http://tonyspoliticalworld.blogspot.com/
After the ABC debate, it has become apparent that the slander machine of tabloid journalism is out and about. Things such as developing new energy policies to resolve things like the shortage of oil, the new century's key fuels, and how to provide better, cleaner and cheaper energy; new education policies that will ensure the next generation of Americans gets a better not worse education; economic policies that Robert Reich has endorsed as making more sense than Hillary's in terms of dealing with all of the economic problems arising from huge debt, trade deficits, demographic economic problems including Social Security, and so on, seem to have taken a back burner to blog rumors and innuendo for what is important to voters in the minds of the media.
While I still hold to my guns that this is nothing more than trying to hold the attention of the American public for cheap ratings and make the election last as long as possible without a normal "lull" in between the primaries and the conventions, it is clear that some things that people may have forgotten about and that we don't mention much because they just aren't as important to us as issues, policy changes, and motivation that will make our lives better, probably should be brought forward to remind us what the other side of the coin is.
Things to remember in the comparison between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama:
-Barack Obama has finally made millionaire status earning $4 million last year for the first time. Hillary and Bill Clinton have made over $100 million in the last 7 years, and John McCain married his heiress of about $100 million, but somehow Barack Obama is the "elitist"?
-Clinton "Pardons for Votes": Time Magazine in 2001 wrote about several pardons, and while Marc Rich was the most covered pardon, two other alterations stood out. One to four Hasidic Jewish men convicted of stealing millions in federal dollars received clemency from President Clinton, while their traditionally Republican neighborhood suddenly shifted in voting for Hillary in a statistical anomoly that is still unexplained in 2000's NY Senate Race. Another found in the WSJ in 2008 details the commutations of 16 convicted FALN terrorists for a "a positive impact among strategic communities" or votes. Are those American values?
-Trade and Trust: Hillary Clinton told us she was against NAFTA before she came out for NAFTA publicly before she came out against NAFTA when running for President before her husband made $800k for the family on Columbian Free Trade and her Chief Strategist made $300k on Columbian Free Trade. While the flip flop is obvious, it begs the question: IF she was against NAFTA when she came out publicly for it, how can we possibly trust anything she says publicly? Is she really against health care while speaking publicly for it? How do we know?
I don't want to get into a smear campaign against Hillary Clinton, but if she chooses to try to pull more Drudge leaked pictures designed to play on the leaked e-mails proclaiming Barack Obama is some how a Muslim enemy of the US (all lies); if she chooses to play on taking speeches out of context to distort their meanings and distort associations as something other than they are (As if 8 year old Barack Obama was committing acts of violence with Mr. Ayers and a 5 year old paper on wanting to be President someday were signs of some grand conspiracy of destiny for a black child of poor upbringings with a name like Barack Obama), then the least we can do is point out the truthes of her history.
And these few things are just the surface, but are clearly underdiscussed in the media if they want "scandal". Clearly, it is because they are trying to keep the race going and they know these things would kill Mrs. Clinton's campaign in a heartbeat. Do you really think that the Republicans will hold these things back in November? Does anyone really think they will limit it to fantasy tales of sniper fire in Bosnia considering what they did to Al Gore over a little girl standing up in a classroom story in a debate?
The ONLY chance we have in 2008 is to change the tone, to change the focus to issues, to change the politics, and to focus on policies and things that matter to our every day lives far more than the soap opera of tabloid journalism that the media is using for this primary.
I want a better education for my children.
I want a better energy policy to solve the oil shortfall of the next 20 years.
I want health care that I can afford for my family.
I want a foreign policy that is thought out, not simply an emotional revenge strategy for an attempted assassination of someone's daddy.
I want an answer to the debt that is dragging down our economy and the value of our currency.
I want security at home that protects both me and my rights.
I want Social Security that will be there for both me and my children.
I want a President I can believe in as something other than a power hungry liar.
I want a future that is better than our past for my children.
I want a President I can be proud of who isn't sucking up to me one day, while having 50 lobbyists on their campaign, or planning how to make the next $100 million when they leave based on the decisions they made when they were there.
I want an America I can be proud of Again.
It is clear that the media is twisting words and playing stories that are designed to bring in ratings and prolong the horse race. They didn't care about telling the news as it happens. If they did, the questions of Reverand Wright would have been out months and months ago rather than only when they hit a dry news cycle with Obama clearly in the lead. If they did, they would have told the story about the Sniper lie of Hillary long ago rather than when people were not paying attention to Pennsylvania in a six week lull.
That is the whole point of their coverage: keep people watching the drama, the conflict and if there isn't conflict and drama, create some. That is why today, MSNBC's coverage had "Obama's response" as him repeating McCain and Clinton's comments and not his actual response to them, while it had "Hillary's response" was talking about how Obama's remarks were elitist and were typical of government not listening to the people and telling the people what they wanted to hear for the last 7 years. What made it brutal to listen to is that Hillary's point is what Obama's point was in the original comments!!
The media is willing to twist and turn things to keep the race going. And they are doing it without much protest by anyone it seems. That has to change. If we want a media that is fair and accurate, not a right wing hack or corporate hack looking for ratings not news, then we have to demand it. That is one thing we have learned from this campaign, we can't expect people to do it, we have to do it ourselves. We must take responsibility for what we have by demanding what we want and making them responsive to us.
That means Obama supporters need to demand that the media stop spinning the news and actually start reporting it. We need to demand they stop making conflict where there is no conflict and start portraying the news accurately. We need them to stop playing manipulated soundbyte politics and the horse race coverage of trying to manipulate an election.
What needs to be done?
First, take one media blog, CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, Washington Post, etc., and post on it daily demanding fair coverage. I would say given Fox's audience, it is probably not likely to have any impact and be a waste of time.
Second, write an email or letter to each media outlet you see and demand more accurate coverage or else you will find your news elsewhere. The bottom line is they want you to watch and if you don't watch and protest en mass, they will have to alter behaviors.
Third, post accurately in online blogs all over the internet that you happen to spend time on. Use the "know the facts" section to get accurate information and transcripts to post full comments in context.
