Third Way Dispatch

It really must be the 21st century, because at last we have in our hands the first-of-its kind vaccine against cancer. But at times it seems like the political debate over the vaccine – yes, there is actually a DEBATE over a cancer vaccine – is rooted firmly in centuries past.

On March 6th, Assistant Majority Leader in the Senate, Dick Durbin, joined Third Way co-chairs Senator Evan Bayh and Senator Tom Carper in releasing a new Third Way report, Beyond Bush: A New Strategy of Constriction to Defeat al Qaeda and its Allies.

“This report puts the emphasis of US national security back where it belongs, on Al Qaeda,” Senator Durbin said. “How you define a problem dictates the policy response.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Before they start popping the champagne corks over on Waples Mill Road, Wayne LaPierre and his fellow couch potatoes at the NRA better carefully read the DC Circuit’s decision striking down the District of Columbia’s gun ban. You see, the NRA has been fighting hammer and tongs to overturn the DC ban on handguns. As a resident of the 4th Ward of DC – yes, right near the infamous Walter Reed outpatient clinic, which actually looks worse in person than on TV – let me express my gratitude for the NRA’s sincere concerns about my freedoms.

When was the last time you heard the word “faggot”? For me – at least until this weekend – I think it must have been about 25 years ago, listening to some mean kid on the playground rant at a classmate. It was offensive and preposterous at the time, and that was when it was coming from the mouth of a 13-year old punk.

Helping progressive leaders develop effective middle class policy and messaging is a consuming passion for us at Third Way.

That’s why we are thrilled by the recent introduction of a middle-class tax relief package by Senator Charles Schumer and six freshmen Senators called the Middle Class Opportunity Act of 2007. The bill is based on proposals developed at Third Way.

Last week, Russia’s President started a speech to an international security conference in Munich by noting that “this conference’s structure allows me to avoid excessive politeness.”

Or any politeness at all, apparently. Even Donald “Old Europe” Rumsfeld would have been impressed with Putin’s blunt and rude assessment of supposed US flaws.