Organizing for America | Posts with the tag 2008 presidential election

Posts with the tag 2008 presidential election

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Excerpt from my blog 10 Days in Ohio: Big and Small Government

By Ria - Nov 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm EST

Last year this time I had just returned from Columbus, Ohio, where I had volunteered for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. This link (http://10daysinohio.wordpress.com) will take you to the actual, albeit unfinished, blog. Here is an excerpt:

... Let me break down a little something on what I see as being a real discussion about big and small government. It has little to do with food stamps, government funded charter schools, or the good ole N.E.A. It has to do with an attitude that we, the people, can empower ourselves, or we can trust a suit in a large house that we will never visit on less than a tour (unless we are Tom Hanks) to throw us a bone. I love Obama specifically because he knows he can do nothing for us. He cannot heal a country that is not willing to do the work. He cannot give us better schools if we do not engage with our children. He cannot give us anything, but he can, and has already, empowered us to create something for ourselves. We need a government that only magnifies and enables the will of the people, not one that stipulates our choices on accepting their all-or-nothing rhetoric, that isolates and bates us against each other. There are certain things we will never agree on. That cannot be solved. Our government should not dictate our culture, it should serve as an organizing administrative body. Do you follow me? That is small government – a government that is willing to step back and give all of us choices. Freedom. I am not a Democrat nor am I Republican. I am a pragmatist. I believe at the end of the day, for this country – there is only one choice that includes everyone. Someone who will stay small so we can all become bigger. It is up to us. All of us...

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One Year Later

By Kevin Agnese - Nov 5th, 2009 at 12:25 am EST

Wednesday marked one year since President Obama's historic election to the
White House.

The president reminded us that while Election Day 2008 was a
day of hope and possibility, it was also a "sobering one because we
knew even then that we faced an array of challenges that would test us
as a country."

As the president said, while we have a long way to go, we have "made
meaningful progress" towards rescuing the economy from the possibility
of imminent collapse, as the Recovery Act created or saved hundreds of
thousands of jobs.

While we're making progress the president has said that he will not
rest until every American who wants a job can find one.

So, as we celebrate the anniversary of the president's election to the
White House--let us pledge our commitment to a stabilized economy,
health insurance reform, clean energy, and the best possible education
for America's sons and daughters.

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Stephen Views the News 11/5/08

By Stephen from Elkins Park, PA - Nov 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm EST

Stephen Views the News 11/5/08

http://stephenviewsthenews.blogspot.com/

During one of the most memorable nights in my lifetime, a night reminiscent of the hours before the birth of my daughter, I anxiously watched America choose its 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama. His skin color was not a deal breaker. His middle name was not a deterrent. Over the next days, weeks and years historians, political scientists and folks sitting in diners with coffee in hand will be debating the factors that lead to Democrat Obama being selected over Republican John McCain. The significance cannot be debated.

My personal elation was threefold:

~ I intensely believed that Obama was the better choice to lead America at this critical and complex period fraught with dangers and challenges. Our country requires a dramatic change in emphasis as to whose interests it serves domestically and, of equal importance, the direction of foreign policy.

~ This election demonstrated that a national political campaign can be successful that does not base its strategy on negativity and divisiveness, accusation and innuendo. One can only hope that the Republican Party, which continued to utilize the Atwater and Rove political tools of shlock and awe in this election, will abandon the strategies that the American people in 2008 emphatically rejected.

~ Pride that the United States of America took a huge step toward being a more inclusive society.

At 11:00 PM on November 4, 2008 it was announced that Obama had surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I saw the tears on the face of Jesse Jackson, a leader of the African American community who, in recent years, was characterized as attacking and divisive. Few of us could stand in the shoes of Mr. Jackson and understand the dangers and challenges he faced as a leader in the civil rights movement that began in the 1960s to break the stranglehold that communities, particularly in the South, had over Black citizens. Over a two-hour period this night, each time that the camera focused on Mr. Jackson’s face, tears continue to flow from a depth that I imagine is beyond my comprehension.

I listened to another pillar of the civil rights movement, long-serving Georgia congressman John Lewis. He discussed what it meant to him and the African American community for a Black man to be elected to the nation’s highest office. It is certain that many viewers, even the majority of us that did not directly experience his history, shared his pride, emotion, and moist eyes.

Eugene Robinson is an African American and columnist for the Washington Post. I have listened to him during many of his appearances on political talk shows, his commentary always impersonal and analytical. Following the announcement that Obama won the election Mr. Robinson offered observations about what Obama’s success meant to him on a movingly personal level and the joy and pride he shared with his aging parents in a telephone conversation minutes before.

Channel surfing to ABC I listened to an interview between a White seasoned newsman and a younger Black reporter speaking from his hometown area of Lynchburg, VA. The older reporter commented about an assignment early in his career when he was sent from the North to cover a story in Lynchburg. He described his shock to find restrooms labeled Men, Women and Colored.

This morning I made my usual stop for a bagel and coffee. As I entered the store I saw a White customer high-fiving with an African American employee. Although the employee knew me we had never discussed politics. When I commented that last night was very special she offered me her hand in a high-five gesture.

The Obama election will not automatically eradicate what is a dwindling but still existing degree of racial prejudice in our country. It seems to be a characteristic of human nature to distrust that which is different. The candidacy of Barack Obama did make a major contribution toward the understanding that as Americans we have a common interest and a common bond. The election of Barack Obama, supported by a very significant electoral vote majority, is a threshold moment for human relations in American we can share and admire and celebrate.

* The Bush effect

One wonders if the Democrat Obama could have won this election if not for the damaging effect the Republican Bush administration has had on our country. The Republican candidate McCain was seen as a strong supporter of Bush doctrine and policy - no matter how consistently the McCain campaign attempted to distance itself from Bush. The country was desperately ready for change.

