A Historian Discusses “The Three Wars You’re Not Allowed To Say Anything Bad About…”

From TheRealNews.com, posted 17 May 2009:

Howard Zinn speaks at The Progressive Magazine’s 100th anniversary about the three wars we hold “holy” in American culture. He proposes that a just cause does not automatically mean a just war. Before (or after) a war, one has to consider the human cost of the war.

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Daily Kos TV – Republicans Repeat History of Kicking Dem. Presidents’ Pets

In the 1944 Presidential election, Republicans attacked FDR for his dog, Fala, in much the same way that President Obama’s Republican critics are attacking his dog, Bo.

On September 23, 1944, FDR took his critics to task in what became known as the “Fala speech.” Watch:

A Historian’s Take on the Present Political Landscape and its Majority Party

From Politco, 11 May 2009 post, by Prof. Matthew Dallek:

From their efforts to enact bipartisan health care reform to shaping energy and environmental legislation, Democratic moderates form a crucial bloc of votes that will define much of Obama’s legislative agenda…[snip]

…[Moderate Democrats remember] Clinton enacted a landmark budget in 1993. It raised taxes on corporations and the wealthy, put limits on new social spending and ultimately helped cut the budget deficit and produce a budget surplus in 1998. Clinton’s presidency “marked a profound change” in the Democratic Party’s direction, argued Kenneth Baer, the author of “Reinventing Democrats,” a history of the DLC. Before Clinton’s ascendance, Democrats “had been seen as profligate ‘tax-and-spenders’”; with Clinton in power, however, Democrats “had a president who championed … fiscal restraint.”…

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Some fascinating data based on more than 120,000 interviews completed over the past four months, on the way that partisan identification breaks down by age.

From  FiveThirtyEight.com, 9 May 2009 post, by Nate Silver:

Partisan ID Gap, Based on Identity of President When Voter Turned 18

...It’s become common knowledge that the younger generation is highly predisposed toward Democrats. (Actually, that’s not quite right — they’re more predisposed against Republicans than they are toward Democrats — but the net effects on their voting behavior are probably about the same.) What’s more remarkable, though, is how sharp the increase in the partisan ID gap becomes at about age 25. People aged 26-34 are pretty Democratic, put people aged 18-25 are really Democratic…

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