Hear nyceve LIVE @ 8pmEST talking healthcare w/ me & clammyc!

You've read her magnificent diaries time and again on the rec list over at Daily Kos--now hear nyceve in her own voice talking about this all-important issue with me and clammyc tonight at 5pmPST/8pmEST on BlogTalkRadio!

As many here may already be aware, clammyc and I have regular internet radio shows every week on BlogTalkRadio which we also post to our radio blog Political Nexus. In addition to our regular shows Framework and Don't Hijack My Thread, we also do hour-long interviews with netroots candidates and bloggers: click the links for our interviews with Digby on Impeachment, Armando on the first Iraq Supplemental this year and MSOC on abortion.

Tonight will be nyceve's turn in the spotlight to talk about the failed American for-profit healthcare system. Among the issues we will be touching on include:

• Personal stories from nyceve's professional experiences in medicine
• nyceve's panel at YearlyKos 2007 in Chicago
• Michael Moore's Sicko
• recent actions by the American Cancer Society
• SCHIP
• the benefits and drawbacks of various solutions to the growing healthcare crisis in America
• and much more

Again, don't miss this opportunity to hear nyceve in her own voice live on Blogtalkradio. Click here tonight at 5pmPST/8pmEST to listen to the show, or you can come back later and get the interview off our blog at Political Nexus.

See you there!

Interview w/ Raven Brooks of YearlyKos' UnConventional

For the Kossacks among my readers

If you had the misfortune of missing last year's YearlyKos Convention, words alone cannot describe the magic of the experience: the extraordinary panels, wonderful people, political and blogging celebrities, eye-opening workshops, inspiring speeches, lavish parties, and just all-around fun. Describing the experience would take an amalgam of words, photographs, personal stories, recountings of the events day by day, and insights from some of your favorite Kossacks. It would take, in a nutshell, exactly what has been done in UnConventional, the official and unparalleled chronicle of the first of what promises to be a long series of exciting gatherings of bloggers and political activists. UnConventional first came out in e-book form last year, but has just become available in print form: you can either have it shipped to you sometime in late July, or simply pick it up at the YearlyKos 2007 Convention in Chicago if you are coming (and I hope you are--if not, register today!).

Best of all, any and all proceeds from the sale of the book go to help fund the YearlyKos convention--so not only do you get a great book, you also get to contribute to a good cause (I myself purchased two e-book copies and two physical copies!) As it says on the UnConventional website:

YearlyKos: Citizens, Focus and Action, an in-depth book covering the first YearlyKos convention is available NOW. A team of four brilliant photographers led by Mona Brooks along with an editorial staff led by Hunter of Daily Kos fame, documented every aspect of the convention, from caucuses to keynote speeches, from volunteers to political heavy-hitters, so many Kos bloggers, and more.

The 292 page book combines complete convention coverage with personal essays about why so many of you are here--Kossack personal stories about what being a progressive means (with beautiful portraits to boot, so you can finally see how fabulous the people you communicate with on dKos look in the reality-based world!).

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to funding future YearlyKos conventions, so buy this gorgeous book today and secure the future of this (UnConventionally) important movement! (Also available in ebook format.)

UnConventional was put together with the help of several photographers and editors--Hunter had chief editorial duties, and Raven Brooks, former president and founder of the now-defunct BuyBlue.org, had the job of photographing (with help from four other great professional photographers, including chief photographer Mona Brooks) the Kossacks included in the book and putting those photos into book form. clammyc and I had the good fortune of talking to Raven at the convention during our photo sessions for the book--and now that Unconventional is available in print format, we had the opportunity to interview him about the book on our blogtalkradio show Political Nexus.

Some of the issues we discussed:

• What makes UnConventional so special


• Discount, pickup and shipping options


• The self-publishing process for the book (including help from Jane Hamsher's and Markos' Vaster Books


• The experience of photographing the Kossacks and politicians at the convention, and putting the book together


• What's in the works for a chronicle of YK2007

Check out the interview online at Political Nexus--and more importantly, please consider buying this fantastic book and helping out a good cause at the same time.

Hope to see all of you in Chicago!!!

Interview with Armando/Big Tent Dem posted

It was a fantastic discussion. Download it here at the On Topic page for Political Nexus.

Look for our next Framework show recording on Monday June 18th.

You've seen Armando/BTD Spout Off on Iraq: Now Hear Him Roar!

