Barbara Reid's Blog

The Right And Torture

Barbara Reid — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:44:10 EST

from Andrew Sullivan:

A reader writes:

I'm 18 years old. My politics are still amorphous, shaped largely by my parents' prejudices (both are liberals). I'm pro-life. I come from a prosperous background; I'm suspicious of big government and increasingly likely to support tax cuts. I'm becoming more viscerally opposed to the 'nanny state' as I study law; the rhetoric of many liberals on personal responsibility is becoming increasingly objectionable to me.

And yet, I can not, within the reasonable future, support the Republican Party. Why?

Torture.

I still haven't come to grips with the idea that American soldiers, those who our culture is brought up to value and respect, could commit acts of torture, on the orders of an American administration. The internet is a libertarian place.

Young people are growing up more suspicious of government, more interested in increasing personal control over their lives, more prepared to challenge government bureaucracy. The rEVOLution (which I did not support) captured this perfectly. This could have been a Republican generation -- brought under the big tent under a low-tax, socially moderate, fiscally conservative platform. An earlier John McCain may have been just the man to do this, as he was in 2000. But I cannot imagine how anyone else of my age can look at these reports, look at these pictures -- and then vote for the GOP in the foreseeable future. It's beyond my understanding.

Mine too. Until the GOP purges itself of these fascistic, sadistic elements, lovers of freedom should stay away.

Sitting on Top of the World

Barbara Reid — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:22:58 EST

By Garrison Keillor
November 12, 2008

Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves a few more weeks of quietry exultation. It isn't gloating; it's satisfaction at a job well done. He was a superb candidate, serious, professorial but with a flashing grin and a buoyancy that comes from working out in the gym every morning. He spoke in a genuine voice, not senatorial at all. He relished campaigning. He accepted adulation gracefully. He brandished his sword against his opponents without mocking or belittling them. He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American, and now (Wow) suddenly America is cool. Chicago is cool. Chicago!!!

We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy with a Harvard degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor he said, "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." The French junior minister for human rights said, "On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes." When was the last time you heard someone from France say they wanted to be American and take a bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment.

The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos, and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back. He'll be the first president in history to look really good making a jump shot. He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters. At the same time, he knows pop music, American lit and constitutional law. I just can't imagine anybody cooler.

It feels good to be cool, and all of us can share in that, even sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads. Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the badge, he's going to see “United States of America" and look up and grin. Even if you worship in the church of Fox, everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama, and you may as well say you voted for him because, my friends, he is your line of credit over there. No need anymore to try to look Canadian.

The Fate Of Obama's Net Roots Network (NPR)

Barbara Reid — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:00:26 EST

Obama Asks Supporters: What's Next?Just two weeks after the historic election, Obama campaign officials sent an e-mail to roughly 10 million "Obamamaniacs" and volunteers who had registered with the campaign online, asking them what the president-elect should tackle in the months ahead.

"Share your campaign experience and your thoughts on the best way to keep supporting our agenda for change," began the e-mail from campaign manager David Plouffe. At the bottom of the note was a standard button that asks people to donate money.

The "supporters survey," as the campaign calls it, initially collects personal information from its respondents, including one's occupation, racial and ethnic identity and religious and political affiliations.

Then, it asks for actual input. How would you like to remain involved? By helping President Obama pass legislation? By electing local candidates who share the same vision? What issues matter to you?

Commentators and bloggers have called this unprecedented and perhaps a foreshadowing of the way a Web-savvy White House could communicate with the public. The survey falls on the heels of an election cycle in which Obama broke fundraising records by raising millions of dollars online and by using tools such as campaign-produced YouTube videos to reach voters directly.

All Things Considered, December 2, 2008

Nearly a month after Election Day, it's still not clear what happens to the campaign organization built by President-elect Barack Obama.

The organization has two crown jewels. One is a database with 13 million e-mail addresses. While some of them are bogus or came from nonsupporters (such as journalists covering the campaign), probably 10 million or more came from supporters — those who helped build the campaign's historic war chest, who organized in counties and precincts, or who simply attended a rally or bought a T-shirt. The other jewel is the "net roots" style network that turned out voters for Obama in the primaries and that helped him carry traditionally Republican states in November.

The depth and breadth of these elements appear to be unprecedented in presidential politics. Candidate Obama talked about the future last April, at a small gathering in Indianapolis, saying: "One of the things I'm really proud of about this campaign is I think we've built a structure that can sustain itself after the campaign."

In Washington, the burning question now is where that trove of information might go.

"I think there will be choices. I don't think there's going to be only one place," says Simon Rosenberg, founder of the center-left think tank NDN and a big proponent of the Internet-savvy politicking used by the Obama campaign.

Rosenberg says Obama could do what other presidents have traditionally done: turn over his lists of supporters to the national party committee. But people joined the Obama campaign for all sorts of reasons. Some unknown percentage of them want to remain politically active, but not as Democrats.

