We have seen ample evidence of the McCain/Palin campaign being "anti-science" and I am going to share just a few here. But first, the idea of anti-intellectualism. It's apparent in the language used by conservatives - Obama isn't well-educated and smart, he's "elite" which translates in people's minds as "elitist." I've never understood why you'd want your drinking buddy instead of the smartest guy in school to be leader of the free world, and apparently, neither does the rest of the world: How these gibbering numbskulls came to dominate Washington The degradation of intelligence and learning in American politics results from a series of interlocking tragedies
Way back in August, before I started blogging about this, I read a great op-ed by Charles Krugman, Know Nothing Politics Recall, this is before Palin. Also before Krugman won a Nobel Prize in Economics. Yeah, take that you anti-intellectuals! My favorite Op-Ed writer for the New York Times is also a Nobel Prize winner. In Economics. Yeah, that thing that nobody else seems to understand these days. AND he's a liberal! Touche! Okay, enough gloating (for the moment). Here's a quote from the article, and since adding Palin to the ticket, it's only gotten worse, as you may have noticed!
"...know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there’s something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy. The party’s de facto slogan has become: “Real men don’t think things through.”
Or, in other words, it can all be boiled down into talking points and slogans.
When searching for that article, I came across two others on the same topic with slightly different perspectives, but both compare the current state of the G.O.P. to the Know-Nothing Party: How the Republicans went from a party of dissident intellectuals to a party that disdains the educated class as a whole: The Class War Before Palin
I think, I hope, that people are starting to wake up to this. Intelligent and decent Republicans have been crossing party lines quite publicly to endorse Obama, from Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley and (former) editor of the National Review, to Colin Powell, to one of McCain's campaign advisors.
Anti-Science
The Anti-Science crowd are a sub-group of the anti-intellectual crowd. As a science educator, I am embarrassed by them, and the failure in science education that they represent. They don't understand the process of science, the very basics of testable hypotheses, and complain that "scientists are always 'changing their minds'" anyway. That's because science is NOT dogma, people! Science is constantly examining itself - peer review, reproducible results, and testing with new and better tools all the time. Here are a few examples of the anti-science sentiments from McCain and Palin:
Famous "Overhead Projector":
This:
Not This:
McCain and his earmarks obsession: we've gone over this before, but all of the examples of bad spending bills that McCain has brought up have been science-related!
Before this one, McCain criticized another earmark that was studying Grizzly Bear DNA. Okay, just about ANY DNA study can provide benefit - we share a lot of the same genes, even with bears. And this is to help wildlife managers study the habits and ranges of grizzlies they have to manage in National Parks and other areas like Yellowstone, where understanding behavior and territory of these magnificent beasts is essential to people's health and welfare who visit, live, work and ranch in the areas where they live.
And Palin... oh wow. There is just TOO much material here!
Of course, her belief that The Flintstones is based on fact (seriously - she thinks dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together - is a young earth creationist), her opposition to scientists' findings on listing polar bears and beluga whales as endangered, and her denial of the huge amount of scientific evidence for human-caused global warming all add to this picture.
I can't help but feel that if we elected McCain/Palin, we would be starting (or continuing what the Bush administration started) down the path of a new dark age of scientific reason.
The McCain campaign and the right wing have been engaging in a lot of loose talk lately, as you may have noticed. Accusations of socialism, Marxism, communism, voter fraud that "threatens democracy," terrorist pals, are over the top and ridiculous, but the sad thing is, people believe this crap. Critical thinking is our most precious endangered species in this nation, though reason seems to be winning out this time - barely.
Here is a very insightful look at the language used in the campaign, specifically by Palin, while throwing out these outrageous accusations and smears: What Sarah Palin is Saying. He makes thought-provoking points about Palin’s choice of language and its danger. The “code-switching” argument makes SO much sense, and it has made me start to think that Palin isn't as dumb as she sometimes acts, but far more dangerous. Excellent post!!
On "Socialism"
Conservatives have been raising the specter of socialism for many decades - any time anyone comes up with a good health insurance plan, for example, it's "Socialized Medicine" - oooooh. Scary. And why is it scary? Hard to say, actually. Especially since most plans have been a pretty far cry from actual socialism. But people are not very bright, and they equate socialism, a type of economy, with communism, a type of government. They forget there are lots of very successful social democracies, and that socialism doesn't threaten democracy. And they forget there are many gradations of hybrid systems between pure free market capitalism and socialism, and our current brand of capitalism is one. Here are some more thoughts on this...
