Yaargh!
I wrote a post in the spring where I asked Rachel Maddow to calm down when she was crying that the heated primary between Clinton and Obama would destroy the world (or, assure a McCain victory – same thing).
Now, someone’s gotta’ calm me down.
Obama, last week, was losing in a national Gallup pole to John McCain.
Seriously, let that sink in. Losing to Grampy McSame, John McBush, Get-Off-My-Lawn John. What the fuck??!!
The fuck is: Karl Rove. Assisting the McCain campaign, either in person, or via his acolytes, Republicans are controlling the conversation again. And again, the conversation is about stupid shit. Apparently, we are eating it up.
What were the most memorable messages from the campaigns for the last week? Sexist pig lipstick, Obama teaches the Kama Sutra to kindergarten children, and McCain and Palin are mavericks that will clean up Washington? What bullshit! But what have you heard to counter it? Zip. Oh, I know Obama has responded - policy statements and paragraphs that make sense, but that NOBODY TALKS ABOUT. And that’s the point – getting people to talk about it. It has to be dramatic and controversial.
Obama said he wasn’t going to take a knife to a gunfight. He’s right – he hasn’t taken anything! He’s just getting his ass shot to pieces by Grandpa Munster and Moose Mom.
Man, Obama needs to creep up behind with a baseball bat and WHAM! And, when he gets called out by the Republican echo chamber, say “politics is a contact sport, didn’t you think I was going to play?”
Obama makes good speeches – maybe the best in our generation. But that doesn’t win an election in the age of cable TV. Palin read a decent speech, and almost matched his Neilson Ratings numbers from his Denver speech. McCain beat his numbers with a horrible speech. You must keep it simple, and make people pay attention. Use simple words that rile people up:
1. Lie – Obama must use the forbidden “L” word. He must say, in ad after ad that McCain has lied about every important issue. Fuck the idea that there are two sides to every story – take out the bat and call him a liar!
2. Dangerous – From loose nukes to starting wars, McCain is a hothead that will attack Iran and Russia. Grab the bat and call him a crazy mutha’ fucka’. “John McCain is dangerous for America” is what every news anchor should repeat.
3. Took your money! – The most powerful meme of all. “John McCain and the Republicans have taken your money.” Tell the press that they took it and gave it to Exxon and Halliburton. They took it and gave it to the same mortgage companies that are taking your house. They took it and gave it to your old boss who sent your job to China. Take out the bat!
Oh, and Sarah Palin? Stand up and shout that she is corrupt and stupid. Never mind the Republican preemptive strike that nobody can attack a woman – and that attacking her is sexist. No Republican ever said that about Hillary. Wind up the metaphorical bat and swing away. And when Hanity shrieks “how could you,” simply say “because she lies, she’s dangerous and she will steal your money.
By the way, those three points all have the benefit of being true. Get the fuckin’ bat, Obama.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
Dems New Mantra: “What Happened to Our Money?”
Sarah Palin scares me.
Smug liberal that I am, in this year of Change (© Obama), I was sure that Palin was a joke. After the announcement, and the initial reaction about her past, inexperience, corruption investigations and unwed pregnant teen daughter, I was sure she would be the turd in the Republican punchbowl. I seriously wondered if her nomination for VP would make it past the convention floor.
Then I heard her speak, and watched her on TV.
She is not the frostbitten hillbilly I thought she was. She can, if nothing else, read from a script and string together coherent sentences. All while not looking like a ghoul. This is more than most Republicans these days, including Joe Lieberman, can do.
And what’s worse, for Obama, and any who care about righting the good ship America, is that she actually adds to the McCain ticket in a substantive way.
She solidifies the evangelical base. They love her. They are excited, and ready to donate and work again. We were counting on many of them sitting this one out.
She brings youth, and the Washington outsider mantle to the campaign of a career politician who is older than God. She represents the bold kind of choice that only a “Maverick” would make. Jesus, do you think the press will repeat that a million times, again?
Worse, she brings back the politics of personality. It was looking like Obama, and his old white guy, against two other old white guys. The personality story was with Obama, and he was controlling it pretty well. Now, it is the first black president versus the first woman president (oh wait, I mean vice president). This lets people who want “change” reassess the definition of change. This also lets independent and undecided white voters off the race hook. The Bradley effect on steroids.
People, who are sick of how badly the Republicans have fucked them, and the country, but are uncomfortable with a black candidate, now have a “change” option. Maybe they don’t have to pull the lever for the African American, because they can vote for a chick! After all, didn’t some Democratic chick get screwed on this whole deal anyway? They can assuage race guilt by voting against their sexist tendencies.
So what to do? Obama has been better than Gore or Kerry. He has started to pound on McCain and the Republicans. And the Democrats in general have been unified on the message of tying McCain to Bush. But Palin has the potential of obscuring that tie. Hell, McCain’s acceptance speech finished with the call for “change.” Democrats have to attack on the point that all Americans, in fact, all people, feel at their core: Money.
Obama, and all Democrats, have to lead America in asking the question: what happened to our money? And they have to guide media and voters to the right answers (and I mean “right” in the political sense – the kicking ass sense).
Bill Clinton left a half-trillion surplus…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans blew it!
The Iraq War is expensive…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans let corrupt militia leaders and terrorists steal it (remember the “footballs” of cash handed out from the backs of trucks?)
No, the War is really fucking expensive…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it to Halliburton in a no-bid contract!
See how it goes?
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans let your employer take it to China!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it in tax breaks to your boss!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it to the oil companies!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it to Jack Abramoff, who gave some of it back to them in bribes!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans let mortgage brokers swindle you out of it, and left you homeless!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans took it from you, and gave it to their rich friends. And they are laughing at you, and they plan on taking more!
Can you analyze government spending and refute the above? Sure, but who the fuck, on average, will take the time to do that? Democrats need to force the message out. Make it the mantra – John McCain and the Republicans are taking your money, and they don’t give a shit if you become poor. Americans’ wallets will resonate with this message for the next 60 days. If not, I fear a nail-biter in a year it shouldn’t even be close.
Smug liberal that I am, in this year of Change (© Obama), I was sure that Palin was a joke. After the announcement, and the initial reaction about her past, inexperience, corruption investigations and unwed pregnant teen daughter, I was sure she would be the turd in the Republican punchbowl. I seriously wondered if her nomination for VP would make it past the convention floor.
Then I heard her speak, and watched her on TV.
She is not the frostbitten hillbilly I thought she was. She can, if nothing else, read from a script and string together coherent sentences. All while not looking like a ghoul. This is more than most Republicans these days, including Joe Lieberman, can do.
And what’s worse, for Obama, and any who care about righting the good ship America, is that she actually adds to the McCain ticket in a substantive way.
She solidifies the evangelical base. They love her. They are excited, and ready to donate and work again. We were counting on many of them sitting this one out.
She brings youth, and the Washington outsider mantle to the campaign of a career politician who is older than God. She represents the bold kind of choice that only a “Maverick” would make. Jesus, do you think the press will repeat that a million times, again?
Worse, she brings back the politics of personality. It was looking like Obama, and his old white guy, against two other old white guys. The personality story was with Obama, and he was controlling it pretty well. Now, it is the first black president versus the first woman president (oh wait, I mean vice president). This lets people who want “change” reassess the definition of change. This also lets independent and undecided white voters off the race hook. The Bradley effect on steroids.
People, who are sick of how badly the Republicans have fucked them, and the country, but are uncomfortable with a black candidate, now have a “change” option. Maybe they don’t have to pull the lever for the African American, because they can vote for a chick! After all, didn’t some Democratic chick get screwed on this whole deal anyway? They can assuage race guilt by voting against their sexist tendencies.
So what to do? Obama has been better than Gore or Kerry. He has started to pound on McCain and the Republicans. And the Democrats in general have been unified on the message of tying McCain to Bush. But Palin has the potential of obscuring that tie. Hell, McCain’s acceptance speech finished with the call for “change.” Democrats have to attack on the point that all Americans, in fact, all people, feel at their core: Money.
Obama, and all Democrats, have to lead America in asking the question: what happened to our money? And they have to guide media and voters to the right answers (and I mean “right” in the political sense – the kicking ass sense).
Bill Clinton left a half-trillion surplus…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans blew it!
The Iraq War is expensive…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans let corrupt militia leaders and terrorists steal it (remember the “footballs” of cash handed out from the backs of trucks?)
No, the War is really fucking expensive…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it to Halliburton in a no-bid contract!
See how it goes?
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans let your employer take it to China!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it in tax breaks to your boss!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it to the oil companies!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans gave it to Jack Abramoff, who gave some of it back to them in bribes!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans let mortgage brokers swindle you out of it, and left you homeless!
…what happened to our money?
John McCain and the Republicans took it from you, and gave it to their rich friends. And they are laughing at you, and they plan on taking more!
Can you analyze government spending and refute the above? Sure, but who the fuck, on average, will take the time to do that? Democrats need to force the message out. Make it the mantra – John McCain and the Republicans are taking your money, and they don’t give a shit if you become poor. Americans’ wallets will resonate with this message for the next 60 days. If not, I fear a nail-biter in a year it shouldn’t even be close.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Tibet – A Reflection in the Walls of our Glass House?
The Olympic torch has to be guarded by a special Chinese torch force, against the masses of western protestors. From London to San Fran, the torch has been seen as a symbol of human rights abuse by the Chinese, especially in light of their recent crackdown in Tibet. Many Americans, especially leeeborals, are expressing outrage, and calling for a boycott of the Olympics in Beijing.
Never mind the absurdity of Americans, who elected Bush and Cheney TWICE, having the gall to protest human rights abuses by any government but their own. Never mind our shared responsibility for renditions, torture, and war on a country for its oil. We also pay no attention to history, neither Chinese nor our own, when we express outrage over the Chinese in Tibet – a history much longer, and arguably less bloody and heinous than our own.
Tibet has been, to various degrees, under Chinese rule since about 1200 CE. This is almost 300 years longer than the beginning of the conquest of the Americas by Europeans, and 400 years longer than the planting of the English colonies that became the United States. Have we ever paid attention to any protests about the rights of indigenous people in this country? Some historians consider what happened to Native Americans at the hands of Europeans to be genocide. Even after the establishment of democracy under our constitution, the majority of federal money was spent fighting and killing Indians during the Washington Administration.
And as for our European colonized neighbors, we have been at least as Chinese as the Chinese have been to Tibet. We went to war with Britain in 1812 in large part to snatch big chunks of Canada. And it has only been about 150 years since we took the entire Southwest from Mexico, by means of an unjust war of conquest that we started. What if the world demanded that we give back California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Nevada? Would we agree, or send our own special torch force when we next get an Olympics? I think we know the answer.
The Dalai Lama is getting a hero’s welcome in Seattle this week. The papers are calling him “his Holiness.” (Is the pope pissed, I wonder?) He is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. But again the historical context is missing. The Dalai Lama is fundamentally a Chinese spiritual leader – or at least a Mongol spiritual leader.
The first Dalai Lamas were installed and supported by the Mongolian rulers of China. In and around the year 1400, the preferred Chinese version of Buddhism was installed in Tibet to push out the Indian version (and India’s political and economic influence) that had been there for hundreds of years, and to continue to suppress the original Bon religion. China and Tibet have a shared religious history in the Dalai Lama that goes back for 600 years. In short, the Dalai Lama is a Chinese invention! This context is missing in all the news coverage.
We European-descended Americans have all but wiped out native religion and culture on this continent. There were various treaties and deals, but most were broken. Likewise, there have been various treaties and deals between China and Tibet. Today in our country, the native people experience the deepest poverty, and the shortest life expectancy of any in this richest of nations. And, we still honor the man who doomed the Cherokee to the Trail of Tears on our twenty-dollar bill.
Was this treatment of Native Americans, and Mexico, horrible, ruthless, and even genocidal? Maybe. And have I, as a white, euro-descended dude benefited from the removal of native people? Fuck yes! Realizing this, am a going to give my house back to the descendants of the people the land was taken from?
Fuck no!
And the Chinese aren’t either. And they wonder what the hell our problem is. To them, Tibet is an upstart province that has been part of China for close to a thousand years. Up until the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese had given the Tibetan people much more cultural and religious autonomy than we ever gave the indigenous people of America. The Chinese see us as hypocrites, and they are right.
It is okay to criticize in America. We can criticize the Chinese, who have acted badly in Tibet recently, and at times throughout history – a longer history than we have had in America. But with our recent history, we are really throwing stones in a glass house. NO AMERICAN should utter the phrase “human rights” without the words “we have violated” in front of them. And none of our leaders should say anything about it unless they are on the record as fighting the Bush Administration to preserve human rights here first.
Unlike the Chinese people, we HAVE a democracy, and have had for over 200 years. While freely electing our leaders, we have said okay to native genocide, slavery, segregation, wars of conquest, and now torture. We let, and have let, our leaders do this because we keep electing and REELECTING leaders who do this. We as a people bear a great deal of the responsibility for America’s misdeeds, and generally don’t do shit about it. So maybe we should shut the fuck up about China until we: A. understand the whole story, and B. clean up our own “glass” house.
Then maybe our protest will be taken seriously. Then maybe we will have the moral foundation to stand on as we try to extinguish the Olympic torches.
Never mind the absurdity of Americans, who elected Bush and Cheney TWICE, having the gall to protest human rights abuses by any government but their own. Never mind our shared responsibility for renditions, torture, and war on a country for its oil. We also pay no attention to history, neither Chinese nor our own, when we express outrage over the Chinese in Tibet – a history much longer, and arguably less bloody and heinous than our own.
Tibet has been, to various degrees, under Chinese rule since about 1200 CE. This is almost 300 years longer than the beginning of the conquest of the Americas by Europeans, and 400 years longer than the planting of the English colonies that became the United States. Have we ever paid attention to any protests about the rights of indigenous people in this country? Some historians consider what happened to Native Americans at the hands of Europeans to be genocide. Even after the establishment of democracy under our constitution, the majority of federal money was spent fighting and killing Indians during the Washington Administration.
And as for our European colonized neighbors, we have been at least as Chinese as the Chinese have been to Tibet. We went to war with Britain in 1812 in large part to snatch big chunks of Canada. And it has only been about 150 years since we took the entire Southwest from Mexico, by means of an unjust war of conquest that we started. What if the world demanded that we give back California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Nevada? Would we agree, or send our own special torch force when we next get an Olympics? I think we know the answer.
The Dalai Lama is getting a hero’s welcome in Seattle this week. The papers are calling him “his Holiness.” (Is the pope pissed, I wonder?) He is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. But again the historical context is missing. The Dalai Lama is fundamentally a Chinese spiritual leader – or at least a Mongol spiritual leader.
The first Dalai Lamas were installed and supported by the Mongolian rulers of China. In and around the year 1400, the preferred Chinese version of Buddhism was installed in Tibet to push out the Indian version (and India’s political and economic influence) that had been there for hundreds of years, and to continue to suppress the original Bon religion. China and Tibet have a shared religious history in the Dalai Lama that goes back for 600 years. In short, the Dalai Lama is a Chinese invention! This context is missing in all the news coverage.
We European-descended Americans have all but wiped out native religion and culture on this continent. There were various treaties and deals, but most were broken. Likewise, there have been various treaties and deals between China and Tibet. Today in our country, the native people experience the deepest poverty, and the shortest life expectancy of any in this richest of nations. And, we still honor the man who doomed the Cherokee to the Trail of Tears on our twenty-dollar bill.
Was this treatment of Native Americans, and Mexico, horrible, ruthless, and even genocidal? Maybe. And have I, as a white, euro-descended dude benefited from the removal of native people? Fuck yes! Realizing this, am a going to give my house back to the descendants of the people the land was taken from?
Fuck no!
And the Chinese aren’t either. And they wonder what the hell our problem is. To them, Tibet is an upstart province that has been part of China for close to a thousand years. Up until the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese had given the Tibetan people much more cultural and religious autonomy than we ever gave the indigenous people of America. The Chinese see us as hypocrites, and they are right.
It is okay to criticize in America. We can criticize the Chinese, who have acted badly in Tibet recently, and at times throughout history – a longer history than we have had in America. But with our recent history, we are really throwing stones in a glass house. NO AMERICAN should utter the phrase “human rights” without the words “we have violated” in front of them. And none of our leaders should say anything about it unless they are on the record as fighting the Bush Administration to preserve human rights here first.
Unlike the Chinese people, we HAVE a democracy, and have had for over 200 years. While freely electing our leaders, we have said okay to native genocide, slavery, segregation, wars of conquest, and now torture. We let, and have let, our leaders do this because we keep electing and REELECTING leaders who do this. We as a people bear a great deal of the responsibility for America’s misdeeds, and generally don’t do shit about it. So maybe we should shut the fuck up about China until we: A. understand the whole story, and B. clean up our own “glass” house.
Then maybe our protest will be taken seriously. Then maybe we will have the moral foundation to stand on as we try to extinguish the Olympic torches.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Letter to Rachel Maddow
Dear Rachel,
I thoroughly enjoy your show. I find you one of the smartest, insightful and well-informed of the liberal commentators on the radio. Having said that, I, an average schlep with two jobs have the audacity to give you some advice:
Calm down.
Who the hell do I think I am? As I said, an average guy, but with an interest in civics. I want you to calm down on your call for immediate marriage between the Hillary and Obama campaigns. I am especially shocked by your claim that a unity ticket would be better than any further campaigning. I’m not sure of that, but I am sure that the only unity ticket available would feature Hillary as the headliner.
Hillary as the nominee is the lifeboat scenario for me – the last desperate move before the whole ship goes down. I think we have time before the party sinks.
As if it was not already obvious, I am an Obama partisan. Not by choice, but by default. Neither he nor Clinton have fought the good fight, the way that Feingold, or Waxman have, or, among candidates, Kucinich or Dodd. But for progressives, a Hillary nomination is worth fighting against a little longer. Even if it increases the risk of a McCain presidency.
A Hillary nomination tells me the Democratic Party is broken beyond repair. It tells me that the party, in a year of opportunity unseen since Nixon’s resignation, will settle for a candidate that is legislatively a moderate Republican. With the exception of health care and choice issues, Hillary votes about with Spectre. Republican Hagel of Nebraska has shown more courage on the war than her.
I’m also not so sure that we could count on a President Clinton II to protect the judiciary. Hillary will triangulate, as she already has in her campaign. One of my biggest fears of a Clinton II presidency is that she will not appoint and fight for liberal justices, to replace the liberals that will be retiring. She will start by appointing “moderates,” and work her way right. The result will not be that much different than a McCain presidency. The liberal voice will be gone either way. You can kiss the restoration of the Constitution goodbye.
Clinton can only win by, well, cheating. She will have to get Michigan and Florida delegates seated. She has said “no further elections or caucuses.” This goes against agreements that she made, and that Obama stuck to. Even if she gets these, she will have to twist arms of super delegates to vote against the people – which if happens will tear the party in half in a year when they should be cleaning up. This is the only strategy she has left, and she is going for it. How terribly self-serving and expectant of her dynastic right of ascension. I have no interest in a dynastic presidency inherited in a “smoke filled room,” even if the new monarch wears the label of my party.
Since two years before my son, who will graduate from high school this year, was born, two families have controlled the Executive branch of government. This is roughly a generation of power held by these two families. The long-term health of American politics will be better served by anyone, even a Republican, who is not a Clinton or a Bush taking office.
The final reason that I don’t want to resolve the stalemate in any way that ends up with Hillary as our nominee, is that I don’t think she can win. She has already praised McCain, and trashed Obama. She has pilloried the progressive, the black, and the young. She has guaranteed a suppressed turnout in the general election, and will always inspire the Conservatives who have an irrational hatred of the name Clinton. She will lose to John McCain.
Obama, on the other hand, can inspire, raise money from across the spectrum, and will turn out the non-white vote. The white women over 50, and white men over 40 who support Hillary may split between McCain and Obama. But Obama will carry the young, African Americans, and I believe the Hispanic vote as well. He will pull in moderates and independents. He will eat McCain’s lunch on the campaign trail, and in any debate that Grandpa John is foolish enough to engage in with Obama. Finally, the voter excitement of an Obama run will have tremendous payoffs for the party downstream, in Congressional and state elections. This payoff is worth fighting for.
Even if it means fighting the Clintons. And, this is what the party should do at this point, fight them. Pressure should be brought to bear on Hillary from all quarters of the party – telling her to drop out. Super delegates should let her know in no uncertain terms that she will not be coronated, and that she cannot win. Explain to her, over and over again, how she could become the matron saint of the Democratic Party, and be owed favors for life, if she were to drop out gracefully now, and with praise for Obama and a call for action for the greater good. That would truly be a storybook moment in an amazing political year – one that may appeal to her ego.
So, calm down.
There are ways the ship can be righted before the convention. And if the party tears itself apart, then maybe that is for the greater good. This is a party that can’t fight against the worst president in our history. Today’s Democrats are only enjoying electoral victories because Republicans are so transparently corrupt, our Vice President soo evil, and our President soooo incredibly stupid. If this is the death knell of the Democratic Party, then it will be because it was time. And at least my son’s generation will have a chance at the type of reforms we need and deserve, with an upstart Green party, or a reformed Democratic party.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far (if indeed you have!). Again, I love the show, and keep fighting the good fight.
I thoroughly enjoy your show. I find you one of the smartest, insightful and well-informed of the liberal commentators on the radio. Having said that, I, an average schlep with two jobs have the audacity to give you some advice:
Calm down.
Who the hell do I think I am? As I said, an average guy, but with an interest in civics. I want you to calm down on your call for immediate marriage between the Hillary and Obama campaigns. I am especially shocked by your claim that a unity ticket would be better than any further campaigning. I’m not sure of that, but I am sure that the only unity ticket available would feature Hillary as the headliner.
Hillary as the nominee is the lifeboat scenario for me – the last desperate move before the whole ship goes down. I think we have time before the party sinks.
As if it was not already obvious, I am an Obama partisan. Not by choice, but by default. Neither he nor Clinton have fought the good fight, the way that Feingold, or Waxman have, or, among candidates, Kucinich or Dodd. But for progressives, a Hillary nomination is worth fighting against a little longer. Even if it increases the risk of a McCain presidency.
A Hillary nomination tells me the Democratic Party is broken beyond repair. It tells me that the party, in a year of opportunity unseen since Nixon’s resignation, will settle for a candidate that is legislatively a moderate Republican. With the exception of health care and choice issues, Hillary votes about with Spectre. Republican Hagel of Nebraska has shown more courage on the war than her.
I’m also not so sure that we could count on a President Clinton II to protect the judiciary. Hillary will triangulate, as she already has in her campaign. One of my biggest fears of a Clinton II presidency is that she will not appoint and fight for liberal justices, to replace the liberals that will be retiring. She will start by appointing “moderates,” and work her way right. The result will not be that much different than a McCain presidency. The liberal voice will be gone either way. You can kiss the restoration of the Constitution goodbye.