"There are some people who'll want to [get involved] in a more partisan way and feel comfortable with that," Rosenberg says. "There are others who're going to want to do it just as a citizen, regardless of their political party, who'll want to help potentially on a single issue."

So a second alternative is to take the list into the White House. Then the president could ask supporters to pressure Congress on important bills, a strategy that most likely wouldn't benefit the administration in its relations with lawmakers. There's also an ownership question. Legally, the database belongs to the president-elect and his campaign. Using it in the White House would very likely make it government property.

"I think the president-elect's legal advisers are going to have to confront some practical as well as legal considerations in how they're going to use the campaign resources," says Jan Baran, a veteran campaign finance lawyer for Republicans.

As a third alternative, Obama could keep his campaign committee going, something no president has ever done. Or he could create a new political action committee. That's never happened before, either; in the closest comparison, Ronald Reagan turned over his grass-roots organization to a new PAC in 1976 after losing his first presidential bid.

Alternative No. 4 would be a tax-exempt entity, using the database to promote Obama's issues. Once again, though, no president has ever done such a thing. And the tax code sets too many limits to make it a comfortable option.

Really, Washington is speculating so much about the database because that's what the politicos know. But with the Obama organization, it's just the beginning.

"Anyone who imagines that all power is in who controls the lists misunderstands that we are no longer in the age of lists, we are in the age of networks," says Micah Sifry, executive editor of the Web site www.PersonalDemocracyForum.com. "This has never happened before. We've never had a president get elected with the backing of something that looks like a social movement."

Just as a social movement depends on grass-roots networks, the Obama campaign nurtured its networks on the Web site my.BarackObama.com. Back in April, Obama said of his volunteer organizers: "They know each other and they're communicating to each other through the Internet, and there are all kinds of different groups. And so what I want to do is continue that after the election."

But Sifry says that since the election, volunteers in some states have moved on: "For example, the folks in Connecticut are trying to keep something going. They've created a site for themselves where they have more control of their own information than if they stayed on my.BarackObama.com."

Now the Obama transition team is dabbling in network-building. Late last month, the transition team's Web site, www.change.gov, posed a question: "What worries you most about the health care system in our country?"

The Web presentation included a video featuring Dr. Dora Hughes of the Obama health care policy task force. "Indeed," she said, "a critical part of our health reform efforts is making sure that every American voice is heard."

A spirited debate ensued, involving health care professionals, scholars and consumers. It's still going on; by this afternoon, more than 3,600 comments had been posted.

But if President-elect Obama wants to use the Internet this way in the Oval Office, the government will need newer computers. And he'll need to change the law. The Paperwork Reduction Act forbids this sort of quick, informal idea-gathering.

The act dates from 1995. So it's a lifetime behind what's possible with modern communications technologies — as are many other things that Obama will find in Washington.

by Peter Overby

Listen Now

Comment on Healthcare NOW!

Barbara Reid — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:35:01 EST

If you are interested in joining the discussion on healthcare, the Transition Team is taking input NOW:

http://change.gov/page/content/discusshealthcare

No registration is required. Please get involved, especially if you have healthcare expertise. If not, you very likely still have a healthcare story, good or bad. Contribute to the discussion.

Thank you!

"He's not a leftist ideologue."

Barbara Reid — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:32:16 EST

We Are All Obamacons Now

I'm as struck as Mark McKinnon by the sudden, if tempered, swooning of the center-right for Obama. even Fred Barnes has had an epiphany of sorts. They are responding to his obviously sensible and accomplished picks for the economy and foreign affairs as if they have realized for the first time who "that one" actually is. He is not now and never has been a leftist ideologue. That was a paranoid fantasy that helped kill the GOP this year. He is a pragmatic, sane, reasoned centrist liberal. He doesn't want to surrender to terror or abolish capitalism - he wants to hone our fight against the Islamists to better effect and to save capitalism from itself. And the core meaning of his candidacy - an end to the polarizing culture war battles of the post-Vietnam era - is not just hype. It's real:

It appears the political classes have briefly sobered up and decided to act responsibly, selflessly and -- dare we say it -- in the best interest of the country. The times are simply so serious, so dangerous, so calamitous that we can’t afford politics as usual. And for once, politicians seem to get it. We all wish President-elect Obama success. Because there’s a good chance that if he fails, we all go down together. Way down.

And let's give credit where it's due. The spirit of good will is being significantly leveraged by Obama, who has had made a series of very smart, practical, pragmatic and non-ideological picks for his cabinet.

Eight years ago, George W. Bush said he wanted to change the tone in Washington. Well, a recount crippled that idea before it got out of the crib. It simply wasn't the right time for the message or the messenger.

And Bush was never that serious about it. Obama is.

(Thanks to Andrew Sullivan. Especially today, World AIDS Day.)

