Friedman Jumps on the Antiwar Bandwagon

Staff / Truthdig Aug 5, 2006 Tom Friedman, the NY Times columnist whose Mideast and Iraq war analyses formed the "conventional thinking" for centrists and lefties the world 'round, has thrown in the towel on his three-year-long support of the Iraq war: "It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq We are baby-sitting a civil war" (more) . Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Colbert: Mideast Goes ?Democrazy?

Staff / Truthdig Jul 27, 2006 Linguists beware; Stephen Colbert has invented a new word: "democrazy." As the host explains, ?there was a time when I thought the key to Middle East peace was representative government, but then democracy gives us a prime minister who sides with Hezbollah, an Iranian president who wants to go nuclear, and a Palestinian government controlled by Hamas. So, now, I?m thinking maybe we did the wrong thing.? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Have You Passed the New Democratic Sniff Test?

Staff / Truthdig Jul 17, 2006 The George Soros-backed Democracy Alliance pools contributions from the richest progressive donors in the country to fund advocacy groups capable of building a counterweight to the well-entrenched conservative movement But there's a potential dark side for groups whose views don't conform to the Alliance's (more) . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Join Democracy Fest 2006!

Staff / Truthdig Jul 14, 2006 Shameless plug alert: Truthdig managing editor Blair Golson will be co-hosting a panel on alternative media at this weekend's DemocracyFest in San Diego. Tickets for the conference are going fast. Panelists and speakers include Howard Dean, Al Franken, comedian Marc Maron, Democratic strategist Dave Sirota and BuzzFlash Editor Mark Karlin. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Robert Scheer: Why I Wasn’t Prepared for George W. Bush

Staff / Truthdig Jul 10, 2006 In an interview with Democracy Now!, Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer explains how, after he had spent decades covering U.S. presidents, Bush threw him for a loop: "At least the other [presidents] knew a lot about the world, had experience, had brains about this, cared. This guy had the platinum American Express card and didn?t even want to see Paris or London." Read the whole story in Robert Scheer's new book "Playing President." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?

Staff / Truthdig Jun 23, 2006 Remember when Jon Stewart famously told the "Crossfire" boys that they were "hurting America"? Well, now two political scientists are saying the same thing about Stewart. In a study, students who watched "The Daily Show" developed cynical attitudes about politics, the news media and the electoral system. Actually, more cynicism and skepticism would be helpful in the age of Bush and his Lies. But if, as the study suggests, "The Daily Show" turns young people off from voting, we can't be happy about that. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Dems’ Young Guns Launch Journal of Ideas

Staff / Truthdig Jun 21, 2006 Two young Democratic intellectuals have founded Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, a quarterly publication modeled after conservative publications like Commentary and The National Interest. Sen. Barack Obama is already lined up to write. This comes on the heels of Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg's new publication. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Votes Were Counted but Chaos Rules in Iraq

Staff / Truthdig May 1, 2006 "Death squads," "ethnic cleansing" and political assasinations are the realities of the democracy said to be emerging in Iraq. The New York Times paints a grim picture of the new Iraq, as both Sunnis and Shiites flee their homes in response to escalating sectarian violence. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Anti-Rumsfeld General: Questioning Command Healthy For Democracy

Staff / Truthdig Apr 15, 2006 Major Gen. John Batiste (ret), who has called for Rumsfeld's resignation, tells Katie Couric: "I think there's a lot of people now starting to ask questions, and I think that's healthy in a democracy." He also says the book "Cobra II" gets the Iraq War story right. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Faltering of Arab Democracy Is Seen

Staff / Truthdig Apr 10, 2006 The New York Times reports that many Middle Eastern countries that made moves toward democracy are now pulling back, emboldened to ignore Bush's demands in the wake of the Iraq debacle. Dig deeper

Democracy in Iraq Not a Priority in U.S. Budget

Staff / Truthdig Apr 5, 2006 Money that Bush earmarked for programs to build up Iraqi political parties, media outlets and human rights groups is now going toward security. Another example of how the reality of democracy-building is so much messier than the fantasy. Dig deeper

Kerry Calls for Iraq Pullout Deadline

Staff / Truthdig Apr 5, 2006 In the N.Y. Times, the former presidential candidate calls for two deadlines: May 15 for the Iraqis to form a unity government, and a date later in the year for the U.S. to pull out. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )