The debate about health care is getting ugly. In some cases, it is getting violent.
I can't even begin to list all the misinformation being spewed forth on this issue. The most egregious affront to liberty is the use of the tactic that involves demonstrators appearing at the town hall meetings of members of congress, and shouting down anyone else who wants to speak. That does not promote debate; it is an attempt to kill it.
Actually, the worst thing may be telling seniors that Obama's health care plan is going to kill them. Unbelievable.
Beware of the insurance industry, fighting for its profits by paying lobbyists and others to kill health care reform. This is BIG money. They will not give up without a fight, and that fight is ugly. It reminds me of the newsreel footage I've seen of union battles in the first half of the 20th century. Ugly. Dangerous. Deadly.
Here are some links, for those who are interested.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html
It doesn’t surprise me that Rush Limbaugh says he wants President Obama to fail, or, more precisely, “I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation.” Limbaugh is self-absorbed, and makes money by being provocative. Unlike our elected leaders, he does not need to think about the greater good of our country’s prosperity. He is interested in his own prosperity. And good enough for him. That is the capitalist way. The American Way.
It also doesn’t surprise me that members of the Republican Party feel stuck between not wanting to offend Limbaugh and his followers and not wanting to sound like they bear our new president ill will in seeing his efforts fail. Which do you support – a bully who can hurt you if you stand up to him, or the people who elected you?
What does surprise me is that no one is defining what failure means. Has anyone asked if “wanting Obama to fail” means 10% unemployment? 15%?
Does failure mean more foreclosures? How about a Dow at 5000?
I wonder if Obama failing means another trillion or so dollars paid to banks. Or is it buying auto companies, Or letting them go bankrupt and adding even more to the unemployed?
I wonder if those who listen to and agree with Rush Limbaugh think this kind of failure is ok, if it proves that conservative ideology is superior to other views.
Of course, I am one of the lucky ones who still has a job, so I can afford to think about these things.
Those who are not so lucky may also wonder: With all the crises we face as a country, why would you want any president to fail?
Maybe enough people figured out that the party whose president lied to us to get us into a war, spent us into record deficits, helped bring about a recession, embarrassed us in front of the world, ignored the Geneva Convention, sanctioned torture, and tried to rewrite the constitution so our republic looked more like a dictatorship wasn’t the party to reward with another four years in power.
Maybe enough people figured out that running a campaign that tried to paint your opponent as a terrorist, socialist, Muslim, un-American, unknown, radical-preacher lover, born in Kenya wasn’t the best way to promote your own agenda and make your issues known, especially when your rallies seemed to degenerate into hate-fests that were one step away from KKK gatherings.
Maybe enough people figured out that pandering to the religious right, selecting an ignorant incompetent as a running mate, making statements that the economy was sound when it wasn’t, and ignoring the facts that the war in Iraq will never be “won,” were enough to signal a total disconnect with reality, and drive voters away.
For whatever the reason, the Republicans lost this election, and they deserved to lose.
For all the right-wing hate speech spewed forth, for all the closeted racism, for all the disgraceful performances from Focus on the Family, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and others, the Republican Party could not counteract the positive messages from Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
Calls of “What has he ever done?” didn’t come close to “Yes, we can!” Claims of being unpatriotic didn’t counteract the power to inspire others. Smears, lies, slander, and slime could not, would not stick to someone whose message was positive, whose demeanor was presidential, and whose vision was clearly articulated.
And so, despite what must have been the dirtiest campaign in my lifetime, John McCain and the Republicans lost this election.
Perhaps, as the GOP works to rebuild itself, it might take a lesson from the Obama campaign. Look at the people who elected him. Look at the people who are now involved in politics. Figure out that the young, the non-white, the people of many faiths or none are a force that needs more than hate, negativism, and bigotry to motivate them in an election. They need a vision for the future that is positive. They need a leader they can trust with their future. They need to be heard.
And on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, they were.
As vandalism goes, it’s a very minor thing.
In respect to the US Constitution, however, it may be much bigger.
Someone stole my Obama sign last night.
I had purchased two signs last spring, and they were both taken during the summer. The latest sign lasted about a week.
I have to wonder if this is someone’s idea of political protest. Is Obama merely a candidate someone doesn’t like, or does it go deeper?
Are there racists in my neighborhood?
Of course, I’ll never know, because I doubt that whoever took my signs will come forward and admit to it, but I am sad that this would happen.
We need to be able to disagree, without trying to silence opinion that differs from our own. For myself, I am quite capable of letting my neighbor’s McCain sign stand proudly in his yard, without feeling the urge to pull it out of the ground.
Wish others had felt the same way.
My daughter is 17 and can not vote, but I have posted on my blog an essay that she wrote on why Senator Obama should be supported and how some “Christians” have got it all wrong about him. I’m very proud of her as a father and as a pastor.
Please check it out at http://www.gajohnson.org/gregjohnson/2008/10/voting-for-obama.html . If so desired, you can leave a comment there for her.
Thanks!
Greg Johnson
The bad news is, we missed out on the opportunity to vote for a true, down-home, kitchen table, aww-shucks, gee-whiz ticket because we have McCain-Palin running instead of Huckabee-Palin.
If Americans like Caribou Barbie's style, they'd love seeing her run with Gomer Pyle.
The good news is, maybe CBS will see the light, and bring back Hee-Haw.
Am I wrong in thinking I don't want the government to bail out companies who have made bad financial decisions?
Aren't these the same companies who pay their "fat cat" CEOs multi-million dollar salaries?
Didn't they take bunches of bad mortgages and "package" them, as if this would make them good investments?
I am scared.
I do not (duh) trust this administration.
I do not want to put taxpayers on the hook for 700 billion dollars (or more).
Am I wrong?
I am not sure if you got to see Barack on the Letterman show last night but he was fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hf6qd8b65s
I just posted this video on the DIGG site and really would appreciate you going there and digging it.
I took a swipe at McCain and how his VP pick was strictly a political move and how Barack vetted Joe and made "HIS OWN DECISION".
If we can get enough Diggs on it it will possibly be in the top 10 of the day and everyone will see it.
It would be super exposure for Barack as he commented on the stupid "lipstick on a pig" controversy and made some other great comments on several things. He showed both Humor and also made some great POLITICAL points!
Please take a minute, watch the video and PLEASE go to DIGG.com and digg it. The Republicans have been burrying some of our good stories on the DIGG site so PLEASE help!
The following Letter to the Editor was published in the Statesman Journal newspaper in Salem Oregon:
Obama should have backed impeachment
July 20, 2008
Since April 2007, the Statesman Journal has published several of my letters extolling the virtues of Barack Obama, but recently, three issues leave me feeling betrayed.
I acknowledge that a candidate for national leadership cannot satisfy every citizen on every issue, but I think Obama has gone too far on mixing religion with government with his faith-based ideas. I also think he voted the wrong way on the recent FISA bill.
But something far worse than these two blunders is Obama's ignoring his duty to act in concert with Kucinich to take the necessary steps to impeach war criminals Cheney and Bush. I hold Obama to a higher standard because he taught courses in constitutional law at the University of Chicago.
I will surely vote for Obama this November, but with diminished enthusiasm.
— David Pearl, Salem
Were you one of the ones that applauded when at the RNC the crowd were on their feet applauding the statement "We are all Georgians"? I don't recall giving McCan't permission to call me or any other American a Georgian, or a person from any other county.
I support the citizens of any country who are oppressed -- including those in the U.S. Because I may support citizens of other countries does not make me proclaim I am a citizen of that country. I have friends among many countries -- the U.K., Japan, Costa Rica, Canada, Germany.... do we expect people of other countries to proclaim they "are Americans"? Of course not. It is silly rhetoric.
And while I'm on a rant and roll...
Will Karl Rove ever get arrested?
