What are we going to do when they start attacking Obama's Character? Their is a new article on the Washington post that talks about The McCain Campaign planning a fierce attack against Obama's character and associations.
Here is the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303738.html?hpid=topnews
While I am confident that we are going to win I just want to be certain that we have a plan for the sharp attacks coming our way.
Let’s not forget what happened when The Clintons decided to through the kitchen sink at us. There was the NAFTA debacle, the Wright controversy (which was three weeks of agony), and lets not forget Bitter-gate which killed our chances in Pennsylvania. We have to be ready I know the republicans are going to be worse. Are we ready for their attacks?!!!
Yes let’s keep our confidence but please let us be prepared.
The night of the living Palin-drones is upon us. Before November 4th dawns, John McCain may become an afterthought for his own voters. We've got to be fighting back now, and we've got to have some ammunition that will work.
Governor Kathleen Sebelius is well situated for this fight. She has the credibility and the ability. She has spoken out before as a spokesperson for the Democratic Party and she must be put more and more into this fray. [Full disclosure: I love Joe Biden and have no trouble supporting our ticket, but Sebelius was always my first choice for the v.p. slot.]
This first link will give you a chance to see what Governor Sebelius has to say about Governor Palin's and Mayor Palin's experience, as opposed to her caustic rhetoric (written by Bushies for her to mouth at the convention).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/sebelius-accuses-palin-of_n_123883.html
Another woman offering thoughtful, on-the-site comments is Anne Kilkenny from Palin's hometown. She gives the Alaskan governor her due on several counts, but raises frightening alarms on a dozen fronts of vital importance to us. If you haven't read her open letter, here it is:
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/a-letter-about-sarah-palin-from-anne-kilkenny/#comment-8140
In less than a month voter registration ends in my state and in most other states. In less than two months we will decide who our next president will be. Now is our defining moment, now is when we must rise to the challenge and turn back the dismissive, self-serving smugness that is the McCain - Palin campaign.
Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? --Ruairi O'Muchu 7 September 2008
Well, if last night didn't fire you up to do something to help Obama, nothing will. I had to turn off the TV without seeing the end of Governor Palin's speech. Her sarcastic, mocking tone had me thinking of Bush and all of his condescending speeches and where that type of leadership taken our country the past eight years. This "mom" set no example for today's youth. I was sick just listening and actually said a prayer before bed that the American people would be smarter this time.
There is NO CHOICE besides Obama - Biden '08!!
Consider hosting a watch Party, a great tool for recruiting other volunteers and sharing our message with friends and family.
To Host a Watch Party Click here.
Let me introduce myself, my name is John Kelly and I am the new Catholic Vote Director for the PA Campaign for Change. It was wonderful to find MyBO groups by diocese already in place! I hope to post updates and events frequently and look forward to reading your posts.
Although polls have proven time and time again to be a bit unreliable during this election cycle, according to today's Franklin and Marshall poll: http://edisk.fandm.edu/FLI/keystone/pdf/keyaug08_1.pdf, there are a huge number of undecided Catholic voters in Pennsylvania. We only have 83 days left before the election! I hope we can work together to reach out Catholics across the state.
In the very near future, there will be meetings across PA of Catholic supporters of Sen. Obama. Your assistance is critical to help pull together people for these meetings. Please email me if you can help and/or for more information: jkellyATpaforchange.com
Looking forward to working with you!
Here, verbatim, is a recent news release from the Irish American Information Service. (Some of you, no doubt, will have seen it already.) While I loved the very presidential way in which Senator Obama handled his visits to the Middle East and Europe, I wish he had taken one more day to land in Ireland! Be informed and knowledgeable when people bring up this topic and suggest that McCain is a better fit than Obama when it comes to our issues.
