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History During the first George W. Bush administration, the blog frequently discussed foreign policy and was especially critical of administration policy towards Iraq and North Korea. After the 2004 election, posts began to focus on the Bush administration's proposal to privatize Social Security. Bush and other Republicans eventually abandoned the term "privatization," referring instead to "personal accounts" or Social Security "reform." Marshall continued to refer to Bush's proposals as "privatization" or "phase-out" of Social Security. In addition to criticizing the substance of the proposals, Marshall argued that a unified front in the Democratic Party would deny Republicans political cover and force a loss for them on the Social Security issue. Talking Points Memo closely tracked the positions of members of Congress on the issue throughout 2005. It asked readers to monitor local media for comments from their own members of congress, and public categories were created for politicians on this issue: wavering Democrats were the "Faint-hearted Faction" and Republicans who doubted the President's plan were the "Conscience Caucus." Marshall also coined the term "Bamboozlepalooza", in reference to President Bush's 60-day (it was extended) tour promoting social security privatization. These terms have since gained use amongst the wider liberal blogging community. Other terms that Marshall has coined while criticizing the Bush administration include "Up-is-downism" and "Mumbojumbocrats." Guest bloggers have included Matthew Yglesias, Michael Crowley, and, briefly, Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards. There have also recently been one or two days of posts at a time by an annonymous blogger DK. The blog also employs a managing editor and two interns. Related projects A "spin-off" blog also created by Josh Marshall is a companion website called TPMCafe, which debuted on May 31, 2005. This site features a collection of blogs about a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues written by academics, journalists and former public officials among others. Marshall recently expanded his operation to a new blog, called TPMmuckraker, where journalists working for the TPM collective, such as Paul Kiel, investigate political corruption. The three blogs (Talking Points Memo, TPMCafe and TPMmuckracker) are published by TPM Media LLC.* | ||||||||||
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