Clinton can only win by, well, cheating. She will have to get Michigan and Florida delegates seated. She has said “no further elections or caucuses.” This goes against agreements that she made, and that Obama stuck to. Even if she gets these, she will have to twist arms of super delegates to vote against the people – which if happens will tear the party in half in a year when they should be cleaning up. This is the only strategy she has left, and she is going for it. How terribly self-serving and expectant of her dynastic right of ascension. I have no interest in a dynastic presidency inherited in a “smoke filled room,” even if the new monarch wears the label of my party.
Since two years before my son, who will graduate from high school this year, was born, two families have controlled the Executive branch of government. This is roughly a generation of power held by these two families. The long-term health of American politics will be better served by anyone, even a Republican, who is not a Clinton or a Bush taking office.
The final reason that I don’t want to resolve the stalemate in any way that ends up with Hillary as our nominee, is that I don’t think she can win. She has already praised McCain, and trashed Obama. She has pilloried the progressive, the black, and the young. She has guaranteed a suppressed turnout in the general election, and will always inspire the Conservatives who have an irrational hatred of the name Clinton. She will lose to John McCain.
Obama, on the other hand, can inspire, raise money from across the spectrum, and will turn out the non-white vote. The white women over 50, and white men over 40 who support Hillary may split between McCain and Obama. But Obama will carry the young, African Americans, and I believe the Hispanic vote as well. He will pull in moderates and independents. He will eat McCain’s lunch on the campaign trail, and in any debate that Grandpa John is foolish enough to engage in with Obama. Finally, the voter excitement of an Obama run will have tremendous payoffs for the party downstream, in Congressional and state elections. This payoff is worth fighting for.
Even if it means fighting the Clintons. And, this is what the party should do at this point, fight them. Pressure should be brought to bear on Hillary from all quarters of the party – telling her to drop out. Super delegates should let her know in no uncertain terms that she will not be coronated, and that she cannot win. Explain to her, over and over again, how she could become the matron saint of the Democratic Party, and be owed favors for life, if she were to drop out gracefully now, and with praise for Obama and a call for action for the greater good. That would truly be a storybook moment in an amazing political year – one that may appeal to her ego.
So, calm down.
There are ways the ship can be righted before the convention. And if the party tears itself apart, then maybe that is for the greater good. This is a party that can’t fight against the worst president in our history. Today’s Democrats are only enjoying electoral victories because Republicans are so transparently corrupt, our Vice President soo evil, and our President soooo incredibly stupid. If this is the death knell of the Democratic Party, then it will be because it was time. And at least my son’s generation will have a chance at the type of reforms we need and deserve, with an upstart Green party, or a reformed Democratic party.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far (if indeed you have!). Again, I love the show, and keep fighting the good fight.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
First Amendment for Obama?
So, what the fuck happened to the First Amendment in this country?
Or is that a stupid question in the Age of Bush? “It went right along with the Fourth and Eighth Amendments, dumbass!”
I’d just hoped that in the Democratic primary, we could preserve it.
But no. Hillary busted out the Obama in Africa photo, and furthered the right wing rumor that Obama is Muslim. He has had to appear in front of reporters in Ohio and deny his adherence to Islam. He said it was “offensive” to be called Muslim.
Apparently, we have a religious test to become president in this country. Please, show me where in the Constitution it states that the President must not be Muslim. Show me where in the Constitution it says that the President has to even state a religious preference. Or have a religion at all!
Oh, that’s right…BOTH parties have wiped their asses with the Constitution. Democrats have rolled over on the prohibition of torture under the Eighth Amendment. They totally caved on protecting the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans – just this week in fact. AGAIN! In fact, Hillary has tried to ban flag burning, and prohibit the speech of video game designers and manufacturers. She has shown that she has little sympathy for the First Amendment rights of Americans who choose other than Republican-approved speech.
And Republicans? Please, they have been trying to rid us of the Constitution since the Wilson Administration. And McCain’s religious test? He was judged on just how crazy he could go. And he passed! He said he was “proud” to accept the endorsement of the absolutely insane Pastor Hagee, a crazed Texas minister who hates Muslims, gay people, and who wants to nuke Iran to bring about the Rapture.
Is the press asking McCain: “are you sure you are not a crazed, racist, revival-tent preacher who wants to destroy the world?” Fuck no! But Obama must continually explain his religious affiliation, only to have it questioned again.
The sad, sad part is, Americans, including Democrats, have bought into this racist, intolerant framing. We Americans have an image of a Muslim, and it ain’t white. The Clintons, and the McCain campaign are now a team, unwitting or not, to frame Obama as the outsider. The "other." The question that middle-America is supposed to ask, and seems to be asking is:
“You mean, that nigger’s an A-Rab Islamo-facist?”
Hillary’s victories tonight in Ohio and Texas have shown that the ugliest tactics in politics have worked. The “change” we long for can be beaten back by dredging up the long-standing culture of white Christian dominance. By making white Americans fear loss of power or status at the hands of the “other.” The problem for Hillary is that her gambit will fail. Because, at heart, America is a sexist nation too. Since she played the race, security and religion cards, she has shown her hand. McCain can beat that hand. He is whiter (more racist), more Christian (at least, more rabidly, insane fundamentalist Christian), stronger on defense (at least, has pretty much the same Iraq voting record as Hillary), and a man.
And that will be enough, because they are the most institutional members of their respective parties. They each have the most consultants and lobbyists surrounding them. That “change” thing is out the window with a Hillary/McCain race. It will be depressing, boring, will depress turnout, and McCain will edge her by cheating in Florida. And all because we care more about a guy’s non-existant religious affiliation, than his freedom (and consequently our freedom) to belong to any fucking religion he chooses.
Man, I would dearly love to have the Constitution be an issue in this campaign. We know that neither party has fought for it this year. Hopefully, it is merely because they don’t give a shit, not because we Americans no longer give a shit. Hopefully, but not much hope.
