Commentary by Eric Boehlert I can think of three (inadvertent) positives that came out of Lou Dobbs’ ill-advised embrace of the birther movement: The CNN host has permanently tarnished his reputation The birther movement is officially kaput (like, stick-a-fork-in-it done) Rush Limbaugh is afraid to talk about birthers. Talk about[Read More…]

Inside the First Amendment By Gene Policinski First Amendment Center vice president/executive director OK, so Memorial Day and July 4th have gone by, it’s about six weeks until Constitution Day, the anniversary of the Bill of Rights doesn’t arrive until Dec. 15 … and it’s the middle of summer. None[Read More…]

Commentary Inside the First Amendment By Charles C. Haynes First Amendment Center senior scholar The latest wrangle over religion and schools is in New York City, where the City Council recently voted to add two Muslim holy days to the schools’ holiday calendar. It may not happen, because Mayor Michael[Read More…]

Commentary By Jamison Foser Most people waiting anxiously for real health care reform probably haven’t thought much about whether insurance covers abortion. They’re too busy thinking about how great it would be to have insurance in the first place, or to not have to worry about losing it if they[Read More…]

Commentary by Eric Boehlert If James von Brunn weren’t in a locked security ward at Southeast General Hospital in Washington, D.C., and awaiting trial for the murder of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the 88-year-old racist and neo-Nazi might have taken comfort from listening to Lou[Read More…]

Commentary By Karl Frisch Leave it to Lou Dobbs: If there’s a right-wing conspiracy theory out there floating around on the Internets, he’ll latch onto it like a pit bull. He may be past his prime, but he just won’t let go. It must be tough for CNN to look[Read More…]

Commentary By Karl Frisch Long before the pundit-driven 24-hour news cycle began poisoning the media landscape, the 1987 confirmation hearings of Reagan Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork played out in front of a national television audience. Though CNN broadcast the hearings live, the network was not yet available in many[Read More…]

Commentary by Eric Boehlert It turns out that blogger Phil Munger hears all his big, breaking Sarah Palin news in the kitchen of his house, which overlooks Neklason Lake and sits just 10 miles from the center of Wasilla, the Southcentral Alaska town where Palin once served as mayor. On[Read More…]