Finally, go beyond the internet and the media. Our campaign has long been about building networks and relationships between us and other voters. It has long since been about personal one on one dialogue. And that is the best way to end the lies. As you discuss the election with people, share the truth with them and invite them to read full transcripts not just one line. Invite them to look at the full videos, not a short snip. Invite them to listen to the full speech in context.
And remind them, it is our time to change the way politics is done. And that means an end to soundbyte politics, an end to horse race news coverage, and a real dialogue, a real issues focus, a real developed discussion on how to help Americans instead of giving lip service while stuffing our pockets with $100 million in 7 years or our friend's pockets with "emergency contracts" in a "time of war".
We can make the difference. You can make the difference.
Yes We Can!
I have tried to focus largely on Barack Obama because I think that focusing on him means that we focus on the ideas, the hope, the change, the discussion of issues that have been neglected or treated shallowly for the last few decades. However, my Sunday television had me watching Meet the Press with a panel of two Republican and two Democratic strategists.
During that discussion, James Carville said something that seemed rather strange to me but really it was quite telling. He was talking about how Bill Clinton had told him that when they talk about issues and their opponents, they win, but when they talk about themselves, they lose. And that struck me. Hillary Clinton, when she is the person we are talking about, loses ground as fast as anyone else. But when we are talking about Barack, she loses ground slower or has small spikes up.
I think that inevitably she loses because Senator Obama is just a far better candidate. But one has to wonder why she doesn't want the public dialogue to be about her candidacy. The answer becomes so obvious: Focus on the other person and how they are bad, and just let voters assume you are the answer. More known as traditional negative politics.
It is what we are trying to leave behind. However, it is important to note one key part of the Clinton history: They will do and say anything to win.
I realize that seems a little over the top. However, we have already seen her distort the words of Barack over and over, as well as his past. We have also heard the lies of sniper fire in Bosnia that we now know never happened. We have heard lies to try to explain them away by Bill Clinton.
We have heard Hillary indicate she was against NAFTA before she was for NAFTA before she was against NAFTA. We have also heard her say she and her campaign were against the Columbia Free Trade Agreement, while Bill Clinton made $800,000 off of it for her and her Chief Campaign Strategist made $300,000 promoting it.
We have read the Time Magazine article in 2001 of Bill Clinton commuting the sentences of Puerto Rican terrorists resulting in a community voting overwhelmingly for Hillary's Senate Campaign when they have traditionally voted heavily Republican inspite of them never asking for or applying for such a commutation or showing any remorse for their acts. We have read of the pardoning of some Orthadox Jewish people resulting in that community voting almost unanimously for Hillary in New York City. Both of such statistically significant differences than normal voting trends as to catch the eye of the Department of Justice.
It is no wonder that she wants to twist Barack's words and call him an "elitist", ironically just after it is reported she and Bill have made more than $100 million in the 7 years since he left the White House. Just who is the elitist there?
Hillary is playing those old political games to shift the focus from her past as she failed in reforming Health Care. Hillary is trying to divert from her record where 15 of her first 20 bills past in her first term as NY Senator were renaming things, and the other 5 were made up of things like "more money for NY in the wake of 9/11" which must have been horribly difficult to pass after 9/11. She is trying to divert from the fact she is, by far, the most polarizing figure in this race and the most Bush-like in her political tactics.
We need to stay focused on our positive message, but when someone echos Hillary's comments, we need to answer decisively with "you mean the woman who would say or do anything to win an election? Was that between her dodging sniper fire and her spending the $800,000 Bill profited in the Columbia Trade Agreement?" It may also be simply better to answer, "Isn't that the same politics that they used for the last two administrations where they came out here and told you everything would be okay, which turned out to be empty promises? We can do better than that, don't you think?"
We can change this election and our nation for the better. It is the old politics of distraction and distortion that Hillary is playing. I am proud of how Barack is handling it and we should do the same: stay focused on the message. But don't be afraid to throw an elbow every once in a while.
I am reminded of an old story that I don't know if it is true or not about Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics. His coach kept trying to get him to be more physical and throw an elbow and Bill refused. Finally, he told Bill, "just throw an elbow once. Make it on television in a big game against a big player and you will never have to throw one again." I think we and Barack might want to take that advice. Throw one and throw it big to show that Ms. Clinton will say and do anything to win an election and permanently undermine her credibility.
It is time to end this primary and take on John McCain.
I read and heard Barack Obama's recent remarks that are all over the news. They are being portrayed as calling people "bitter" and have been called elitist and demeaning. I didn't get that impression when I first read them, so I went back and read them. Then I watched a youtube of it. I still didn't get that impression. And while Barack said he regrets if anyone was offended, the media is taking that as he "regrets the remarks" which isn't true at all. I think they are afraid of the horse race ending leaving them with a few months without controversy.
I thought about this today and thought to myself: "Look at the comments. They are a critique on the politics of the last 30 years of politicians lying to people for votes. Hold on." And it hit me. Barack Obama should shift strategy and say "if you want to talk about these comments, then let's talk about them. Let's do it in an honest and focused way." He should then speak about nothing else but them for the next two weeks.
Why would you say that Tony? They are controversial.
After reading them, the only thing that is controversial is that a politician would dare to be honest with people. We have been pushing for Barack and pushing for change, but that change isn't really about health care or economics or the war. Haven't you all had the same impression when talking to people? You say, "it's new, it's different" and they say "it's the same policies almost as Hillary, it is the same ideas as we have seen. How is it different?" And you say "listen, you will see."
What is different, what we are fighting for is NOT some dramatically new revolutionary policy that hasn't been talked about in all of human history. What we are fighting for is NOT some lofty aspirations of pie in the sky idealism.
What we are fighting for is for American citizens to rejoin the conversation about how our country will be run.
Let me say that again because it is important.
We want an honest discussion, not simply to be lied and pandered to as the past few decades of people telling us "your jobs will return" and we wait while more go overseas.
We want an honest discussion, not simply to be led by the nose or hearded by pundit dogs like sheep into the slaughter of war.
