Millionaires for Obama Blog

We did it! Now, time for discipline and focus

Mark Brennan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:56:46 EST

I am immensely proud to be a part of this great community, and with you all I was a part of the most historic election in history.

We did it. We spent many hours in N. California on phone banks, sometimes landing on pretty hostile anti-Obama folks, but it was all worth it. The undecideds we spoke to from the DNC offices, asking them to vote for Barack, were the most encouraging part of this journey for me.

Now, it's time for us to show resolve and to be disciplined, focused and unrelentant in our drive to change this country.

It will be impossible for one man to reverse the global economic downturn we're experiencing. He will be a positive catalyst, without doubt. But let's not expect overnight solutions to a complex, global problem.

The power of unions in America's automakers and other troubled sectors must be balanced with the need to allow some weaker players to fail. We can't afford artificial prop-ups - not for Wall Street, not for Detroit either.

And it's time for divisive politics to be put to sleep. Part of Obama's gift is his refusal to answer a wrong with another wrong. We must all follow this example and refrain from GOP-bashing, Joe the plumber bashing, Palin-bashing. This behavior feeds the fire and is divisive, not constructive.

America is already in rebuilding mode. Almost like a post-war nation, we are in convalescence and nursing our injuries. This takes hard work, courage and grit. It isn't about handouts - it's about opportunity.

We did it!

Red Alert! GOP Coordinated military diversion!

Mark Brennan — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:06:23 EDT

The events in the Middle East over the next few days are no coincidence: there is every reason for us to suspect a coordinated diversion from McCain's awful mess in the polls with just days to the election.

We must be ready to discredit this subversive diversion tactic!

What McCain needs to win: a dramatic military event that can be turned into a national security argument for an intensified state of war, with a new "enemy", flaring up in the last week of October.

Is he capable of trying it? Absolutely yes, he is. Does he have the connections to make it happen?

Yes, he does. The Pentagon is largely anti-Bush these days, making it harder to manufacture evidence of Syrian malevolence. However, the military itself maintains very strong ties to McCain and his cronies.

Let's not stand around saying "this isn't really happening".

It looks more and more like a reality. By 31-October we will know for sure.

Dear Syria, please have patience - we have an idiot for a president. We're working to elect a sane, educated and even-tempered man we can trust. If we ail, we will elect Idiot 2.0 and you will be justified in your mistrust of America. Please hold your anger for two more weeks.

Sincerely,

America

October surprise.....

Mark Brennan — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:03:10 EDT

While it is wonderful to see the polls showing Barack Obama so far ahead with just days to go until Nof 4th, we must remain vigilant.

Voter suppression is rampant.

Worse, there may be a 'military' incident or a homeland security incident of some sort in the final days before election date. There is no malicious act of trickery that is beyond the McCain campaign's ability to conjure up and pull on the American people. And there is nothing they won't do to retain power.

Fortunately America is fed up of the lies and the rhetoric, os it will increasingly take an act of God to save McCain. Or, an act of grand scale decelption that might mobilize the patriotic instincts of Americans. Don't fall for it. We must be ready to respond, if suddenly we're at war with Iran or faced needing to respond to an attack on Israel. It is a lie, it is fake, and it must be treated as such.

Be ready, fellow Americans!

VPs did us proud!

Mark Brennan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:25:18 EDT

Well,

we got what we had expected, and hoped for. Sarah Palin showed us she is charming and has some spunk, for sure. And that she is completely uneducated, a religious nut, and represents only the dumbest hillbilly views of Americans. She doesn't even count as mainstream.

But onto more imprtant things:

Joe Biden showed us he is a total gentleman, a consummate foreign policy expert and a well informed level-headed leader.

I feel great about the near future!

Beware the debate trick!

Mark Brennan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:52:21 EDT

McCain's postponement of the debate and his suspension of radio ads for his campaign are a trick.

The McCain campaign is think the following:

- provides an opportunity to get out of a tough debate, sure to make McCain look bad compared to Obama's eloquence and compelling argument on the important issues

- provides a photo op in Washington with the cronies, allowing McCain to emerge seemingly vistorious, "Look, I fixed America, I'm your president"

- allows the McCain campaign to accuse Obama of being MIA while the real heroes were putting out the fire. Obama was pursuing celebrity status and TV stardom while McCain was fixing America.