Say what you will about former DailyKos frontpager Armando/Big Tent Democrat, you cannot dispute that he he has a razor-sharp intellect, an acute understanding of Democrats need to do to win important political battles, and an outsize personality not afraid to mix it up with those who disagree with him.

What many in the progressive blogosphere may not know is that, in the wake of the kerfuffle that led to his 2nd departure from Daily Kos, he has been doing outstanding work on Iraq, Libby and a host of other issues over at TalkLeft. Together with fellow contributors and attorneys John Wesley Hall and T. Christopher Kelly, Armando has been scathing in his coverage of GOP criminal and moral malfeasance, and of the weak-kneed Democratic enablers who fail to adequately stand up to it.

And today you have the opportunity to listen to him spout off on my and clammyc's radio show On Topic at Political Nexus. The show will begin tonight at 5pm PST--those who wish to listen live can do so at the "On Topic" BlogTalkRadio page (the only show currently listed is the one we did with MSOC on abortion; it will appear when the show goes live.) Otherwise, you can access the archives of the show either at Political Nexus or at the BlogTalkRadio On Topic page.

Among the topics we'll be discussing during the half-hour show include:

• What was the Democratic strategy on the Iraq Supplemental going in? Was the capitulation always in the works, or was it the product of an inability to secure enough votes from conservative Democrats?


• Regardless of the actual consequences for Iraq and our troops, why was the capitulation bill such a bad move politically?


• Democrats are currently banking on the "helpless bystander" theory that the Congress has no power to curb the Executive on Iraq. Will this fly with the American Public? If not, why not?


• If we could force the Democrats to vote any way you wanted, would we have them simply defund the Occupation?


• Where do we go from here? What should the Democrats do come September--and what do we expect them to do?


• How will the Republicans handle all of this? Can they get out in front of Democrats to oppose Bush on Iraq? Will they even try?

So feel free to join us for what promises to be a fascinating discussion on the most important political topic of the 2008 election. I'll close this piece today with a quote from BTD himself:

Certainly pinning Bush on the GOP helps the Democrats, but political grandstanding alone will not cut it for the Dems now. They control the Congress. They can end the Iraq Debacle. And if they do not, the GOP will try and neuter them on Iraq by saying they did not - Dems were all partisan bluster and no action. And the GOP would be right.

As Greg Sargent points out, Dems hold a 20 point polling edge on Bush on Iraq, 54-34. But if Dems do not do anything about ending the Iraq Debacle, then why SHOULD the American People trust Democrats on Iraq? snip

Come 2008 -- when faced with the question "What did a Democratic Congress do to end the Iraq Debacle?", when the answer is nothing, what do you think the voters are going to say?

Spineless Dems ALWAYS lose. Always.

I still think that. More than ever.

Amen, my friend. Amen. Keep roaring, and hopefully the world will begin to listen.

The Biggest Tax Increase Lie in History

Listen to me and clammyc talk about the big fat lie that is the Republican talking point on the budget. Suffice it to say that the GOP is saying that allowing the Paris Hilton tax cuts to expire as Bush intended now constitutes a "tax increase."

We discuss not only why those claims are bullshit, but more importantly how Democrats can frame the issue in such a way that it turns to our advantage.

Listen here!

Ditching "Choice": MSOC, clammyc and I Talk Abortion Framing

It's no secret that progressives are slowly but surely losing the abortion wars: from parental notification legislation to Roe v. Wade sunset laws in many states to the recent Supreme Court decision on late-term abortion, abortion-rights advocates have been playing defense and losing ground for years. And we are losing ground in public polling as well, in spite of overall favorability towards freedom to have an abortion in general.

It is a controversial opinion of mine that part of the reason we are falling behind in this battle is our outdated, ineffective and even counterproductive use of the word "choice" as our crumbling rhetorical fortress. It is an opinion, however, that is shared not only by myself but also by clammyc and even MaryScott O'Connor of MyLeftWing as well.

In a 40-minute audio segment on our new blog Political Nexus, MSOC, clammyc and I discuss the intricacies of why "choice" is such a terrible frame, and what alternatives we might want to embrace in its place--as well as the weakenesses of our opponents' "pro-life" framing and the ways in which we can exploit the rhetorical chinks in their armor.