We want an honest discussion, not simply to be given empty promises of grandeur to be sold out to the highest bidding lobbyist.
So I say Barack Obama should focus on these comments for the next two weeks. And he should focus on the politics of old, the pandering, the elitism, the false trust, the deceptions, and he should explain that what the change and hope he is offering isn't even new or revolutionary, but rather it is simply reclaiming that which our founding fathers promised us as citizens: An Honest Voice in our Nation, the American Nation.
For many of us, today was our first Democratic County Convention in Denton County and it was interesting. Let me say thank you to so many people like Amy Manuel and many others who put in great effort for the county convention. While we can all agree it was long, it got done and we have a result.
Denton County went for Obama 94-48 according to http://burntorangereport.com. Almost a 2-1 margin after we had a 58% primary win. Something that we can all be proud of. It looks like the caucus results are holding up pretty well across the state and maybe expanding. On election night, CNN had Obama with 56% of the caucus delegates. With over 50% of the counts in, burntorangereport.com has has Obama at 59%.
Some of the differences may have turned out to be things like the splitting of Clinton delegate votes in delegate voting which, for example, in my precinct got 2 Obama delegates when it probably should have ended up 1-1.
Having said that, I think what we saw today was a real missed opportunity for the Denton County Democrats. Why? The state hands the Denton County Democrats a total budget of about $17,000 a year. With 1,600+ delegates alone, if they had raised an average of $10 per delegate, they could have doubled their budget. Had they set up speeches to rev up the crowd, to motivate the crowd and bring up the energy, they could have built on a base.
Let me illustrate the missed opportunity. I admit slacking and showed up around 9:30am and got in a relatively short line to register thanks to the rest of you that got there early. While I was in line for my precinct, I noticed something. In the back corner, after the food, and where there was no reason to go near it, was a few candidates sitting there either alone or with literature or talking to one person they were comfortable with.
I paused and looked around. There were probably 2-300 people still registering doing nothing else in line but waiting. There were probably 1,500 people sitting down doing nothing but chatting before anything started. There were almost 2,000 easy votes and contacts, divided up by precinct, waiting for candidates to talk to them. And the candidates were either standing near the stage or sitting in a corner watching.
I thought to myself, "gee, if these candidates had taken the time to talk to the Clinton and Obama people leading each precinct, just how much easier might their november ground game and fundraising have been? Just how many contacts, email lists, phone lists, and how much information could have been found out with minimal work of a single day? How much organizing could have been shortcutted if they were walking around making contacts instead of staying isolated?"
It made me wonder if they realized that the single greatest factor determining a voter's vote is whether they have met the candidate personally. If they have met one and not met the other, they will have a far greater chance they will vote for the candidate they met.
I also got to listen to several candidates give speeches. And in fairness, some of them I have actually coached in their speaking once or twice. But I have to say, I wonder if they understand the purpose of a convention speech. They gave speeches that belonged at the local 4H Club or some other formal dinner. This was a convention. The purpose of a convention is multifold with the delegate selection being vital. But a second major purpose is to motivate the electorate and rally the troops.
Maybe it was just me, but I heard almost nothing motivating about the speeches given. (Edra Bogle may be the one exception, but I don't know if that was her intention). They were basic stump speeches but they really didn't say "hey, you are excited about Hillary and Obama, but you should be excited about me too!"
I realize that we all get caught up in sexy national politics because it is covered on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News, however, local politics probably matter more in our lives than national politics. Sure, the federal government sets FICA and Federal Tax rates, but they don't deal with our sewer systems, they don't deal with our trash systems, they don't deal with our sales tax, they don't deal with our basic road systems, they don't deal with our local police and fire departments, they don't deal with our local power supply, or zoning laws, and much, much more. It shouldn't be that hard to say, "hey, vote for me. Hillary and Barack are sexier, but I can have more impact on your life than they can."
Overall, the Denton Democratic Party did the basics relatively well. At the end of the day, they got the delegates in and apparently got them right (I say apparently because Hillary's camp will probably give legal advice to sue Denton because she got fewer delegates), but they missed a real opportunity. A HUGE opportunity.
So I am going to strongly suggest joining up with the Denton County Democrats for those who are Democrats here at http://www.dentondemocrats.org/. We can use their resources and set up to integrate them into our work for November to try to get the big turnouts of ours and the Hillary supporters. Join up and let's support our candidates and turn Denton County to a Democratic ticket in November and let's do the unthinkable: Let's work to deliver Texas for Obama in November in a shocking upset. Let's not wait until we have 5 weeks to get started.
Keep calling Pennsylvania and the other states, but let's keep building contacts and networks for an Obama November in Texas.
I don't know all of the specific precincts, but here is what I saw:
1. About 80 minutes of voting lines after 7pm with a very efficient judge.
2. Caucus lines wrapped around the building on both sides. Over 1000 caucus goers forced us to organize outside before we could get things set up inside.
3. 404 Went 19-12 Obama over Hillary and was probably the closest of the 5 precincts there. We were probably the smallest precinct at 180 caucus goers, which I hear is astounding since most caucuses have 2-5 max in this precinct historically.
4. Be ready for calls asking for alternates. We just got to 19 delegates staying around to that point as many signed and voiced support on both sides and left because it was too huge.
5. Tiffany ran a great operation with Amy across the street from her home, we had people at the proper distance outnumbering the Hillary people 3-1 or greater and had people canvassing during the day to get people back out to the caucus.
I know I got named "leader" but omg, the work all of you did just astounded me. The stories I have heard from our Lake Dallas group that they had a line 3-5 BLOCKS LONG and didn't get to start caucusing until 11pm shows just how great they did. I have heard similar stories all throughout Denton County. The UNT people turned out strong too. Thank you all.
Let's have others report their results, so we can hear first hand!!
Hello everyone. I have been out of the loop kind of for a few days because I have been busily working long hours (anyone got a good job for me?). I noticed an email from someone feeling out of the loop so I thought I would make some quick comments.