The Economist Endorses Obama

Barbara Reid — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:44:55 EDT

And bashes McCain. From Marc Ambinder:

The omniscient voice pronounces from across the pond:

"....the Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as "agents of intolerance" now embraces theocratic culture warriors. The campaigner against ethanol subsidies (who had a better record on global warming than most Democrats) came out in favour of a petrol-tax holiday. It has not all disappeared: his support for free trade has never wavered. Yet rather than heading towards the centre after he won the nomination, Mr McCain moved to the right.

Meanwhile his temperament, always perhaps his weak spot, has been found wanting. Sometimes the seat-of-the-pants method still works: his gut reaction over Georgia--to warn Russia off immediately--was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never been particularly interested in economics, but, unlike Mr Obama, he has made little effort to catch up or to bring in good advisers (Doug Holtz-Eakin being the impressive exception).

The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.

Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. Once he reaches the White House, runs this argument, he will put Mrs Palin back in her box, throw away his unrealistic tax plan and begin negotiations with the Democratic Congress. That is plausible; but it is a long way from the convincing case that Mr McCain could have made. Had he become president in 2000 instead of Mr Bush, the world might have had fewer problems. But this time it is beset by problems, and Mr McCain has not proved that he knows how to deal with them.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_economist_endorses_obama_t.php

The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama

Barbara Reid — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:37:14 EDT

From Andrew Sullivan:

10. A body blow to racial identity politics. An end to the era of Jesse Jackson in black America.

9. Less debt. Yes, Obama will raise taxes on those earning over a quarter of a million. And he will spend on healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan and the environment. But so will McCain. He plans more spending on health, the environment and won't touch defense of entitlements. And his refusal to touch taxes means an extra $4 trillion in debt over the massive increase presided over by Bush. And the CBO estimates that McCain's plans will add more to the debt over four years than Obama's. Fiscal conservatives have a clear choice.

8. A return to realism and prudence in foreign policy. Obama has consistently cited the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush as his inspiration. McCain's knee-jerk reaction to the Georgian conflict, his commitment to stay in Iraq indefinitely, and his brinksmanship over Iran's nuclear ambitions make him a far riskier choice for conservatives. The choice between Obama and McCain is like the choice between George H.W. Bush's first term and George W.'s.

7. An ability to understand the difference between listening to generals and delegating foreign policy to them.

6. Temperament. Obama has the coolest, calmest demeanor of any president since Eisenhower. Conservatism values that kind of constancy, especially cmopared with the hot-headed, irrational impulsiveness of McCain.

5. Faith. Obama's fusion of Christianity and reason, his non-fundamentalist faith, is a critical bridge between the new atheism and the new Christianism.

4. A truce in the culture war. Obama takes us past the debilitating boomer warfare that has raged since the 1960s. Nothing has distorted our politics so gravely; nothing has made a rational politics more elusive.

3. Two words: President Palin.

2. Conservative reform. Until conservatism can get a distance from the big-spending, privacy-busting, debt-ridden, crony-laden, fundamentalist, intolerant, incompetent and arrogant faux conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years, it will never regain a coherent message to actually govern this country again. The survival of conservatism requires a temporary eclipse of today's Republicanism. Losing would be the best thing to happen to conservatism since 1964. Back then, conservatives lost in a landslide for the right reasons. Now, Republicans are losing in a landslide for the wrong reasons.

1. The War Against Islamist terror. The strategy deployed by Bush and Cheney has failed. It has failed to destroy al Qaeda, except in a country, Iraq, where their presence was minimal before the US invasion. It has failed to bring any of the terrorists to justice, instead creating the excresence of Gitmo, torture, secret sites, and the collapse of America's reputation abroad. It has empowered Iran, allowed al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan, made the next vast generation of Muslims loathe America, and imperiled our alliances. We need smarter leadership of the war: balancing force with diplomacy, hard power with better p.r., deploying strategy rather than mere tactics, and self-confidence rather than a bunker mentality.

Those conservatives who remain convinced, as I do, that Islamist terror remains the greatest threat to the West cannot risk a perpetuation of the failed Manichean worldview of the past eight years, and cannot risk the possibility of McCain making rash decisions in the middle of a potentially catastrophic global conflict. If you are serious about the war on terror and believe it is a war we have to win, the only serious candidate is Barack Obama.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-top-ten-rea.html

Palin’s Nightmare

Barbara Reid — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:06:50 EDT

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/10/hbc-90003761

Real Conservatives Admit Their Mistakes

Barbara Reid — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:45:42 EDT

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms. I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact,” - Alan Greenspan, testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/quote-for-th-25.html

Obama Resoles His Shoes While Palin Spends $150K

Barbara Reid — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:13:40 EDT

While Politico reports on the RNC spending $150,000 to 'accessorize' Palin and her family, I stumbled upon this picture of Senator Obama (along with a great collection of campaign trail photos from Callie Shell).

