Early Voting for the entire state of Florida has just been extended.
Every Early Vote location in Florida will now be every day from 7am-7pm up through November 2.
Please pass along this great news to everyone you know who will be voting in Florida. Click here to find your nearest early vote location.
Here's the release:
GOVERNOR CRIST EXTENDS EARLY VOTING HOURS ~~ ~Ensures maximum number of Floridians can exercise right to vote~ ~~October 28, 2008Contact:GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE(850) 488-5394TALLAHASSEE - Governor Charlie Crist today signed Executive Order 08-217, extending the hours for early voting during the current General Election. Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., through Friday, October 31, 2008, and for a total of 12 hours between 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008. "I have spoken with the Secretary of State and members of the Florida Legislature and have concluded that it is always the right thing to do to give voters every opportunity to cast a ballot," Governor Crist said. "I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote." Prior to the 2008 General Election, Florida has seen historic numbers of Floridians registering to vote for the first time. In addition, record numbers of voters have chosen to cast a ballot during early voting. Early voting began on October 20 and runs through November 2. Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours per day on each weekday, and for a total of eight hours during both weekends during the early voting period. Floridians can contact their county's Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations of early voting. Florida voters can also request absentee ballots to be mailed to them until October 29. Please see the attached Executive Order 08-217. STATE OF FLORIDA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 08-217 WHEREAS, early voting is scheduled to end November 2, 2008; and WHEREAS, early voting turnout has already reached record levels and is forecast to continue with record turnout. There are only 267 early voting sites throughout the state and long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites; and WHEREAS, a historic number of Floridians have registered to vote for the first time in this election; and WHEREAS, new voting equipment is being used in 15 Florida counties; WHEREAS, as a result of this unique combination of circumstances resulting from the historic voter turnout in this election, there is a possibility that election officials will be unable to conduct an orderly election, and thus residents in our state could be deprived of a meaningful opportunity to vote; andWHEREAS, because of the existing and continuing possibility of an emergency occurring before or during the regularly scheduled election, and in order to ensure maximum citizen participation in the electoral process, and provide a safe and orderly procedure for persons seeking to exercise their right to vote;NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, by the Florida Elections Emergency Act, and by all other applicable laws, issue the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:I hereby declare that, based on the above-described conditions, a state of emergency exists. It is hereby found and declared to be necessary to extend the voting hours during early voting. Accordingly, I order the Supervisors of Elections to open early voting sites from 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. through October 31, 2008 and open early voting sites for a total of twelve (12) hours between 7 a.m. November 1, 2008 and 7 p.m. November 2, 2008.IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Florida to be affixed, at Tallahassee, the Capitol, this 28th day of October, 2008. GOVERNORATTEST:SECRETARY OF STATE
GOVERNOR CRIST EXTENDS EARLY VOTING HOURS
~~ ~Ensures maximum number of Floridians can exercise right to vote~ ~~
October 28, 2008
Contact:
GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE(850) 488-5394
TALLAHASSEE - Governor Charlie Crist today signed Executive Order 08-217, extending the hours for early voting during the current General Election. Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., through Friday, October 31, 2008, and for a total of 12 hours between 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008.
"I have spoken with the Secretary of State and members of the Florida Legislature and have concluded that it is always the right thing to do to give voters every opportunity to cast a ballot," Governor Crist said. "I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote."
Prior to the 2008 General Election, Florida has seen historic numbers of Floridians registering to vote for the first time. In addition, record numbers of voters have chosen to cast a ballot during early voting.
Early voting began on October 20 and runs through November 2. Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours per day on each weekday, and for a total of eight hours during both weekends during the early voting period. Floridians can contact their county's Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations of early voting.
Florida voters can also request absentee ballots to be mailed to them until October 29.
Please see the attached Executive Order 08-217.