Although I have been a very vocal critic of George W. Bush I believe he did have a positive influence on the positive public perception of African Americans serving in high-level federal positions. Among the Bush appointments of African Americans to very significant positions in his administration were Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. These appointments, in no small way, helped pave the road for Obama’s journey to the White House.

* The Howard Dean effect – Not to be forgotten in the Democratic success this election cycle is the wisdom and influence of the former governor of Vermont and current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the central organization of the Democratic Party. It was during his unsuccessful presidential candidacy 4 years ago that a 50-state strategy for the Democratic Party was conceived. For many years prior to that time Democrats ignored states it deemed unfavorable to its success. Mr. Dean changed that strategy and it was a building block diligently implemented by the Obama campaign.

* ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL

An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress July 4, 1776.

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WHAT DO WE BELIEVE CAN CHANGE?

By Atlee - Oct 25th, 2008 at 9:10 am EDT

Also listed in: Social Democrats for Obama

This posting and others can be read at http://www.socialdemocraticpartyofamerica.org/08campaigns.htm

The President of the United States of America cannot fix all of the world's problems. Yet, the American presidency is the most powerful elected office in the world. Senator Barack Obama will accept the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party exactly 45 years after the 1963 March for Jobs and Justice. The "March on Washington" is best remembered today as the occasion of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech, which is perhaps most brilliant political oratory in this nation's history. The force of Dr. King's speech influenced President John Kennedy and his successor Lyndon Johnson to enact legislation ending racial discrimination. President Johnson, shortly after taking office, echoed the cry of civil rights marchers in a nationally televised speech. "We shall overcome," intoned the president and we did! The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act outlawed most public forms of discrimination. Johnson skillfully used the power of the executive office to right a major domestic wrong in his advocacy of both bills. The leaders of America's black, civil rights, and trade union communities, however, knew that the work was just beginning in the effort to build a nation free of both poverty and repression when they attended the signing ceremonies.

Now we are engaged, not in a new struggle, but in the next phase of that same struggle. Public discrimination on the basis of color and gender is illegal, but private racism and sexism remain virulent. Barack Obama and that of Senator Hilary Clinton are proud to be the beneficiaries of the appropriate use of executive authority. However, the last eight years has seen a woeful usurpation of authority by the White House. The George W. Bush administration used the first foreign attack in more than a half century against Americans, upon their own soil, to govern by executive fiat. The administration lied about the dangers of one regime and ignored the actual perpetrators. Bush led a war, not against the terrorists of 9-11, but against the American working class. Using tax breaks for corporations and the rich, wealth has been redistributed from the average wage earner to the economic elites. Never has the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us been so wide. Those supporting George Bush and John McCain count on American workers being divided. These financial elites are literally banking on Americans remaining preoccupied by differences in race, color, creed, gender, national origin, and life style. By concentrating on what makes us different, we allow our government to fail us. We must make our government again "uphold, support, and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic".

We are the Social Democrats, USA. We are the only legitimate heir to the Socialist Party of America. Our heritage includes Eugene Debs, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Helen Keller, Norman Thomas, A. Philip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin. It was Randolph and Rustin who planned and brought together the 1963 March for Jobs and Justice. Dr. King might have had a very small audience if not for Randolph and Rustin. Randolph, a life long member of the social democratic movement, organized the first predominantly black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Rustin, a long time peace and human rights activist, counseled Dr. King, and his colleagues as they developed their plans for nonviolent resistance to "Jim Crow" Randolph and Rustin were able to unite the struggle of workers with the struggles of minorities, hence the March for JOBS and JUSTICE. The Labor Movement supported the March with both finances and numbers. Many other members of the SPA helped make the march a watershed moment. This included the individual Dr. King called "the bravest man I ever knew", socialist elder statesman, Norman Thomas. Young People's Socialist League members Rochelle Horowitz and Tom Kahn wrote speeches for John Lewis, among others. The SD,USA enthusiastically embraces the candidacies of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. They are part of our own broad, pro-labor, anti-totalitarian, liberal tradition as were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Walter Reuther, Harry Truman, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, Hubert Humphrey, and Michael Harrington. Obama and Biden are THE candidates to continue the dream of Jobs and Freedom for all.

"The combination of black and white workers will be a powerful lesson to the capitalists of the solidarity of labor. It will show that labor, black and white, is conscious of its interests and power. This will prove that unions are not based upon race lines, but upon class lines. This will serve to convert a class of workers, which has been used by the capitalist class to defeat organized labor, into an ardent, class conscious, intelligent, militant group." (taken from an editorial the socialist newspaper, The Messenger, 1912) The late A. Philip Randolph, honorary chair, Social Democrats, USA."

"Social democracy is a practical ideal. It will not come about by decree, certainly not by force, but because a majority of Americans – blacks and whites, trade unionists, intellectuals, and youth – learns from practical experience that social democracy is the best and only way to achieve economic justice and political freedom." The late Bayard Rustin, National Chairman Social Democrats, USA.

"There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism." The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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WE TRUST YOU CAN HANDLE THE 3 A.M CALL !

By MALA RAJ - Oct 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 am EDT

Senator Obama,
Your Undaunted perseverance is exemplary. It's your cool, calm, responsible, mature attitude and approach to real problems on hand, makes you not just Presidential but a Winner. We have a fort night to go, lets bring it home. We have patiently waited 8 years. Its time for "Change", that's not a "Choice" but its our Choice to elect you to Oval office. Triumph!

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Mr. O

By Unknown user - Oct 20th, 2008 at 5:10 pm EDT

We are entering at this time a new dispensation. Everyone knows what happens in the white house affects the world...what happens in the north whether we like it or not affects directly what happens in the south...I am not a citizen of USA but a citizen of the world and the world yearns for a change...and yes I beleive that Mr. O, with the help of God Almighty, will be able to make that change.

