The New Progressive Think Tank

Most of the time, when we hear about "think tanks" in the news, they're groups funded by and working for the conservative side of the political spectrum. Now Progressives have a new think tank to work on promoting their issues. The Center for American Progress has opened a new website at http://www.centerforamericanprogress.org, and describes themselves as "Dedicated to a strong, secure and prosperous America that expands opportunities, extends our freedoms and ensures fairness." Not a bad goal.

There's not a whole lot of information available at the site yet, but I looks like they're working to change that quickly. They already have some interesting stuff posted, including a response to the Rumsfeld memo that was leaked recently, and a "Claim/Fact" sheet for President Bush's 10/28 Press Conference.

Their "Memo to Don" takes a stab at answering some of the qustions Rumsfeld posed in his memo, using fairly well sharpened barbs:

Q: Does the U.S. need to fashion a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists?

A: On seeing this question, we phoned your office to make sure the date of the memo (October 16, 2003) was correct. Your briefings and Administration statements over the past two years had led us to believe that you had thought through the war on terrorism before you launched it.

We were further puzzled that you are asking this question now, considering that you and the members of the Project for a New American Century built the case for war with Iraq in 1997, six years prior to the first strike on Baghdad.

In response to your question, the answer is yes: we need a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists. We believe, however, that this war must be waged on multiple fronts and that we must move beyond preemptive military strikes to address issues that go far beyond the normal purview of DoD. We are preparing a more extensive memo covering these issues.

The second link in that excerpt goes to the website of the New American Strategies conference, put together by the Center for American Progress, The American Prospect and The Century Foundation and held just this week in Washington DC.

Their semi-Fisking of the President's press conference provides quotes from the conference, followed by quotes from other statements, news stories or relevent documents showing that what Bush said wasn't true:

CLAIM: “The world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership.” [Source: President Bush, 10/28/03]

FACT: According to Amnesty International’s 2003 annual report “The world has become more dangerous, and governments more repressive, since the effort to fight terrorism began after the 9/11, attacks on the United States.” For the U.S. specifically, “Since March, 353 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, including 229 in hostile fire.” [Source: NY Times, 5/29/03 and CNN, 10/28/03]

and

CLAIM: “So I’ve proposed additional measures to keep the economy on the path to greater job creation…by making permanent the tax cuts that have helped our economy.” [Source: President Bush, 10/28/03]

FACT: Since first Bush tax cut took effect in June 2001, the U.S. economy has lost 2.75 million jobs – the unemployment rate has risen from 4.4% to 6.1%. Since the second Bush tax cut took effect in May 2003, the economy has shed 124,000 more jobs. [Source: BLS]

As with any other group, I doubt I'll always agree with everything they say or do, but what they've got so far looks impressive, and I think they may have a chance to actually have some influence on - at the very least - public perceptions and debates, which can go a long ways to making actual changes in how this country is run.

Posted by thorswitch at October 30, 2003 10:44 AM | TrackBack