STATE OF FLORIDA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 08-217
WHEREAS, early voting is scheduled to end November 2, 2008; and
WHEREAS, early voting turnout has already reached record levels and is forecast to continue with record turnout. There are only 267 early voting sites throughout the state and long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites; and
WHEREAS, a historic number of Floridians have registered to vote for the first time in this election; and
WHEREAS, new voting equipment is being used in 15 Florida counties;
WHEREAS, as a result of this unique combination of circumstances resulting from the historic voter turnout in this election, there is a possibility that election officials will be unable to conduct an orderly election, and thus residents in our state could be deprived of a meaningful opportunity to vote; and
WHEREAS, because of the existing and continuing possibility of an emergency occurring before or during the regularly scheduled election, and in order to ensure maximum citizen participation in the electoral process, and provide a safe and orderly procedure for persons seeking to exercise their right to vote;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, by the Florida Elections Emergency Act, and by all other applicable laws, issue the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:
I hereby declare that, based on the above-described conditions, a state of emergency exists. It is hereby found and declared to be necessary to extend the voting hours during early voting. Accordingly, I order the Supervisors of Elections to open early voting sites from 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. through October 31, 2008 and open early voting sites for a total of twelve (12) hours between 7 a.m. November 1, 2008 and 7 p.m. November 2, 2008.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Florida to be affixed, at Tallahassee, the Capitol, this 28th day of October, 2008.
GOVERNOR
ATTEST:
SECRETARY OF STATE
It has been a while since i had the chance to write a post. My team started working on phone banking as soon as VR ended.
There seems to be a group of voters that we are really going to need to keep motiviated until Nov. 04. Our goal is get anyone that is weary of the politics (and is a Obamam supporter!) to vote early. Move em out! Drive them there. Get them to the polls. Once they have voted that is one in the bank: go out and find another one. Oh.. and do not forget to early vote yourself!!
I was yelling at my TV, as I'm sure many were, frustrated with the lack of acutal debating. Where was the follow up? The confrontation between candidates? The analysts on the ABC post-show seem to think this was more of an actual debate than last week, but I beg to differ. I think it was an exercise in protecting Sarah Palin. In interviews, Palin fails on the follow-up. Tonight, there was no follow-up.
Be clear, I think both candidates did well. I think Biden did better. He actually answered the questions, was clear on his points, and made a persuasive argument. Palin didn't say anything that she hasn't said before, except a few things I'd like to point out (and these are not direct quotes). However, she wasn't allowed to "go Couric" on the issues because there was no follow through. Had someone actually confronted her on clear mis-statements and misunderstandings, there would have been a much different Palin on display. Sadly, Biden couldn't be the one to do this without the McCain camp crying sexism and bias of the liberal media. Anyway, here goes:
1. "The McCain-Palin ticket supports equal rights and civil liberties, including recognition of domestic partnerships. " The voting records for both, however, say otherwise. McCain has consistently voted against hate crime legislation and equal rights for gays. Both McCain and Palin have OPPOSED domestic partnership benefits, and nowhere has this been opposed more adamantly than in Alaska under Palin. I wish someone would have brought this up. Sticking to the format means less room for error.
2. "McCain and Palin support education reform." Be clear, they definitely do not, and no matter how many educators Palin is related to, that fact won't change. McCain doesn't think No Child Left Behind needs to be reformed. He thinks the solution to failing schools is competition and school vouchers, per his website. However, taking the best teachers and children with their tax dollars from failing schools leaves those schools at a disadvantage and leaves all those children without the option to move, behind. Gwen Ifill never returned to this issue.
3. "McCain supports tax cuts for the middle class." Simply not true. People like me will be taxed more under McCain, while the rich will continue to get tax breaks. Unacceptable. McCain supports people like McCain, who own multiple houses and have accountants to manage their bank accounts, and travel first class, and have good health insurance. Speaking of...
4. "The McCain health plan is better." Definitely not true. I have spent the last two years as one of the millions of uninsured Americans. Having a $5000 tax credit to purchase my own insurance won't change the fundamental problem - individual insurance is expensive, difficult to obtain, and more restricted than employer-provided group insurance. I have to worry about pre-existing conditions, none of which I have, but by law, my out-of-pocket trip to the doc for allergy problems could fall in that category and not be covered for at least a year. Among other things. And my premium will be so high that, even if I can afford it, I can't afford to actually go to the doctor and pay co-pays, lab costs, and other fees. What if something is wrong with me? I can't afford the follow up visits and tests, and if the insurance company decides that my problem is related to a previously exisiting issue, even if it's outside the pre-existing conditions time frame, they don't have to cover it. By law, they don't have to cover anything that they feel you should have been receiving treatment for. John McCain, your plan does not address these issues!