Slán go foill, --Ruairi O'Murchu
______________________________________________________________________
McCAIN'S HERITAGE LINKED TO BATTLE OF THE BOYNE 08/09/08 08:52 ESTerviceA Northern Ireland newspaper today uncovered an ancestrallink between US presidential candidate John McCain and anofficer in King William of Orange's army who fought againstCatholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne.Belfast's Irish News suggested it was a Freudian slip whenpresidential candidate John McCain dubbed a bus trip topromote his chances of getting into the White House the ‘NoSurrender’ tour.The slogan was intended to reflect his views on the Iraq warbut a historian has claimed the Republican candidate’sancestral roots can be traced back to the unlikeliest ofplaces – the Orange Order.He said documents show Senator McCain’sgreat-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, CaptainDixie Coddington, fought with William of Orange to defeatKing James II in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne.Not only did he fight the battle but documents unearthedshow another relative, John Coddington, later acquired theOldbridge Estate in Co Meath which contains the battle site.University College Dublin genealogist Sean Murphy said hediscovered the link after researching the relationshipbetween Vietnam war veteran Senator McCain and theCoddington family.“I took the American research by William Addams Reitwiesner,who publicised the fact that one of McCain’s five timesgreat grandfathers was a Dixie Coddington born in Skerries,Dublin,” he said.“I went a bit deeper and found that Dixie’s father, CaptainDixie, had served with King William. I was very surprisedwhen I came across this link.”He said the Coddingtons are understood to have beenoriginally from England but moved to Ireland in theseventeenth century.The Irish ancestry of Democrat candidate Barack Obama hasalready been traced back to a shoemaker in the village ofMoneygall in Co Offaly.When it was discovered by a Church of Ireland minister, asong entitled There’s No-one as Irish as Barack O’Bama wasrecorded in a humorous tribute.But Mr Murphy said Senator McCain’s links to Ireland areeven more interesting.“Prior to now it was Obama that had the interestingconnection but now it seems McCain has pushed ahead at thispoint,” he said.“Obama’s ancestor was a shoemaker whereas McCain’s was anofficer serving with King William."“An Obama visit to Offaly in the company of a taoiseach bornin that county would be a newsworthy event indeed. Yet thesymbolism of a McCain visit to the site of the Battle of theBoyne where an ancestor fought and relatives resided wouldbe even more remarkable.”Senator McCain (71) has been popular with someIrish-American voters for his support for immigrants’rights and was once given a standing ovation to renditionsof The Fields of Athenry.It remains to be seen how the Irish-American community, withits extremely long memories, will react to the news thatSenator McCain is directly related to one of the very firstOrangemen.Drew Nelson, grand secretary of the Orange Order, said hewas “delighted” about the link.“I think it’s a very interesting development and itunderscores the fact that the majority of Americans who comefrom Irish descent come from Protestant backgrounds,” he said.“I don’t know if his forefathers were members of the OrangeOrder but certainly we do have lodges in America and anyonewho qualifies to join is very welcome.”__________________________________________________________The Irish American Information Service is a non-profit organizationproviding up-to-the-minute political news from Ireland to the world.The IAIS is funded entirely by your contributions. Please send yourtax-deductible contributions to IAIS at 505 S East St, Culpeper VA 22701You can visit us on the Web at http://www.iais.org
Hello Erieites,
Just wanted to let you know I started up a new Erie Forum where we can discuss Obama or chat about anything Erie.
"Tho' I'm no Catholic I listen hard when the bells in the yellow-brick tower of their new church ring down the leaves ring in the frost upon them and the death of the flowers .."
--William Carlos Williams
For those of us who are Catholic, by birth or by cultural heritage or by conscious and ongoing choice, rituals matter. Bells ringing out from yellow-brick towers, incense hanging in the air, water sprinkled on us, ashes smudged onto our foreheads. We are a community of faith in which human touch matters, in which a direct appeal to the senses matters.
And while ten beads told through the fingers speak powerfully of what it means to be Catholic, so do a series of other routines: the forty days of lent, the advent calendar, the palms tucked freshly each year behind the crucifix in the home.
Yesterday I transferred a little of my Catholic heritage to the Obama campaign. On the First Friday in June, I made a donation to the campaign. And on ever Friday from now until February, I will do the same thing. That should take us to the election, to the transtition team, to the Inauguration, and into the first 40 days of the new administration.
A novena of donations? Only because such a thing resonates with me, and because it expresses my faith in this candidacy.
If many of us do this, or do something similar, we'll surely catch the ear of others, the way William Carlos Williams found his attention being caught by Catholic devotional practices despite his not being Catholic.
