Jane Hamsher is the founder of firedoglake.com. Her work has also appeared on The Daily Beat, AlterNet, The Nation and The American Prospect. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, PBS and the BBC and is the author of the best selling book Killer Instinct. She has produced such films Natural Born Killers and Permanent Midnight and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Firedoglake, one of the leading progressive blogs, is best known for its groundbreaking coverage of the Valerie Plame case and liveblogging of the Scooter Libby trial. FDL features energetic reporting on the leading issues of the day and features weekly Book Salons with such authors as John Dean, Naomi Klein, Matt Taibbi, and Paul Krugman. FDL is also the home of the Blue America column and Accountability Now PAC, which have raised millions of dollars for progressive candidates and causes.

Blog Entries by Jane Hamsher

What About The Government "Bailout" Of Foreign Automakers?

26 Comments | Posted December 4, 2008 | 10:09 AM (EST)


Last night I was on Fox Business News with Neil Cavuto, talking about -- among other things -- the domestic auto industry bridge loan.  He asked if liberals were in favor of the "bailout" in support of the unions.  I said I personally supported it as part of a level...

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What Matthews Must Do To Beat Specter

26 Comments | Posted November 28, 2008 | 10:58 AM (EST)


Five Thirty Eight is reporting that Chris Matthews is hiring staff for a Senate run against Republican Arlen Specter in 2010.

Polling puts Specter ahead by quite a bit in the polls, but that's probably not going to be Matthews' biggest problem.

With the Democrats just shy...

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Is Robert Rubin "Competent" Enough To Guide Team Obama?

105 Comments | Posted November 25, 2008 | 01:16 PM (EST)


There is an article in the New York Times on the fall of Citibank that has some startling admissions, but none more shocking than this:

Citigroup's risk models never accounted for the possibility of a national housing downturn, this person said, and the prospect that...

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Heckuva Bailout: Citi and AIG Will Still Pay Hundreds Of Millions In Sports Sponsorship

33 Comments | Posted November 24, 2008 | 01:29 PM (EST)


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In his press conference today, Obama says he wants Detroit automakers to come up with a "plan" before they can receive a bridge loan that will keep three million jobs from being lost as we teeter on the edge of a global depression. 

I...

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Waxman Defeats Dingall, Blue Dogs Get Spanked

180 Comments | Posted November 20, 2008 | 12:03 PM (EST)


In a stinging rebuke of the Blue Dog caucus, Henry Waxman has defeated John Dingell for Chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Why, it seems like only yesterday the conservative Blue Dogs were sniffing that the Steering Committee which recommended Waxman were a bunch of unrepentant...

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Chinese Want To Buy the Big 3 Automakers

177 Comments | Posted November 19, 2008 | 01:02 PM (EST)


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It appears that the Chinese car makers SAIC and Dongfeng have plans to acquire the Big 3:

A take-over of a large overseas auto maker would fit perfectly into China's plans. As reported before, China has realized that its export chances...

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Obama Wants Lieberman To Stay -- But At What Price?

234 Comments | Posted November 12, 2008 | 01:01 PM (EST)


It's being reported that Obama has now expressed his clear support not only for Joe Lieberman staying in the caucus, but for retaining his Chairmanship of the Department of Homeland Security Committee.

While it's...

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Reading the Lieberman Tea Leaves

104 Comments | Posted November 7, 2008 | 10:20 AM (EST)


It's being reported that there was no conclusion reached in the meeting between Lieberman and Reid yesterday regarding the weaselly one's future as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The same sources who told about the substance of yesterday's agenda indicated that...

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Can We Please Have A Pro-Choice, Pro-Environment Secretary of State?

99 Comments | Posted November 6, 2008 | 01:45 PM (EST)


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There are rumors that Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel are seriously being considered for the Secretary of State gig, and Sam Stein reports that Lugar has the inside track (although Lugar has said he's not interested).

One of the biggest challenges the new...

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Maher Mangles Zucker At the Box Office

380 Comments | Posted October 5, 2008 | 05:57 PM (EST)


I'll put on my Hollywood hat just for a moment so I can lead a chorus of righteous laughter at the colossal failure of the persecuted Hollywood conservatives behind An American Carol.

Here's how the movie fared over the weekend, when stacked up against Bill Maher's Religulous:

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It's Official: GOP Ticket Now "Winky and Wrinkly"

239 Comments | Posted October 3, 2008 | 11:40 AM (EST)


Sarah Palin proved last night she's more qualified to host a game show than be Vice President of the United States.

She looked directly into the camera and delivered one canned line after another with nary an "um"...

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Rush Limbaugh Fears Lieberman for VP -- And So Do I

Posted August 19, 2008 | 06:04 PM (EST)


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Joe Lieberman is being vetted as a Vice Presidential running mate for John McCain, and it seems to be an option that McCain is seriously considering.

Noted Duran Duran scholar Kathryn Jean Lopez says that Rush Limbaugh no likey:

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Michelle's Earrings And Cindy's Private Plane

Posted July 18, 2008 | 10:56 PM (EST)


I never quite understood the fascination with the British royalty. They always seemed a sad piece of atavism, caught somewhere between tourist attraction and fodder for bodice-ripping novels by women named Collins.

But people seem to have very strong opinions about...

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Mayhill Fowler and the Sock Puppetry of Politico

Posted June 10, 2008 | 03:21 PM (EST)


Our Elite Media seem to be up in arms over Mayhill Fowler's failure to identify herself as a journalist when she stood there with a tape recorder in a very crowded reception line and asked a question of Bill Clinton. Now as wacky as it is...

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Forget What Clinton Did Wrong. What Did Obama Do Right?

Posted June 9, 2008 | 08:57 PM (EST)


There have been numerous postmortems about "what Clinton did wrong," but I don't think that can really be analyzed outside of "what Obama did right."

Much of it was laid out in a fascinating article in the Atlantic by Joshua...

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Clinton To Obama: If You Don't Want Me, You're Gonna Have To Tell Me

Posted June 4, 2008 | 04:06 PM (EST)



It was inevitable -- somebody had to lose.

Typically, identity politics is a tactic that Democrats employ against Republicans. This time, it was the blueprint for a battle fought within the Democratic party. An extremely emotional...

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Hillary Clinton Slams MoveOn With Karl Rove's Lies

Posted April 18, 2008 | 07:06 PM (EST)


The Huffington Post has Hillary Clinton on tape disparaging Barack Obama and his support from MoveOn, saying that the organization "didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan.

I've tried to stay out of the pie fights of late, but as a long-term defender of MoveOn and other...

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DNC Files Lawsuit About Campaign Finance Weasel John McCain

Posted April 14, 2008 | 03:04 PM (EST)


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As many all know by now, John McCain applied for -- and was accepted into -- the public financing system for the primary. With that acceptance came certain requirements, one of those being that he can't spend more than $56,757,500 million during the primary.

...

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A Few Unanswered Questions About Bill Richardson's Obama Endorsement

825 Comments | Posted March 21, 2008 | 11:55 AM (EST)


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I think there are a few lingering questions regarding Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama. This is what he said on CNN on February 25 regarding the role of superdelegates:

BLITZER: All right. So you say you will...

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Tim Russert: Obama Responsible For Harry Belafonte, Too

Posted March 2, 2008 | 11:36 AM (EST)


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I think most people this side of Brit Hume winced uncomfortably when Tim Russert tried to make Barack Obama responsible for everything Louis Farrakhan had ever said in last week's debate.

I'd forgotten (until Jamison Foser reminded me) that this was standard operating...

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