Unfortunately, I am unable to embed a direct link to download the show here on DailyKos, or I would certainly do so. It can be downloaded directly from BlogTalkRadio here, or streamed from our blog here. If a little bit of slef-promotion can be pardoned on behalf of myself and my good friends clammyc and MSOC, it's a great discussion that delves right into the heart of the issues at hand.

To give everyone some idea of what we are talking about and why we are pushing to ditch "choice" as a frame, allow me to present one of the arguments we put forward: polling on the issue of partial-birth abortion is not favorable for us: at least 69% of the American Public want the procedure banned, with exceptions for the life of the mother. One of the biggest reasons for this is because they believe that women are whimsically changing their minds during the third trimester, choosing to abort otherwise viable fetuses not presenting major risks to the mother's life/health. While it is true that this perception is a product of misinformation, it is also a product of our own framing on the issue: as long as our side is saying that it is a woman's person's "right to choose" what she does with her own body up until the fetus/baby exits the womb, people are going to assume that these decisions are being made irresponsibly and casually. Not to mention the fact that most people would indeed consider a third-trimester fetus viable (without extraordinary measures) outside the womb a living, separate person.

And that is just one of many arguments that can be made against the use of "choice" as a frame.

For a preview of another argument, allow me to excerpt a quote from MSOC herself, an ardent abortion-rights supporter:

MSOC: It's about pro-privacy...You know, when I hear a politician say, "I support a woman's right to choose", I want to vomit! It's a guaranteed kiss-40-percent-of-your-voting-population-goodbye. If a Republican were even considering your positions, your oh-so-nuanced but brilliant positions on the environment, on the economy, on the war, on everything else, you've got them. You've got them in the palm of your hand: "well, this guy's not so bad, he's reasonable, I think I could go for a guy like this." And then the guy like this says, "I support a woman's right to choose." Oooohhhhh God, he's another one of them, one of those idiots who just can't say what he really thinks.

CLAMMYC: Yeah.

MSOC: People are dismissing him because he supposedly supports a woman's right to choose, but I'm dismissing him because he's a pussy.

All of this and much, much more (which I may turn into a diary one of these days) is online and available either at Political Nexus or for download at BlogTalkRadio.

Give it a listen, and let us know what you think, either here in this diary or in the comments at Political Nexus. Thanks!

More Proof of Media Bias: The Terrible Scourge of "Leftism"

It has been nearly impossible to surf the web in the wake of Sarkozy's recent victory in the French elections without coming across one of the most overlooked framing atrocities in all of politics: the use of the inherently negative word "leftist" to describe progressives and liberals here around the world and here in the United States.

This condescendingly destructive word is used with reckless abandon in the U.S. and international press with nary a peep from our side nor usage of its equivalent to describe the other side. Moreover, the word is used to conflate violent anarchists and protesters like those who rioted in the wake of the French election, with more mainstream progressives like those at Daily Kos.

Now, before you turn away and say "no big deal", consider the following: while framing is certainly not enough to win a debate on its own merits, consistent and pervasive use of negative words and constructs can take a draining toll on one's ability to fight one's ideoligical opponents. Indeed, when one is confronted with a framing issue that is transparently one-sided, it behooves the activist to take steps to correct those usages and constructs in one's own discourse, and hopefully from there in that of the traditional media.

And this issue is very one-sided. If we examine the comparative instances of the words "leftist" vs. "rightist" in a Google search we come across the following:

GOOGLE SEARCH:
Leftist: 7,340,000
Rightist: 991,000

That's a ratio of 7.5:1. Now, why does this matter? It matters because almost ANY word ending in -ism or -ist connotes doctrinaire, ideologically driven extremism lacking in the virtues of pragmatism, open-mindedness or tolerance. If you doubt it, consider a handy list of -isms at Wikipedia: they include such niceties as communism, socialism, imperalism, zionism, authoritarianism, fascism, darwinism, creationism, neoliberalism, neoconservatism, and many more. Regardless of your agreement with and openness to the idea in question, the mere attachment of the suffix "ism" or "ist" to the word makes it inherently uncomfortable. Indeed, anyone with serious background in framing, social linguistics and/or rhetoric understands this as a matter of course.

Let's take a few examples:
1. All it takes is a simple "ism/ist" to turn a religion like Islam into a violent extremist (get that word "extremist"?) movement like "Islamism".

2. Say the word "capitalist" out loud. Now say the words "free market". Which one gave you a happier, sunnier feeling? Now say the words "socialist" and "common good". See what I mean?