Will you join me? First Fridays, First Saturdays--whatever promotes your devotion to this secular cause! Our Catholicism calls on us to be the leaven in the dough, the light in the darkness. As St. Teresa of Avila reminds us, ours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion is to look out onto the world in our own day.
The widow's mite, or the benefactor's maximum...make it a First Friday practice.
Slán agus beannacht,
7 June 2008 / --Ruairi O'Murchu
It's Friday, there's a lot to talk about so let's get right to it:
The unemployment numbers came out today--up to 5.5% from 5.0% with 49,000 lost jobs. Of the over 8.5 million unemployed Americans, 1.5 million have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.
Unfortunately the plan for economic growth proposed by John McCain is the continuation of the Bush tax cuts--tax cuts he voted against BUT now supports. The economies under both Reagan and George W Bush have been held up as examples of economic growth.
I am not an economist, but I can see and smell B.S. when I run across it. Both economies were achieved running up a huge national debt, and accompanied by financial mismanagement on a national scale.
Reagan's tenure was marked by a gigantic Savings and Loan scandal that helped fuel growth in the housing and real estate sector. Eventually the taxpayers payed the tab to take care of the financial industry. Sounds familiar doesn't it?
We need both vision and someone to chart a course for sustainable growth and job creation. We need a plan rooted in common sense and built on solid rock. Just last week in my weekly mass we heard a reading about the man who built his house on sand and the man who built his house on rock.
Barack Obama has sweeping plans to help create jobs in industries old and new. His plan is one that will use our technological advantages and our innovative spirit to create jobs that can not be sent overseas. He also has plans to help working families with tax breaks and by cutting costs for education.
One of the biggest problems we have when we compete internationally are health care costs. Two years ago in a published report, General Motors reported $1,500 in health care costs for EVERY car they built here in the U.S.
Barack Obama has a plan to help cover all Americans and help rein in costs in a way that is fair to our workers and restores international competitiveness. That is what it will take--not just cutting taxes.
The economy is much bigger than just tax policy--the leadership in Washington has yet to figure that out even after several years in power.
Barack Obama will build our house on Rock while McCain will continue to keep building our house on sand.
On to topic number two--the NBA Finals began last night. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Celtics fan. More importantly, I am a fan of sports played well and competition at a high level.
Whether you like the Lakers, the Celtics or hate them both you had to be inspired if you watched last night. Celtics star Paul Pierce was knocked down hard in the third quarter, spraining his knee. He had to be carried off the court--it looked to be a series-ending injury.
A few minutes later he bounced back out onto the court--athough a bit gingerly at first. He drained two three-point shots in a 20-second span and played lights out defense the rest of the game. The Celtics won game one.
Our guy Senator Obama has been knocked down all primary season and keeps coming back and hitting big shots, playing great defense and winning promaries. He's won the conference finals and now moves onto the finals--and we are all on his team.
The results of this contest are much more important than any sporting contest--so much is at stake. Let's get up and hit some shots, play some defense and help this team win in November.
Finally I want to comment on a quote I saw from Barack Obama. Asked what he will be doing on Saturday he mentioned going home "taking my wife on a date, and riding bikes with my kids".
I hope we all just take a moment to think about the sacrifices that Senator Obama and his family have made for all of us. There are days, and moments that he has missed as a father and there are days and moments his daughters have missed with their father. We all should appreciate and respect what they have done.
From one husband/father to another have a great weekend Mr Democratic Presidential Nominee. Your Saturday plans sound simple yet wonderful, so enjoy a piece of heaven--you and your family have certainly earned it.
I was able to watch a bit of the Democratic Party Rules Committee meeting on Saturday and was pleased, for the most part, with the results. It was great to see both sides come together and work out a compromise to allow the delegates from Florida and Michigan to be seated at the convention. I did think it somewhat hipocritical that while encouraging the people to unite for the good of the party, some on the committee were not able to do the same when it came to Michigan. The fact that a few Clinton supporters that were on the rules committee argued voraciously that it was wrong to take votes from the uncommitted category and move them to Obama, even voting no to the compromise and threatening taking it to the convention, flew in the face of what the committee leaders were encouraging the people of Florida and Michigan to do. How many that voted uncommitted were truly angry that their voice wasn't being heard when their vote for uncommitted was used in the compromise to give delegates to Obama? Wouldn't common sense tell you that most of those voting that way favored Obama. Also, how many Obama suppporters didn't even vote because his name wasn't on the ballot. It was a good compromise. I think giving Barack no delegates would have been much more unethical and against the will of the Michigan voters than the compromise was. These party leaders exposed themselves as being very biased and voted politically rather than for the good of the party.