He's got holes in the bottom of both his shoes from walking so much on the campaign trail. And as the caption explains, he's already resoled them once.

"Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier. Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008."

So... who's more in touch with the average American again?

Thanks, enamore22 at Daily Kos

Undecided Voters (David Sedaris)

Barbara Reid — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:59:31 EDT

David Sedaris thinks out loud:

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?"

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/undecided-voter.html

Lol. That's my reminder to get Sedaris's latest book.

Dead Bear on College Campus Wears Obama Sign

Barbara Reid — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:53:39 EDT

A bear cub was found shot at Western Carolina University. It wore an Obama sign:

http://www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/wlos_vid_1532.shtml

A black bear cub is shot in the head and placed in the center of Western Carolina University's campus. Placed over its head; an Obama-Biden campaign sign.
A maintenance worker found it early Monday and it was quickly removed.
But word spread quickly across the WCU campus and students and faculty are outraged by the message.
"I just can't believe people would go to such an extent to state their political beliefs," said WCU Junior, Bethany Rowe.
"A sick individual who thinks extremely badly about Obama," said Freshman Daniel Ford.
Political Science professor Chris Cooper agrees with students;
"I think it sends a pretty disturbing message, obviously it sounds like it may have some racial implications and at the very least its somebody sending the wrong message and taking this hot political season the wrong way."
University police are investigating and are asking for anyone with information to come forward.
Their number is 828-227-8911.
Because the case involves the death of an animal, state wildlife officials are also involved in the case.

YOUTH VOTE--PROVE THEM WRONG!

Barbara Reid — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:17:17 EDT

The Divided Government Card

It's one of McCain's last, and easily his best, in my opinion. Ken Silverstein gets an email from Burke Wood, who makes ads for the GOP:

McCain’s last hope is that his divided government argument sticks in people’s minds and that swing voters get buyers remorse—since Obama has already won in a lot of people’s minds. That may be why McCain is closing in some polls. The moderate Republicans I talk to liked McCain 8 years ago, but not anymore — and they can’t stand Palin.

Silverstein also talked to Tom Edmonds, a GOP media consultant, who doesn't think the youth vote will show:

The other big thing is the youth vote. There’s been a lot of hype about it, but it’s not going to materialize on Election Day. Roughly 33 million people voted in the 2004 primaries, and 58 million people voted in this year’s primaries. The youth vote was up, but not nearly as much as voting by middle-aged people and old fogies. The polls are capturing the enthusiasm for Obama, but college students are not going to turn out.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/mccains-best-sh.html#more

Obama's Last Parent

Barbara Reid — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:10:56 EDT

If you have read Obama's memoir, you will immediately understand why he would suspend a national campaign for the most powerful job on earth to be with his grandmother right now. One gets the impression from Robert Gibbs and from this decision that this might indeed be one of the last chances he gets. "Toot" was a formative figure - she brought him up with her husband during some critical years. Her death would be the death of his last parent. Reading about her again tonight, you can see where Obama's personal social conservatism comes from. There's a lot more Kansas in Obama than most people on the right seem to think.

Prayers for her, her family and the man who now has to deal with this emotional burden at this exposed and intense time. They are all still human, you know. It never hurts to remember that. And we all forget it sometimes.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/his-last-parent.html

Obama Endoresements, updated

Barbara Reid — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:40:07 EDT

http://obamaendorsements.blogspot.com/

Great site--thanks, Kiku!

The Acorn Story

Barbara Reid — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:55:47 EDT

In Wednesday night’s debate, John McCain warned that a group called Acorn is “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.” Viewers may have been wondering what Mr. McCain was talking about. So were we.

Acorn is a nonprofit group that advocates for low- and moderate-income people and has mounted a major voter-registration drive this year. Acorn says that it has paid more than 8,000 canvassers who have registered about 1.3 million new voters, many of them poor people and members of racial minorities.

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms, including some with fictional names like Mickey Mouse and others for voters who are already registered.

Based on the information that has come to light so far, the charges appear to be wildly overblown — and intended to hobble Acorn’s efforts.

The Healthcare Plans

Barbara Reid — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:06:52 EDT

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1858953394 Obama ad about McCain's plan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122315505846605217.html Wall Street Journal

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, estimates that the McCain healthcare plan would cost the government $1.3 trillion over 10 years. The McCain plan would allow "as many as" 5 million more people to have insurance, it estimates.

The Tax Policy Center estimates that Senator Obama’s plan would cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years and cover 34 million more people.

Furthermore, McCain will pay for his plan with “major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid.”

Obama's Economic Speech Today (Toledo, Ohio)

Barbara Reid — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:23:35 EDT

We meet at a moment of great uncertainty for America. The economic crisis we face is the worst since the Great Depression. Markets across the globe have become increasingly unstable, and millions of Americans will open up their 401(k) statements this week and see that so much of their hard-earned savings have disappeared.