Can't vote for you Mr. O, so I'll be praying for you....GOD BLESS YOU AND ALL YOURS

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Who is sleeping with the enemy

By JUDY'S PLACE - Oct 10th, 2008 at 3:41 pm EDT

Judy's Place "County First" "WHO IS SLEEPING WITH THE EMEMY? "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Born Todd Mitchell Palin September 6, 1964 (1964-09-06) (age 44) Dillingham, Alaska, USA Nationality American Citizenship United States Education Graduate, Wasilla High School Occupation Homemaker, Oil field production worker-Commercial fisherman Employer BP Home town Wasilla, Alaska Religious beliefs Christian Spouse(s) Sarah Palin In late August 2008, The Politico reported that Palin was registered to vote as an independent ("undeclared"), and had never registered as a Republican.[12] In early September 2008, a spokesman for John McCain said Palin was now a registered Known for Champion Iron Dog snow machine racer, husband of Alaska governor Sarah Palin This article-SALON.COM Political party Alaskan Independence Party (1996-2000), Republican (2002 to present)On September 18, the McCain/Palin campaign announced that Todd Palin would refuse to testify because he does not believe the investigation is legitimate. The Alaskan Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of Alaska that advocates a state vote which includes several options, including increased state autonomy, territorial status, becoming a separate nation or commonwealth state, and, failing that, for increased Alaskan control of Alaskan land, gun rights, privatization, home schooling, and reduction of governmental intrusion in the private lives of its citizens with adherence to the founding documents of the United States. The party has appeared on the ballot in Alaska in all state elections since 1970.[citation needed] Oct. 10, 2008 PALMER, Alaska — On the afternoon of Sept. 24 in downtown Palmer, Alaska, as the sun began to sink behind the snowcapped mountains that flank the picturesque Mat-Su Valley, 51-year-old Mark Chryson sat for an hour on a park bench, reveling in tales of his days as chairman of the Alaska Independence Party. The stocky, gray-haired computer technician waxed nostalgic about quixotic battles to eliminate taxes, support the “traditional family” and secede from the United States. So long as Alaska remained under the boot of the federal government, said Chryson, the AIP had to stand on guard to stymie a New World Order. He invited a Salon reporter to see a few items inside his pickup truck that were intended for his personal protection. “This here is my attack dog,” he said with a chuckle, handing the reporter an exuberant 8-pound papillon from his passenger seat. “Her name is Suzy.” Then he pulled a 9-millimeter Makarov PM pistol — once the standard-issue sidearm for Soviet cops — out of his glove compartment. “I’ve got enough weaponry to raise a small army in my basement,” he said, clutching the gun in his palm. “Then again, so do most Alaskans.” But Chryson added a message of reassurance to residents of that faraway place some Alaskans call “the 48.” “We want to go our separate ways,” he said, “but we are not going to kill you.” Though Chryson belongs to a fringe political party, one that advocates the secession of Alaska from the Union, and that organizes with other like-minded secessionist movements from Canada to the Deep South, he is not without peculiar influence in state politics, especially the rise of Sarah Palin. An obscure figure outside of Alaska, Chryson has been a political fixture in the hometown of the Republican vice-presidential nominee for over a decade. During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin’s campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory. Enjoy this story? Thanks for your support. Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution’s language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as “Black Helicopter Steve,” to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. “Every time I showed up her door was open,” said Chryson. “And that policy continued when she became governor.” When Chryson first met Sarah Palin, however, he didn’t really trust her politically. It was the early 1990s, when he was a member of a local libertarian pressure group called SAGE, or Standing Against Government Excess. (SAGE’s founder, Tammy McGraw, was Palin’s birth coach.) Palin was a leader in a pro-sales-tax citizens group called WOW, or Watch Over Wasilla, earning a political credential before her 1992 campaign for City Council. Though he was impressed by her interpersonal skills, Chryson greeted Palin’s election warily, thinking she was too close to the Democrats on the council and too pro-tax. But soon, Palin and Chryson discovered they could be useful to each other. Palin would be running for mayor, while Chryson was about to take over the chairmanship of the Alaska Independence Party, which at its peak in 1990 had managed to elect a governor. The AIP was born of the vision of “Old Joe” Vogler, a hard-bitten former gold miner who hated the government of the United States almost as much as he hated wolves and environmentalists. His resentment peaked during the early 1970s when the federal government began installing Alaska’s oil and gas pipeline. Fueled by raw rage — “The United States has made a colony of Alaska,” he told author John McPhee in 1977 — Vogler declared a maverick candidacy for the governorship in 1982. Though he lost, Old Joe became a force to be reckoned with, as well as a constant source of amusement for Alaska’s political class. During a gubernatorial debate in 1982, Vogler proposed using nuclear weapons to obliterate the glaciers blocking roadways to Juneau. “There’s gold under there!” he exclaimed. Vogler made another failed run for the governor’s mansion in 1986. But the AIP’s fortunes shifted suddenly four years later when Vogler convinced Richard Nixon’s former interior secretary, Wally Hickel, to run for governor under his party’s banner. Hickel coasted to victory, outflanking a moderate Republican and a centrist Democrat. An archconservative Republican running under the AIP candidate, Jack Coghill, was elected lieutenant governor. Hickel’s subsequent failure as governor to press for a vote on Alaskan independence rankled Old Joe. With sponsorship from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vogler was scheduled to present his case for Alaskan secession before the United Nations General Assembly in the late spring of 1993. But before he could, Old Joe’s long, strange political career ended tragically that May when he was murdered by a fellow secessionist. Hickel rejoined the Republican Party the year after Vogler’s death and didn’t run for reelection. Lt. Gov. Coghill’s campaign to succeed him as the AIP candidate for governor ended in disaster; he peeled away just enough votes from the Republican, Jim Campbell, to throw the gubernatorial election to Democrat Tony Knowles. Despite the disaster, Coghill hung on as AIP chairman for three more years. When he was asked to resign in 1997, Mark Chryson replaced him. Chryson pursued a dual policy of cozying up to secessionist and right-wing groups in Alaska and elsewhere while also attempting to replicate the AIP’s success with Hickel in infiltrating the mainstream. Unlike some radical right-wingers, Chryson doesn’t put forward his ideas freighted with anger or paranoia. And in a state where defense of gun and property rights often takes on a real religious fervor, Chryson was able to present himself as a typical Alaskan. He rose through party ranks by reducing the AIP’s platform to a single page that “90 percent of Alaskans could agree with.” This meant scrubbing the old platform of what Chryson called “racist language” while accommodating the state’s growing Christian right movement by emphasizing the AIP’s commitment to the “traditional family.” “The AIP is very family-oriented,” Chryson explained. “We’re for the traditional family — daddy, mommy, kids — because we all know that it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. And we don’t care if Heather has two mommies. That’s not a traditional family.” Chryson further streamlined the AIP’s platform by softening its secessionist language. Instead of calling for immediate separation from the United States, the platform now demands a vote on independence. Yet Chryson maintains that his party remains committed to full independence. “The Alaskan Independence Party has got links to almost every independence-minded movement in the world,” Chryson exclaimed. “And Alaska is not the only place that’s about separation. There’s at least 30 different states that are talking about some type of separation from the United States.”