Hopefully this compromise puts an end, finally, to the long and drawn out primary season. It is time for the entire party, even bitter Clinton supporters, to do what is best for the country and make sure a Republican does not win the White House in 2008. I worry that many of her people may not be "big enough" to do what is right, and they want to "take their ball and go home". Let's put bitterness aside and work together to get Barack to the White House.
The rules committee voting, with just a few exceptions, was a great first step in demonstrating to the Democrats around the country that this can be done. Now it is the trurn of Hillary and her supporters to do the same.
It looks like it is finally time to get started with the real race. It will be a very exciting Summer and Fall!!
Obama '08 !!!
Go to Andrew Sullivan's post on The Atlantic site and read about how Geraldine Ferraro is once again playing the fool for the Clintons. She and many others have portrayed everyone who has not been a Clinton supporter as somehow being sexist. They have even called out the media for the "negative","harsh" or even "sexist" treatment of Hillary Clinton.
Geraldine Ferraro went so far as to call for a study by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard...whoops already done. Guess what they found? They essentially found that both candidates have had a fairly equal ride from the media.
Well that takes away one of the myths Barack Obama's victory.
Could it just be that his organization and campaign designed "from the ground up" was just better prepared, smarter and had a better candidate to rally behind?
They don't want anyone to believe that. They want to make comments about his resume. Well who has more years in elective office? Barack Obama does. They want to say that he is only where he is because he is African-American. Really? What country do they live in--I can tell you that this country has never been one to give a free pass to people because they are black.
For that matter--we KNOW that Senator Clinton was elected ONLY because she was married to Bill Clinton. Don't believe me? How many other lawyers who practiced in Arkansas, lived in Washington, DC for 8 years could then move into New York to run for and win a Senate seat? The answer ZERO.
It is time to stop the whining, and fighting. It is time to focus on November and days like today, where the DNC is meeting, just create another distraction from the inevitable victory in November. Barack Obama is the BEST candidate in EITHER party to take the USA where we need to be.
We are closing in and heading forward. Get ready, because it's going to be a tough fight. Nothing in life ever worth having is easy and this is one of those things. Barack Obama has won the first stage of this race--the next one is an uphill run and one that he will win.
Earlier I mentioned that his "from the ground up" campaign was a big factor in winning the nomination. It will be even more important in the next stage--so get on board, get involved and help make a huge difference.
Here is the link to the Atlantic post by Andrew Sullivan:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/05/sexism-sexism-s.html#more
Here is a link to the entire 44-page study by the Shorenstein Center if you want to read it:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/research_publications/reports/Character%20and%20the%20Primaries%20of%202008.pdf
"Don't... tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo. I would use this ring from a desire to do good... But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."
--Gandalf to Frodo in THE LORD OF THE RINGS
The campaign has reached a point at which we must indulge in mythic speculation, in literary interpretation. Senator Clinton so clutches to the chance at a nomination that we can almost hear her hiss "p-r-e-c-i-o-u-s" each time she discusses her tortuous path to the nomination.
The man whom Gerald Ford called "a sex addict" must have had an interesting conversation with his wife after the full squalor of the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Did he, in those troubled days when impeachment hung over his head, make a solemn promise to get his wife elected if she but stood by him in this darkest hour?
Has she carried with her since then a sense of entitlement and payback, a sense that the White House was owed to her as payment for putting up with such garbage? How else can one explain the near maniacal manipulation of the math and the rules by one who helped set the numbers and the guidelines into place?
If the nomination has become her "precious," her ring of power to be gained at all costs, can we not conclude that she feels the universe owes her a colossal scandal or a calamity falling deux ex machina-like from the sky?
The comments in South Dakota did not come out of a vacuum. They were spoken by someone who must have felt for some time now that the nomination and the White House itself would be hers if for no other reason than from a sense of vindication and atonement.