The healthcare issue angers me more than any other. You need to realize that even if you have group insurance, your employer will have to pay taxes on benefit money, affecting how much is subsidized, what your cost is, and how good your coverage is. The United States has one of the worst health care systems in the world. I travel a lot, and one thing I hear is what a travesty it is that people can't get basic or emergency medical care without great personal cost. I have one relative and one friend who died due to lack of insurance. My 18 year-old friend died in an emergency room where they wouldn't treat him, arguably because he didn't present as a serious case, but really because he couldn't afford the visit. But death is serious, and now the hospital will have to afford a much greater cost as a result of this unnecessary and untimely death.
Please don't be fooled by tonight's "debate." There are real issues that weren't addressed that voters need to be aware of. Palin kept trying to say they are the ticket of change, and that Biden was going back to the Bush administration and the past. But Palin quoted Reagan and actually imitated some of his famous (infamous?) debate against Carter (I can't be the only one sickened by the "there you go again Joe" line). How different is Reagan from Bush, Bush from McCain? Reagan de-valued education and to such a degree that we now have one of the worst public education systems in the world. The failure of the education system started before Reagan, but he accelerated it. McCain himself said he admired Reagan greatly. Remember who benefited from Reagan's economic policies...it wasn't the "soccer moms" or the "six pack average Joe" or the "Wasilla Main Street." Maybe we weren't where we are today, but the middle class was not the beneficiary.
It is unfortunate that Palin wasn't called on her lack of answers and wasn't asked to elaborate beyond what she was told to say. The American people deserve to see that this person (Palin) at this point in time, is not qualified to lead this country. We didn't get that tonight.
Like a freeway driver passing the site of an accident, I can't help myself. I have to watch Sarah Palin answer Katie Couric's questions about her readiness in foreign affairs over and over and over again. I feel mad that this is the first woman to be this close to the presidency and she is clearly unprepared. I also feel sad for her. Her own campaign appears to have left her out to dry. And then I realize that because I'm a "bleading heart" liberal, I really do feel the pain of others and have, to a very small degree, given Palin some slack.
When Muskie cried or McGovern or Dukakis showed any signs of weakness, what did the Republicans do? They went for the jugular. I don't see Democrats doing the same thing. I'm proud that we are not like them (Reps) but I wonder if we need to be tougher. Do we need to so disgrace her that she is forced to step down as Eagleton was in 1972? Are the stakes too high to worry about hurting feelings? The answer is Yes.
If we are going to give away the farm to the fascio-corporatist financiers and bankers of the wall street cabal we should at least get something for it. The minimum acceptable conditions for the bailout are:
1. Free healthcare for all citizens.
2. Full Social Security retrirement at age 50.
3. $15 per hour minimum wage.
4. High protective tarriff on all goods manufactured outside the U.S. by "American" companies.
5. Tax rate of 75% on trust funds.
6. Confiscation of all property of all shareholders with an estimated wealth of $100,000 or more.
7. The elimination of taxation on incomes of less than $75,000 per year.
And you know what it is still a good deal - for them.
There was a message circulating some of our groups in Florida yesterday that spread incorrect information conerning the the ID needed to vote. We're going to clarify below.
A message from the Florida Campaign for Change chief election lawyer:
I am the Obama-Biden campaign’s chief election lawyer in Florida, and I have received the 'no match no vote' message from several sources. This message is categorically false. Our reading of the clear statutory language does NOT require that the address on the driver’s license (or other ID) that the voter presents at the polls match the voter’s address in the precinct register. Furthermore, this press release from the Florida Secretary of State definitively ccnfirms:http://www.dos.state.fl.us/news/communications/pressRelease/pressRelease.cfm?id=330 See the last bullet:· I.D. required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity. Not to verify the voter’s ID number or address. The photograph on the ID is compared to the person standing before the poll worker and the signature on the ID is compared to the signature on record.
I am the Obama-Biden campaign’s chief election lawyer in Florida, and I have received the 'no match no vote' message from several sources. This message is categorically false.