Why are there no recriminations when politicians lie over and over with inpunity?
What happened to he original top issues of this campaign -- healthcare for all Americans, and the Iraq war?
Why do Americans keep falling for the red herrings thrown out there - the Russians, Georgia, Iran, fear, fear, fear.
What happened to the immigration issue and the wall (virtual or otherwise). Wasn't that a big issue?
Why did Sandra Palin wear a "Pat Buchanan for President" button when he visited in Alaska, but deny supporting him because she worked on Forbe's campaign? Is that what people do now? Just wear political buttons in front of candidates and remove them and their allegiance as soon as they're back on the plane? If I see someone wearing a campaign button, I believe that is their conviction. Is this naive? If I wear a button or put up a yard sign, you can't bet I'm a solid supporter. I guess values have changed. Don't believe what you see. Don't listen to what you hear. Don't be what you aren't.
What ever happened to that road to the bridge to Nowhere? Why did they keep and spend all that money in Alaska and use it on something not specified by Congress?
Would you rather have a president and VP with IQ's and ethics equal to "W" or ones with actual intelligence?
If you're a woman, would you feel more comfortable and more supported by, say, the personable and intelligent, charming Michele Obama, or the pill-stealing Barbie doll Cindy McCain? Who best represents the Oval office?
Do you want the charismatic president Obama and a respected Biden, or another "war" president (or his likely successor, the college-hopping shrill-voiced hockey mom?)
Who will be most effective in leading our country and the world?
That is, after all, the bottom line, for all Americans.
Give up on Sarah Palin, guys. If Dan Quayle can get elected...
McCain is the one to attack.
I'm afraid that there will be an eventual backlash from picking on this little grandmother-to-be. Just watch how it gets spun.
Meanwhile, Teflon John is trying to salute the flag, while running from Bush.
Maybe if he got a Reagan tattoo...
I couldn't resist.
It's going on the back of my car right now.
I Spent Years as a POW with John McCain, and His Finger Should Not Be Near the Red Button | Election 2008 | AlterNet
I sent this to several medias. Don't know if it will do anything. Please share. Barack is getting put down so wrongly!
Michele was great last night!
Please read this and use it in any way you legally can. I am so tired of hearing Barack being called a Muslim and Michelle being accused of hating this country.Now these NEW ads that McCain is running using his POW experience to win "hearts and minds" is too much.I fear all his negative campaigning is winning and the polls are showing that.
Is there anyone out there who can bring things like this article to daylight?Why does the media protect McCain from the terrible way he cheated on and dumped his first wife for Cindy?If it was Barack who had done that the world would know.I talk to people daily who had no idea of his infidelity, his wife's bringing drugs in for her personal use through her out of country programs and I hear and also receive daily emails saying that Barack is a Muslim and worse. Why do more people not hear about how low in his class McCain graduated? I would think intelligence is a priority in a President of our country.
I also feel as this fellow POW does that a man with a "hair trigger" temper should not have his finger on the "button".There is freedom of speech in our country. Sean Hannity , Rush Limbaugh,Ann Coulter and others spew lies about Barack constantly.Can the MAIN STREAM media such as MSNBC please say or do more?McCain is "swift boating" Barack and WE all know that was all not true. John Kerry should have been President.Bush stole the election from Gore. Please can someone with some power help out people like me in the true EVER DIMINISHING MIDDLE Class?
I know I live in one home.
I know what a gallon of gas costs and I now people on minimum wage are hurting badly. John McCain does not care, nor does he have any way of identifying with the TRUE middle class people.His family has always had money, he is John S. McCain III and he married an heiress. How can he possibly feel for people who make $6.00 an hour?He wants to privatize Social Security and could care less if we have health care. Is it true he collects his Social Security? I happen to have Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance through my X husband. Each year I am given the chance to choose which type of insurance I want. If I want to pay a lot less, I can even choose an HMO.