1) The work done has been amazing. Texas has turned over 20 points in the polls in about 2 weeks thanks to the work we and many others like us have done. But polls are meaningless as New Hampshire showed. We need turnout!! We need votes!! So go to the polls and vote if you haven't, and take everyone with you that you can drag there.
2) Make sure someone in your precinct is checking the polling place at 7am to make sure it opens. If you don't know of anyone doing it, take the initiative and show up. If it doesn't open, call Kristin Dore IMMEDIATELY.
3) If you are organized in your precinct, you know your rolls. Make sure someone is at the polls, make sure signs are up APPROPRIATELY!! Keep people outside to talk to voters who would like to talk and that we observe events to make sure nothing "hokey" happens. Let's make sure we have people out in force, especially at peak voting hours in the early morning, in the after noon, and after 4pm until the polls close. You may not know you sway votes because they may not tell you, but you will.
4) If you can't stay outside, or there are already people outside, hit the call list and call people. Either through the precinct captain website or the Obama website, get a list and start calling. Call your friends, your family, and so on.
5) When you see people at your precinct with Obama stuff, talk to them and find out where to meet, and ask what the plans are. If you don't have any, make some.
6) MAKE SURE you show up by 645pm at the latest for caucusing. It won't start until after 7pm, but in some precincts, being there first will matter and some could try to manipulate things if we aren't there.
7) Show up at The Abbey Inn at 101 W. Hickory in Downtown Denton to watch results come in. I expect people to start showing up around 8pm or so. RSVP if you haven't on the events portion of the Denton for Obama group so we can tell them what to expect.
Tomorrow, it will be cold and icy in the morning. Be CAREFUL, dress WARMLY, bring COFFEE or something warm to drink. Be FRIENDLY and HELPFUL to anyone who asks. Do NOT get ugly or baited into name calling or anything. Stand proudly for the quality campaign we have run. I am proud of the work we have done here. As a group, we have grown from 20 to 200 or more, we have worked hard and tomorrow it will pay off.
REMEMBER: LEARN FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE!! We have the poll numbers, but they mean NOTHING unless we follow through to voting and caucusing results!!! Every person matters. Every vote and caucus goer counts!! Every person who shows up for Barack tomorrow is saying "I reject the old politics of lies, deceptions, name calling, and negative campaigning! I stand for a good tough campaign about issues, change and hope!"
We have done a lot. There is only a little more to go. We can do it!
YES WE CAN!
SI SE PUEDE!
Tony
Ok, I caught this on another blog today:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Clinton_campaign_wont_investigate_who_sent_0225.htmlFrom Raw story, the Clinton campaign says Drudge broke it. And followed with prove we did it rhetoric. So I started to wonder, Hillary is getting pretty scared and it is becoming more and more obvious. So I looked on google for a link and here is what I found:
Link "Five current and former Democratic officials said Mrs. Clinton has on her side the closest thing her party has ever had to Mr. Rhoades in Tracy Sefl, a former Democratic National Committee official, who has established a friendly working relationship with Mr. Drudge — and through whom Mrs. Clinton’s campaign often worked quietly to open a line of communication. That effort has helped to mix some positive stories in with the negative fare about Mrs. Clinton that Mr. Drudge still serves up regularly, they said, though Ms. Sefl’s fingerprints are usually impossible to spot." And to illustrate how Hillary has become so Bush-like: "Through that system, Mr. Bush’s aides funneled embarrassing tidbits about Mr. Kerry in which mainstream news reporters had initially shown less interest. From time to time, those former aides said, an item’s appearance on Drudge would drive it into mainstream news coverage: A video clip of Mr. Kerry contradicting himself, or a photograph of him wearing a protective germ outfit. “It’s the stuff that speaks to the absurdity of politics, and it’s done with devastating effect,” a former Bush campaign aide said." Gee, I wonder how Drudge got that and why he got that at this particular time?
It is time for a change. I opposed Bush not just because I didn't like Iraq or because I thought his economic policies were disasterous. I opposed him for his backroom deals and complete lack of ethics and integrity.
If you want to create a real change, you cannot do it by acting like Bush and saying "but I am different" because you aren't. Sure, some policies may change, but if I can't believe that Hillary treats politics any different than President Bush, why should I believe her promises of change any more than President Bush?
The reality is, I can't. And the fact she is doing this at her darkest hour is very telling about who she is.
We need a change. Not just in terms of policy. Not just in terms of change. But in terms of changing how we do business. Changing how we run campaigns. Changing the focus from dirty backroom political backchannels with hopes of plausible deniability.
We need change like Barack Obama that is willing to stand up and say "I believe this even if you don't." We need change like Barack Obama that is willing to say "we can have real and honest policy disagreements, and we can talk about them like adults, not elementary school children". We need change that is willing to say "I did this and here is why I believe it is right" as Barack did about driver's licenses and the mailer to Ohio residents instead of hiding behind "prove we did it".
We need change that is willing to be responsible and held accountable.
We need President Barack Obama.
Ok, my father sent me an email asking me to answer why I like Barack for a friend of his. I replied and sent him the answer for his friend, and he suggested I blog it. So I will share it with you. Personal information about dad, or the friend is removed at their request. Feel free to redistribute this if you like, with a link to my blog on www.barackobama.com please.