Chelsea spoke the truth when she answered the reporter's question, averring that her mother would make the better president. Her mother feels, can't we now assume, that to lose her chance to show up the cretin who preceded her as the first "President Clinton" will be to lose her chance to make all things right, to wipe clean the slate on which her personal honor was so publicly besmirched by her own husband.
Obama can go a long way to winning back the ardent women who have supported Clinton by naming Sebelius or McCaskill as a running mate. But no action can make whole the dream Hillary has so obviously carried in her heart since the Lewinsky mess. With her, it's personal. Bill owes her, big time; and by extension, in her mind at least, she must feel the country owes her.
It's the only way to explain a person of formidable talents squandering her legacy in the fading days of a campaign already lost.
The credit here goes to Obama for giving her the space to redeem all of this, or--if she chooses--to let it all go to hell in a handbasket.
So far, not much redemption is going on. And the nomination is Obama's.
"The Catholic public official lives the political truth that most Catholics through most of American history have accepted and insisted on: the truth that to assure our freedom we must allow others the same freedom, even if occasionally it produces conduct by them which we would hold to be sinful. I protect my right to be a Catholic by preserving your right to be a Jew, or a Protestant, or a nonbeliever, or anything else you choose. We know that the price of seeking to force our belief on others is that they might someday force their belief on us."
--Mario Cuomo at Notre Dame, September 1984
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mariocuomoreligiousbelief.htm
While the media hoists up before us a strawman named "the Catholic vote," we have the chance to rally around a candidate whose basic decency is raising the bar for American politics and pointing all of us in a new, inspiring direction. If John Edwards believes that Obama is capable of forging a united America from the chaotic aftermath of the Bush years, then we should be among the very first marching behind such a banner.
Our Catholic values put us, irrevocably, on the side of life and against death-dealing negativism and division. We ought to embrace a candidate whose push for health care focuses first and foremost on pregnant mothers and young children. We ought to embrace a call to national service as being fully consistent with our values. We cannot but support a candidate who wants to use diplomacy and tact and good common sense to avoid the sort of disastrous foreign policy blunders that have typified the Bush years and will surely be a part of the McCain campaign. We ought to be grateful to have a candidate speaking out forcefully against torture of detainees ( the same sort of torture used by the British in Northern Ireland against prisoners held without a writ of habeas corpus, prisoners who were overwhelmingly Catholic).
If we allow ourselves to squabble and name-call over the pro-life agenda, we will allow ourselves to AGAIN be co-opted by the calculating Republican strategists who take our votes to the ballot box but who never carry our broader concerns to the halls of power. What has Bush done to protect the women who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy? What has he done to put the power of the nation behind doing the corporal works of mercy? What has he done to advance the common good? If you're a Catholic for whom the pro-life movement is a central part of your set of convictions, then join us and work toward ending unwanted pregnancies and work toward caring for the newly born in a fully compassionate way and work toward driving the debate on abortion forward so that all of us can benefit from that national discussion. If you're a Catholic, like Cuomo, who is pro-choice, then join us in working to end capital punishment, to end senseless warfare, to end corporate irresponsibility in a global economy where the common good includes the health of our planet, and join us in helping to end unwanted pregnancies and in providing prenatal care and postnatal care to both mother and child. Enter the debate, but do not let yourself be driven away into the arms of Republicans who care little for our agenda other than the votes we can bring.
Ours is a God who is always on the side of hope. While we respect all of those who share this pluralistic society with us, we must lead the way in embracing hope. And this time, that means lining up behind the one candidate who represents a change, a pivoting from despair to hope: Senator Barack Obama. Can we, as faithful Catholics, embrace such a nominee? Yes we can.
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 3 minutes ago
Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.
Obama picked up the backing of five superdelegates, including Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who had been a Clinton supporter.
In addition, the American Federation of Government Employees announced its support for Obama. The union claims about 600,000 members who work in the federal and Washington, D.C., governments.
Obama, who won a convincing victory in the North Carolina primary and lost Indiana narrowly on Tuesday, has been steadily gaining strength in the days since.
Clinton also gained a superdelegate.
The developments left the former first lady with 271.5 superdelegates, to 268 for Obama. Little more than four months ago, on the eve of the primary season, she held a lead of 169-63.
In addition to Payne, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and two members of the Democratic National Committee from California announced they were supporting Obama.