- Gov. Sarah Palin, quoted by the New Yorker, a few weeks before she was nominated for vice president.
Wow. Just wow. That sounds a LOT more like “socialism” than any mundane progressive tax plan by a democrat. The Collective owns the resources and shares the wealth. Yeah....
(and, I’m not sayin’ I think that’s a BAD thing, I'd like it if I lived in Alaska, I’m just sayin’, you know, Palin is pretty ballsy to talk about Obama wanting to “share the wealth” and “sounds like socialism” for his TAX plan – sheesh.)
Everyone heard John McCain say in the last debate that ACORN "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." This is a pretty ridiculous statement, considering all ACORN is doing is registering people to vote. There are much greater threats to the "fabric of democracy" which result in actual votes being uncounted, such as voter suppression, faulty machines, not to mention the dreaded "hanging chads" type of issue. Thousands of registrations that don't quite match up to identity information may be discarded - because of things like one using a middle initial, and the other not, or transpositions, etc. Disenfranchisement, to my mind, is a much greater threat to democracy that some poor schmuck who wanted to make a few extra bucks off of registering voters turning in registrations for entire football teams and the like. ACORN itself flags suspicious registrations, but is required to turn them in. Because it is helping by turning in large numbers of flagged registrations, it is now a threat to democracy? I think not.
On the other hand, anonymous fliers posted in poor neighborhoods, warning people not to vote "for their own protection" (because they might be arrested for unpaid parking tickets, etc), constitutes voter suppression, and that IS a threat to democracy. Using foreclosure lists to deny those with a foreclosed home listed as their address the right to vote is also voter suppression, and was rightly discarded as a tactic recently. Who do you think those foreclosed upon homeowners and poor people in blighted neighborhoods are likely to vote for? The guy who wants to give huge tax breaks to the wealthy? I think not. None of them ever saw any good from "trickle down" economics before, and they don't expect to this time, either.
Speaking of language used, McCain calling ACORN a "threat to democracy" is so over the top and ridiculous - a cynical tactic to enflame right wing fear, in my opinion. See my previous post on ACORN and how they, themselves, flag all suspicious registrations but are required to submit them. These so-called "fraudulent" registrations do not represent actual voters that will turn up at the polls - who's going to risk a 10 year jail sentence for a vote? Most are mistakes (people not sure they are registered, so they registered more than once), many are from over-zealous people registering voters - some just encouraging multiple registration (to be sure), and some trying to make extra money by turning in more registrations.
Slate has a great article from 2 weeks ago about this: Nuts About ACORN. They get to the heart of the matter in the second paragraph when they say,
"Evidence of voter-registration wrongdoing is no more a sign of widespread, Obama-sanctioned vote fraud than evidence of minorities being misled and intimidated on Election Day is a sign of official, McCain-sanctioned vote suppression. What's the real point of turning voter-registration shenanigans into "one of the greatest frauds in voter history"? The object here is not criminal indictments. It's to undermine voter confidence in the elections system as a whole. John McCain wants to build a better bogeyman, and he needs your help to do it."
I heard Jonah Goldman, of the non-partisan voting group National Campaign for Fair Elections, talking about this on NPR/Fresh Air yesterday – it was great to hear it being discussed rationally. There have been accusations of voter fraud on both sides, with the right wing targeting ACORN, a community activist voter registration organization, and the left shouting about voting machine conspiracies and voter suppression. Being on the left, I'm more worried about the latter, but they do have a voter hotline set up to help secure voters' rights on Nov. 4: 866 Our Vote.
And TerroristS
If you haven't read it yet, READ the article on Palin's language mentioned above, What Sarah Palin is Saying - it is very good. Notice she always says "terroristS," plural, when they are only talking about one guy, William Ayers (college professor, education reformer, on charitable boards funded by the conservative Annenberg with conservatives on the board, but Obama's "pallin' around" with him is equivalent to consorting with terrorists). And she also doesn't use the word "domestic" with terrorist - which heightens that sense of "other" and risk she wants to promulgate among her supporters. Her language is treachery, and I can only hope it does not lead people to take what they see as the law into their own hands at our country's great expense.