I believe that is the same insurance the Congressmen and Senators have and I also believe they do not have to pay for their's. If everyone in the country paid into this they should be able to get the same benefits.I pay $600.00 a month for myself but I have very good insurance. If I could not afford that I could choose a lesser plan each year.
These events are a great way to connect with other delegates, though some people can take the networking way too seriously. I overheard one congressional aide in my hotel lobby complain that he’d already run out of business cards, having given away more than 200.
My friend Jim Oleske, who once worked for Tom Daschle and then served as chief of staff to the Oregon Senate President, is here in Denver to promote his new book. Entitled “Yeah, Right: This Economy is Strong and Other Tall Tales”, the book catalogues the disconnect between Republican rhetoric and economic reality.
Jim and I dropped off copies of his book at the blogger’s tent off 16th Avenue. Bloggers have come a long way since 2004. At the Democratic convention in Boston four years ago, bloggers sat in the nose bleed seats at the Fleet Center. Now, they have a well staffed operation in the center of downtown with corporate sponsors like Google and a bevy of volunteers who turn away people who don’t have the proper credentials.
The highlight of the service for me was a rousing call for the abolition of the death penalty by Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote “Dead Man Walking.” In the lobby, I spoke briefly with Rev. Jim Wallis, author of “God’s Politics”, who I spent a day with once several years ago when I helped set up meetings between him and the Oregon Democratic legislative leadership.
I have listened with interest, amusement and frustration to much of the political chatter. I consider myself a "conservative" democrat. I am against abortion, but I won't tell anyone else what to do. I consider marriage as between a man and a woman, but I won't try to stop any one else from having equal rights. I originally was very excited that McCain was running for president. I was a closet supporter, and finally even offered my support when his website was first introduced. However, no one responded. That was a long time ago, and since I have seen the light. Anyway, since he changed, or revealed his truer self as the same old politics -- wanting a war for this country More than he wants the presidency -- or now I think he wants both equally -- I am much more supportive of a candidate who is thoughtful and thinks things through before wanting to jump into another war. The republican campaign has gone back to the same "fear" well, and will probably scare the crap out of most American citizens into voting for a war president. In the past it has been 9-11 and "family values" -- the gays were going to destroy all families in America. I know people that have always been peace-loving, anti-war, pro-environment but their evangelical Christian pastors scared them into voting their "values" so they voted for Bush. Then they turned into Muslim-hating Christians. (They also don't like Catholics and they only support Jews because Jesus was a jew, and they believe by helping the Jews get their homeland back they will hasten the 2nd coming of Christ, while silently scorning the jews. I won't even venture to explain their views on blacks. I guess when it comes down to it, they 'need to fear' anyone unlike themselves.) Now it's the big scare of Russia. This morning Madeline Albright had an excellent interview on CNN and all but openly accused Putin and Bush collaborating in full public view at the Olympic games, the day before Russia "invaded" Georgia. Wolf Blitzer tried to put words in her mouth that she supported McCain over Obama in the area of foreign policy but she said although Obama's foreign experience is less, it is certainly more thoughtful and deliberate and not shooting from the hip, as McCain seems to do. And who wouldn't want a President that actually tries to negotiate peace rather than rashly plunging into another war? Must Americans always have an enemy -- of another country, ethnic group, race, or culture? Like a pack of wolves or tough guys strutting their testosterone and saber-rattling, or acting like the mean girls at school - shutting out the unpopular, expendable girls and giving them the cold shoulder. No, you're not invited to our G-8 party! And flashing their pearly whites in an insincere smile. BTW I noticed McCain got some teeth whitening lately (sort of celebrity-like, isn't it?) . That is a plus, hmmm, maybe if Americans aren't scared straight into voting for McCain's not so straight talk, they will be shallow enough to vote for him after all.
Also, around here we see a lot of OBAMA yard signs and bumper stickers and car magnets, but not one person has a "McCain" support sign. Hmmm, are they too scared or ashamed, to let their neighboring citizens know about their true biases and fears?