"The election is over, everybody knows that. Obama has won," said Vernon Watkins, one of the two.
So, too, John Gage, president of the AFGE.
"Our people, I think, recognize the enthusiasm and vitality behind Senator Obama's campaign," he said in a statement.
"After careful consideration, I have reached the conclusion that Barack Obama can best bring about the change that our country so desperately wants and needs," said Payne, who in a statement said that Clinton is a good friend and he still holds her in high regard. Clinton's new supporter was Rep. Chris Carney, D-Pa. His congressional district voted overwhelmingly for the former first lady in the Pennsylvania primary on April 22.
Both Obama and Clinton have courted superdelegates in recent days in private meetings at party headquarters not far from the Capitol.
Despite Watkins' assessment, Clinton has shown no signs she is ready to quit the race. She is heavily favored to win Tuesday's primary in West Virginia, and is in the midst of a two-day swing through several other states with upcoming elections.
___
Associated Press Writers Jesse Holland and Matthew Daly in Washington and Solvej Schou in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects Obama total; UPDATES with Payne quote)
We all have a Louise in our lives. Mine is 95, a retired educator, a relentlessly active member of the League of Women Voters, a community activist with roots in the WPA and fingerprints on the creation of Head Start. I cannot imagine being who I am without the influence of Louise on my life.
My Louise was 7 years old when women won the right to vote in the 19th Amendment. She fought her way through the Depression as a young working woman and filled the gap in the American economy during the years of World War II by generating income and by taking on serious responsibilities. She disagreed with Margaret Chase Smith on almost everything, but she was proud to see her in the Senate. Louise can still quote Eleanor Roosevelt with the best of them:
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." Eleanor Roosevelt
Louise backed Shirley Chisholm and she proudly stayed with Geraldine Ferraro even when her husband let her down.
And this morning Louise is still backing Hillary Clinton.
The fact is that I love and admire Louise. Always will. And this morning Barack Obama must begin thinking, with our help, about how to get Louise's vote in the fall.
Four names must now come to the fore, as quickly as possible:
Those are listed in my order of preference, but all of them are acceptable to me as vice-presidential candidates. And I am pretty sure they would be acceptable to Louise.
In the past the common assumption has been that a nominee chooses a running mate to balance the ticket geographically or ideologically.
Today begins the new politics created by the Obama movement.
For every Louise out there who hungers to see the fulfillment of the women's movement, and for every Obama supporter who has stood up to be counted in the march toward positive, lasting change, the time has come to put a qualified woman on the ticket. I do not believe that Senator Clinton fits well on an Obama ticket, but Governors Sibelius and Napolitano would, and Senators McCaskill and Klobuchar would.
My wonderfully dear friend Louise will know in her heart that an Obama - Webb ticket will represent sensible politicking. But an Obama - Sibelius ticket will get her out of the house to vote in November. And that's important for her, for me, and for all of us.
Let's start the serious evaluation of these vice-presidential candidates today.
I wanted to express my extreme disappointment in the direction this whole presidential primary race has taken. It is a shame that Hillary Clinton's ego and the national media's greed have been able to distract the entire country from what is truly important.
So many Americans in general and Democrats in particular have been energized into action by Barack Obama's campaign. The uninformed are being swayed by the media and Hillary's blustering into accepting politics as usual instead of fighting for change.
I, for one, am not being swayed. I hope we can and are able to do all we can to fight back and take control of the race for the presidency.
If not, I will truly be a bitter Pennsylvanian.!!
Stand up for change!! Yes We Can!!
A little known gaff by Hillary on the day of the PA election about obliterating Iran... Crazy talk from Ms. Clinton. Read this Boston Globe article:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/04/27/hillary_strangelove/?p1=email_to_a_friend
...There are some red lines that should never be crossed. Clinton did so Tuesday morning, the day of the Pennsylvania primary, when she told ABC's "Good Morning America" that, if she were president, she would "totally obliterate" Iran if Iran attacked Israel.
This foolish and dangerous threat was muted in domestic media coverage. But it reverberated in headlines around the world.
