In 2004, a little book appeared that made quite a splash among dispirited Democrats:  George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant.  In it, Lakoff argued that Republicans and Democrats worked out of two different “framing” stories–frames are “mental structures that shape the way we see the world.”  Republicans frame their politics in the terms of…

While doves in the American Jewish community are lining up to support President Obama in his supposed confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the hard-nosed supporters of the Occupation can sigh with relief. Nothing proposed by Obama is likely to change the realities on the ground in the West Bank. Obama’s insistence that negotiations begin…

When representatives of many Arab and Muslim nations publicly applaud Ahmadinejad’s racist rant, the real losers are the Palestinians. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at the Durban II conference on racism turned into a racist rant against Israel and the Jewish people. The conference, intended to give the people of the world an opportunity to…

All day Wednesday, MSNBC advertised a discussion about the “new role” of religion and politics to be aired on the Chris Matthews Show.   When the show began, guest host Mike Barnicle announced that the debate would feature atheist Christopher Hitchens and Religious Right activist Ken Blackwell.  Why does the media insist on believing that American…

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