Posts by Cenk Uygur

Cenk Uygur is co-host of The Young Turks, the first liberal radio show to air nationwide.

Black Republican Gets Enraged Over Katrina at RNC
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on September 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM.

The Young Turks have been broadcasting all week long from the Republican National Convention. We have had some really interesting interviews with Duncan Hunter, Heather Wilson, Bob Barr, Sen. Dan Coats, Rep. Bob Latta, Joe Klein, Michael Medved and the list goes on (you can check out a lot of these interviews on our You Tube Channel here).

Although there were great disagreements in many of these interviews, none of them got out of hand ... except one. The founder of HipHopRepublicans.com took exception when I suggested that George Bush might have been late in responding to Hurricane Katrina. He said he was shocked that I would suggest that late response might have cost some people's lives.

He proceeded to knock my mike down and then hit our camera on his way out. He also got within inches of my face as he stood over me.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Bush Destroying the Environment on His Way Out
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Brave New Films on August 13, 2008 at 8:54 AM.

Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com.

And watch Cenk's new show: Meet the Bloggers.

White House Ordered CIA Forgeries to Wage Iraq War
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Brave New Films on August 6, 2008 at 7:43 AM.

Think Progress has the full story on Suskind's allegations.

Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com

And check out Cenk's new show: meetthebloggers.org

Obama Gets "the Idea" of America
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on July 25, 2008 at 8:32 AM.

Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com

For Obama's full speech in Berlin, click here.

And check out Cenk's new show, Meet the Bloggers.

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.

John McCain Calls Social Security an "Absolute Disgrace"
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on July 11, 2008 at 10:15 AM.

"Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace ..."

Uh, pretty sure most Americans understand the basic principles behind social security.

Two terrible economic blunders that make the McCain camp look out of touch in only one week. Are they going for some kind of record?

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by filmmakers are their own.

GOP Internal Memo: "No Republican Seat is Safe"
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 30, 2008 at 11:19 AM.

Cenk thinks that this recently leaked memo confirms that the GOP are preparing for a hurting this fall.

The memo reminds Republican candidates to "empathize with voters," and includes a statement from Karen Hanretty, communications director for the NRCC, that recommends Republicans running for House seats avoid association with the national GOP and do their best to keep the upcoming elections local.

John McCain Meets With Gay Republicans (In Secret, of Course)
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 27, 2008 at 11:30 AM.

The Gay Patriot, an online community for gay conservatives, reported that John McCain met with Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Sammon this week.

Sammon confirmed the meeting in an email yesterday, saying:

We’ve had a series of productive meetings with the campaign since Sen. McCain won the nomination—including a recent meeting with the Senator. We expect to have more conversations with the campaign as we head toward November.

Of course the meeting was not on McCain's public schedule. Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks Television sounds off.

Senator Russ Feingold on the New FISA Bill
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 26, 2008 at 1:55 PM.

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) talks with Cenk Uygar of The Young Turks about the new FISA bill, which he personally plans to filibuster.

Senator Feingold sits on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, making him a well informed voice against this disastrous attack on Americans' privacy.

Imus Defends Comments About "Pacman" Jones
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 25, 2008 at 10:30 AM.

On Monday, Don Imus' sportscaster, Warner Wolf, mentioned that football player Adam "Pacman" Jones has been arrested six times. Imus retorted, "What color is he?"

"African American," said Wolf.

"Well, there you go," said Imus. "Now we know."

Imus is now saying that he has been misunderstood. Was Imus making more racist comments, or do we buy his excuse?

More importantly, do we even care anymore?

Linguist and Political Powerhouse George Lakoff Talks About His Newest Book
Posted by Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks on June 23, 2008 at 2:28 PM.

George Lakoff, author of New York Times bestseller Don't Think of an Elephant discusses his latest work, The Political Mind, on The Young Turks.

The White Preacher Double Standard: How Hagee, Parsley and the Rest Get Away with Everything
Posted by Cenk Uygur, Huffington Post on March 19, 2008 at 12:03 PM.

Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.

Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers.

Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault. Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement.

Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great Whore." He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement.

Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" brought down from a "demon spirit." Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. Buts since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think.

John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his "spiritual guide."

What separates all of these outrageous preachers from Barack Obama's? You guessed it. They're white and Reverend Jeremiah Wright is not. If it's not racism that's causing the disparity in media treatment of these preachers, then what is it?

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

This Is Not a Christian Nation
Posted by Cenk Uygur on October 5, 2007 at 5:00 AM.

This post, written by Cenk Uygur, originally appeared on The Huffington Post

I am an American.

My name is not Jimmy Johnson, it is not Virgil Goode and it is not John McCain. But I am an American. No more, no less than any of these people.

My name is Cenk Uygur. And I am proud of it. It might sound a little different to your ear, but it doesn't make it any less American. That's the whole point of the country. If I wanted to live in a place where your race, ethnicity or religion mattered, there were plenty of other countries to choose from. I chose to be an American because I believed we were all equals in the eyes of the law.

Apparently, 42 United States Congressmen are not so sure. The House passed a resolution today celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The point of the resolution was to show that we are an open country and that a Muslim-American is equal to any other American. That we are all to be celebrated as Americans. Forty-two representatives couldn't get themselves to agree.

These Congressmen did not vote for the resolution, they voted "present" instead. Is this a silent protest? What are they protesting? Do they disagree that we should celebrate all of the cultures in the country? Do they disagree that we should have Muslims in the country at all?

One of them, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) has already said that on the record -- and refuses to apologize. He said we should have less Muslims in Congress and less Muslims in the country at all. His colleagues didn't see fit to correct him. Moveon takes out a newspaper ad questioning one general and Congress goes ballistic. A US Congressman says we should discriminate against a whole group of US citizens and not a peep.