Or is that a stupid question in the Age of Bush? “It went right along with the Fourth and Eighth Amendments, dumbass!”
I’d just hoped that in the Democratic primary, we could preserve it.
But no. Hillary busted out the Obama in Africa photo, and furthered the right wing rumor that Obama is Muslim. He has had to appear in front of reporters in Ohio and deny his adherence to Islam. He said it was “offensive” to be called Muslim.
Apparently, we have a religious test to become president in this country. Please, show me where in the Constitution it states that the President must not be Muslim. Show me where in the Constitution it says that the President has to even state a religious preference. Or have a religion at all!
Oh, that’s right…BOTH parties have wiped their asses with the Constitution. Democrats have rolled over on the prohibition of torture under the Eighth Amendment. They totally caved on protecting the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans – just this week in fact. AGAIN! In fact, Hillary has tried to ban flag burning, and prohibit the speech of video game designers and manufacturers. She has shown that she has little sympathy for the First Amendment rights of Americans who choose other than Republican-approved speech.
And Republicans? Please, they have been trying to rid us of the Constitution since the Wilson Administration. And McCain’s religious test? He was judged on just how crazy he could go. And he passed! He said he was “proud” to accept the endorsement of the absolutely insane Pastor Hagee, a crazed Texas minister who hates Muslims, gay people, and who wants to nuke Iran to bring about the Rapture.
Is the press asking McCain: “are you sure you are not a crazed, racist, revival-tent preacher who wants to destroy the world?” Fuck no! But Obama must continually explain his religious affiliation, only to have it questioned again.
The sad, sad part is, Americans, including Democrats, have bought into this racist, intolerant framing. We Americans have an image of a Muslim, and it ain’t white. The Clintons, and the McCain campaign are now a team, unwitting or not, to frame Obama as the outsider. The "other." The question that middle-America is supposed to ask, and seems to be asking is:
“You mean, that nigger’s an A-Rab Islamo-facist?”
Hillary’s victories tonight in Ohio and Texas have shown that the ugliest tactics in politics have worked. The “change” we long for can be beaten back by dredging up the long-standing culture of white Christian dominance. By making white Americans fear loss of power or status at the hands of the “other.” The problem for Hillary is that her gambit will fail. Because, at heart, America is a sexist nation too. Since she played the race, security and religion cards, she has shown her hand. McCain can beat that hand. He is whiter (more racist), more Christian (at least, more rabidly, insane fundamentalist Christian), stronger on defense (at least, has pretty much the same Iraq voting record as Hillary), and a man.
And that will be enough, because they are the most institutional members of their respective parties. They each have the most consultants and lobbyists surrounding them. That “change” thing is out the window with a Hillary/McCain race. It will be depressing, boring, will depress turnout, and McCain will edge her by cheating in Florida. And all because we care more about a guy’s non-existant religious affiliation, than his freedom (and consequently our freedom) to belong to any fucking religion he chooses.
Man, I would dearly love to have the Constitution be an issue in this campaign. We know that neither party has fought for it this year. Hopefully, it is merely because they don’t give a shit, not because we Americans no longer give a shit. Hopefully, but not much hope.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Hillary Bomb
This should be the year for the Democratic Party.
I won’t say it’s the year for “Progressives,” because I don’t find much that is progressive in the Democratic Party establishment. Still, we take it where we can get it.
But, it should be the year – if they don’t fuck it up. And there seems to be nothing this Democratic Party leadership can’t fuck up. Seriously, there is real danger that they will. And that danger is Hillary Clinton.
In the interest of full disclosure, I caucused for Obama. He was not my first, or even second choice, but I far prefer him to Hillary. In fact, I don’t like Hillary at all.
I don’t know her personally, and she may be a hell of a lady. But to me she represents all that has gone wrong with the Democratic Party these last thirty years. I also think she represents the final nail in the Democratic Party’s coffin, and can snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory this fall. She is the bomb, and not in a good way.
A Hillary nomination will be a disaster for the Party in several different ways:
1. She will be the number one fundraiser for the Republicans.
2. She will suppress the Democratic vote.
3. She will only get the nomination by means of an ugly convention fight (and, even if it’s just close, it will seem this way).
4. She is, and has always been, basically, a moderate Republican – which is the last thing we need.
One, Hillary is one of the most divisive figures in American politics. And it’s not totally her fault. The Republican base has an irrational hatred of her. This is an election where the Republican base may well stay home, unless Hillary runs. If she does, they will vote, donate, doorbell and man the phones. Fundamentalist churches will work overtime to beat Hillary, when they would otherwise snooze through a McCain candidacy.
The top one-percenters did well when Bill was in office. Then, they helped smear both him and Hillary to go over the top, and take a chance at getting it all with “W.” They basically have. They don’t want the gravy train to end, and fear that a Democrat will have to ratchet back some of the insane greed that has been legislated. They fear McCain will too, but just a little less than any Dem. They are smart enough to realize that McCain won’t stand a chance in Hell against Obama, and hang onto their cash. But if it’s Hillary, they will see the blood in the water if she swims into the general election, and pour in the bucks to beat her.
Two, Hillary as nominee will keep the liberal wing of the Democratic Party from maintaining its current high energy level. She represents the party insider wing of the Democratic Party. She is the old way of doing things, the antithesis of “change,” the buzz-word that has the base so worked up. And the young voters who have been mobilized for Obama? Forget it. If she is the nominee, they won’t even bother. They will stay home, as will, perhaps, many African American voters, having had the allure of America’s first black president snatched from their grasp. The numbers of voters in the primaries and caucuses have been vastly in favor of the Democrats, Double the Republican voters in many states. This is a huge advantage in the general election IF the excitement and energy stays high. It won’t with Hillary.