Dad asked me to respond to your questions about Barack a little and I know he has a list to send to you that snapshots his views on some issues, so I won't go there. I really am not sure of your specific areas of interest so it is hard for me to pinpoint them. My suggestion is to look at www.barackobama.com and you can find under "learn" and "Know the facts" his refutations of all of those claims like the Muslim claim and so forth. It really says something to me when I see the GOP distortion machine out so early and so hard on things that have no grains of truth or any relevance to issues about how scared they are of him and having to campaign against him. There is an interesting story on that, but more later. As for his positions and issues, they are largely listed there on Issues for you to read as you wish or desire. But to more directly answer your question, I am just going to tell you why I am voting for Barack and leading the Denton for Obama group. I have traditionally been a Ron Paul supporter and Libertarian because in years of policy debate, I always found that as the state got involved in things, they tended to screw them up, so I have supported community action over large government action. Then one day in 2004, when I was watching conventions, I saw this guy named Obama speak at the DNC convention. I remember his discussion was heavily focused on self-reliance, community action, and really sounded more like a JFK Republican in that people need to do for other people. Given all the larger government platforms, it kinda shocked me to hear that from a Democrat. It was both delivered well, and just a really appealing message for me. So I called mom and dad and said, "This guy is our first black President within the next decade." They listened politely and kinda said "well, we will see." Turn to today. Barack's message is very similar in that it is focused not on mandates (God I can't tell you how much I get pissed at Hillary's mandated health insurance package, grrr, another day), but on making opportunities more accessible to people. For example, on college education, he has specifically proposed tax credits to help students pay tuition by using the previous year's tax data to get the money in time to pay for tuition rather than the traditional "pay it and hope you can afford it while you wait" methods. He has also mentioned trying to fund a separate bill whereby someday college will be free if you commit to years of community service of various forms afterwards, but that isn't one of his specific proposals. But these are typical of his views... find ways to make older tax laws more updated and pragmatic for use like the tax credits, or pushing for new ideals that promote not free for nothing but community empowerment and betterment programs in trade for a quality education. There are other issues where I disagree with him on such as supporting minimum wages. There are studies that min wage increases wages throughout the economy, but with a libertarian background, I tend to oppose min wage, but I get tired of the wasted energy fighting over the micro policy that ignores all of the other fundamentally flawed economic problems. Obama proposes rather than fighting over min wage, instead to index it to inflation to that it rises with inflation. If you support a min wage, it makes sense. For me, it is a smart pragmatic way to deal with other important issues and put this one behind us because the min wage debate has generally been won, though I still don't agree with it much... I can admit the loss and move on. And this way means we can focus on other problems. But I think the mortgage issue is a pretty telling one. He has proposed a bill dealing with mortgage fraud and mandating open disclosure policies which will help deal with those who didn't pay attention or those who tried to defraud people. He has proposed a fund for victims of these defrauding practices, but he hasn't put forth, that I know of, any huge subsidies to deal with those losing their homes now that were not defrauded. Why is that good? Simple. To prevent problems like this again, businesses must know that the govt won't bail them out, and the people must know they need to take responsibility for their actions. For areas of Fraud and hidden tactics, we need to have things in the open so people can make good decisions. But for people who just make bad decisions with all the information, that isn't our responsibility to help with or fix. For those people, it is all about self-responsibility and empowerment. Telling people what they need to hear more than what they want to hear. I can point to a lot of other areas, but all that just gets him in the discussion with me where I say "ok, these make him potentially a good president" but I can say that about the other two also if I cherry pick positions. (I think with Obama it is more of a belief system but that's another discussion). Here is what closes the deal for me: Look back at the last century. The great Presidents vs. the good Presidents or average Presidents. Truman was probably considered good by many, but not great. FDR was great, but their policies weren't too far apart for their time. The difference was FDR captivated a nation on Saturday night by the fireside. LBJ certainly passed more legislation than JFK, and is considered average overall with Vietnam being his big drawback. But JFK defined a generation and a culture for a time to iconic proportions. People can cite JFK's famous lines of doing for our country, or they can remember how his words moved us to the moon, and so on. Bush 41 had essentially the same policies as Reagan, but Reagan was the icon and Bush 41 was the mediocre. People remember Reagan's Dawn of a New Day, and his Shining City on the Hill, but only remember "read my lips" by Bush. The difference between a good or average President and a great President is their ability to move a nation, to inspire them, to define the people, and to get them to do more than the government can do itself. To comfort a nation as Reagan did after Challenger, to mobilize as JFK did about the peace corps and service defining a whole generation of charity givers, to dream of the seemingly impossible as Reagan did about Star Wars, to turn a loss into victory as JFK did after the Soviets got into space by inspiring us to the moon, to make us believe in uncertain times that we can get there as Bill Clinton did in building his bridge to the 21st century, and so on. And I ask myself, of the three, can any of them be great. And my answer comes down to just one. Barack Obama. Hillary might be able to power broker her way to being average to good, Nixon-like at best maybe without the scandal. McCain might be able to fight for a term of being Truman-like. But only Obama has the potential to define not just the next generation but potentially the path for America for the next century. And a message of community responsibility, of responsible decision making, of self-empowerment, of political campaigns about issue distinctions instead of who slept with who that sounds like a bad soap opera, of a world of possibility... that is something I would love for the next century to be about. And that is why I am voting for Barack.
I caught the CNN political ticker and here is what I found:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/26/mccain-distances-himself-from-supporters-comments/
"CINCINNATI, Ohio (CNN) — A supporter of John McCain, speaking at an official campaign event in Ohio attended by the Arizona senator, called Barack Obama a “hack, Chicago-style Daly politician,” and told the crowd “all is going to be right with the world when the great prophet from Chicago takes the stand, and the world leaders who want to kill us will simply be singing Kumbaya around the table of Barack Obama.”
“At some point in the near future the media, the stooges from the New York Times, CBS (The Clinton Broadcasting System), NBC (The Nobody But Clinton Network), The All Bill Clinton Channel (ABC), and the Clinton News Network at some point is going to peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama,” said controversial conservative commentator Bill Cunningham, an Ohio native."
Before I comment on these, in all fairness to John McCain, he said the following:
"“I regret any comments that may be made about these two individuals who are honorable Americans, we just have strong philosophical differences, so I want to disassociate myself from any disparaging remarks that may have been said about them,” he said, adding later that “I absolutely repudiate such comments, and again I will take responsibility it will never happen again. It will never happen again.”
While I give credit to McCain for his statement, I think we can expect more and more of the Cunningham type of responses. One blogger I know who is an ultra conservative has literally said, "find the dirt, if it isn't there, make it up. We can't let Obama win!" And he has since carried made up information on his blogs.