Our reading of the clear statutory language does NOT require that the address on the driver’s license (or other ID) that the voter presents at the polls match the voter’s address in the precinct register. Furthermore, this press release from the Florida Secretary of State definitively ccnfirms:http://www.dos.state.fl.us/news/communications/pressRelease/pressRelease.cfm?id=330
See the last bullet:
· I.D. required and checked at the polls is used solely to confirm the voter’s identity. Not to verify the voter’s ID number or address. The photograph on the ID is compared to the person standing before the poll worker and the signature on the ID is compared to the signature on record.
Please feel free to email florida@barackobama.com with any questions or concerns.
I have recently placed two video posted on ireport.com that were placed on cnn.com. Just my response to the Palin and McCain speeches at the RNC. Enjoy, and tell me what you think. Please feel free to leave a post because the McCain supporters certainly are going crazy with the comments! GO OBAMA!
Palin: Woman or Pitt
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-76992
Republican change? A regift
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-78406
During the Clinton administration, 10 of the 13 Muslim extremists were captured or killed following their attempt to blow up the World Trade Center. I might also add that we didn’t spend more than a trillion dollars doing it, or suffer more than 4,000 American soldiers killed and 10’s of thousands more severely wounded following the original attack on the World Trade Center. The stock market suffered only for a day or so when Clinton was in office and dealt with the original World Trade Center attack by Muslim extremists. Compare that to the trillions of dollars our country lost in the weeks following 9/11 on the stock market.
I truly with others in the news media would do even half as good of a job in showing the unbelievable hypocrisy with positions of the Republican pundits. Stewart takes what several people are saying now, and compares it to actual video of what they said in the past few weeks and months. It's really sad that news organizations such as CNN and NBC cannot hold these people accountable during their interviews.
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth. Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded. Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate. ___
Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.
Editor's note: CNN contributor Hilary Rosen is the political director and Washington editor at large of HuffingtonPost.com, which describes itself as an Internet newspaper and focuses on politics from a liberal point of view. A longtime Democratic adviser, Rosen is a former CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America and supported Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
(CNN) -- Warning! This pundit isn't feeling the same way as many of my colleagues about Sarah Palin. She is being attacked for her lack of experience for the job and for whether she should be putting her family first instead of her career.
This just isn't that unusual in my book. And the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable I feel with that message.
Let's reflect. In her acceptance speech, we saw a woman who was compelling, charming and aggressively partisan. She succeeded in demonstrating that she is a regular mom who came to government to make a difference.
And she had that crowd in the convention hall eating out of her hands. Celebrity? It will be hard for the Republicans to attack Sen. Barack Obama for his celebrity now that they have one of their own.
A superstar of the radical right was made Wednesday night. And she may also have made some headway with those who buy her folksiness without knowing the extreme nature of her actual policy views. Read the transcript of Palin's speech
So where does this leave us as Democrats in making the case against Sarah Palin and her running mate for president? What is the choice now for the American people? There is a really strong case to be made against the McCain/Palin ticket and Democrats need to make it the right way, right away.
I am a woman who someone took a chance on several years ago when they gave me a job that had only previously been done by old white guys. Experience? How do you get any if no one takes a chance on you? And the decision to take a chance can be instinctive, as John McCain said.
And what about the argument that she is a negligent mother who will be distracted from her important role? I am a mother who constantly feels the pressure from others about whether I am fit to be a parent, whether I put my kids first often enough and whether my children get enough of my attention. Who has the right to judge my family?
My grandmother always said, "You can't tell time on someone else's clock." Judgments about people's personal lives are better left unsaid and unrealized.
So why then do I think that Sarah Palin would be a terrible vice president? Because I also think that John McCain would be a terrible president.
I don't care about how Sarah Palin or John McCain take care of their families. I care about how their policy choices affect my family and millions of other Americans.
McCain and Palin get their health insurance paid for by the government (hers in Alaska and his in Washington). Yet they oppose giving the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans the same access to affordable health care.
John McCain's kids don't have to worry about paying for college. Yet he has opposed every single education support program to help others.
McCain and Palin say they will stand up to oil companies. Yet the only energy policy they support gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies to do more drilling and he has opposed every piece of federal legislation to explore alternative fuel sources.