This scenario is preposterous and must be combated at all costs. McCain could send Sarah Palin to the debate if he needs to be with his cronies.

Harry Reid has requested the candidates do NOT bring their presidential circus to Washington while this mess gets addressed. He is right. The circus must go on and McCain Palin must show us their famous debating prowess.

McCain's first wife - values voters pay attention!

Mark Brennan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:41:38 EDT

Subject: John McCain's First Wife

I have checked this and it appears to be true.

John McCain mentions that his greatest failure in life was his first marriage. I guess he had to say something because his first wife, Carol, is now going public with their story.

You don't hear much about the first wife, Carol McCain McCain likes to illustrate his moral fiber by referring to his years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-

old former US Navy pilot tribute to his current wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children. But the first Mrs. McCain casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator's presidential campaign. She is seldom heard of despite being the mother three of McCain's children.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his incarceration in Vietnam, the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting.

But when McCain returned home in '73 to fanfare and handshakes from Richard Nixon, he saw that his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded into a telegraph pole on Christmas

Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

Carol remained hospitalized six months and received life-saving surgery. In order to save her legs, surgeons had to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and forced to use a catheter. Today, she stands at just 5' 4' in

and still walks with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of suffering.

For almost 30 yrs, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, John McCain and their divorce. But last week at her home in Virginia Beach, she discussed how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, a very rich woman 18 years his junior and heir to an Arizona

lucrative beer distribution fortune, one month later. Carol notes that their marriage ended because John McCain didn't want to be 40, he wanted to be 25.

In 1979 - while still married to Carol - he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued young Cindy, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage to his first wife.

SOME OF MCCAIN'S ACQUAINTANCES ARE LESS FORGIVING. THEY PORTRAY THE POLITICIAN AS A SELF-CENTERED WOMANIZER WHO EFFECTIVELY ABANDONED HIS CRIPPLED WIFE TO 'PLAY THE FIELD'. THEY ACCUSE HIM OF FINALLY SETTLING ON CINDY, A FORMER RODEO BEAUTY QUEEN, FOR HER MONEY.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is a leading campaigner for veterans' rights, said: 'I have been following John McCain's career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong

with this guy: 'When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her right away. EVERYBODY AROUND HIM KNEW IT. HE MET CINDY AND SHE WAS YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL AND VERY WEALTHY. AT THAT POINT MCCAIN JUST DUMPED CAROL FOR SOMETHING HE THOUGHT WAS BETTER.'

McCain is the classic opportunist.

Sampley notes that McCain is always reaching for 'attention and glory'.

After he came home, CAROL WALKED WITH A LIMP. SO HE THREW HER OVER FOR A POSTER GIRL WITH BIG MONEY. And the rest is history.'

FINALLY, ROSS PEROT, A BILLIONAIRE TEXAS BUSINESSMAN, AND FORMER

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, PAID CAROL MCCAIN'S MEDICAL BILLS. ROSS PEROT

BELIEVES THAT BOTH CAROL MCCAIN AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE TAKEN IN BY A

MAN, WHO IS UNUSUALLY SLICK AND CRUEL - EVEN BY THE STANDARDS OF MODERN

POLITICS.

Views on the bailout package

Mark Brennan — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:01:02 EDT

Fellow Democrats,

while it is tempting to blame a giant conspiracy of wealthy bankers and politicians for the mess that Wall Street is today, we must remain focused on facts and keep our dialogue and actions aimed at what can be fixed, not on broader injustices around the haves and have-nots.

There will always be financial markets. There will always be those who have more and those who have less. The world's financial markets have matured and become more sophisticated through trading systems and financial derivatives products. The result is that risk management became so complex and interwoven, across national boundaries and industries, currencies and commodities, and driven by so many variables that it was almost impossible to measure cause and effect except in hindsight.

Let us guard against populist political rhetoric at this critical point in history. The effect of not addressing the financial markets' ailments will be detrimental to all of us. From teachers and government workers to construction workers and factory workers, to investors and stockbrokers to lawyers.

The cost of the bailout may well reach the $700 Bn ceiling set by the banking committee. Funded by taxpayers. The blame may well go in part to incompetent CEOs at Wall Street's illustrious institutions. But crucifying a few CEOs will benefit nobody. Nor will a populist movement to cap CEO salaries. What will address the problem and prevent future meltdown is an intelligent governing body that implements realistic measures and checkpoints on an industry that is by nature risk-driven and uncertain.

