Political History

What Ails the Senate

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:00 -0500

In 1994, after Democrats lost control of the Senate, Senator Joe Lieberman called a press conference with his colleague Tom Harkin to announce their plan to reform the filibuster. "[People] are fed up--frustrated and fed up and angry about the way in which our government does not work," Lieberman said. "And I think the filibuster has become not only in reality an obstacle to accomplishment here, but it is also a symbol of a lot that ails Washington today." Lieberman and Harkin's proposal to weaken the filibuster came to a floor vote and was

Soviet Doomsday Machine | Wired News

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:48:00 -0400

This week's Storyboard Podcast takes a look at two stories in the October issue of Wired: “The Dead Hand” by Nick Thompson and “The ...

The Hawk and The Dove | Morning Joe (MSNBC)

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:43:00 -0400

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News,

The Hawk And The Dove | National Review Online

Erin Drankoski — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:20:00 -0400

Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:15:00 -0400

Valery Yarynich glances nervously over his shoulder. Clad in a brown leather jacket, the 72-year-old former Soviet colonel is hunkered in the back of the dimly lit Iron Gate restaurant in Washington, DC. It's March 2009-the Berlin Wall came down two decades ago-but the lean and fit Yarynich is as jumpy as an informant dodging the KGB. He begins to whisper, quietly but firmly.

"The Perimeter system is very, very nice," he says. "We remove unique responsibility from high politicians and the military." He looks around again.

A Cool-Headed Look at 1939

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:43:00 -0400

In the Polish-Russian dispute over what happened in 1939, rival myth-making is being driven by domestic political calculations on both sides. Polish right-wing politicians including the present president have used the memory of 1939 and the alleged continuity of Soviet and Russian policy to whip up nationalist feelings and bolster their support. In Russia, the Putin-Medvedev administration also has mobilized Russian nationalism and has avoided condemnation of many Soviet crimes, since it itself is largely based on institutions

Can Obama Give 'Em Hell Before It's Too Late?

Erin Drankoski — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:25:00 -0400

"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering," President Franklin Roosevelt told an audience in Madison Square Garden in 1936. "They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they

Conservatives, Yesterday and Today

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:17:00 -0400

Think back to the spring of 1968. The U.S. is mired in Vietnam. The country is in turmoil. The sitting Democratic president abruptly pulls out of his campaign for reelection, and the leading conservative columnist of the day neither gloats nor does a victory dance.

It's nearly impossible to imagine this happening today.

Sen. Kennedy's Personal Touch

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:11:00 -0400

Soon after my former roommate was killed in Iraq, Sen. Ted Kennedy called me. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I wasn't pleased to get the call. I was on the senator's staff at the time, and he sometimes called on weekends with policy questions, usually about education funding. The calls usually required some quick fact-checking at the least, and sometimes a trip into the office.

The Secret Government

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:24:00 -0400

It is now clear that we are facing an implacable enemy whose avowed objective is world domination by whatever means and at whatever cost. There are no rules in such a game. Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply. If the United States is to survive, long-standing American concepts of "fair play" must be reconsidered.
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