Responding with understatement to a question in the British House of Lords, the foreign minister responsible for Asia, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, said of Clinton's implication of a mushroom cloud over Iran: "While it is reasonable to warn Iran of the consequences of it continuing to develop nuclear weapons and what those real consequences bring to its security, it is probably not prudent in today's world to threaten to obliterate any other country and in many cases civilians resident in such a country."...
It has been said in the media that heartland American has trouble relating to Barack. I think we need some commercials to show them differently. I'm a civil engineer and I usually relate very well to construction workers by asking them to teach me something from their daily work so that I can understand how hard their work is. A while a go Barack did a "walk in your shoes" where he followed a home care giver for a day. I think this is the way to show that Barack really relates to the hard working Americans.
Picture this:You can start this commercial with:"It's 5 am and Sen. Obama is helping building wind mills for Indiana...)5 am Barack is meeting his steel worker friend at a diner for coffee (yes Barack needs to drink the coffee!!!) The steel worker from Indiana jokes about requesting the coffee be extra "black and strong" just how the steel worker likes it so that he can do the job he's been tirelessly doing everyday.Next scene: the worker takes Barack through the factory and has him inspecting some parts and explains the importance of energy Independence.Last scene Barack with the worker at an opening of a new wind mill starting it up and saying "Another one is Fired Up and Ready to Go" (pan across the heartland from the top of the windmill)I guess you could do Kansas too. Has more windmills and great shots of the prairies. Maybe the Kansas governor could help arrange it??
This article appered on the National Review onlinemidway through the day yesterday...
On the Verge of a Stunner in Pennsylvania?
Hold on to your hats. I've gotten the usual word of the exit poll results from one of my usual reliable sources. He notes that Obama traditionally over-performs in the earliest exit polls*, and that he expects the numbers to change as the night wears on - perhaps a reversal.
But right now, the exits are saying Obama 52 percent, Clinton 47 percent.
Take these results with the usual grains of salt and skepticism. I'm told that Obama is carrying blue collar workers two to one, and he's winning Philadelphia in the neighborhood of three to one.
As usual, if you're a Pennsylvanian and haven't voted yet, don't let these or any other numbers discourage you.
Hi everyone,My name is Sumi, and I am a volunteer supporter of Barack Obama for President. I am helping to spread the word about Senator Obama's policies to help working families in these difficult economic times.This is the first post featuring Senator Obama’s policies. These issues are incredibly important as Pennsylvania gets ready for its big primary on April 22, and there will be many posts to come.But I need your help! Simply, we can't reach every Democrat in Pennsylvania without your help. This is a grass-roots campaign that relies on person-to-person contact for its success, so your involvement is critically important.Please send the attached Raising Wages document to EVERYONE you know in Pennsylvania. Share them with friends, family, co-workers, union brothers and sisters, and anyone else you may know in the state. Then, ask your contacts to pass them along to their contacts in Pennsylvania. Ask them to send them to their email distribution lists, post them on the bulletin board at the union hall, school, place of worship, and workplace, and otherwise distribute them as widely as they can. We want these documents spread as widely across Pennsylvania as possible.We hope you will read this information and put it in the hands of as many people as you can. You can make the difference — you can help Barack Obama win the Democratic nomination for President!Thank you, and please email me with any questions.-Sumi
----------------
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO RAISE WORKERS’ INCOMES Background: America’s Workers and Pennsylvania’s Workers Deserve a Raise Most Americans haven’t gotten a meaningful pay increase since President George W. Bush entered the White House. Since 2000, men’s real wages have increased only about 1 percent. Women’s wages have increased barely 5 percent over the past eight years, but their wages declined slightly during the last four years. In fact, the last four years have been grim for the large majority of workers who live from paycheck to paycheck. Real wages have gone down for middle and low-wage workers, while only the very highest paid workers — the top 5 percent — have seen significant pay raises. As a result, working families’ incomes are falling.1 Working families in Pennsylvania also need a raise. Since 2001, Pennsylvania’s workers at every wage level — except the very highest paid — have seen their real wages go down.2 Workers are doing their share, but they aren’t getting a fair share in return. Workers’ productivity has increased almost 20 percent since 2000 and 5 percent over the last four years. Meanwhile, the economy has been growing until recently, and employers have reported record profits. American workers are getting paid less even though they are producing more. Without a raise, working families have been forced to go deeper into debt by borrowing against their homes and their credit cards. But credit is getting tighter and personal bankruptcies and foreclosures have skyrocketed. It’s not just a personal tragedy for the families that are falling out of the middle class. Consumer spending is two-thirds of the American economy. Without money coming in, working families can’t spend and keep our economy growing. America’s wage stagnation is a serious threat to family economics, but it is an equally serious threat to our nation’s economic well-being. That’s why we need to elect Barack Obama. We need a president who is committed to restoring the American Dream by expanding and securing the middle class. We need Barack Obama’s leadership to enact a plan to raise workers’ incomes.