Three, it won’t stay high with Hillary because she will have to pull out all the stops to beat Obama. She will have to twist arms and pull strings, and get down in the mud. She will really piss off many people who are excited by Obama, but really don’t like her (like me, and I am not alone). And, if she has to win with Super Delegates, and they go against the pledged delegates chosen by popular vote, it will be like setting a bomb off in the big tent. Many Democratic voters will see this as a back-room betrayal by party insiders, and stomp off in a huff. Conservative Dems who get pissed will cross to McCain, liberal Dems will write in Obama, or not vote, or…can you say Nadar? Even a belated Bloomberg independent run would siphon off many disgruntled Democratic voters.
The thing is, we Democratic voters are petulant. We are sick of the failures of the leadership to fight for us. We see Obama as at least a little break from the DLC establishment that has capitulated to corporate greed and Republican bullying for the last thirty years. If he wins outright, most Hillary supporters will follow him to November. He is not that different from her policy-wise, and there is enough excitement around him to make most forget ol’ what’s-her-name. However, if he is brought down at the convention by the Super Delegates in the proverbial “smoke filled room,” many of his supporters will not forgive. They will take their votes and go home and NOT support Hillary in the general election. They are already saying so on Air America. This will make Hillary vs. McCain a nail-biter, in a year when it shouldn’t even be close!
Four, it will be a nail-biter because there is not much difference between Hillary and McCain. I see Clinton as a moderate Republican. Hillary legislates about where Arlen Spectre is on the Liberal-Conservative scale. Her big legislative initiatives during the last six years? A flag burning bill, and a fight against violent video games. Gee, thanks for stepping up to the crucial issues of the Democratic base there, Hillary!
She is pro-war, pro-eavesdropping (anti-Fourth Amendment), pro-establishment, pro-corporate domination…hell, McCain may be more of a populist than she. At least he was in the old days. True, he has had to sell his soul to Dick Cheney (Satan) to get the nomination, but over his years in the Senate he can show a pedigree for the common man to rival Clinton’s. It will be a moderate Republican against a newly-conservative Republican in the general election. Great job Democratic Party!
And even if she can pull it off, and win the Presidency, she will triangulate! She will cave in on demands for, say, Supreme Court justices. She won’t appoint arch-conservatives, but she won’t fight for the ones we deserve. She will appoint “moderates” to replace the liberals that will be retiring, because she has never fought for the left. She has instead entrenched herself in the center-right. Progressives will quickly lose both hope and interest.
The liberal party supporters deserve better. We might get it with Obama, we won’t with Clinton. I think that the Democratic voters are realizing this. I believe that Obama will have a significant pledged delegate lead going into the convention. However, should Super Delegates tip the scales, or the Florida or Michigan messes spoil an Obama victory, the Democratic party will be torn in half at exactly the wrong time. It will be like a bomb going off in Denver, at the convention. The Hillary bomb.
I won’t say it’s the year for “Progressives,” because I don’t find much that is progressive in the Democratic Party establishment. Still, we take it where we can get it.
But, it should be the year – if they don’t fuck it up. And there seems to be nothing this Democratic Party leadership can’t fuck up. Seriously, there is real danger that they will. And that danger is Hillary Clinton.
In the interest of full disclosure, I caucused for Obama. He was not my first, or even second choice, but I far prefer him to Hillary. In fact, I don’t like Hillary at all.
I don’t know her personally, and she may be a hell of a lady. But to me she represents all that has gone wrong with the Democratic Party these last thirty years. I also think she represents the final nail in the Democratic Party’s coffin, and can snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory this fall. She is the bomb, and not in a good way.
A Hillary nomination will be a disaster for the Party in several different ways:
1. She will be the number one fundraiser for the Republicans.
2. She will suppress the Democratic vote.
3. She will only get the nomination by means of an ugly convention fight (and, even if it’s just close, it will seem this way).
4. She is, and has always been, basically, a moderate Republican – which is the last thing we need.
One, Hillary is one of the most divisive figures in American politics. And it’s not totally her fault. The Republican base has an irrational hatred of her. This is an election where the Republican base may well stay home, unless Hillary runs. If she does, they will vote, donate, doorbell and man the phones. Fundamentalist churches will work overtime to beat Hillary, when they would otherwise snooze through a McCain candidacy.
The top one-percenters did well when Bill was in office. Then, they helped smear both him and Hillary to go over the top, and take a chance at getting it all with “W.” They basically have. They don’t want the gravy train to end, and fear that a Democrat will have to ratchet back some of the insane greed that has been legislated. They fear McCain will too, but just a little less than any Dem. They are smart enough to realize that McCain won’t stand a chance in Hell against Obama, and hang onto their cash. But if it’s Hillary, they will see the blood in the water if she swims into the general election, and pour in the bucks to beat her.
Two, Hillary as nominee will keep the liberal wing of the Democratic Party from maintaining its current high energy level. She represents the party insider wing of the Democratic Party. She is the old way of doing things, the antithesis of “change,” the buzz-word that has the base so worked up. And the young voters who have been mobilized for Obama? Forget it. If she is the nominee, they won’t even bother. They will stay home, as will, perhaps, many African American voters, having had the allure of America’s first black president snatched from their grasp. The numbers of voters in the primaries and caucuses have been vastly in favor of the Democrats, Double the Republican voters in many states. This is a huge advantage in the general election IF the excitement and energy stays high. It won’t with Hillary.
Three, it won’t stay high with Hillary because she will have to pull out all the stops to beat Obama. She will have to twist arms and pull strings, and get down in the mud. She will really piss off many people who are excited by Obama, but really don’t like her (like me, and I am not alone). And, if she has to win with Super Delegates, and they go against the pledged delegates chosen by popular vote, it will be like setting a bomb off in the big tent. Many Democratic voters will see this as a back-room betrayal by party insiders, and stomp off in a huff. Conservative Dems who get pissed will cross to McCain, liberal Dems will write in Obama, or not vote, or…can you say Nadar? Even a belated Bloomberg independent run would siphon off many disgruntled Democratic voters.