The credit crisis has left businesses large and small unable to get loans, which means they can't buy new equipment, or hire new workers, or even make payroll for the workers they have. You've got auto plants right here in Ohio that have been around for decades closing their doors and laying off workers who've never known another job in their entire life.

760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Unemployment here in Ohio is up 85% over the last eight years, which is the highest it's been in sixteen years. You've lost one of every four manufacturing jobs, the typical Ohio family has seen their income fall $2,500, and it's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. At this rate, the question isn't just "are you better off than you were four years ago?", it's "are you better off than you were four weeks ago?"

Senator John McCain’s Record on Troop and Veterans’ Issues

Barbara Reid — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:49:12 EDT

In recent presidential debates, Senator John McCain has said things like, "I know the veterans. I know them well. And, I know that they know that I'll take care of them."

However, Senator McCain gets consistently low ratings from veterans groups. Below is a full list of votes, statements, and positions of Senator McCain's, which shows that Senator McCain has consistently bailed on troops and veterans.

It's a long, but comprehensive list compiled by VoteVets.org. An even more robust list, complete with video, can be found at VetVoice.com.

Senator John McCain’s Record on Troop and Veterans’ Issues

Voting Against Veterans

· Veterans Groups Give McCain Failing Grades. In its most recent legislative ratings, the non-partisan Disabled American Veterans gave Sen. McCain a 20 percent rating for his voting record on veterans’ issues. Similarly, the non-partisan Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a "D" grade for his poor voting record on veterans’ issues, including McCain’s votes against additional body armor for troops in combat and additional funding for PTSD and TBI screening and treatment.

· McCain Voted Against Increased Funding for Veterans’ Health Care. Although McCain told voters at a campaign rally that improving veterans’ health care was his top domestic priority, he voted against increasing funding for veterans’ health care in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. (Greenville News, 12/12/2007; S.Amdt. 2745 to S.C.R. 95, Vote 40, 3/10/04; Senate S.C.R. 18, Vote 55, 3/16/05; S.Amdt. 3007 to S.C.R. 83, Vote 41, 3/14/06; H.R. 1591, Vote 126, 3/29/07)

· McCain Voted At Least 28 Times Against Veterans’ Benefits, Including Healthcare. Since arriving in the U.S. Senate in 1987, McCain has voted at least 28 times against ensuring important benefits for America’s veterans, including providing adequate healthcare. (2006 Senate Vote #7, 41, 63, 67, 98, 222; 2005 Senate Votes #55, 89, 90, 251, 343; 2004 Senate Votes #40, 48, 145; 2003 Senate Votes #74, 81, 83; 1999 Senate Vote #328; 1998 Senate Vote #175; 1997 Senate Vote #168; 1996 Senate Votes #115, 275; 1995 Senate Votes #76, 226, 466; 1994 Senate Vote #306; 1992 Senate Vote #194; 1991 Senate Vote #259)

Nobel prize winner Krugman supports Obama

Barbara Reid — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:34:13 EDT

In light of this morning's announcement about Paul Krugman, it's worth re-reading these two op-eds by the NYT op-ed writer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/opinion/29krugman.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/opinion/06krugman.html

Krugman uses words like “frightening” and “terrified” to describe his assessment of McCain’s economic sense and advisors as well as his health care plan.

His weekness in economics is why McCain would rather talk about William Ayers! Less to study up on before a town hall meeting...

Palin's Kind of Patriotism

Barbara Reid — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:59:42 EDT

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can’t just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: “You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”

What an awful statement. Palin defended the government’s $700 billion rescue plan. She defended the surge in Iraq, where her own son is now serving. She defended sending more troops to Afghanistan. And yet, at the same time, she declared that Americans who pay their fair share of taxes to support all those government-led endeavors should not be considered patriotic.

I only wish she had been asked: “Governor Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.

Guess Who Won the Debate?

Barbara Reid — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:15:53 EDT

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/a-new-slogan.html

Count the Lies

Barbara Reid — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:42:45 EDT

It's at 107 now folks!

http://www.mccainpedia.org/index.php/Count_the_Lies

Calm in a Crisis

Barbara Reid — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:39:32 EDT

Marc puts his finger on the real reason for the Obama surge. It's not, I think, simply punishing the GOP for the financial meltdown. It's also the public's judgment of which candidate responded better to the events of the last two weeks. McCain seemed unstable, bombastic, temperamental and at times, hysterical. Obama seemed, well, presidential.

Here's what I think matters more than ideology at this point. The American people have lived through a nerve-wracking few years. So many certainties have collapsed. We had 9/11 and then Abu Ghraib. We had the Iraq fiasco and the Katrina catastrophe. Now we have the structure of capitalism on the brink. Americans do not want a president adding to the drama. They want calm and authority and reason.