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Admitting the Truth

By Ernestine - Oct 5th, 2008 at 9:03 pm EDT

People rather vote for Senator McCain than to vote for Barack Obama because they don't want to see a Black Man in the White House. There they go with that mess again a lot of their problem is they rather put a lying old man and dummy in the White House then to put someone in there who is trying to look out for all people rather than just himself and the other rich folks who should be paying more taxes and stop running over the middle class and poor folks.

Senator McCain is now trying so hard to distance his self from George W. Bush but it's to late.

I listen last night when those nuts that are listening to his bull ask him when was he going to take the glovers off and his remark was maybe Tuesday night at the Debate well I hope he do and I hope Senator Obama gives him a taste of his own medicine but in a cool and quick manner.

Don't worry Senator Obama ( GOD HAS YOUR BACK) And the people of America will cover your front. When people steals words right out of mouth then they will try anything to win. Senator McCain and Palin won't know what hit them come Nov. 4th and I hope he has brought his rocking chair and she can go back to being a HOCKEY MOM!

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In Hope for Barack Obama to Read This.

By Dan From MI - Sep 27th, 2008 at 1:09 pm EDT

September 27, 2008 : In Hope for Barack Obama to Read This.

GREAT DEBATE!

( This tragedy is GLOBAL and is affecting many… )

This is in a way is A UNDERSTATMENT!

But the Word tragedy for the United States Middle class and Lower Class people is a Understatement. Barack Obama, You have my Family’s VOTE! Here in Michigan was once a Great Place to live! But for the Last 4 years it has come to having nothing to live for. Dreams have been lost for many and you are our hope to bring a Change!!!!

After watching the Debate last night I got to thinking of Josh a man in Iraq.

I seen his comment in a hunting/fishing community. Josh loves to hunt and fish and made a comment in the Shout Box that since he is in Iraq he would Love to see Many pictures of this years deer season here in the USA. That comment hit me hard and inspired me to gather other people to help on His simple request. Some times the simple things in life that are over looked mean the most!

It IS Time for Change!

Please help show this man (http://www.OurHuntingspace.com/joshw) putting his life on the line for us at least 10 seconds of support, a comment , email, Pictures of HOME.

Thank you Much Barack Obama for Thinking of the little guys that make the world turn. THIS IS A CHANGE .

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Helene's Blog/2008 Presidential Elections

By Helene - Sep 14th, 2008 at 6:13 pm EDT

Also listed in: Holmdel, NJ for Obama | Monmouth County, NJ for Obama

I have voted in every Presidential primary, and election, but never felt the need to get involved. Although I always knew who I was going to vote for and why, I was never worried enough to become an activist - but this time is different.

I believe that John McCain is a good man, who might be a good President, but I believe that Barack Obama could be a great President - but that wasn't enough to make me join the Obama movement. I believe in what Obama stands for, his values are the same as mine - but that wasn't enough to make me do something. The difference for me was listening to Sarah Palin's acceptance speech, that's when I knew I couldn't sit on the sidelines and leave it up to others to speak for me.The idea that if McCain were elected, Palin would be a heartbeat away from becoming President horrifies me.

Our country needs to be brought together, but when I listened to Palin's acceptance speech I heard meanness, and sarcasm which a pretty smile couldn't hide. I heard lies and half truths and distortions and to me it was a precursor of what she would be capable of once getting into office. I listened to her on the 20/20 interview with Charles Gibson and thought that she doesn't know what she is talking about, and worse then that, she is ignorant.

How can you think that because you live near enough to Russia to see a corner of it that qualifies you to know about foreign affairs? And her judgment! For Palin to say that she didn't think twice about accepting McCain's offer to be VP, what does that tell us! It's such a huge decision, with so much responsibility and consequences for our country, and her family, but she said she immediately said yes. I don't know of one politician that didn't say they spent a great deal of time thinking about it, and discussing it with family and advisors. But not Palin, she said yes immediately. Is this the kind of decision making we want from someone in line to become President, who might have to decide whether or not we go to war? And speaking of war, during the 20/20 interview when the questioning was on foreign policy I did not once hear her use the word ‘diplomacy’ - my feeling is that she totally embraces the Bush/Cheney policy of recklessness.

My friend Carol tells me all the time that she is frightened about the future of the Supreme Court, and she is right. The McCain/Palin team will probably nominate two justices to the Supreme Court during the next four to eight years. Those justices will hold their positions for life, and because McCain/Palin chose them, it means that Roe V Wade is in danger, gun ownership rights will continue to be expanded, and stem cell research funding will continue to be nil. Our privacy and freedom of speech rights will continue to erode and it's not too much of a stretch to say that what we love and cherish about America will continue to deteriorate.

