Ruth Conniff

Ruth Conniff is the Political Editor of the Progressive Magazine. A native of Madison, WIsconsin, she first joined the magazine when she was hired as a summer intern by the late Erwin Knoll after her sophomore year at Yale. Shortly after graduating from college in 1990, she came to work as Associate Editor for the Progressive, becoming Washington Editor and opening the Progressive's Washington, DC, office in 1997. During the 1990s, Conniff covered welfare reform in Wisconsin and around the country, as well as the drug war in Colombia, and other topics, including women's sports (an avid runner, Conniff coached her old high school track and cross-country teams at Madison East High School for many years).
In Washington, Conniff became a regular on TV pundit shows on CNN, Fox News, and PBS. She still appears frequently on PBS's To The Contrary and on the Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC.
Conniff was the recipient of an "Editor's Choice" award from Madison Magazine for her coverage of the Wisconsin Uprising in 2011. Her Progressive Magazine feature story on school privatization is a chapter in the book "It Happened in Wisconsin" recently published by Verso.
Today Conniff lives in Madison with her husband and three daughters, who marched on the Capitol with their teachers from the Madison Public Schools.
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Halliburton's Immigrant Detention Centers »

Halliburton's Immigrant Detention Centers
By Ruth Conniff, April 17, 2006

They ought to raise a red flag, not just about nepotism and waste among military contractors, but about what our government has in store for us.read more

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Immigrants Show Their Strength »

Immigrants Show Their Strength
By Ruth Conniff, April 10, 2006

How could it be that this major force was so overlooked?read more

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The South Dakota Turning Point »

The South Dakota Turning Point
By Ruth Conniff, April 3, 2006

The extremism of the South Dakota law throws into relief the difference between policies that strike people as sensible advice and the true purpose of laws.read more

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Dems Can't Win Standing Still »

Dems Can't Win Standing Still
By Ruth Conniff, March 29, 2006

Sooner or later, they've got to take a position on Iraq, if they want to benefit from anti-war sentiment. They’ve got to take a position on NSA spying and on political corruption. Muted lip service isn't going to do it.read more

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Stop Feeding the Work Monster »

Stop Feeding the Work Monster
By Ruth Conniff, March 22, 2006

If we don't start making social policy that protects us from the business-uber-alles monster, we're going to find every noncash value in our lives subsumed. Family? Leisure? Art? Intellectual pursuits? Hobbies? Cooking? Health? Time with friends? Forget about it.read more

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Government Flubs War on Terror »

Government Flubs War on Terror
By Ruth Conniff, March 13, 2006

U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema is disgusted with the federal government's handling of the death-penalty case against Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.read more

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Ruth Conniff: Hope Is in the States »

Hope Is in the States
By Ruth Conniff, March 2006

Ruth Conniff cheers on a groundswell of activity in the states.read more

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Wanted: A Democratic Plan »

Wanted: A Democratic Plan
By Ruth Conniff, March 6, 2006

Heck, it would take about five minutes to draft a Democratic version of Gingrich's Contract with America.read more

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Fat Tuesday for Disaster Profiteers »

Fat Tuesday for Disaster Profiteers
By Ruth Conniff, February 27, 2006

The Bush Administration seems to be applying the same wasteful, crony-capitalist model in both Iraq and New Orleans.read more

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Taking On the Chickenhawks »

Taking On the Chickenhawks
By Ruth Conniff, February 20, 2006

The public understands the sacrifice gap between the troops and the Administration that got us into the mess in Iraq.read more

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Fundamentalism's bait-and-switch »

Fundamentalism's bait-and-switch
By Ruth Conniff, February 13, 2006

Talking about the evils of the United States and Israel is really “God, Guns, and Gays,” Islamic-style.read more

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Gonzales says "Just Trust Us" »

Gonzales says "Just Trust Us"
By Ruth Conniff, February 7, 2006

The overall impression he gave during the hearings was of a man waving away gnats.read more

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The Alito "Rope-a-Dope" »

The Alito "Rope-a-Dope"
By Ruth Conniff, January 31, 2006

The Alito post-mortem should help clarify where the Democrats can improve their tactics in opposing this Administration, and, hopefully, in time for the 2006 elections, get themselves off the ropes.read more

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Hope Is in the States »

Hope Is in the States
By Ruth Conniff, January 23, 2006

Discouraging as national politics seems at the moment, there is a groundswell of activity at the state level that ought to give progressives some cheer.read more

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Looking for Hope »

Looking for Hope
By Ruth Conniff, January 17, 2006

Progressive activists cannot look to the courts to defend individual rights against ingrained prejudice or intrusive government power.read more

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