McCain and Palin say they will revamp how Washington does business. Yet his campaign is filled with lobbyists and she has cooperated with Sen. Ted Stevens in funneling federal money for useless projects in Alaska for years. And McCain and Palin have no solutions for Americans worrying about their jobs in a fragile economy.
McCain and Palin want us to leave their families alone. Yet they want to make rules for our families by eliminating our right to make our own choices over abortion, eliminate our access to family planning education or domestic partner benefits, and our freedom from discrimination.
They want to control what our kids learn in school about sex and about science. In short, through the policies they promote and the judges they support, they want the government to have more control over our private lives than at any time in history.
McCain and Palin now say their campaign is about change, too. Yet the only real change they have proposed is a change from a suit to a skirt in the vice president's office and one man fighting a misplaced war for another in the Oval Office.
That seems to me to be the right reason to oppose them in November. It's not the process or the people, it's what they represent. This unconventional choice of a vice presidential nominee by John McCain won't result in a win in November, because McCain and Palin are the wrong choice for the country.
In a nutshell, I was underwhelmed with tonight's speech. I truly expected to be impressed. Not knowing anything of her except that she was in pageants, I assumed she could read a teleprompter well and look good for the cameras. And based on her speech after McCain announced her as his running mate, I thought she would deliver an intellectual, grounded speech that also offered insight into her character, family, and values.
None of that came across. All I can remember is that there were a lot of good one-liners, and not all of them delivered well. I found the speech offensive not just because of my support for Obama, but also because I am intelligent. Sarah Palin played into what has worked so well for the GOP - preying on the shallow nature and insecurities of the American public. I hate to admit that it's a successful tactic - look at the Heathers (movie by same name, 1989), the Plastics (Mean Girls, 2004), and the Bush Administration (2001-2009). I can deliver a funny line, too. The sad thing is, it's true, and I think (but hope it's not true) that the average American isn't bright enough to look past character attacks to make a decision based on real issues.
What are those issues? According to Palin, something to do with the economy, though she hardly mentioned it, something to do with renewable energy that sounds eerily similar to another candidate's ideas (oh, and newsflash, Palin, OPEC countries, i.e. not the USA, produce over 2/3 of the world's oil, we might not want to cut those ties so quickly), something to do with experience, and, um, the rest was just schtick. McCain and Palin seem to have hijacked the "Change" theme and seek to make it their own. All of the speakers tonight in some way pointed to the Republican party as an agent of change, empowerment, and progress, but failed to give any credible examples and conveniently failed to mention any of the failures that have occurred while one of their brethren has been in office. It would have been nice to see them acknowledge current failures and define how, even though they are from the same party and line of thinking, the McCain/Palin team would be different.
Perhaps most laughable was Giuliani's statement that "we are the party that ended slavery." He forgot the postscript, which reads "we are the party that also ensured that "free" blacks were not able to vote, did not have access to quality public education, were not given equal pay, and were not treated as equals to other human beings until, well, that's actually still going on today, except the vote part." It is truly offensive the way this party has chosen to present itself at this convention. I have always said I had a lot of respect for McCain, but no longer. You have to be able to disagree with, criticize, and engage your opponent without being denigrating. And Sarah Palin failed miserably at that task. I hold that against her and anyone involved with the campaign, because someone above her condoned it.
At the end of the day, Palin's speech wasn't bad. It wasn't good either. In a way, it was a success because it undoubtedly appealed to the same kind of voters who have kept the current Bush in office. People who are somewhat "country," people who still believe the USA runs things and tells everyone else how it's done, people who have limited interaction with diverse populations and rarely, if ever, experience anything outside of a limited geographical radius. I applaud her speech writer for appealing to that demographic. But for me, not as a Democrat, but as an American, it was a failure. Like the Heathers, the Plastics, and the Bush Administration, they have truly exemplified that survival of the fittest is not about being intelligent, having empathy for those less fortunate, being invested in your community, or having positive relationships. It's about proving that only the strongest survive, by any means necessary.
We still don't know much about Palin, except she clearly doesn't like or respect Obama. We still don't know much about how the McCain/Palin team will bring about change, but we do know they will resort to politics as usual in their attacks. That is not the change we seek!