I truly believe that voting for McCain (and Palin) is a vote for more of the same. I am for Obama because he gives me hope for a better tomorrow.

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WHAT Do you think?

By l.t. Dravis - Sep 11th, 2008 at 4:18 am EDT

By l.t. Dravis

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Wednesday, September 10, 2008 – Okay . . .Republicans, Democrats, and the media wasted another day avoiding the real issues facing the nation by going on and on about ‘lipstick on a pig’.

Come on, folks!

We’ve got serious problems and we don’t have time for this silliness!

So, Senator Obama . . . stop running against Sarah Palin . . . let Joe debate her while you debate John McCain.

And, Senator McCain . . . tell your surrogates to drop the phony indignation about lipstick and a pig!

We’re not buying it.

And, while you’re at it, Senator McCain, tell Sarah to stop lying about her ‘conservative credentials’.

No matter how many times she tells the lie, we know that she was for the bridge to nowhere before she wasn’t . . . okay?

Truth is, we just don’t care!

In fact, we don’t care about Sarah Palin’s record, family, history, or beliefs.

We don’t care who she’s married to, we don’t care how many kids she has, we don’t care how big her family may be, and we don’t care whether she was a runner-up in a beauty contest.

Most of all, we sure as heck don’t care about who got who pregnant, when, where, how and why.

We only care about whether or not Sarah Palin, the hockey mom, the former mayor, and twenty-some month governor of a state with fewer people than Austin, Texas has what it takes to take over for John McCain . . . if he ever does become President and if he ever does become incapacitated.

After all, Senator McCain is 72 years old, has had more than a few bouts with cancer, and, frankly, he doesn’t appear to be the most physically fit presidential candidate we’ve ever seen.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter . . . what do you think of Sarah Palin?

I’m talking about whether or not you think she’s qualified to become President of the United States of America . . . whether she’s capable of handling the toughest job in the world!

So, do you really think that Sarah Palin possesses the ability, the confidence, and the shrewdness it’ll take to successfully negotiate with world leaders like Prime Minister Putin, Hu Jintao, Hugo Chavez, Nuri al-Maliki, King Abdullah II, or the Saudi Arabian Royal Family?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin has the political savvy, the insight, the relationships, and the leadership qualities necessary to reach across political aisles in the House of Representatives and in the United States Senate to advance an aggressive agenda of ‘change-legislation’ required to rebuild our domestic and international economies, to rebuild our educational institutions to prepare our children to compete with students in other countries, to repair our crumbling infrastructure, to rebuild our moral, economic, political, and military standing in the world, to revamp and modernize our military institutions including reserves and the National Guard, and to reduce the size of and eliminate waste in the federal government?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin has the background, education, and experience necessary to recruit, motivate, and inspire capable cabinet members, department heads, and to select and appoint qualified Federal judges and Supreme Court Justices?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin has the vision, the wisdom, and the skills necessary to create, design, build, and drive the broad-based ‘green’ infrastructure we need to lead the United States of America toward energy independence over the next four to eight years?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin has the knowledge, understanding, and tenacity necessary to rebuild America’s image around the world and initiate viable relationships with emerging economic and political factions and nations in an ever-changing world during the next several years?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin has the courage, fortitude, and strength required to successfully prosecute the war on terror to ensure the safety of United States of America and its embassies, consulates and bases overseas?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin has the judgment, strength, and temperament to be a wise, prudent, and effective Commander-in-Chief of the strongest military in the history of the world?

If so, why?

Do you think that Sarah Palin is the best qualified person in the entire country to become President of the United States in the event John McCain is incapacitated during the next four years?

If so, why?

So what do you think of Sarah Palin?

Think she can do the job?

Yes?

No?

Not sure?

You’ve got fifty-some days to find out.

Hope you’ll watch closely.

Join the conversation about politics from the working person’s point of view, BOTH SIDES NOW style, at http://bothsidesnowbiz.blogspot.com/

In the interim, if you have questions, comments, or concerns, Email me at LTDAssociates@msn.com (goes right to my desk) and since I personally answer every Email, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Legislative Experience: Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)

By AuDayShus - Sep 4th, 2008 at 1:17 am EDT

Also listed in: 5 groups

Welcome to my blog for Senator Barack Obama. Many of us are familiar with our candidate's accomplishments. But then there are those who know the truth but choose to deliberately mislead the public. As if they didn't already know (they worked alongside him for years, for goodness sakes!), they endeavor to put questions out there to confuse constituents who do not have access to this knowlege.

So, I'll repeat one of their questions: What exactly has Senator Obama accomplished in the IL State Senate and during his tenure thus far in the US Senate? Detractors try to tell you dismissively that he's only good for a speech; detractors who have co-sponsored Bills with him in the US Senate.

Fighting back the knee-jerk response of calling them outright liars (in public), I decided to visit the Library of Congress website at http://thomas.loc.gov/ and search for all Bills and Amendments sponsored or co-sponsored by Senator Obama. Take a look at the bulk of the Bills he has sponsored - Bills that have not yet been voted into law - and you will see some of what a President Obama has planned for education, veterans and military benefits, healthcare, the economy, the environment, foreign policy, energy, the reduction of poverty, and more. Note below, that as early as 2003 in the IL State Legislature, Obama supported preditory mortgage lending legislation aimed at averting home foreclosures. Soak it in. Judgment! Foresight! Bipartizanship! Accomplishment! Then laugh in their lying faces!

In addition to Bills sponsored in the US Senate, I also discoverd that there are several pieces of legislation, voted into law, that was sponsored by Senator Obama. Note too, I have grouped the Bills found on the Library of Congress website by category for easier perusal. There are over 100 Bills and Amendments sponsored by Senator Obama this past year alone; since his arrival in the US Senate, 4 Bills he sponsored or co-sponsored have been signed into law. The Library of Congress database only goes back to the beginning of 2007, and I do need to locate their archive for prior Bills. However, note that two of Senator Obama's Bills were passed into US law in 2006 - evidence that his work predates the current database entries. No "empty suit" here. Read on.