And that's why the attempt to paint Obama as a flaming radical is so ill-timed.

Obama just proved that he is a careful, calm guy in a crisis. What the voters saw is at odds with what the GOP is now saying. So in that context, it's the GOP that's damaged outside its core believers. (Obama's immensely difficult job if elected president will be to bring those deeply alienated people back into the national fold.)

In the end, temperament matters. And in a country desperate for assurance and poise at the top, Obama is winning that debate. It's no surprise to those of us who've followed him closely for a while. But for most voters, this is a new and first impression of Obama's character. And it's powerful.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-calm-factor.html

Obama's letter to Bernanke & Paulson, 3-22-07 (19 months ago)

Barbara Reid — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:38:38 EDT

Obama warned of the impending mortgage 19 months ago. Here's the relevant letter on March 22, 2007:

Dear Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson,

There is grave concern in low-income communities about a potential coming wave of foreclosures. Because regulators are partly responsible for creating the environment that is leading to rising rates of home foreclosure in the subprime mortgage market, I urge you immediately to convene a homeownership preservation summit with leading mortgage lenders, investors, loan servicing organizations, consumer advocates, federal regulators and housing-related agencies to assess options for private sector responses to the challenge.

We cannot sit on the sidelines while increasing numbers of American families face the risk of losing their homes.

And while neither the government nor the private sector acting alone is capable of quickly balancing the important interests in widespread access to credit and responsible lending, both must act and act quickly.

Palin is all Punctuation (Bob Herbert, NYT)

Barbara Reid — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:58:12 EDT

Palin’s Alternate Universe By BOB HERBERT

Sarah Palin is the perfect exclamation point to the Bush years.

We’ve lived through nearly two terms of an administration that believed it could create its own reality:

“Deficits don’t matter.” “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job.” “Those weapons of mass destruction must be somewhere.”

Now comes Ms. Palin, a smiling, bubbly vice-presidential candidate who travels in an alternate language universe. For Ms. Palin, such things as context, syntax and the proximity of answers to questions have no meaning.

Brian Williams: "Not a Debate; a Play Date"

Barbara Reid — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:46:22 EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/04/brian-williams-on-the-lat_n_131858.html

Both Brian Williams and David Letterman have been shut out by the McCain campaign so this is a funny and interesting clip.

"Famous Person" for Palin!

Barbara Reid — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:27:51 EDT

Maybe They Were Still Looking For Someone At Press Time:

(Thanks, Wonkette)

johnmccainrecord.com

Barbara Reid — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:01:45 EDT

http://www.johnmccainrecord.com/

Check it out; pass it on.

Palin--The New Yorker cover

Barbara Reid — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:31:02 EDT

McCain's Next Stunt? (The Daily Dish)

Barbara Reid — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:39:28 EDT

Sarah Baxter reports:

Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”

Is this what McCain is now counting on? Shutting down the race in order not to lose it?

New Rules--Bill Maher

Barbara Reid — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:02:22 EDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl3METtGx6U

"Ebony & Irony"

John McCain blinks

Barbara Reid — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:14:51 EDT

The Blinkers (The Daily Dish)

A reader writes:

One of the rhetorical devices the GOP-prepped candidates (like Bush & McCain) like to use is talking about "blinking". They often say how a leader cannot blink in the face of a crisis, how they will not blink when confronting islamic terrorism, how we must not blink in the face of monumental challenges.

Well, now McCain and his entire campaign is blinking - blinking at the press, blinking at debates, blinking at the financial crisis. And it seems to me that on 9/11/01, President Bush did nothing but blink for seven minutes. After which he massively overreacted in one of the most memorable and devastating acts of cover-my-ass in American history, causing orders of magnitude more damage to America than Bin Laden could have dreamed of.

That should show everyone what these people are: bullshit artists who cower at the prospect of accountability and responsibility.

Quote for the Day

Barbara Reid — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:06:50 EDT

"A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here's one example of the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely talk about this sort of natural, basic self-centeredness, because it's so socially repulsive, but it's pretty much the same for all of us, deep down. It is our default-setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth. Think about it: There is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is right there in front of you, or behind you, to the left or right of you, on your TV, or your monitor, or whatever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real -- you get the idea. But please don't worry that I'm getting ready to preach to you about compassion or other-directedness or the so-called "virtues." This is not a matter of virtue -- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.

People who can adjust their natural default-setting this way are often described as being "well adjusted," which I suggest to you is not an accidental term," - David Foster Wallace.

(The Daily Dish)

Not to be simplistic, but doesn't "self-centeredness" top the reasons why we are in this financial crisis? --Barb

"Blink Before Going to War"

Barbara Reid — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:48:48 EDT

Alaskans know her, right?