Quantifying risk and providing transparency to investors of all kinds, will provide better assurance that money markets are self-aware and fly by instruments, not by feel.

However, financial markets will never be 100% safe. Let's accept that and move to patch the crisis we're experiencing, conscious that investing is risky.

McCain's suggestion that Obama has close connections with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is ridiculous and betrays more a panicked GOP candidate than an intelligent argument about fiscal policy.

Obama's campaign must remain with the facts: financial markets sometimes underperform and it hurts us all. Punishing the captains doesn't fix anything. Regulating the markets, without strangling them, is a way forward.

Palin: Dances with wolves

Mark Brennan — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:42:52 EDT

You have to see this. https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=c406_091608palin_tv_share&JServSessionIdr012=65uujih3v4.app20a Governor Palin's position on hunting - hardly you average American rural citizen's view.She is a freak.

You have to make over $600K to see a tax increase

Mark Brennan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:31:43 EDT

Ever discussed Obamanomics with a plumber, electrician or drywall guy> Chances are they'll tell you Obama wants to take every penny you make. Destroy incentives for the 'real' Americans who actually get out of bed and do a day's work. Sound familiar?

Next time you have one of those conversations, ask them about the facts.

Perhaps they haven't done their homework.

If they make between $227,000 and $603,000 a year they will see a tax break either way, McCain or Obama. If they make over $603,000 they will see a tax increase of $7,000 a year in Obama's tax plan, vs. a tax break of $12,000 in McCain's plan.

So, I would suggest that is one helluva well paid drywall guy! Or, it's a familiar old song, where people try to sound rich and therefore conservative, when in fact they don't feel the slightest difference between Democrat tax plans and Republican ones.

And while they're doing their homework, perhaps they should look up the historical health of consumer spending, consumer confidence and average household disposable income over the past 3 decades. The numbers are visibly in favor of Democratic presidencies, time and again!

Never mind the Palin

Mark Brennan — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:17:17 EDT

We need to concentrate on the issues, and we need to work for a positive image of Democrats, one that appeals to a very broad cross section of America.

Democrats are not exclusively angry intellectuals, nor are we generally freeloaders who cost the country more than we contribute.

Most democrats are achievers, hard workers, generally educated and high-integrity individuals.

We need to show that.

Obama Campaign needs to get sharper in its attacks on the McCain hypocrisy. And needs to criticize the manifest lack of wisdom in the selection of hockey mom as contender for veep. Beyond this, let's not worry about the Palin distraction. She isn't the vice president, and our job is to make sure that Joe Biden becomes the Vice President.

Stay focused. Live well. Show them the power of our example. We are good people. We contribute. We earn good money and pay our bills and our debts and our taxes. We give to charity and volunteer our time for great causes. We are people of integrity - trustworthy and loyal to our friends and families.

We must not be distracted by the well designed diversion put before us last week. We must fight with honor and courage and stay on the issues. The Obama tax plan does not harm entrepreneurs and business owners - it is a small business incentive. You have to be in an entremely high income bracket to feel any effects of the Obama tax plan. Soccer moms in suburbs keep suggesting their portfolios will be decimated by the democrats. Nonsense. Their life savings could be felled in one year if they fall ill while uninsured. Now that's a real possibility.

The issues. Not the distractions.

Go Obama Biden!

Freeloaders, those Democrats!

Mark Brennan — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:45:47 EDT

The stereotype of Democrats as lazy freeloading parasites who want the government to pay their bills, must be broken.

When we're not portrayed as unemployed persons who smoke pot all day long, we're suddenly slammed as elitist, fancy pants wannabes who eat brie and drink wine (is that a crime?) and are out of touch with real America.

We carry America. We are the doctors, lawyers, software engineers, lab technicians and mechanical engineers. We are the one who innovate, work extra hours, weekends and study to better ourselves. We pay to put ourselves through business school, medical school, get certified as project managers, advertising copy writers or digital image editors.

We drive the economy - it isn't the laid off auto workers or the steel workers, it's the brave and innovative middle class people who retrain when they see the need, who apply for student grants to learn new skills, who belong to our communities and actively work to improve our surroundings.

The Angry Left? I don't think so. The angry right spends enormous energy on generating resentment and xenophobia. Against illegal immigrants, muslims, gays, all people of color, and members of any and all fringe communities including artists, musicians, renewable energy pioneers, organic farm coops and many more.