So, we know about Ayers, and we know about Palin and the Alaskan Secessionist party, and McCain and G. Gordon Liddy, who he is proud to call a friend, but what about those domestic terrorists near and dear to Ms. Palin's conservative fundamentalist anti-choice heart? Yes, I'm talking about those who bomb medical establishments where, among other things, abortions are performed, and kill or maim doctors, nurses, patients and bystanders in the process. What does Ms "Pallin' Around With Terrorists" think of them? Well, she sure couldn't bring herself to call them domestic terrorists: Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist under this definition? http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-dont-even-know-what-to-say-anymore.html
There are good comments on this post as well! Two of my favorites:
A couple of things immediately come to mind...mainly from bumper stickers..."How can you be Pro-Life and Pro-War?" and "Against Abortion? Don't have one!" I still don't understand how the Republican party consistently, not only blends but, flaunts the overlap of church and state in everything they do. I think that it should be mandatory to read and understand the constitution and the bill of rights before being allowed to cast any votes for anyone on any issue or to run for office.
and, on another topic:
RE: mouse's comment about the media asking Palin tough questions about conservative issues...etc
1. She's totally unknown, so more questions are asked. And she's been in hiding from the media, so every interview is highly scrutinized.
2. The questions are asked because SHE goes there, and the natural follow up is "More information please?" I.e. "Oh, I get my world view from books and other media" the natural follow up would be "well, what specifically,"....It's her problem if she can't answer with ONE name of a newspaper. When SHE makes the claim that Obama is palling around with terrorists, it makes sense for a reporter to say "well, let's revisit the definition of a terrorist when you're talking about domestic bombings."
3. She's way more conservative than McCain, and she's unapologetically vocal about it, so the questions go there. Especially roe v. wade questions, something people want to know in light of the stats that a large majority of American do NOT want roe overturned.
Which brings me to another "-ism": Sexism
Conservatives are crying foul and sexism when the media asks Palin "tough questions" (like what magazines do you read - huh?). I think this is the opposite of sexism - a good candidate, male or female, should be able to answer tough questions, should be able to state their position clearly, should be able to back up their claims, and should be informed on the issues. That is the least we should expect! Palin is asked questions about ridiculous claims she's made, like she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is across the Bering Strait from Russia (huh?), and that she has stronger experience than Obama as mayor of a tiny town and governor for less than 2 years., and that Obama "pals around with terrorists," among others.
I also don't think it's sexist to talk about the $150,000 wardrobe budget, even though I do agree there IS a double standard when it comes to what is considered acceptable for men's and women's clothing. I don't care too much about it, but it's just a little inconsistent with the "Hockey Mom" and "Joe Six Pack" image she promotes, besides being 3 years' salary for many middle class voters. I mean, they could have found better deals, ya know? But, dang, she looks good, doesn't she? Yeah... um, conservatives with "I'm voting for the hot chick" buttons aren't sexist, though.
You know what I think is sexism? The cynical way the McCain campaign picked her for VP - it did a disservice to much better qualified women everywhere and smacks of tokenism and mere political strategy, hardly the "country first" rhetoric of the campaign. But don't take my word for it - I have links in previous posts from Gloria Steinem, NOW, and many other feminists who feel the same, some of them conservatives.
Satire: Great Moments in Election Year Blogging
I'd like to end with another kind of language: satire.
Warning: Satire worthy of his namesake!! http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2008/10/great-moments-in-election-year-blogging.html (for those who may not know, Jonathan Swift was a great satirist, wrote Gulliver’s Travels as political satire, and also “A Modest Proposal” about how the solution to the Irish problem is to have them eat their young... He was the Stephen Colbert of his day. Jon Swift, the author of this blog, follows closely in those footsteps. As an example, I give you the author's first paragraph:
No matter what happens in this year’s election, the conservative blogosphere deserves to win a collective Pulitzer Prize for its election-year coverage. While the mainstream media has given Americans a very distorted picture of Barack Obama, portraying him as a thoughtful, intelligent, unflappable, decent family man who has the temperament and judgment to be President, the conservative blogosphere has been the only place where you can get the real story. Hampered by quaint, old-fashioned rules of journalism that require citing evidence and reputable sources, the mainstream media has failed to report a number of important stories about Obama and the conservative blogosphere has had to step up and do the media’s job for them. As a public service I have collected some of the most important of these stories in one place. Pulitzer Prize judges, take note!
