Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty Wars, interviewed by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman & Juan González

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Election 2012 Topics

2012 Election

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  • Cordray3

    Defying GOP and Eying Re-Election, Obama Makes Bold Recess Pick of Cordray for Consumer Bureau

    President Obama has defied Congress by installing former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the country’s first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, established to protect citizens against the practices of Wall Street banks and lenders. Obama’s move defied Republicans, who have refused to allow Cordray’s confirmation after failing to stop the bureau’s creation in 2010. "The reason this has been held...
    Jan 05, 2012 | Story
  • Iowa_crowd

    Romney Edges Out Tea Party-Backed Santorum as Iowa Caucus Kicks Off GOP Primaries

    Winning by just eight votes, Mitt Romney narrowly beat Rick Santorum for the GOP presidential nomination in the closest Iowa Republican caucus in history. Both Romney and Santorum received just more than 25 percent of the vote, while Rep. Ron Paul of Texas placed third with 21 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich placed fourth, followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who then announced he is going back to Texas to reassess his campaign. Rep....
    Jan 04, 2012 | Story
  • Bachman

    Iowa Tea Party Chair on Bachmann, Paul, Santorum's Diverging Paths and Obama's Re-Election Challenge

    Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll in August but placed sixth with just 5 percent of the vote in last night’s Iowa caucus. We discuss the results with Ryan Rhodes, a Bachmann supporter and chairman of the Iowa Tea Party. Rhodes says Bachmann’s poor showing stems from a surge of Tea Party voters swinging their vote over to Rick Santorum instead of third-place candidate Ron Paul. Regarding the Occupy movement that...
    Jan 04, 2012 | Story
  • Santorum

    Santorum's Emergence Signals Divided GOP Base While Paul Gains from Dems' Disenchantment with Obama

    Many Iowans from both sides of the political aisle say they voted largely out of protest to the available field of leading candidates in Tuesday’s caucuses rather than having a candidate they strongly support. Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum secured second place in the state’s Republican caucus with a last-minute boost from Christian evangelicals opposed to Mitt Romney. "I think [Santorum] succeeded by being a stealth...
    Jan 04, 2012 | Story
  • Lessig3

    As States Take on Citizens United, Lawrence Lessig Offers Bold Plan to Get Money Out of Politics

    California and New York City lawmakers are introducing measures today calling for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, the controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling that characterizes political spending as free speech and opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. Similar measures have passed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany and Boulder. We speak with Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig,...
    Jan 04, 2012 | Story
  • Iowa

    Super PACs, Occupy Iowa Protests and a Surging Rick Santorum: Iowa GOP Caucus Begins 2012 Race

    Iowa is awash in millions of dollars of negative campaign ads funded by so-called super PACs as voters head to their caucuses in the first real test of the 2012 election. "If you want to see the future of politics in America, turn on the television in Iowa," says John Nichols, correspondent for The Nation magazine. "If it is this kind of overwhelming flood of negative ads, literally flipping on a dime to take down any candidate...
    Jan 03, 2012 | Story
  • Frank

    "Pity the Billionaire": Thomas Frank on the "Unlikely Comeback of the Right" Ahead of Iowa Caucus

    Bestselling author and Harper’s Magazine columnist Thomas Frank argues that as President Barack Obama fails to provide a coherent, progressive economic alternative, the right has staged an unlikely comeback — despite the ongoing fallout from the 2008 financial crisis for which its trademark policies were largely responsible. Frank’s new book is called "Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of...
    Jan 03, 2012 | Story
  • Super-pac_2

    Newt Gingrich's Campaign Resurgence Funded by Secretive Coterie of Super PACs, Wealthy Backers

    With the Iowa caucus less than two weeks away and the Republican presidential race still up for grabs, we take an in-depth look at the state of politics and money and how last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has altered campaign fundraising since it opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. Several recent exposés reveal how Newt Gingrich has skirted campaign...
    Dec 23, 2011 | Story
  • Iowa1

    With Pre-Caucus Focus on GOP Race, Occupy Movement Steps Up Activism in Iowa

    The Occupy movement is making its presence felt in Iowa ahead of the Iowa caucus, the nation’s first nominating contest for the 2012 presidential elections. Demonstrators have targeted the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters and the "Obama for America" office in recent days, protesting measures being considered in Washington dealing with defense spending, a planned oil pipeline and jobless benefits. Next they plan to focus on Republicans...
    Dec 21, 2011 | Story
  • Russell_simmons_ows

    Hip-Hop Legend Russell Simmons, Member of the 1%, on Why He Supports the 99% and OWS

    Two months ago, legendary hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons was one of the first high-profile public supporters to come to the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Thursday morning, he was there again to speak to Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. "We don’t want Wall Street to control our future, and that’s why we’re on Wall Street. And what we’d like is for the people to control their...
    Nov 18, 2011 | Story