This whole rant or view is one that has come out since the end of the Reagan era. I want to be careful not to associate this with Reagan because after reading a lot about the man, he was a true believer in the American Dream and selling the truth to the American people. We may not all agree about what "the truth" was, but he believed in what he said.
That is very different from today's "Republicans" who still haven't learned the lessons of 2006, where the focus on power over cause and truth lost them the House and the Senate. They still believe it is all about power, propaganda and manipulation. It generally stems from the Neoconservative and Christian Conservative views that the people are the masses to be led around.
In the case of the Neocons, they are generally more elitist in that they wouldn't mind returning to the notion that the elite 5-7% of the population should determine policy, not the masses.
In the case of Christian Cons, they fundamentally follow the notion that the pastor or leader of the group or congregation leads the masses.
So for both groups, a Barack Obama candidacy is horrible because it rallies the masses that they believe need to be led around by their noses.
As part of their attempt to maintain hold, they insist that everything that isn't sponsored by them is "liberal news". And every story that is negative about them must be "liberal propaganda" regardless of the evidence.
However, HERE is the great secret of how you beat propaganda and why Barack Obama crushes the machines. When you spout propaganda and you do it repeatedly relying on lies and deceptions, then reality must at least somewhat match it.
For example, they will shout "Obama is a communist!" and then find Barack speaking of providing opportunities for people to choose their health insurance, not a national single payer plan.
They will shout "Obama is a muslim" and find that he is speaking of targeting Bin Laden and being Christian.
They will call him "Hussein", being the only President to have his middle name emphasized for no particular reason other than to propagandize him, only to find out he wants out of Iraq but wants to target Al Qaeda.
What will happen is they will stick to this old and tired politics playbook. And Barack will give a speech or two that people will see and they will say "hey wait, that isn't what they said he would say" and they will start to look again thinking "ok, he will say it this time" and he won't.
Eventually, by Barack simply being Barack, they will have started to undermine themselves. No one likes to advocate something they know is a lie. And no one likes to follow a known lie.
With every single lie they spout, another person will turn to Obama because they know its a lie.
With every single lie they spout, another Obama supporter will get stronger with their strength of conviction that we need to change the political climate in America.
We can do it!
Today's CNN has John McCain saying, "My friends, the war will be over soon ... for all intents and purposes, although the insurgency will go on for years and years and years," the Arizona senator said. "But it will be handled by the Iraqis, not by us."
He continued, "We've been in Japan for 60 years," he said. "We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed."
A few things strike me. First, did John McCain miss something, or did he just forget that the Pentagon just announced that instead of pulling back all its surge soldiers, that they will be leaving 8,000 behind? If the surge is working so well, we ought to have brought them home on time and we ought to have seen more of the 14 objectives met. We haven't.
Second, occupying countries for decades isn't satisfactory. He picks two countries to illustrate with: Japan, where we have almost been asked to leave a few times and the population isn't exactly excited about having us there every time a Japanese woman is raped by a soldier (not the norm, but happens often enough to piss them off); and South Korea, where soldiers, before President Bush's war on terror, was the most dangerous place our forces went because they are a tripwire. That means, they are there to die, and randomly get shot at occasionally. It is pretty stressful duty, not some nice safe place.
What McCain forgets is that leaving our forces in Saudi Arabia is part of what caused this backlash mess. Having our forces essentially help occupy Iran for 25 years helped cause Iran to be hostile to us for the last 29 years (yeah, that was sure a good trade off <rolls eyes>). This notion of America as peaceful occupier and benevolant occupier is one that has proven to lead to backlash against America later. It isn't who or what we are. But John doesn't get that.
What John and the Neoconservatives have missed is that this is not World War II. This is not Germany or Japan. They keep putting these World War II analogies in front of us and they just don't apply. They did not act like France in Iraq by greating us as liberators and throwing flowers at soldiers in the streets. They fought and killed. They did not surrender and give in when we toppled Saddam because the people didn't have a part of Saddam's ideology. They didn't have any guilt because they hadn't attacked anyone. And therefore, when toppled, they didn't give in.
For the average Iraqi, they just wanted to go on with life. They don't have any illusions that the next leader will be any different than Saddam other than name and group that they empower. And they don't have any illusions about President Bush's intentions. They were clear in the first week of the invasion when they hadn't secured ammunition depots in Baghdad to protect soldiers, but they secured the oil fields for US oil companies. And if they weren't clear then, they were when the US was talking about more international help, but said no to it because the world wanted the US to give up control over the oil to the UN.
As a little side note, that oil was never about cheap oil for Americans or our cars. It was simply about controlling as much of the world's oil supply as we can. That's it. Control. In case you haven't noticed, neocons like to look at World War II. They decided that if you control the oil, you control a nation's ability to fight. And they want to rule the world, so they want to control the oil for the whole world.
John McCain doesn't get that we don't want our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives to risk their lives for their ruse of ruling the world. We prefer the notion that America is a beacon of freedom to the world, and that we use our military in very precise situations, not just because "he tried to kill my daddy."
We don't want to have soldiers in over 100 countries for 100 years. We don't want the threat of US force to be our defining characteristic as Americans.
America was created as the last great hope for civilization. Where we would be the beacon of liberty and justice to the world. Where we would be set aside from the world and given that opportunity. We would be the global showpiece of what the world could be like and what people would strive towards.
We can return to that beacon of liberty and justice. But we can't do it by leaving our soldiers in countries for 100 years. Not as tripwires for Iran or Syria. Not as targets for Al Qaeda or Al Sadr. Not as protectors of US Oil or mercinaries. And certainly not as intimidators reminding people to stay in line with America, where some disappear overnight when they don't do as we say.
We can lead the world. We can lead the fight against Al Qaeda and Bin Laden. We can help stop atrocities like the rape camps in Darfur. We can repel invasions as we did in Kuwait. But we must remember that our might is not in our force, but in our values and the trueness of our beliefs in them.
We can change the world for the better. John McCain can't. But we can.
In an era where anyone can post anything on the internet, it is really important that we remember, some people really are bored and have nothing better to do than repeatedly post spam on message boards in an attempt to disrupt the sites and actual dialogue between people.