A fellow volunteer and great leader in the Tampa Bay area said it best: we need to get out there and spread the truth about our candidate. Let's not respond angrily or irresponsibly to what we have seen, but instead take this opportunity to distinguish ourselves from our opponents in a way we can be proud of. Register new voters, phone bank, canvass, help out in your local campaign office. Show your support in words and action.
Obama-Biden '08
I thought it was very telling how out of all the states that pledged their delegates to McCain/Palin, Alaska was the only state that didn't commit all of their delegates to McCain.
Federal Reserve Bank records reveal that the U.S. dollar has lost 80% of it's value since 1967.
Link
Well, in all honesty, I wasn't really planning on going to a watch party. I worked a long day, had gotten very little sleep all week, and just wanted to lay on my couch and watch the convention throgh heavy-lidded eyes. I am not sure what it is that changed my mind. In part, I thought of all of the volunteers I have worked with over the past few months, especially Nick Denmon, Johnny Bardine, Seth Godfrey, Gena Keebler, and Jim Jackson, and how it would be great to share this moment with them (except Jim, of course, who as a delegate was AT the convention). I also thought it would be a great opportunity to meet and mingle with other supporters and make some new connections. Ultimately, I thought, this is a "historic moment." So cliche but so true. I thought of all the delegates I saw crying the night before, overwhelmed with the emotion of the moment, of seeing something happen many thought never could be, and I said, how could I not be a part of that? It may have been in a theatre on the beach in St. Petersburg, FL, but it was in the company of others who have worked hard for many many months to make the possiblity of this moment real.
I did meet many interesting people that night. Jan K., a French teacher at a local high school, who had such great energy about her. She said that she wore an Obama button to school on the day of the Florida Primary, and was told she was not allowed to be wearing it. She said that she wanted to encourage her students to be aware of the election, to know the candidates, and to help open a dialogue among students and perhaps between students and their parents. She didn't remove her button. She was later accosted by a History teacher, and vocal Republican, who told her it was offensive and inapproriate of her to be wearing her button. She still didn't remove her button. I thought, what a perfect opporunity for a History teacher to discuss the civil rights movement, black suffrage, and how truly significant this nomination is, and how sad that she could not rise above her party affliation to educate young Americans and engage them in the political process.
I also met Anthony, and his mother whose name I did not get (please forgive me!). Anthony, who recently turned 18, registered to vote (see his pic in the slide show)! I get excited about registering voters because it gives me hope that people really do care enough this time around to actually do something about it. One of my favorite quotes is: "Nobody changes until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change." No statement could more accurately reflect the state of this country right now, and I support this campaign not just because of the hope of change, but because this campaign has the plan and the tools to accomplish change.
I also enjoyed meeting Anthony and his mom because I noticed that he registered as a Republican. I also registered as a Republican when I first registered to vote, and before then I was a proud if clueless member of the Young Republicans, standing on stage with Dan Quayle in 1992. I am grateful that life experience has opened my eyes to the plight of those less fortunate than me, and led me to an appreciation of what I have by virtue of the fact that I have had to work hard and struggle for it. Anthony may remain a Republican throughout his life. But it was great to see a parent engaging her child in the political process; a new voter being exposed to other voters of all ages and degrees of enthusiasm; a newly registered Republican being exposed to ideas he may not agree with but hopefully can respect; a young American gathering with other Americans to witness a truly amazing and wonderful moment in our history.
I invited a friend and McCain supporter to attend the event with me. I thought she might like to meet new people. I thought she might appreciate how Obama's nomination is significant to all of us. She didn't even respond to my request.
In the end, I am glad that I went. I had fun. I enjoyed hearing the laughter, the applause, the cheers, and the tears of the people around me. I felt blessed to be part of such a motivated and enthusiastic group. If there is one thing we have on that other campaign, it's that we are far more passionate and motivated. Not a single one of my McCain-supporting friends does even a shred of what one Obama supporter does.