When John McCain said he wanted a Christian president earlier in the week, I didn't pay much attention to it. I think we overemphasize gaffes on the campaign trail. I care how these people are going to lead the country, not how many errors they make while speaking 24/7 on the campaign trail.

By the way, how did a media so obsessed with verbal blunders decide that George W. Bush was the right man for the job - twice? We were told John Kerry misspoke too often. What a topsy-turvy world we live in.

So, I didn't want to get caught up in this game. At this point, I am unfortunately used to people deriding people of the Muslim faith in America anyway. It has become an ugly reality of our country. It's so common that it's taken for granted now.

A couple of days ago, Ann Coulter was on the Today show and she said the real problem with Senator McCain's comment was that he later said he would vote for a Muslim if he agreed with him. How dare he? Doesn't he realize that a patriotic American would never vote for a Muslim? They are the enemy. They are less than other Americans. They are not equal. This is a Christian nation!

You see, that's what bothers me. I am not a religious Muslim at all. In fact, I am agnostic. I don't participate in Ramadan. I don't need a resolution celebrating it. But once you bring it up for a vote, to purposely not vote for it is a clear sign. It is not a slip of the tongue or a miscommunication in the midst of a hectic campaign schedule. It is a deliberate act meant to send a message. And that's what I do care about. It is a sign that we are not welcome.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Karl Rove Is No Genius, He's a Failure
Posted by Cenk Uygur on August 14, 2007 at 5:00 AM.

This post, written by Cenk Uygur, originally appeared on The Huffington Post

In the end, Karl Rove was wrong. Dramatically wrong. Running to the base worked in the short term, but might have killed the Republican Party in the long term. If there is going to be any permanent majority, it's going to be the Democrats, not the Republicans.

And who do the Republicans have to thank for that? Karl Rove. When asked about Rove's departure, John Edwards said, "Goodbye, good riddance." He might as well have been speaking for the whole Republican Party.

A permanent 51% majority? That is an idea so devoid of logic, it is amazing that anyone ever took it seriously. Even if you believed its underlying premise - which you definitely shouldn't have - the smallest demographic shift would undermine this "brilliant" strategy. There is nothing permanent about 51% in politics.

Rove was always so optimistic about elections, including 2006. Part of the reason for this was because he knew the fix was in. He knew that his minions had worked hard to cage voters, to give less voting machines to heavily Democratic districts, contested minority voters and done every little dirty trick in the book. And to be fair, they also worked hard to turn out their Christian army of voters. The kind who don't question their candidates and vote like robots for anyone their pre-paid preacher tells them to.

So, Rove figured that Republicans would win any close election. But what he didn't figure on is non-close elections. And that if you drive hard enough toward your base, then you won't have any more close elections. He thought there would be no price to pay for appealing only to the most conservative, narrow-minded, theocratic, xenophobic and militaristic people in the country. He was wrong.

Thanks to Rove the Republicans have lost the middle. And they have lost it for a long time to come. This will do untold damage to the Republican Party. So, there is great irony that the man Democrats loved to hate will come to be known as the scourge of the Republican Party.

But Rove didn't just break the Republican Party. Rove also leaves behind a broken president, a broken army, a slew of broken laws and a broke country. He spent heavily in districts and programs that he thought would help Republicans. He spent up the good will of the US abroad and Republicans at home. He's like the unscrupulous captain of a sinking ship getting off the boat before it goes under and takes everyone else down with it.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

The surge just died
Posted by Cenk Uygur on April 3, 2007 at 3:42 PM.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has put the last piece of straw on the poor camel called Iraq. And its back is about to break. The keys to success in Iraq were never military strategies. Everyone knows this, well, except of course for George W. Bush. To be fair, even John McCain knows this -- and he hardly knows what planet he's on lately (he just came back from the planet where Iraq is a really safe place to shop).

Every week we have Michael Hirsh of Newsweek on the show. And every week he explains to us that even if the surge was going to work, it would take eight to ten...

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Why are you paying Karl Rove's salary?
Posted by Cenk Uygur on March 16, 2007 at 7:48 AM.

Karl Rove is in trouble now for being involved in the decision to fire US attorneys for political reasons. But, of course, he was involved. That's what his job is at the White House: politics.

What I don't understand is why the American taxpayer has to pay for a political operative to operate out of the White House. Of course, every president gets advice about policy and politics from his staff while he is in office. But Karl Rove doesn't do policy, he only does politics.

The White House made this very clear when they moved Rove out of policy positions before the 2006 elections so that he could focus on the 2006 campaign. So, why were we paying him to do that?

If the Republican Party wants to hire him as their consultant, that's one thing. But why should American taxpayers of all political persuasions pay for a consultant to sit inside the White House and try to engineer Republican victories?

And now we find out that part of that engineering involved pressuring Justice Department prosecutors to launch investigations of Democrats and/or stop investigations of Republicans. If they didn't, there would be consequences. And there were.

The Republicans lost the elections. Exactly one month later, seven of those prosecutors were fired. They're not strong on subtlety in the Bush administration.

Isn't this a thousand miles over the line? I think it's pretty clearly over the line that he is being paid by the government to work for the Republicans. But when he plays with the Justice Department to carry out his political plots and plans, he's gone way too far.

I think that Alberto Gonzales is going to step down soon. I explain why here. But the short answer is because this scandal has now touched Rove and by extension - and admission - the president.

But even if Gonzales does step down, that doesn't explain why Rove should continue to be paid by the taxpayers to hatch his political plots inside the White House - and use government agencies for those purposes. There's no excuse for it. Rove must go.