Tonight, I decided to read some blogs on the Obama site to find this guy spamming some fictional sex scandal for Barack. Now, one might ask, "gee Tony, how do you know it is fictional?" and I might answer, "hmmm, did you know that whitehouse.com is a parity site? That is his lead source!" Then we could all sit back and laugh, mocking the silly person who is repeatedly posting it.
We can remember with each and every post that there are many reasons why people may post it, but every single post says "vote for Barack Obama" when they post it.
I am sure that caught someone. Why would I say that? A couple reasons.
First, they are so bored with their live that it lacks purpose, that is one reason they spam. A vote for Barack gives us a chance to give them purpose to their lives. Can you really say that Hillary or McCain might inspire anyone to have a purpose for their life? Only Barack can do that.
Second, they could be a plant by another campaign. What does that mean? The old days of "try to suppress the vote, try to derail the issue" needs to end. We need to move beyond these tactics of phone bank bombing, and attempts to take down organizing blogs, and so on. Voting for Barack sends that signal, it is a new day in politics.
It is clear, with every single post they spam, another person shows just why we need to elect Barack Obama to be our next Great President of the United States.
Tonight's meeting really helped me see where we are. We have some working really efficiently and others just joining us that really need guidance and help. I really hope that we can give it to them. So the question on a flyer that Kristin handed me to hand out said "what do we do now" and I thought about that question. I had kinda been just going and it made me think a lot. So here are my thoughts:
1. Sign up to be a Precinct Captain. This does NOT mean you run your precinct and do everything. It means you have access to phone banking numbers and materials in your precinct. It means you can see, on the map, who lives where near you so you can locate them better. It means you are "in the game". It doesn't make you group leader or obligate you to a gagillian tasks. It just makes things easier to coordinate and track everyone. Sign up at http://www.texasprecinctcaptains.com.
2. Go to Precinct Captain Training. Tomorrow is the last one at 1:30pm here in Denton. http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rqbk. That does not mean you can't be a captain, it just means that we will have to help walk you through more. But PLEASE go if you can, but even if you can't, absolutely sign up for being a precinct captain!!
3. Find your early voting location and VOTE!! The single most important thing you can do for yourself and Barack is to vote. Vote early because you never know what might happen on election day. Get in and vote now. The deadline to vote early is the 29th. Get your card stamped or get the card they hand out, but vote and get one of those so you can caucus. http://Texas.BarackObama.com/TXVote
If you don't know where you are registered to vote, go here: http://Texas.BarackObama.com/TXregister
If you are registered in another county, vote Absentee: http://my.barackobama.com/VoteByMail
4. Learn about the Texas Two Step. Understand that Texas is rare in that only in Texas do you get to LEGALLY vote for your candidate twice by voting and then caucusing afterwards. http://Texas.BarackObama.com/TXPrimaryCaucusPDF
En Espanol: http://Texas.barackobama.com/TXenEspanol
5. Contact Kristin at kdore@texobama.com to tell her you have signed up and ask her what things need to be done in your area. She will also help you link up.
6. Have friends who want to help from out of state? Have them go to the following website to call Texans to get out the vote: http://Texas.BarackObama.com/calltx
Call in spanish? http://Texas.BarackObama.com/calltxspanish
7. Feed the Staff!!!! I recently moved here and have been both shocked and moved by Texas hospitality. Let's feed Ashley and Kristin. They are going to send me their information on where they are staying and as soon as they get an office, where that is. Let's overwhelm them with good food and hospitality too. I already have 2 dinners planned to make for them. Let's get some lunches, and dinners planned to drop by and give them. Living on the road is hard, and being forced to largely eat fast food sucks. Let's make them feel at home!
8. Get signs, bumperstickers, buttons, etc. to show the entire county your support for Barack. IF you can't find them anywhere, make them. The "bumpersticker" I have on my family's cars are all home made with a printer and actually taped inside the back windows so that people can't tear them off. Our signs for our yards are made by Amy from our group. And my pins are from Michael Rivas from our group. We ordered things that have been backordered for 3 weeks, so make it if you can't find it. Poster paper in your window says more than a purchased sign: You are so committed that you didn't just pay for it, you took the time to think about it, design it, and create it. Amy also made shirts on Zanga. More can be found here: http://Texas.BarackObama.com/TXresources
Look, the single most important thing you can do is talk to friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances. Studies show that it is you, the advocate, you, the person they know that will have the most impact on them. Yes, we need to go beyond to get people out, but get your network of friends and family out first.
Talk to people.
9. Get a meeting set up for Tuesday by 6pm on March 4th in your voting area or precinct. EVERYONE MEETS ON TUESDAY!! At 6:45, we motorcade or walk to the polling places and show up by 7pm to caucus. I think Amy is doing 427/404 (I will if she doesn't) at her house. Let's bring some snacks to make life easier on her and her family. And do this in every precinct/voting area.
Then right after you finish caucusing, let's create a huge party upstairs at The Abbey Inn where they will have 2 big screen TV's for us to watch the results come in and have a drink to Barack's victory in Texas. I would love to fill the Abbey Inn to capacity and I am sure we can get Kristin and/or Ashley to join us. Let's fill that place with all of our groups from UNT, TWU, Lewisville, and so on. Let's make it a media event!!
I have really enjoyed working with all of you. Let's turn this place out!!
Senator Clinton,
In 1992, I found a man that seemed to care about Americans and really "felt our pain" it seemed. He was from a Town Called Hope and was all for Building a Bridge to the 21st Century. Today, when we meet you, his spouse, we find that this town was really called "False Hope" and was about not building a bridge to the 21st century but "Restoration" of the Clinton Era. Forgive me, but that is a very different message and a very deceptive one. But that's not new.
I was willing to overlook those things only to find out that the very things that we couldn't stand from the Bush Administration in terms of their "dirty politics" were the very same things coming out of the Clinton camp. The emails focused on Barack's middle name "Hussein" or calling his school a "medrosa" or painting him as a Muslim, and more that forced some of her campaign staff to resign.