I had been feeling tired lately, not as motivated, and wanting my weekends back to myself! But after the acceptance speech I thought, how can I not be involved? I wanted to go out that evening and register some voters! It was invigorating, and impressed upon me more than ever the importance of spreading the word to the people who will benefit most and probably know the least. The people who don't have internet access or, if they do, probably don't read blogs. The people who don't watch C-SPAN, and may not even have TVs. The people whose quality of healthcare is related to the quality of their jobs. The people whose children are undereducated because they live in an area with lower property values.
The Saturday after the acceptance speech, I went to a voter registration event in South St. Pete. There I met Mary and her husband Gene. Mary was a teacher in the Washington DC school district for 19 years. She was there to witness MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, and was there offering support along with her church when the riots broke out after his death. It was an honor and pleasure to meet her. Not enough young people today know what it was like in the '60s and '70s, not enough people remember that people of all colors died for all Americans to be treated equally. And sadly, if they do remember, they are so disillusioned with our government that they don't care.
I hope that we are all inspired and motivated to take action. I read an e-mail today that made a good point - we cannot spend all our time blogging and commenting on posts. We cannot continually direct negative energy to Sarah Palin and give the McCain campaign the attention they so desperately seek. Instead, we need to say why we believe our candidate is what this country needs, and we need to spread that message as far and wide as possible. So, keep reading and keep blogging, but also get out there and GET OUT THE VOTE!
Click on the following link to check out a slideshow from Convention Weekend:
http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/damahu/Obama%20Convention%20Weekend/?action=view¤t=f72a56a3.pbw
The below was written by one of mybarackobama group members: dmbfan1999@gmail.com. He expresses my sentiments exactly! We must get to work. Right Now!
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Fellow O/B supporters, when we look at Sarah Palin we see an inexperienced politician who has no business being in this national race. We see someone who will be easily manipulated by the neo-cons to further their "war on terror" and funnel billions more tax dollars into the pockets of the military industrial complex and big oil companies.
When right-wing, conservative Evangelicals look at Ms. Palin, they see a gift from God.
Yes, we see through the cheap, transparent, manipulative Rove-esque tactics, and post our rants online as blogs and nytimes.comcomments. But this running mate was not chosen for us. It was chosen to solidify the conservative base, who is not reading blogs and sending emails. They are sitting in church and chatting with their fellow church-goer about how McCain has made such a wonderful choice in picking his veep. Not only does she talk the talk about being pro-life, she walks the walk by giving birth to a baby with Down Syndrome. Not only is she a charmer and a looker, but if we vote for her she will be the first woman Vice-President. We can be apart of history.
Therefore, do not read the blogs and internet postings and think it is a good gauge of the national consciousness on this choice. The people whom this was aimed at and are rejoicing over this pick are NOT online blogging and emailing.
So, in the end it comes down to what do we as Obama/ Biden supporters do to take this country in a new and better direction.
Well, we can sit and bang out email after email about how Palin wants to shoot wolves from helicopters. We can blog about how she is in favor of teaching the creation story along side the theory of evolution in our public schools. We can even try to start rumors about how her four month old baby might not even be hers, but is actually her seventeen year old daughter's.
Obama/ Biden supporters you are wasting your time! Not only are you "preaching to the choir" (sorry, i could not think of another metaphor), but your message is not being read by the other side. Besides even if they did read it, they would look you in the face and say, "Well, God put us in charge of the animals, and their numbers need to be thinned out for the new oil pipeline going through Alaska. And why not teach creationism in schools, both sides need to be represented. And abortion is murder."
Therefore, we need to mobilize and TAKE ACTION like never before. Here is a list of things we can do in order to help elect Barack Obama.
1. Donate money. Remember, Obama is not taking public financing so we are responsible for fueling his campaign with the resources he needs to take our message into those battleground states.
2. Phonebanking. During the primaries i did some phonebanking and i cannot express to you how rewarding of an experience this is. At first it seems daunting, but in the end chatting with potential voters about our message of hope, peace and change is very gratifying.
3. Canvassing. Going door to door to chat with potential voters and show your enthusiasm for the Obama/ Biden ticket is satisfying, and also demonstrates that this is a national movement, not empty rhetoric.
4. Write letters to local newspapers. Not the .com newspaper, but the ones that used to be (maybe still do) sitting at your front door in the morning. This is the medium through which social conservatives receive their news and information. Do NOT express outrage, but our message of hope, peace and change.