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Energy Endorsement vs. Economic Injustice

By Stephen L. Rush - Aug 26th, 2008 at 8:17 pm EDT

At the Convention Tuesday evening (Aug 26), CNN reported that working class Americans still want to hear Obama's plan for the economy. On YouTube, Stephen L. Rush offers Obama a comprehensive economic proposal to make war unnecessary and diverting this economic winter, along with offering Obama the endorsement of For Fuel Freedom Incorporated, the energy company with the oil independent and carbon-negative solution for ethanol/bio-diesel. Mr. Rush also decries injustice for foreclosed homeowners, Katrina refugees, and sexual murder of women in Mexico. www.youtube.com/v/r-1qn6O3vc8 [8.88 minutes].

~Stephen L. Rush

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Defeat Evil on November 4, 2008: Elect OBAMA!

By Hope4Unity - Aug 20th, 2008 at 5:31 am EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

It's difficult to believe that John McCain finally got something right. Once released from Pastor Warren's mythical "cone of silence," Senator McCain was asked what could be done about evil. McCain replied, "Defeat it!" Let's take that bit of advice and elect Barack Obama as the next President of the UNITED States of America!

In reality the election of one human being, even one as spectacularily qualified as Senator Obama, will not eradicate evil from the planet, but Obama's election will advance the cause of truth and justice and will represent a firm stance against the institutionalized corruption to which we have grown far too accustomed. There must be a way to open the eyes and ears of those who have yet to grasp how thoroughly evil has twisted its way into our daily lives and then radiates out into the world poisoning our planet, our relationships and demeaning our human family. It seems clear to anyone who is paying attention that the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the organized plot to demonize Iran, torture, invasion of privacy, human trafficking, and electrification of U.S. troops via Halliburton and subsidiaries, to name a few as the list goes on and on, is all brought upon the world like the plague by characters we've never heard of as well as those "smiling" faces we see right here in America, for example, the infamous Bush/Cheney/McCain double-talk club and their wealthy-beyond-imagination cohorts who thrive on money and power.

All the flag-waving rhetoric about making the world safe for democracy is a gigantic joke to them, a cynical and sinister game of chess that totally disregards human suffering, destruction of the environment, or any other person, place or thing that might stand between those forces of evil and their spoils. The "Axis of Evil" is flourishing in America, not by everyday citizens but in our midst,and sometimes by those who we have elected to represent our interests. Exploring that idea is not treason it is the ultimate act of patriotism. When we look into what is really going on, then it becomes rather apparent that the "inflammatory" sound bites we hear from other parts of the world seem less paranoid and antagonistic and more like a realistic assessment of why the image of the U.S.A has taken such a beating around the globe.

The Russian invasion of Georgia is merely another version of "Project Iraqi Freedom." which is really the blood sport of overthrowing governments for oil and gas. It only takes a few minutes to amass the background information necessary to demonstrate the way these "conflicts" were orchestrated and carried out. Google "BTC" or "Halliburton" (from New Orleans to Iraq) for a glimpse of the international intrigue perpetrated by the short list of evil players.

Who are the real terrorists in the world today? A very little research will unravel all the propoganda we've been force fed. Terrorism is never the answer. Although, the terrorism we're programmed to fear is only the tip of the melting iceberg. This is what street violence by gangs and international terrorists that we're shown on TV have in common: They are pawns in a game they only partially understand, a game that is ultimately controlled by those with elite connections, a game that criminalizes the pawns and rewards those with a front seat at the chess board with a constant supply of the world's resources with the added buzz of feeling superior to the rest of humanity that they've managed to divide and conquer.

It has been suggested that people like Bush, Jr. and John McCain are actually no more than than ventriloquists' dummies, talking puppets, marionettes dancing on the strings of the truly evil and wealthy, but does it really matter when they play along so willingly? The challenge for the '08 Presidential election is not finding the answer to that specific question, but rather how to get those who do not know or care about any of this to consider that this is not the hype of paranoid conspiracy theorists, but is in fact what goes on everyday. It's what is hidden behind the distractions of flag pins, tire gauges and commecials featuring Paris and Brittany. How will we be able to do that? What can we do to trace the connections between the hustle for oil and gas and power of any other kind and the current state of our economy?

If you don't like to make phone calls or knock on doors of undecided voters, if you can't bring your self to participate in an organized event of voter registration...you can do the most effective thing of all which is to gather all the information you can about what is going on in the world around us and about Senator Obama's Blue Print for Change and then talk to your family, friends, co-workers, or anyone else that you feel comfortable talking with. Tell them in your own words, from your heart , why it is vital that they register to vote, and why you are voting for Barack Obama, and encourage them to do the same.

When we start to grow tired of the political games, if the "I'm invisible-again" feeling resurfaces; when it appears that the plot has thickened to the point that there is nothing we can do to alter the course of events, when evil seems to operate in what feels like an alternate universe of money, power and influence, then we still have to try because our lives and our planet depend on us. We have the right and responsibility.

I feel most days as if all of this is "beyond my pay grade" too, but "WE THE PEOPLE" really have no choice, because the alternative is too horrible to consider.

Yes, John there is evil in the world and at the moment you have been selected as its poster child. Whether you were tucked away in the "cone of silence" or being fed your lines by those who weren't, a little truth slipped out of your mouth at Saddleback: What can be done about evil? "Defeat it!" We'll take that nugget of advice and you can keep..."drill, drill, drill," and "bomb, bomb, bomb," for your own amusement."

VOTE for BARACK OBAMA for PRESIDENT!