Read about Alaska's anti-Palin rally (with more photos and video) here:

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally-is-huge/

Women Against Sarah Palin--blog

Barbara Reid — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:43:11 EDT

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

I found this via Mudflats today. It is a collection of posts from women all over the country, of all ages and backgrounds, across party lines and encompassing all views on abortion. They do have one thing in common--all are protesting McCain's choice of Palin for VP.

One of the words used repeatedly--"aghast."

Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads

Barbara Reid — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:07:28 EDT

We'll see if it matters to the voters.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/14/campaign.wrap/index.html

"McCain has gone in some of his ads -- similarly gone one step too far," he told Fox News, "and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the '100 percent truth' test."

SNL Palin & Clinton Parody

Barbara Reid — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:48:30 EDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBFk9XC3YLs

"...and I can see Russia from my house!" --Sarah Palin

"...In conclusion, I invite the media to grow a pair. And if you can't, I will lend you mine." --Hillary

(Props to Tiny & Amy!)

For Our Children's Children

Barbara Reid — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:32:58 EDT

Everyone remembers where he or she was September 11, 2001. What marks the day most for me is that I had two children that day. Six months later, my 14-year-old son, Danny, was gone.

Today is the first National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. Danny had battled leukemia for 4 ½ years, achieving remission twice. That second remission is where we were on 9-11.

Each year in the United States, over 12,500 children are diagnosed with cancer. That's one to two classrooms full of children every day, year after year. Over 3,000 children die from cancer each year, which makes cancer the most common cause of disease-related death for children. That's more than 8 children every day, every year.

Why share it here?

McCain's "Barbs"

Barbara Reid — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:01:57 EDT

It's sad the way my name gets used. ;-) Having said that, I beg to differ with the NYT headline.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/us/politics/13mccain.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th

ABC News Re-View is bad on Mac’s attacks - 9 hours ago
“We know these ads are lies,” said co-host Joy Behar. “But you say ‘I approve these messages.’ Do you really approve them?”

It matters how the race is run (The Daily Dish)

Barbara Reid — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:03:10 EDT

How We Fight

11 Sep 2008 02:53 pm

Josh Marshall says it well:

...let's be frank. [McCain] might win it. This is clearly a testing time for Obama supporters. But I want to return to a point I made a few years ago during the Social Security battle with President Bush. Winning and losing is never fully in one's control -- not in politics or in life. What is always within our control is how we fight and bear up under pressure. It's easy to get twisted up in your head about strategy and message and optics. But what is already apparent is that John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest and race-baiting campaign of our lifetimes.

Just stay calm and keep your focus on reality. In the end, reality will win. We just don't know what it is yet, with a candidate the nation has only really known for two weeks - and then without the central, critical presence of an actual press allowed to ask questions.

I'm not stupid enough to predict anything.

And we should stop thinking about the horse race. We need to think about: Who best can win the war on terror? Who best can extricate us from Iraq? Who best can handle Pakistan? Who best can manage the financial meltdown? Who best will rid us of addiction to foreign oil? Who best can unite the country? Who best can tackle the enormous debt the Bush-Cheney years have landed us with? Who best can restore America's core abhorrence of torture?

I don't think the answer to that question at this point is even slightly difficult. I was expecting some agony this fall in sticking with Obama. I don't agree with all his policies. But after the last month, this isn't hard. Obama must be elected. And we must do everything we can to ensure he is - for America and the world.

(Thanks to Andrew Sullivan)

Dissent in America (The Daily Dish)

Barbara Reid — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:58:23 EDT

Dissent In America

Stunning pictures of protesters at the RNC. More here. Money quote from a photographer:

By the time I realized I was at the center of the conflict it was too late. The bombs and tear gas were exploding all around me and cops were screaming at everyone to go south toward the bridge. I yelled to one cop "I'm media! Where do I go?!" but he pointed his rubber bullet gun at me and yelled "Go to the fucking bridge!" It was utter chaos. The police were throwing gas and bombs in between the bridge and people being told to go to the bridge. Poor aim? Amid the mayhem I managed to click away a few frames, but I couldn't help but notice what was going on. They had surrounded the area and were corralling what seemed like 300 people, including a large number of media and legal observers, onto the bridge for a mass arrest.

If you aren't creeped out by what has been going on these past two weeks in America, you are not paying attention.

(Thanks to Andrew Sullivan.)

How to get promoted in Palinworld

Barbara Reid — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:59:47 EDT

I hope Charlie Gibson doesn't do a celebrity interview of Sarah Palin. We got that in People Magazine. I want probing questions asked about foreign policy, the economy, global warming and education. In addition, I want him to expose her inconsistencies (though I expect her to be well prepared for these). I also expect Sarah to explain little housekeeping matters like this one:

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/how-to-get-promoted-in-palinworld/

It seems Governor Palin has quite a record of "loyalty testing." Where else have we seen this abuse of power? DOJ anyone? Let's just make sure we understand how she uses this tool in her "executive leadership" so that we go forward in imagining a McCain/Palin administration or, (God forbid) a Palin administration, with our eyes wide open.