Enough! These people ARE the American Dream. These are the ones who invented trends and movements copied and followed the world over. Organic farming was born in America and is a several hundred billion dollar industry worldwide. The stop smoking movement has caught on across Europe, as has the health awareness trend and the weight control and anti-obesity initiatives.

The bitter-sounding right wing chatter that condemns creativity, originality and liberalism is sapping the very lifeblood out of America. The underlying message in this dour and oppressive doctrine is that we all should shut up, stop dreaming up great new things, and stick with the old fashioned ways we know and love.

That isn't American. It isn't American to sit quietly and stop inventing.

We won't stop creating newer and better ways of living. We won't stop pursuing technology and scientific discovery to make our healthcare, education and transportation systems ever better.

We are great BECAUSE we buck the status quo. Because we always want to do better.

Where would you rather Live?

Mark Brennan — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:02:01 EDT

Looking at a political map the the USA 2008: the blue states form around both coasts, across much of the north, and some of the Great Lakes region.

The blue states are home to Wall Street, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the Automobile industry, the wine country, Microsoft, Disneyland, Manhattan, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, in fact most of America's economic powerhouse cities.

Nevertheless, America's right wing media repeatedly paint a grim picture of Democrats as unemployed, lazy, unmotivated people who would rather pick up a free check than put in a hard day's work.

What drives this contradiction? Why, if the blue states are carrying America's economy while the red states are in the economic doldrums, are Democrats labeled the anti-business party?

This is our favorite enigma. The one we will work to shatter, once and for all.

The ranks of the Democratic Party may include schoolteachers, public sector workers and other less wealthy groups. They also include many business school graduates, lawyers, stockbrokers and technology managers. Some of the greatest minds and highest earning individuals in America are devoted Democrats. They lead by example and contribute enormously to internal revenue as they do to community initiatives, charities and schools.

We believe in an America built on higher standards. Education and Healthcare both get an F today. They both should be straight A students.

A Nation of Whiners?

Mark Brennan — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:32:29 EDT

This group aims to pick away at the constant description of Democrats as whiners, freeloaders and generally people who don't know how to stand up on their own two feet.

A commonly seen bumper sticker in my area says :How to annoy a Democrat: Work Hard and Be Happy".

I like it. Nevertheless, who is doing most of the whining? Democrats I know and love tend to work extremely hard, earn a great living, and tend to live very happily in general. Some democrats feel like victims, particularly over the past eight years of catastrophic government. Yet we do not whine, we work hard for change.

The whining I hear is from working class republicans, who - understandably - must feel very much like road kill. They voted for George Bush. They lost their jobs, or lost much of the quality of life they knew before. They compete with illegal immigrants in an increasingly discount-oriented labor market. They fervently adhere to their republican principles, somehow managing to blame the "angry left" for all their woes.

What about the Angry Right? And who will help them?

And more importantly, how must well-off Democrats work to address the cast of penniless loafers who prefer to beg for lunch than work for it? Right wing talk radio often preempts this discussion when talking about democrats who are not poor. Suddenly, we are wine drinking, brie-eating snobs. We're Champagne socialists, when we're not angry schoolteachers.

Advertising works by creating an emotional attraction to the image of he product. Hollywood does great work for the Democratic Party, simply by association of idol with political preference. Talk radio tries in vain to paint Hollywood people as God-hating, drug addicted circus clowns. Sometimes with some success, sometimes not.

Silicon Valley's billionaires are almost 90% democrat leaning. They believe firmly in technology's potential to help us out of fossil fuel dependency, and often are strong philanthropists and givers to their communities. Fox news works hard to discredit their ideas and portrays them as mad scientists who got lucky somehow.

We have our work cut out for us: to highlight the Obama support camp that's made up of high earning individuals, who live happy healthy lives and who believe in both enterprise and a caring, educated America, where extremes of poverty, sickness, ignorance and violence are a thing of the past.

Using the principles of powerful advertising campaigns, we must emphasize the sheer number of wealthy Americans who believe in Obama. Not unemployed pot smoking bums, but business school grads who drive sports cars and vacation in Fiji, France and the Seychelles, and who believe schools and hospitals are infact cheaper than a trillion dollar war that never needed to happen.

Please join our group and contribute ideas to this growing movement!

Mark Brennan and Friends