Guffaw! But really, reading this is not for the faint of heart, or the high of blood pressure, or the easily outraged. In fact, I didn't read it all myself. I couldn't stand it. See if you can do better!
In spite of recent disturbing events, there have been a number of wonderful articles lately examining current issues with cool heads and thoughtful perspectives, and I'd like to share a few today.
First, the sad case of Ashley Todd, the McCain campaign volunteer who is so afraid of an Obama presidency that she faked a mugging and scratched a backwards "B" into her own face. Lots has been said about her, but I don't think I've seen anything as thoughtful and constructive in terms of perspective on the event as this post from The Kitchen Table. This is an excellent article, and ends with a positive note. Two Princeton professors who are African American women started this blog as a conversation with each other about race, politics, religion, popular culture – not surprisingly, they have some great insights: http://princetonprofs.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccain-supporter-lies-about-attack.html
Next, a different perspective, from a former southerner, who examines the racism with which he grew up in light of some recent events surrounding Obama's candidacy. It is a wonderful, thoughtful article on racial attitudes in this country, from a personal point of view: http://beyond-school.org/2008/10/28/race-and-voting/
The 2008 presidential election has me glued to the media, and by media, I mean the "liberal elite media," the "regular liberal media" and the "mainstream gotcha media"! I've been getting so much good material from various sources, I just had to start sharing them with people. I started a "Liberal Friends" email list, and then realized I have so much good material there, I should be posting it to a blog. So here it is,: my brand new blog on politics, which I will start with my last 20 emails to my "Liberal Friends" list, dated when I sent them out. And any new emails I send out, I'll go ahead and post here. I hope you find it entertaining, informative, and helpful!
I haven’t sent anything out in a while, and you all have sent several good things my way – thanks! I’ve been saving up... So this is a long one. Take your time! Put your feet up! Enjoy... :)
Acorn!!!
I just watched this video/read this blog post on Acorn, and it’s awesome. PLEASE help educate people and spread the word! http://beyond-school.org/2008/10/23/educating-about-acorn/ What Republicans are calling voter fraud is a massive voter registration drive among poor, minorities, students, and other eligible voters the GOP would just as soon have NOT vote. VERY good video.
Yes – Acorn is not a “threat to democracy” as McCain stated, but rather the very basis of democracy, that every citizen has the right, the opportunity, and the duty to vote.
Prop 8/Equal Rights to Marry
For those of you in California, Proposition 8 is the one aiming to take away the equal right to marry for gay couples. No matter how you feel about homosexuality, when you look at it as a civil rights issue, the decision is easy. I think those supporting it are on the wrong side of history, just as those opposing equal rights for “coloreds” and women and others seeking to discriminate under whatever guise in the past. I never understood how anyone else’s marriage would threaten yours, anyone else’s religious beliefs would threaten yours, anyone else’s choice of partners would threaten yours... I strongly believe in equality, and as Brown vs. the Board of Education taught us over 50 years ago, separate is NOT equal. (hehe – I can name more Supreme Court cases than Sarah Palin!)
I happen to have numerous gay friends who are all wonderful people (of course – they’re MY friends, aren’t they? :), but even if you don’t, don’t fall victim to the homophobic propaganda that the pro-proposition 8 crowd has been putting out there – churches will NOT lose their tax-exempt status if they refuse to perform same-sex marriages. “Gay education” will not be required. Read on...
Here are some moving, convincing, and humorous arguments in support of the equal right to marry – and if you support equal rights, vote NO on proposition 8!
If you haven’t seen this, the Republican Mayor of San Diego made this very moving speech in support of gay marriage over a year ago – it’s very worth watching, and he makes an eloquent civil rights argument. It’s hard to watch without choking up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAOkwjQdm6Q
"The concept of a 'separate but equal' institution is not something I can support." "In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships -- their very lives -- were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife, Rana."
