it’s 8:00 pm in the east, polls have closed, CNN can now declare with 1% of the ballots counted, Senator Barack Obama is the winner of the South Carolina Primary.”
99% accuracy. How did they know? Exit polling is part of it. But polling places, early voting and questionable [...]



Keystone Cops or Shrewd Criminal Conspiracy?

By Denis Campbell • Sep 16th, 2008 • Category: Features, Politics

 

This article appears jointly on The Vadimus Post and LA Progressive.com
For 36-hours, Pima County’s Democratic Party was led on a chase that would have either made The French Connection’s Popeye Doyle proud or retch in disgust.
A computer hard-drive purchased by the party containing court-ordered copies of 1,300 Diebold GEMS election databases dating back to 2002, [...]



The Election Rigging Story, Why Here, Why Now?

By Denis Campbell • Sep 14th, 2008 • Category: Politics

As a journalist the story intrigued, as a citizen it outraged. 
For seven years Michael Duniho, a quiet, determined and dignified man had been sending quarterly or so e-mails, quietly seething about the conduct of elections in his new home of Tucson (Pima County), Arizona. Though I never have, Michael, (we all call him Mickey) has [...]



Fair and Balanced

By Denis Campbell • Sep 11th, 2008 • Category: Politics

 

Finally, an intelligent, fight-back e-mail against the hundreds of smears…
-If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates, you’re a ‘game changer.’ 
-Black teen pregnancies? A ‘crisis’ in black America.
-White teen pregnancies? A ‘blessed event.’ 
-If you grow up in Hawaii you’re ‘exotic.’ 
-Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential ‘American [...]



Sarah Palin And Me

By Charley James • Sep 9th, 2008 • Category: Politics

(Ed. The M.O. for Republicans is if you cannot definitively answer the charges, attack the one making the charge. Charley has been getting both barrels from the right including Mary Malkin, Hennessy and others. This is his thoughtful reply.)
By Charley James
Anonymous sources are the bane of a reporter’s existence, and have been at least since [...]



The Culture Wars Return

By Denis Campbell • Sep 6th, 2008 • Category: Politics

 

John McCain has abandoned any premise of controlling his campaign, his party or even his own destiny. As Charley James writes today, he has chosen an obscure, mean-spirited and vindictive running mate who, as more and more reporters scrape back the patina and veneer of, seems frighteningly similar to the current resident of Navy Observatory [...]