Joe Conason - Joe Conason's Home on the web

One More Good Reason to Lift the Embargo on Cuba

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:21:13 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/07/18/cuba/

Date Published:
July 18, 2008 - 2:00pm

Excerpt:

Listening to the mouthpieces of the oil industry on talk radio and cable television -- as well as in the Bush White House -- one gets the impression that we must start drilling in America's coastal waters immediately. If only we unleash the oilmen to explore and exploit, then the price of gasoline will start to fall, the scheming petroleum cartel will collapse, and the United States will be independent once again. And if we don't unleash the oilmen, then the Chinese communists will siphon off all the oil from the coast of Cuba before we can even launch a rowboat into the Caribbean.

They Must Be Joking

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:44:55 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/they-must-be-joking

Date Published:
July 15, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

An expression of outrage is the highest compliment that politicians can bestow upon a satirist. So when spokesmen for Barack Obama and John McCain echo each other and many another stuffed shirt in complaining about the current cover of The New Yorker, the magazine’s editors and cartoonist Barry Blitt should accept such remarks in precisely that spirit.

The Dangerous Hostility Game With Iran

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:49:56 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/07/11/iran/

Date Published:
July 11, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Pressure for a military strike against Iran appears to be growing dangerously -- a prospect with untold but certainly dire consequences for American troops in Iraq, a broader conflagration in the Persian Gulf and an oil price spike that could cripple the world economy. Repeated promises by the Bush administration to seek diplomatic solutions to disagreements with the Iranian regime haven't quenched rising hysteria in the United States and Israel. Perhaps that is because the sound of White House vows to use force only as a "last resort" evokes bad memories.

What John McCain Didn't Learn in Vietnam

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:48:46 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/07/04/mcain_vietnam/

Date Published:
July 4, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Nobody has denigrated the service of John McCain or his suffering in captivity as a prisoner of North Vietnam, as much as his supporters wish to pretend that someone did. Nobody has denied that his valor in captivity offers insight into his character. But so far almost nobody has asked the most important question about McCain's military experience, which is how his past might influence his future as president.

Wes Clark is Right

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:47:58 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/wes-clark-s-remarks-re-mccain-no-apologies-please

Date Published:
July 1, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Despite all the feigned outrage fanned by the mainstream media and the right-wing noisemakers, Wesley Clark—retired four-star general, former Supreme Commander of NATO, wounded and highly decorated veteran of ground combat in Vietnam, and a military man to his core—assuredly did not denigrate the war record of John McCain when he talked about the Republican candidate on television last Sunday.

On Energy McCain Sounds A Lot Like Cheney

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:47:21 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/06/27/energy_plans/

Date Published:
June 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Behind John McCain's multistage release of his energy and environmental platform there lies a campaign imperative even more urgent than freedom from foreign oil. Somehow, he must get out from under the albatross of the president he did so much to reelect four years ago, and soon.

Nuts About Obama

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:46:27 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/nuts-about-obama

Date Published:
June 24, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Precisely on schedule, the usual assortment of right-wing operatives is preparing its expected assault on the Democratic presidential nominee. While this unwholesome phase of the election cycle is known universally as “Swift-boating”—named after the defamatory media blitz against John Kerry four years ago—the style and some of the personnel date back at least two decades. So does the winking charade of separation between the official Republican presidential campaign and the dirty business conducted on its behalf.

The Scott McClellan Side Show

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:45:35 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/06/21/plame/

Date Published:
June 21, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

At long last, the most significant issues in the case of one-time CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson are emerging under congressional scrutiny. With former White House press secretary Scott McClellan as a willing foil, the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee seem determined to examine the actual roles of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the Plame affair -- from the leaking of her CIA identity through the subsequent attempt to cover up that unpatriotic and possibly illegal act of political vengeance.

Goodbye, Mr. Straight Talk

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:44:42 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/goodbye-mr-straight-talk

Date Published:
June 17, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Once upon a time, there was a fiscally and socially responsible senator named John McCain. Despite his presidential ambitions, the Republican from Arizona spoke out against the economic royalism of his party’s leadership in the White House and Congress, and simply said no.

What Happened To McCain the Reformer?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:43:49 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/06/13/obama_smears/

Date Published:
June 13, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

By inviting Barack Obama to join him in town hall forums across the country, John McCain means to send a signal about the campaign ahead -- and about himself. We don't need no stinking moderators, media or spin rooms, barks the straight shooter. We can meet mano a mano for a clean, fair debate focused on the great issues that face America rather than on nitpicking process questions and the politics of personal destruction.

An Offer Obama Can't Refuse

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:43:06 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/offer-obama-can-t-refuse

Date Published:
June 10, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

To his credit, John McCain has invited Barack Obama to join him in a national “town hall” tour over the coming months, without the unneeded intrusion of celebrity journalists, network extravaganzas and all of their irrelevant impertinence. The Arizona Republican insists that he wants a serious debate over the competing ideas and visions of the two parties, rather than the usual petty focus on process issues and gotcha questions.

Democrats, Put Down Your Swords

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:42:21 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/06/06/primary_aftermath/

Date Published:
June 6, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

For Democrats of all persuasions, the conclusion of the primaries should encourage reflection rather than recrimination. Now is the time to listen to the calm counsel that cannot be heard amid the roar of combat, and to think.

Hillary Clinton needs to think about how best to preserve the gains of her campaign without spoiling it all. Barack Obama must consider how best to unite his party while making choices, including a running mate, true to his own instincts and style. Meanwhile their supporters can take deep breaths and try to imagine how they will feel on Nov. 5 if John McCain has won the presidency.

The Running-Mate Dilemma

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:41:23 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/running-mate-dilemma

Date Published:
June 3, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

The selection of a vice president is not only an exercise in political handicapping but a national rite of statecraft. Candidates, advisers, pundits and assorted experts try to calculate the ethnic, geographic, gender and ideological characteristics of potential running mates, but what this choice actually reveals is the character of a presidential nominee.

For Barack Obama, the choice of a vice president is a test of his self-confidence and his vaunted judgment. Should he seek to mollify the disappointed Clinton supporters, especially among his party’s women? Or should he try to balance his own political weaknesses with somebody else’s strengths? Will he attempt to win a region with his choice, or even one crucial state?

McCain's Scary Economic Advisor

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:40:36 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/05/30/mccain_gramm/

Date Published:
May 30, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

Even as John McCain struggles to preserve his image as a reformer by dismissing a few of the Washington lobbyists who dominated his presidential campaign, the futility of that effort suddenly became painfully obvious. Dire bulletins in the financial media warned of many billions in rotting mortgage paper held by UBS, the financial conglomerate that just happens to employ former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's campaign chairman and chief economic advisor. Until two months ago UBS listed Gramm as a federal lobbyist on housing and mortgage issues.

The Florida-Michigan Farce

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:39:33 -0400

Article Link:
http://www.observer.com/2008/florida-michigan-farce

Date Published:
May 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Excerpt:

When the Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee meets on May 31 to determine the status of the votes cast in the Michigan and Florida primaries, its members should try to look past self-serving campaign arguments and silly attempts to save face by bumbling party leaders.