Eric Alterman

“Bringing democratic control to the conduct of foreign policy requires a struggle merely to force the issue onto the public agenda.”

“Philosophers and theologians have argued for centuries over the morality of targeted assassinations - a technique that the Israelis use with some frequency - without ever reaching anything approaching consensus.”

“Most of the provisions designed to fix what ails our health system don't kick in until 2014, which, one wishes administration officials had noticed, is two years after he has to win an election.”

“Much of what Tea Party candidates claimed about the world and the global economy during the 2010 elections would have earned their adherents a well-deserved F in any freshman economics (or earth science) class.”

“For the past eight years, the right has been better at working the refs. Now the left is learning how to play the game.”

“Trends in circulation and advertising - the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and unresponsive; the advent of Craigslist, which is wiping out classified advertising-have created a palpable sense of doom.”

“Few progressives would take issue with the argument that, significant accomplishments notwithstanding, the Obama presidency has been a big disappointment.”

“As with almost every significant aspect of the Bush presidency, its handling of 9/11 was a catastrophe from start to finish.”

“We live in a media world simultaneously obsessed with technology and personality.”

“The myth of the liberal media empowers conservatives to control debate in the United States to the point where liberals cannot even hope for a fair shake anymore.”

“While history never repeats itself, political patterns do.”

“Liberals do not appear to address potential solutions with anything like the far right's aura of God-given self-confidence.”

“Liberals believe that they can't get a fair shake from the media anymore.”

“Whether people care enough about local news to pay for it is, sadly, an entirely different question than whether our democracy requires a strong watchdog function at the local level to ensure safeguards against abuse, chicanery, and outright dishonesty.”

“As a parent and a citizen, I'll take a Bill Gates (or Warren Buffett) over Steve Jobs every time. If we must have billionaires, better they should ignore Jobs's example and instead embrace the morality and wisdom of the great industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.”

“Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and, in some cases, their sense of mission at a pace that would have been barely imaginable just four years ago.”

“Certainly there are worse sins than doing everything possible to make your presidency matter.”

“Warren Buffett pays taxes on a smaller percentage of his billions in income than his cleaning lady.”

“The Economist is undoubtedly the smartest weekly newsmagazine in the English language. I always look forward to its quirky year-end double issue.”

“Fox News is nothing if not impressive. No matter how harsh the criticism it endures, the network somehow always manages to prove itself even worse than we had previously imagined.”