Now, some will rightly say, "If you think that is bad, wait until you see the GOP machine and what they do." They are absolutely right. HOWEVER, we choose who we vote for and why we vote. IF we condemn behaviors in others, we ought not support them in our people. It is the same argument we use to justify human rights and our notions of justice. Just because the "terrorists" do it, does not mean we should. After all, I have not heard a single person advocate sending a person into a terrorist camp and blowing themselves up there. And similarly, we should not sink to the level of GOP political propaganda and manipulation either.
One of the great things about Barack Obama's campaigns is it is not just a "straight talk" slogan. It is not just a "buzzword of the week" campaign trying to respond to micromarketing polls. It is about who we are and what we believe. It is about joining with someone who seems to feel our pulse, our ideas, our feelings, and know our dreams and desires, while wanting to make them happen for us.
Today, Hillary vented her frustration as she proclaimed some mailer (that I haven't seen) is a "Rove-like tactic" because it attacks her position on "universal health care." Let me first say that her position is NOT "universal health care" any more than mandating auto insurance is "universal auto care". It is NOT a solution any more than mandating "no one take drugs". It is simply a tool to force people into corporate subsidies.
It was one thing to force auto insurance because it directly impacted other people that you would be in an accident with. But this is quite different because the question is how will the government deal with the problem, and their solution for Hillary is to mandate you take care of it yourself and pray you can still pay the rent.
Now, some will say, "but that is close to what Barack says" and they would be somewhat right. However, Barack is looking for ways to make it more affordable and give us the choice, rather than force our hand, spend our paychecks, and say "hey, you might get it back at the end of the year in a tax credit". Having looked into health insurance independent of a company, it would cost my wife and I about 1/4 to 1/5 of our total monthly income. The #1 reason not to vote for Hillary: I can't afford Hillary.
The number 2 reason: I couldn't sleep at night voting for the very same politics as usual, dirty fighting, deception and destruction that I have railed against for the last 7 years in the Bush Administration that she seems to want to make common place in campaigning.
I want a chance and I want to believe that we can do it better than the last several decades of political dirty tricks and a spiral to the bottom. I believe Barack can do that and Hillary can't.
Yes, We Can.
Hello Everyone!!!
Tonight I went to Obama Precinct Captain Training. IF you have not gone, I strongly encourage you to get ahold of Kristin Dore (who is from my home county) at kdore@texobama.com (805-216-8922) or Ashley Baia (also very cool, but not from my home county) at abaia@barackobama.com (843-601-6058). I want EVERYONE in on this program for EVERY PRECINCT! This has your computerized phone lists, it has your script, it has your teammates around you so they are easy to find in your precinct, and best of all, it has tons of information!!! http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/txprecinct
There was a lot of great information, but let me put some more up here for you related to specific topics:
SIGNS, BUTTONS, BUMPERSTICKERS!
For signs, email Amy at manuel_amy@yahoo.com
I know she has some and is willing to take donations for more to get more runs made, but we have to move fast on it!!!
For buttons, email Michael Rivas at michaelrivas@gmail.com
Rates appear to be the following:
Here are the prices:50 buttons for $15100 buttons for $20250 buttons for $50500 buttons for $95750 buttons for $1351,000 buttons for $180
I am ordering 100 this week to hand out in my precinct, got that Michael? By the way, the maker has agreed to donate 10% to the campaign of our purchases!!! Support in multiple ways!!
For Bumperstickers, Trey has 500 I believe that he had made and I believe he might be willing to let them go for $2.50 a piece or something, but that was just in passing conversation. Hopefully he can comment more here.
Also, you can take some of the site artwork or make up some and tape it on the inside of your windows to avoid the "pulling them off" possibilities that I have heard of in Texas. I plan on doing that for 3 cars with Trey's stickers. Trey, would you mind telling them what your email you want them to get you at is?
NEED OFFICE SPACE
Kristin and Ashley need office space in Denton. If you hear of anyone needing it, please let them know via the contact information above. Kristin, check with the Young Democrats. Someone told me they may have some space in downtown Denton, but that was just a rumor last month. There is also an old bank across from the Abbey Inn that is dormant if it isn't too big. And you might check the shopping center on University near Elm, lots of possible empty spaces there, but I haven't been by there recently
If anyone else has other ideas PLEASE let them know ASAP!!! I would love to have group phone bank nights at the office!!
FEEDING OUR PEOPLE
Ok, I really don't want to be outdone by the Dallas group in terms of hospitality. They are asking people to drop food by the local staff. I would like to say that we fed our staff daily and well once they get settled here in Denton! Let's make sure we take care of them!
IMPORTANT UPDATES!!
1. Early Voting starts tomorrow!! Go Vote!! I am going to put an event up for the early voting period. I want each of you, after you vote, to reply to indicate you have voted early AND tell us how many people you took to vote with you!! Take at least 1, but feel free to car pool in large groups. Do NOT FORGET to get your card to indicate you voted so you can get into the caucus after the polls close on the 4th!!
2. Debate Party at The Abbey Inn was announced tonight. Expect people to join us and the event!! Our staff will be there. Let's show them a great time at The Abbey Inn. Respond to the event so I can let them know how many to expect please. Bring at least 1 friend.
3. Barack in Dallas on Wednesday at Reunion Arena at 10am. Be there at least 1 hour early if you want to get in, probably earlier because North Texas is ON FIRE with Barackomania!!! Check the event calendars on this for more details. Take Friends, let Barack do the work for you!
4. MEETING REMINDER: Saturday, 5pm, Abbey Inn AFTER you get in a full day of calling and canvassing!!! Let's unwind there for an hour of food and drinks and stories, then re-energize for the stretch run!!! Bring Friends!!!
I am sure I am forgetting something, so keep your eyes posted for more information!!! It is going to move fast and furious for the next 16 days. Just think of it this way, the next 16 days will probably determine the future of America for the next 8 YEARS!!! Let's make it work.
Note: This will be emailed tomorrow morning on the listserv.
WE CAN DO IT!!
YES WE CAN!!