This is a courageous, honorable man, and he’s a Republican! I wish there were a LOT more like him.
Equality California and noonprop8.com for some antidote to the spin that’s out there: http://www.eqca.org/ California Teachers oppose prop 8, and despite what the supporters of prop 8 say, teachers (and many others) say it will not change what is taught in schools: http://www.noonprop8.com/ Here are more facts vs. fiction (and fear-mongering) about prop 8: http://www.noonprop8.com/about/fact-vs-fiction
(we must protect marriage... From people who want to... GET MARRIED!!)
Anti-Americanism
You all probably know about this, too – it seems foolish for McPalin to attack Obama for serving on two educational boards with former Weather Underground/current college professor/education reformer Bill Ayers, when Palin was “pallin’ around with true anti-Americans, the Alaskan Secessionist party, and McCain was pallin’ around with the likes of G. Gordon Liddy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eniG9l_7its The idea that you would restrict your associations to only those who think like you is the antithesis of real thinking, but supporting a group that wants your state to secede from the union by speaking to their convention while you are governor of that state seems.. A bit... Off.
The other Anti-American charge being made against Obama is that he’s “experimenting with socialism.” http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008294130_webcampsocialism21.html And besides, I wondered to myself, with capitalism taking a nose dive with the stock market, maybe now IS a good time to experiment with socialism! Ha. I think the world is a smaller place, and socialism isn’t seen as the evil it once was, back in the 50’s and 60’s, so I don’t think this campaign tactic will have much effect. That and the fact that, as the article above states, it’s NOT socialism, it’s just typical progressive taxation. Duh.
What the Attack Ads really show – in John McCain’s own words:
The good news is that these divisive tactics are NOT working – in fact they are backfiring! You’ve all probably heard Michelle Bachman on Hardball saying not only that she thought Obama was anti-American, but that there should be an inquiry into the anti-Americanism in the liberal democrats in the Senate – omg. Can you say, “McCarthyism”? Her opponent, who no one had heard of much before, suddenly got huge amounts of donations in the next few days after that, and her re-election is now in danger. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/17/gop-rep-channels-mccarthy_n_135735.html
These things give me faith in my fellow Americans – finally! And here’s one more:
Religious Discrimination and standing up for freedom (Republicans!)
It was very heartening to see McCain supporters in Virginia (or West Virginia?) chase off the anti-Muslim propagandists outside a McCain campaign event. There were Muslims and Christians alike challenging the guy. It was great. And the guy from McCain’s campaign was very clear in his statements about it – sadly, more clear than what is coming from the top of their ticket, but at least it shows that there is hope for Republicans!
Video of anti-Muslim propagandist being confronted by McCain supporters at a rally: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1463341016?bctid=1866657225 (sadly, when I searched for this video, which I saw on TV, I found more links from extreme right wing groups than links to this video – but it’s still heartening to see the video)
I was also pleased to hear what Colin Powell said about how people aren’t asking the next question after “Is Obama a Muslim” (which, of course, he isn’t, but it shouldn’t matter!). Devin and I have Muslim friends – we went to their wedding earlier this year. They are good people, no more extremists than most Baptists are abortion clinic bombers. Extremism, fundamentalism, and hate can occur in any religion, even – gasp – Buddhism. Equating one religion with its extremes does freedom no good. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27265369/ http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/10/powell_rejects_islamophobia.html
And a little Palin humor – I’m pretty sure you’ve all seen this one, as several of you have sent it to me as well, but it’s fun to play with: http://www.palinaspresident.us/
More Humor
I hope you ALL saw McCain and Obama at the 63rd Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, but in case you missed it, it was wonderful, refreshing, funny, and still respectful – I laughed so hard – McCain was actually hysterical! I thought, oh no, Obama can’t compete with the stand up routine! But he did good, too. Laughter is healing – enjoy: UPDATE: I heard that some of these were taken down (network stuff often gets taken down from YouTube, depending on the network) so I found some others that are still up. Here they are: John McCain Part I John McCain Part II Barack Obama Part I Barack Obama Part II (there may be better versions available as well - if any of these don't work for you or have been taken down, just do a YouTube search for "Alfred E. Smith McCain Obama" and I'm sure you'll find several) Enjoy!