Btw, the Mudflats blog has been invaluable since the nomination of Sarah Palin. Written by a self-proclaimed "citizen who is just paying attention," it is terrific for anyone looking for the Alaskan scoop, slant, and views on Sarah Palin.

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

Pigs and Lipstick

Barbara Reid — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:14:17 EDT

I confess; I was afraid of fallout as soon as I heard Senator Obama's phrasing:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/pigs-and-lipsti.html

A bit ironic given this "Pork Jab" at Palin by cartoonist Mike Luckovich:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/Mikeystyle/gG5JT3

Once again, the Republicans are reaching for the worst in the American people--anger and divisiness based upon personal attack. Are we to think that Senator McCain and Governor Palin are unaware of the well-worn phrase, "lipstick on a pig?" I think I learned that idiom in high school:

Lipstick on a pig = "If people put lipstick on a pig, they make superficial or cosmetic changes, hoping that it will make the product more attractive." (UsingEnglish.com)

Andrew refers to this as a lack of intellectual honesty. If not that, it is simply a lack of intelligence--by the ticket and everyone who believes them.

As a woman...I wince. I thought Palin was "intelligent?" I hate when women resort to sexism as a strategy.

Calling it what it is--LYING

Barbara Reid — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:51:08 EDT

Here's Rachel Maddow on Countdown doing what my Dad used to refer to as "calling a spade a spade."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiwHkrMS__c

(I wish my Dad was here to discuss this election with me..)

"Change!"

Barbara Reid — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:29:04 EDT

You gotta love Tom Toles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name=Toles&date=09052008&type=c

LAUGHABLY IGNORANT

Barbara Reid — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:49:50 EDT

File under "even I knew this one!" From Josh Marshall at TPM:

Just more evidence. Over the weekend Gov. Palin said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers."

Only they're not even taxpayer funded. It's only the government takeover, which Sen. McCain supports, that could change that.

I understand that the TV networks and the big papers feel like they're not allowed to criticize Gov. Palin. But we're in the middle of a housing and credit crisis and she doesn't even know what Fannie and Freddie are. It's an embarrassing level of ignorance that would sink a candidate for house or senate.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/214629.php

Torture and the McCain Campaign

Barbara Reid — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:42:10 EDT

Real Wars and the U.S. Culture War

By ROGER COHEN Published: September 7, 2008 (NYT)

...We’ve had Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention setting a new low for foreign policy with her attempt to mock Barack Obama’s approach to international terrorists: “He’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”

I’m sorry, Ms. Palin, but out there in Alaska, between moose shoots, did you hear about Bagram, Abu Ghraib, renditions, waterboarding, Guantánamo and the rest?

John McCain knows what happens when those rights disappear. He described his Vietnamese nightmare the next night: “They worked me over harder than they ever had before. For a long time. And they broke me.”

A man remembers getting broken: that’s why McCain fought the use of torture by the Bush administration. His condoning of those words from his vice-presidential candidate is appalling. Foreign policy be damned if you can score a God-fearing-macho-versus-liberal-constitutionalist point...

(Full op-ed: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/opinion/08cohen.html?8ty&emc=ty )

Scheunemann implies McCain doesn't need foreign policy advice

Barbara Reid — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:20:16 EDT

“John McCain needs foreign policy advisors like Tiger Woods needs a golf coach.” --Randy Scheunemann, contrasting McCain with Obama on foreign policy advisors

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94389779

(I’m listening now.)

Haven't we had enough of this kind of arrogance?

Now THIS is a Sarah I can believe in!

Barbara Reid — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:31:43 EDT

The New York Times

September 7, 2008 Op-Ed Contributor
Party Guy By SARAH VOWELL

FORMER Senator Fred Thompson, in his folksy and entertaining speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, described his party’s presidential nominee as such a rule-breaking scamp that for a minute there I thought he was nominating Tom Sawyer for president instead of John McCain. When Mr. Thompson described Senator McCain’s progression from Naval Academy cut-up to war hero, all I could think about was a ne’er-do-well West Point cadet bound for military distinction, Ulysses S. Grant.

In the 1868 presidential election, when the American people voted for Grant, the greatest war hero of the 19th century, they had no inkling they had just chosen one of our worst presidents, a largely clueless chief executive who allowed corruption to flourish in his administration and who offered pretty much zero leadership during the depression known as the Panic of 1873.

I am not merely pointing out that military fortitude does not necessarily lead to presidential wisdom — sometimes it does. The nation’s capital that the Republican Party loathes so much is named after one such gentleman. My point is way more obvious and disquieting. No matter how much we voters know about a candidate, the truth is we never can tell what kind of president he’ll be.