3. Try the words "progressivism" or "liberalism". Those being honest with themselves will admit that these words sound negative--even if they are progressives and liberals.

In fact, all you need do is read Dan McLaughlin at RedState.com whine about the use of the word "rightist" to describe Nicolas Sarkozy to see that the other side certainly understands the importance of these kinds of usages.

Let us return now to that 7.5:1 ratio of "leftism" to "rightism". But first, it is important to note that dictionary entries for leftism and for rightism reflect the fact that "leftism" is no more extreme a reference than is "rightism", nor is "leftism" more relevant on the world stage than "rightism" in today's corporate-centric world. Nevertheless, if we examine some simple searches on traditional media news sites, we see the following astounding numbers:

Associated Press search:
Leftist: 8,720
Rightist: 2

That's right. Just TWO uses of the word "rightist", while word "leftist" is used to denote everyone from anti-nuclear activists in India to violent Colombian drug-trafficking rebels to Canadian environmentalists to Venezuelan populist dictators to mainstream French Socialists to Cuban communists to mainstream Progressives in Mexico to immigration activists in Turkey.

And that's not all. Other "traditional" media also egregiously oversample the word "leftist". Consider these:

Reuters search:
Leftist: 926
Rightist: 121
RATIO: 7.6:1

CNN search:
Leftist: 1,358
Rightist: 267
RATIO: 5.1:1

ABC News search:
Leftist: 153 pages
Rightist: 7 pages
RATIO: 21.9:1

CNN search:
Leftist: 1,358
Rightist: 267

Then, of course, there's the Fox, the gold standard of right wing propaganda:

Fox News search:
Leftist: 1,090
Rightist: 29
RATIO: 37.6:1

The most even usage of the two words comes from the New York Times, a search of whose pages still reflects a hefty slant:

New York Times:
Leftist: 9,886
Rightist: 2983
RATIO: 3.3:1

What this means is that in a huge number of news articles, we are forced to believe that there is a debate in any given area between "leftists" and "conservatives"--with the conservatives getting a head start on semantics alone. Imagine if that debate were instead between "Progressives" and "Rightists"--how many more minds might be change just on the basis of altering two words alone?
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It is time to bring balance back to the traditional media in this area as well with a few simple steps:

1. Eschew the use of the word "leftist" in your vocabulary, if you haven't already.

2. Use the word "Rightist" as often as you can to refer to conservative doctrinaire positions.

3. Write emails and letters to your newspapers, cable channels, and internet news outlets in protest whenever you see the word "leftist" without equivalent use of the word "rightist" to denote their opponents.

It's about time we Progressives fought back against the Rightist Press on semantics as well as their actual biased coverage of events.

By the way, clammyc and I will be spending about 25 minutes discussing this and other issues related to leftism and rightism on our radio show at our Political Nexus radio blog 3pm PST today, Monday May 7th. The recorded show won't be on the site for a few hours, but you can listen live here.

Listen to Don't Hijack My Thread!

Today's Don't Hijack My Thread is now live at Political Nexus. This week features a conversation between myself, thekk, and clammyc with callers cskendrick and Major Danby.

Check it out!

Thanks to BlueGal for the award

I hadn't heard about the Thinking Blogger Awards until I got one from Blue Gal.

In keeping with the tradition, here are my five selections for the Thinking Blogger Award:

1) Clammyc at My Three Cents. There has rarely been a brighter, more clarion voice in the progressive blogosphere. I'm proud to partner with him on our new Political Nexus blog radio shows. Just read his stuff--it's worth it.

2) Digby at the Hullaballoo. Yeah, everybody knows Digby so it's an easy choice--but DAMN she's good. Just about every single post is freaking brilliant and gives me the best food for thought, word for word, of any blogger out there.

3) bonddad at the bonddad blog. Brilliant economic commentary and analysis, though almost always bearish. But how could you not be bearish given the unprecedented structural anomalies in the American and world economies?

4) Juan Cole at his blog. We can all talk up a storm about what we think about the situation in the Middle East. But no matter what happens, it turns out that things are usually far more complicated than even we know. No blogger brings out the truth of that complexity like Juan Cole.

5) Last but not least, dday at dday's blog. IMHO, the most underappreciated blogger in the entire blogosphere bar none. He's got great stuff, and he posts often. An all-around pleasure to read.

Winners are asked to follow the rules here. Share the love!