5. Stay away from moral issues. When discussing Obama/ Biden, stay away from these moral issues and focus on how McCain does not get it. That he is out of touch. That he has been wrong time and time again. That Obama/ Biden get it. Have excellent judgement and intellect and can lead this country in a new and better direction.
6. Ignore Palin. The best thing we can do is to ignore her. The only reason she was brought on to the ticket was to energize the conservative base. Those individuals vote with their gut, (with emotion) over moral issues. There is no amount of convincing we can do in order to change their minds on these issues. If we are lucky, the harsh continuous light of the national media on Ms. Palin will cause a gaffe or misstep on her part.
My Fellow Obama/ Biden supporters i implore you, do not underestimate these social conservatives. Rove has said before, that he wanted to (and has for the last eight years) establish a permanent Republican majority. This is how he has done it. Ladies and gentlemen, they will succeed again. If you do not believe me, go back and analyze the results of the last two general elections. More women than men vote.
That is unless, we get out from in front of our laptops (only after donating $5 to the campaign) and get our message of hope, peace and change out to the American people.
I encourage replies (and forwarding of this email), to my comments above, but also include action items, and ideas on what we can DO to elect Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice-President of the United States of America.
kC
The above was written by one of mybarackobama group members: dmbfan1999@gmail.com. He expresses my sentiments exactly! We must get to work. Right Now!
Rove...swings & MISSES....Big Time!!! Category: News and Politics
On August 10, Karl Rove went on "Face The Nation" to argue that Senator Obama would make an "intensely political choice" for Vice President without regard for the "responsibilities of president." At the time, Rove believed Obama would choose Tim Kaine, and argued against him by saying this:
With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, ..You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States?
As we now know, Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his VP, probably the least political choice he could have made, and probably the best governing choice he could have made. John McCain, on the other hand, is the one who made the "intensely political choice" by choosing Sara Palin — a political newcomer and self-described "hockey mom" who has less than two years of governing experience and ZERO foreign policy experience — all because the political winds dictated that "change" was going to trump "experience" this election.
Rove argues that Kaine's mayorship of Richmond (pop. 200,000+) is insignificant and that his 3 years as Governor of Virginia (pop. 7,712,091, GDP $383 million) has been "indistinguisahable." If Rove was intellectually consistent, wouldn't that mean Palin's mayorship of Wasilla (pop. 8,000+) and 20 months as Alaska governor (pop. 683,478, GDP $44.5 million) makes her even less qualified than Kaine?
Barack Obama chose Joe Biden because he knows his way around Washington and knows how to get stuff done. His selection mollifies virtually no voting block or constituency.
McCain, on the other hand, chose someone eminently unqualified for the job (seriously, can you see Sara Palin sitting down with Maliki or Karzai or any other world leader?) for the sole reason of appeasing the right-wing lunatic fringe and hoping to pick off a few die-hard Hillary holdouts, as well as assuaging voters' concerns about his septuagenarianism.
So, Karl, who made the "intensely political choice"?
What can we take away from this episode? When Karl Rove suggests something — in this case, Obama would make an "intensely political decision" — always assume the opposite will happen. Remember, Rove predicted, according to "the math," that the GOP would pick up seats in 2006.They of course were swept out of power in an historic landslide.
Remind me again why the punditocracy heralds this guys as some sort of political genius?
Generation Obama Pinellas is hosting an art show and fundraiser on 10/2 at The Studio@620 in downtown St. Pete. The show will feature work from local artists - this means you!
There is no restriction on the medium or number of pieces submitted. The theme is artwork inspired by the Campaign for Change, and we will take previously completed pieces that you think fit the theme. The submission deadline is 9/15 (let me know if you need more time).
There will be a suggested donation for admission to the show, and pieces will be available for purchase at a price determined by the artist, with the cost of the piece considered a donation to the campaign. There will be more details to come as we get closer, but for now, please contact me at pinellas4obama@gmail.com if you are interested in being part of the show.
Please pass this information on to any whom you think may be interested. We would especially like to feature art by local high school students, so if you know any art teachers or students, please pass this info along!
Sincerely, The Generation Obama Team
Johnny Bardine, Dawn Hunter, and Nick Denmon