"I don't care about his beer, I care about his intelligence." "We've had many democratic presidents, and we will still have our guns." "He is brilliant. And he's not an elitist, though he has the education to be." -Tony Viessman, Co-Founder - Rednecks for Obama
"We need to build the economy from the bottom up, none of this trickle down business. Just because you're white and southern don't mean you have to vote Republican." - Les Spencer, Co-Founder - Rednecks for Obama
"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." - President William Jefferson Clinton (08/27/08)
"How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you figure out who's hitting you?" - Harry S. Truman (talking to farmers about why they shouldn't vote Republican anymore) sent to us by Jonny in California
"A poor man voting for a Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." - Sent to us by Adam, in North Carolina
"There's a line from a Stephen King book: 'Country don't mean dumb.' You'd have to be dumb not to see that Obama is the right choice. I'm proud to be a Redneck for Obama."
Okay, this is SO funny – it’s the actual minutes of a 1996 Town Meeting in Wasilla, Alaska, that Sarah Palin presided over as mayor, presented as a “dramatic reading”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMocEINn-E8 It’s wonderful. All by itself it’s wonderful, but as an excellent example of the kind of governing experience Palin has, it’s priceless!
And Craig Ferguson, or as I like to call him, Crrrrrrraig Ferrrrrrrrguson, had one of McCain’s speechwriters on his show – I wasn’t surprised about the carrier pigeons, but some of the other inside information – wow! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2P76NbY0_c&feature=related
“A top U.S. labor leader is making an unusually blunt pitch to working-class white voters in key battleground states. Longtime United Mine Workers President Richard Trumka, who is now secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, is making the case for Sen. Barack Obama.”
At least he is finally speaking up. I don’t think McCain is evil, but I think great evil could be done by people who take campaign rhetoric literally, and that is frightening. I hope McCain realizes what he has done, or has allowed to be done in his name, and is genuinely horrified. He was booed by his own supporters when he tried to tell them Obama was not an Arab terrorist, but a decent man with whom he had fundamental differences.
Okay folks, so I’ve been waiting for a coherent theme to develop before sending, but it’s getting more incoherent all the time. Maybe that’s the theme.
So here’s some random tidbits, after which a theme should emerge:
A little bit on McCain’s claim of a three million dollar earmark for an “overhead projector” for the Adler Planetarium. That one’s gotten a lot of science and education folks’ hackles up! McCain is seeming pretty anti-science for his comments. This is a great blog post by “The Bad Astronomer” Phil Plait (he exposes “Bad Astronomy” in various places, debunks hoaxes, etc.) http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/08/
Dangerous Tactics The McCain Campaign is getting truly dangerous and also irrelevant – lets hope their new tactic (or, wait, is it a strategy?) causes moderates and thinking Republicans (and yes, I still believe in them – I leave Obama buttons under my pillow at night hoping to wake up and find donations...) to leave the McCain/Palin camp in droves.
These are older, and I may have sent them before, and I’m sure most of you have seen them, but they are good food for thought about racism. I love that the Obama campaign is downplaying this, and focusing on the issues. But racism is no doubt a factor in this vote as it influences our thinking in subtle, invisible ways:
“We are witnessing something remarkable here: Obama’s race is receding as he becomes more familiar. His steadiness has trumped his skin color; he is being judged on the content of his character.”
That is the America in which I want to live. It’s a good short post that goes on to say what we need from Obama, and I agree.
But we cannot become complacent – we need a “landslide” - and it would be great if it were not only an electoral landslide.
Why? The Bradley Effect: if you haven’t heard of this, it’s when former LA Mayor Tom Bradley ran for governor, and the polls showed him winning by a large margin. He lost, though. People did not want to admit they would not vote for him in polls, but in the privacy of the voting booth, their true nature showed. It’s been many years since then, and I hope we, as a people, have moved beyond that.
“Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times. The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run. Still, because Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, any heightened screening of new applications may affect their party’s supporters disproportionately.”
Voter Intimidation: Hear about the anonymous fliers in the poor areas of Pennsylvania warning people not to vote, “for their own protection”? False warnings that if they had any outstanding warrants, parking tickets, etc, there would be undercover police there to arrest them.