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Barack Obama for President 2008

By Sharry - Aug 4th, 2008 at 7:04 pm EDT

I believe the saddest thing I've ever heard from a government official is this: "I don't know. I'm just a peon...." This is the response I received from a Medicaid employee in Area 3B, Marion County, Florida, when I asked, "Is Medicaid communicating with Congress about the problems with funding and the lack of social services for the most vulnerable people in Florida?"

This blog is not going to be about the Medicaid program in and of itself. The issue I have with the above-referenced question and response is the apparent apathy of some U.S. citizens to get involved with their local, regional, state and federal governments. Can you imagine the outcome of America's most historic presidential election with such an attitude?

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Video about Barack Obama and current affairs that I put together.

By Expat Investor - Jul 26th, 2008 at 11:04 pm EDT

Also listed in: Americans Abroad for Obama | Latinos for Obama | Obama Pride

Hi all. Just wanted to share the new Barack Obama video I just finished. I hope I can get your opinions.

You can Stream it here.

Thanks and good day all.

Raul Martinez

Expat Investor

http://www.bavarobeachproperties.com

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German Magazine Interview with al-Maliki re: Obama's Withdrawal Plan

By Gordon Broom - Jul 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm EDT

Also listed in: 5 groups

This is a link to the complete interview der Spiegel did with Iraqi PB al-Maliki who supports Senator Obama's 16 month plan for the withdrawal of our troops. It will be interesting to see how Bush McCain parse their words.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852,00.html

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Offshore oil drilling is another step backwards

By Michael Laval - Jun 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pm EDT

In yet another act of defiance against the realities of climate change and America’s energy crisis, President George W. Bush planted his head further into the sand yesterday by demanding that oil drilling be allowed off our coasts. Not surprisingly, Sen. John McCain and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist flip-flopped on their previous positions to march in lock-step with W.
Republicans once again are willing to sacrifice the overall good of ordinary Americans and the entire human race in favor of stuffing billions of dollars into the pockets of the corporate entities they serve. We don’t merely need to “end our dependence on foreign oil,” we must end our dependence on oil, period!
Even if enormous oil reservoirs were discovered off our coasts, while it hypothetically might end dependence on foreign oil, it would only serve to prolong America’s dependence on an antiquated fuel and further delay the necessary change to alternative energy sources. If offshore drilling were given the green light today, it would still take years before one drop of oil makes it from the ocean floor to an American’s gas tank. The time, money and resources wasted on this futile endeavor could and should be spent on transforming our country’s energy infrastructure.
We must break free from the 19th century corporations that keep us shackled to their fossil fuels. McCain’s new stance on offshore drilling illustrates his obedience to George W. Bush and a willingness to shift positions at the whim of those same entities to which Bush is beholden. We must reverse our current course and step forward into the 21st century — an era in which ending carbon dioxide emissions and utilizing clean, renewable energy sources will be necessary to counter changes in the Earth’s climate that will redraw the world’s shorelines, as well as result in many other devastating consequences for human life.
We cannot wait any longer for the 21st century to begin. We’ve already lost eight years.

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Electability?

By Concerned Citizen, Iraq War Veteran, Equal Shareholder in the American Dream - Apr 24th, 2008 at 12:04 am EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

It is a hot topic on the media waves, and after a few months of the 2008 Presidential Primary season, we now focus on what the actual numbers say. There has been a challenge that states needed in order to win the General Election are more in favor of Hillary Clinton and John McCain; negating the overwhelming number of states that Senator Barack Obama has won, along with the delegates that his campaign has brought in.

With the help of the running tally listed on msnbc.com, from the exit polls of real voters, the following below facts are laid out. We have analyzed not only the delegates in the states, we have also looked at the Electoral College counts themselves since they ultimate decide the outcome of the office and Florida and Michigan Delegate counts are not counted.

Texas - The state that saw a statistical deadheat between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (Obama took the Caucus, Clinton the Primary, and Obama the delegates by 99-94).

If we further break down the numbers, we have 2,050,000 (rounding down) votes for Barack Obama in a General Election, assuming that only ½ of Hillary Clinton supporters come over for Barack, and the other ½ vote for an alternate candidate. If we get very (Santa Claus) generous, we can give John McCain that ½, raising his total to 1,410,000 (rounding up). This leaves a short-fall of over 600,000 votes, the likes of which cannot even be made up for by Huckabee’s total that rang in at 532,000.

Result? Obama takes Texas, and its 34 EC votes.

California is the big heavyweight, and we’ll go ahead and get it out of the way, right away. An analysis of the Golden State reveals the following; 52% Clinton – 42% Obama – 4% Edwards. Being generous again, we look at a 50% split for the two, giving Clinton 54% and Obama 43%; total vote counts of 2,200,000 for Clinton and 1,830,000 for Obama..rounding them both down slightly. Adding the conservative 50% from Clinton to Obama again gives Barack 2,881,013 total votes to McCain’s 3,564,047 with all the GOP vote + ½ of Hillary’s count. That’s a difference of 683,034.

Result? McCain takes California, and its 55 EC votes.

Florida has been perhaps the single-most controversial state in electoral news over the history of the United States; far eclipsing any vote rigging that ever occurred before (it is the information age, and should be theft-proof and fool-proof) As we all know, the Florida Democrat Primary will not be counted toward the delegate totals. However, it does deserve mentioning here. A breakdown of the actual vote shows that another statistical dead-heat! (word is getting familiar, yes?) With Senator Clinton receiving 50% of the votes cast, Barack Obama took 33% to John Edwards 14%, with an additional 1% left-out. Now, we’ve been more than generous to both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain, so let’s give Mr. Obama the benefit in round number three. Even if we add all the votes cast in the Democrat Primary, we have 1,684,390 votes for Democrat Candidates to 1,916,212 for the GOP. It is not likely that either Hillary or Barack are going to pull away nearly 250,000 Republican voters from McCain, which means that the Democrat nominee will need to bring in new voters. Barack Obama has brought out record numbers of new voters by every account given. Can he find more than 300,000? With over 17million people reported as living in the state of Florida, that means that only 21% of the population actually voted. The trends show that there is only one candidate who picks up big clumps of new voters. That candidate is Barack Obama. Adding just 4% of the population to the numbers for Obama, and we get 2,364,390 for Barack; leaving McCain with 448,278 new voters he will need to find in order to just tie. With all eyes on the Sunshine State, not even the Bush machine can hoodwink the population this time. Advantage – Obama.