The thing is, we Democratic voters are petulant. We are sick of the failures of the leadership to fight for us. We see Obama as at least a little break from the DLC establishment that has capitulated to corporate greed and Republican bullying for the last thirty years. If he wins outright, most Hillary supporters will follow him to November. He is not that different from her policy-wise, and there is enough excitement around him to make most forget ol’ what’s-her-name. However, if he is brought down at the convention by the Super Delegates in the proverbial “smoke filled room,” many of his supporters will not forgive. They will take their votes and go home and NOT support Hillary in the general election. They are already saying so on Air America. This will make Hillary vs. McCain a nail-biter, in a year when it shouldn’t even be close!
Four, it will be a nail-biter because there is not much difference between Hillary and McCain. I see Clinton as a moderate Republican. Hillary legislates about where Arlen Spectre is on the Liberal-Conservative scale. Her big legislative initiatives during the last six years? A flag burning bill, and a fight against violent video games. Gee, thanks for stepping up to the crucial issues of the Democratic base there, Hillary!
She is pro-war, pro-eavesdropping (anti-Fourth Amendment), pro-establishment, pro-corporate domination…hell, McCain may be more of a populist than she. At least he was in the old days. True, he has had to sell his soul to Dick Cheney (Satan) to get the nomination, but over his years in the Senate he can show a pedigree for the common man to rival Clinton’s. It will be a moderate Republican against a newly-conservative Republican in the general election. Great job Democratic Party!
And even if she can pull it off, and win the Presidency, she will triangulate! She will cave in on demands for, say, Supreme Court justices. She won’t appoint arch-conservatives, but she won’t fight for the ones we deserve. She will appoint “moderates” to replace the liberals that will be retiring, because she has never fought for the left. She has instead entrenched herself in the center-right. Progressives will quickly lose both hope and interest.
The liberal party supporters deserve better. We might get it with Obama, we won’t with Clinton. I think that the Democratic voters are realizing this. I believe that Obama will have a significant pledged delegate lead going into the convention. However, should Super Delegates tip the scales, or the Florida or Michigan messes spoil an Obama victory, the Democratic party will be torn in half at exactly the wrong time. It will be like a bomb going off in Denver, at the convention. The Hillary bomb.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
What I learned in 2007? – No Holds Barred!
I can be taught.
When the highest offices in the land act, I can pay attention and learn. What have I learned in 2007?
Never arrest me for anything.
Seriously, never even consider arresting me for, say…spying on my neighbor. Or, if I get caught, lying about it under oath. Stealing? Please…done all the time by contractors hired by my government. And if I’m not getting what I want through theft or spying, and have to result to torture, I should have carte blanche. Yes, a free hand for crimes, up to and including the crime of treason! After all, what’s good enough for Dick Cheney and Carl Rove, right?
Republicans, under Bush, did all of this shit! They stole, tortured, took bribes, caged votes, violated the Constitution…did I mention torture? They even exposed a covert CIA agent during war time to salve political wounds – that’s treason – and got away with it. So no Republican lawmaker, or Republican-appointed law-interpreter, should ever have a thing to say about anything I do. I mean, torture and treason? I should seriously be able to get a pass on murder, at least!
And as for Democrats? Well, they had the oversight responsibility, and didn’t do shit. They even acted retroactively to make blatant and serious crimes by our current administration legal. Should I find the need to spy on, steal from and torture my neighbor, I expect (as a lifetime Democratic voter) the same courtesy. Not only should they direct the law enforcement agencies of my locale to not arrest me, but pass a law that lets me totally off the hook. It’s the least they can do.
And never let it be said that Democrats didn’t do the least they can do.
So, as the speeches from Iowa ring with “hope,” and promise of “change,” let us not forget the lesson these leaders of America’s liberal party taught us: there is no accountability! No matter how unpopular you are, you will not be made to pay for crimes against people, other nations or our own beloved country and Constitution.
So go hog wild! I expect nothing but pardons for my next neighborhood rampage - from President Clinton, or Edwards or Obama. Their actions should encourage us all to ignore the law with impunity.
Yes, I can be taught – it’s no holds barred for 2008!
When the highest offices in the land act, I can pay attention and learn. What have I learned in 2007?
Never arrest me for anything.
Seriously, never even consider arresting me for, say…spying on my neighbor. Or, if I get caught, lying about it under oath. Stealing? Please…done all the time by contractors hired by my government. And if I’m not getting what I want through theft or spying, and have to result to torture, I should have carte blanche. Yes, a free hand for crimes, up to and including the crime of treason! After all, what’s good enough for Dick Cheney and Carl Rove, right?
Republicans, under Bush, did all of this shit! They stole, tortured, took bribes, caged votes, violated the Constitution…did I mention torture? They even exposed a covert CIA agent during war time to salve political wounds – that’s treason – and got away with it. So no Republican lawmaker, or Republican-appointed law-interpreter, should ever have a thing to say about anything I do. I mean, torture and treason? I should seriously be able to get a pass on murder, at least!
And as for Democrats? Well, they had the oversight responsibility, and didn’t do shit. They even acted retroactively to make blatant and serious crimes by our current administration legal. Should I find the need to spy on, steal from and torture my neighbor, I expect (as a lifetime Democratic voter) the same courtesy. Not only should they direct the law enforcement agencies of my locale to not arrest me, but pass a law that lets me totally off the hook. It’s the least they can do.
And never let it be said that Democrats didn’t do the least they can do.
So, as the speeches from Iowa ring with “hope,” and promise of “change,” let us not forget the lesson these leaders of America’s liberal party taught us: there is no accountability! No matter how unpopular you are, you will not be made to pay for crimes against people, other nations or our own beloved country and Constitution.
So go hog wild! I expect nothing but pardons for my next neighborhood rampage - from President Clinton, or Edwards or Obama. Their actions should encourage us all to ignore the law with impunity.
Yes, I can be taught – it’s no holds barred for 2008!
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