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO RAISE WORKERS’ INCOME Invest in Creating High-Paying Manufacturing Jobs: Obama will invest in America’s highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing centers to ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the first wave of green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world. Obama will also provide tax assistance and loan guarantees to the domestic auto industry to ensure that new fuel-efficient cars and trucks are build in the U.S. with American workers. Create More High-Paying Construction and Green Energy Jobs: Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. Obama will also invest in rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank with an infusion of $60 billion in federal funds over 10 years to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. Together, these investments will create millions of new jobs and stimulate economic growth. Fight for Fair Trade: Obama’s trade policy will open up foreign markets to support good American jobs and negotiate trade agreements that benefit Americans workers and spread strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards around the world. In particular, Obama will work with the leaders of Mexico and Canada to amend NAFTA. Obama will take trade enforcement seriously by making enforcement the top priority of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Office and increasing resources for USTR to carry out its responsibility to protect American interests. He will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports. Obama will fight for stronger protections for U.S. intellectual property, and – in the case of China in particular – an end to an artificially devalued currency that puts U.S. companies at a perpetual disadvantage. Change the Tax Code to Create High-Paying American Jobs: Obama will close tax loopholes that give companies billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving their operations overseas. Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to reward companies that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers. The legislation would provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military. Support Worker Organizing: Unionized workers earn more and are more likely to have pensions and health insurance than non-union workers. Obama supports and, as president will sign, the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right to organize and secure initial agreements with their employers. He will also fight to restore collective bargaining rights to nurses and other workers excluded as “supervisors,” and to ban employers’ practice of permanently replacing striking workers. Obama also supports, and as president will sign, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act to assure public safety workers who put their lives on the line every day their right to bargain collectively. Raise the Minimum Wage: Obama will fight to further increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011 and index it to inflation. Provide Universal Health Care: Obama is committed to signing universal health legislation by the end of his first term in office that ensures all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care. His plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 a year on medical expenditures. Expand and Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit: Obama will reward work by increasing the number of working parents eligible for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits, increasing the benefit available to parents who support their children through child support payments, increasing the benefit for families with three or more children and reducing the EITC marriage penalty. Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Barack Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they deserve. Obama will create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: Obama will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses. Increase Investments in Job Training: Obama will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, to prepare Americans for the stable, high-paying green energy jobs of the future. Obama will also expand and fund apprenticeship programs to help workers get credentials and skills in crafts with middle-class incomes and benefits. Make College Affordable for All Americans: Obama’s American Opportunity Tax Credit, a fully refundable credit, will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans and will cover two-thirds of the cost of tuition at the average public college or university. Students claiming this credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of public service a year, either during the school year or over the summer months. Help Dislocated Workers to Stay in the Middle Class: Obama will modernize and expand trade adjustment assistance to include all affected workers — including those in the service sector and those losing jobs going to countries with which we do not have trade agreements such as China and India. Obama also supports unemployment insurance reform that assured benefits for more unemployed workers and provides extended benefits for those who need them. Obama will create flexible education accounts that workers can use to retrain, provide retraining assistance for workers in sectors of the economy vulnerable to dislocation before they lose their jobs, and provide additional assistance for workers to afford health care. As president, he will sign an updated WARN Act that requires large employers to notify employees of a layoff 90 days before a plant closing – an increase of 30 days from today's standard. 1 Jared Bernstein & Lawrence Mishel, Economy’s Gains Fail to Reach Most Workers’ Paychecks, EPI Briefing Paper #195 (Sept. 3, 2007).
2 Keystone Research Center, The State of Working Pennsylvania 2007, www.stateofworkingpa.com.
Paid for by Obama for America