Result? Obama takes Florida and its 27 EC votes (that makes it 61 – 55 in favor of Obama, so far)

As long as we are speaking about Florida, let’s go ahead and look at her sister Michigan; a state where Barack was not even on the ballot. To keep it simple, and short, let’s look at ½ of Hillary’s totals again, and the rest coming from those uncommitted and the remainder of the field that was on the ballot. Rounding down Senator Obama by a few again, he totals 429,699 with only ½ of Hillary’s voters. McCain draws in more than 2x that number, at about 866,436. However, Democrats have won the state in both 2000 and 2004, and there really was no election held at all in Michigan. Sorry Johnny, we have to give this one to Senator Obama. Romney and the rest of the GOP field creamed you here, and even with all the GOP vote, you simply will not move the Democrat mid-west.

Result? Obama takes Michigan and its 17 votes (while we’re up here, let’s go ahead and throw in MN, IA, and WI, bordering states where Barack easily wins over all with the numbers: EC totals = 27)

So far, we have Obama v. McCain – Big States, with Big Numbers at:

Obama – 105 EC VotesMcCain – 55 EC Votes

As this starts to look like a run-away election, let us go ahead and allow our candidates to go back to their home states to pick up support. Just to pre-face, both New York and Illinois carry a large number of votes; 31 and 21 respectively, while Arizona brings in 11. We will start with Arizona.

McCain takes 480,351 votes with every GOP number cast during the primary (he only won 47% in his own state, far below both what Clinton and Obama brought in from their respective states!)

Looking at the Democrat side, we will give Obama everything from his party for 379,642. The GOP has had this state on lock-down 3 of the last 4 Presidential Elections. And though Mr. Gore did lose his own home –state during the 2000 election, we’re going to give the Cactus State to John McCain.

Result? McCain takes his own state, and its 11 EC Votes.

You have to go back to 1984 to find a Republican Presidential Candidate who won in NY. Most of us are familiar as well with Illinois’ history with Presidential production. Giving both states to Obama, we now have the following EC totals:

Obama – 157

McCain – 66

From here, we will narrow things down to just the states where Democrats have dominated during the last four Presidential cycles; going back to 1992 and forward to look at the total Electoral College votes for the two main candidates for the General Election; Barack Obama and John McCain:

Adding in the states of OR, WA, NH, NJ, CT, RI, ME, VT, DE, and MA, we get 70 more EC votes for Barack (if my math is correct…) That gives Senator Obama 227 votes in the College; just 43 shy of what he would need to secure victory. With 293 votes still on the table, John McCain would need 204 of them to Barack’s 89 in order to come back and secure victory.

Given the numbers where McCain actually won convincingly during the Primary, here is how it should pan out by the trends:

Victories in Miss, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, UT, WV, KY, and Montana, for McCain place him at 133 Electoral College Votes.

With the landslide victories that Barack saw in the following contests, we give those to the respective Illinois Senator: Alabama, Alaska, D.C., HI, Idaho, KS, LA, MD, Nebraska, ND, SC, VA, WA, WY, and he picks up 106 more votes.

Our new totals

Obama – 333

McCain – 133

With 72 votes still on the table, Senator McCain can have all the rest, and will still need 65 back from Barack out of those above numbers!! States where Barack not only won big, but many of which McCain did not do so hot at all.

Elect-ability? What do you think?

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We March On...

By Concerned Citizen, Iraq War Veteran, Equal Shareholder in the American Dream - Apr 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 pm EDT

Also listed in: 10 groups

North Carolina... Tobacco Road... Home of the Mighty 82nd Airborne Division, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, and Pope Air Base... A historical state with a deep historical past in the United States; dating back to the original Province of Carolina that stretched from the Atlanta to the Pacific!!

Indiana.... The Hoosier State!!! Home of the Fighting Irish!! Just across the river from Kentucky... wedged in between Illinois and Ohio on its west and east borders... The great state of Michigan to the North... Home of the Colts!!! Land of the Indians.. a.k.a. Indian Land... Indiana!!!

Folks, we know that we are always going to have people who absolutely will ignore logic… consciously, and otherwise ignore the opportunity to get at the true roots of our inner most feelings about our individual lives, and where we have room for each other in our hearts and futures while living side by side… shopping in the same stores… going to enjoy the same arts… cheering for our own children and each others’ at the Saturday soccer game… joining each other for lunch from the roadside workers, to the college campuses around the country, to the factories and technology corridors that come and go from Indiana to North Carolina…

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just seen history in the making again. The question after November 4, 2008, though, will be whether we find ourselves on the better side of the very making of the same… This is our time… This may be our last shot and time… Two weeks to go until we have another Carolina go to the polls, and another state from the great mid-west do the same… More folks from the New South and the wheat and Corn Belt have weighed in with the Hope of Today and Tomorrow… The Hope in Barack Obama…

It has been tiring for many of us… a process a lot longer than most of would have ever imagined… Just as Senator Obama mentioned, it is not just about winning, though… Rather, it is how we win… We can win… We must win… We will win…

How many phone calls can we each make? How many doors can we knock on? How many points can we win each state of North Carolina and Indiana by that will further close the door on this nomination for America; for Barack Obama?

Semper & Respectfully,

Kent D. Fletcher

Dist 46 Democrat Candidate

S.C. State Senate

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