So we need a substantial margin to feel confident of victory. Keep doing good work out there people!!
Also, I believe today is the last day before the election to register to vote, so if you aren’t registered yet, get your butt in gear!! http://justvote.org/
(**Great Quote:“Voting is the best way to avoid feeling like an asshole when someone asks you, ‘did you vote?’”)
Pallin' Around I’m sure by now you’ve all heard that Obama “pals around with terrorists” - sheesh. There is a conservative blog post about the economy that blames the democrats called “Do Facts Matter?” and I guess we know the answer to that one. (btw, if you haven’t heard the accusation – CNN’s “Truth Squad” calls it False, as does everyone else who has a clue, but in our current climate of anyone with a brain being “elitist,” all you have to do is to make the accusation to start a firestorm)
The GOP’s STRONGEST arguments for it are so weak, it practically rebuts its own charges: http://www.gop.com/News/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=768aa784-72f3-4b43-acb6-c5fe81d901cd Wow – they served on two academic panels together, one in 1997 and one in 2001, really? Obama said nice things about Ayers’ book, "A Kind And Just Parent: The Children Of Juvenile Court”? My that’s incriminating. That book sounds un-American, for sure. Ayers is a school reformer who spoke to Humboldt State’s Credential Candidates recently, among others.
This guy isn’t a terrorist, idiots. He’s a college professor and on the board of charitable school reform organizations. Any “ties” Obama has with Ayers are as a reformer, not as the violent anti-war activist Ayers was in the 60’s, when Obama was 8. So even if there were “ties” -and they are extremely loose associations at best, not strong connections, but even if they WERE strong, what the guy is NOW is nothing to be ashamed of associating with. What happened to Palin’s debate tactic of claiming Obama’s campaign is always “lookin’ at the past and not the future”? Yeah, right. I certainly see Obama as much more forward thinking, much more representative of the future ~I~ would like to see than McCain (aka, McSame) is. I see McCain as the past, Obama as the future. And Palin as a court jester along the way.
I just realized today that I’m a little bit thankful for Sarah Palin – she’s provided so much comic relief in this election... But I’ll be even more relieved if that “relief” ends after the election!!
Why Some Women Hate Palin: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1846832,00.html This is a funny article, but I think there are more and better reasons to loathe Palin, such as, oh, science that doesn't go beyond “The Flintstones,” her being against reproductive freedom paired with the whole rape kit thing, abstinence only education paired with pregnant teen daughter and not seeing how totally ridiculously stupid that makes you and more importantly, your position about it, look, foreign policy “expertise” based on “keepin’ an eye on Putin when he rears his head,” the apparent desire to ban books, the firing of people who disagree with her – oh I could go on and on, but I think I don’t have to. Then again, maybe I just hate her because she’s too pretty. Yeah, that’s it. Sarah “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” Palin, the biatch!
And a “lovely” song about Sarah Palin: http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2008/10/03/hey-sarah-palin/ (warning: maybe NSFW – has the F word in it twice, but otherwise quite pretty :) (to the tune of “Hey There Delilah” if you recognize it but can’t think of it and it’s driving you crazy!)
And, back to the actual main candidates (maybe Palin is just to make everyone not focus on McCain...):
Republican Charles Krauthammer analyzes why Obama will win: “he's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100203043_pf.html He also criticizes him and raises questions and doubts, but explains why McCain is losing: one too many “Hail Mary passes.” He uses party-line comments like the idea that Obama, after his “mocking retort that presidential candidates should be able to do "more than one thing at once," that “McCain might have pointed out that while he was trying to do two things, Obama was sitting on the sidelines doing one thing only: campaigning.” These people ignore the fact that we have telecommunications. Oh, yeah, that’s probably because McCain doesn’t know how to use email (I’ve heard he has an elaborate system of cans and strings, though).
All in all, coming from a staunch Republican, it’s encouraging!
Three Alarming Facts about John McCain Every Voter Should Know: http://www.johnmccainrecord.com/ You can just scroll through to see all the sets of three (there are three facts each about Economy, Education, Energy & Environment, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Homeland Security, Iraq, Jobs, Lobbyists, Rural Issues, Seniors & Social Security, Taxes, and Women)
For those of you with grandparents in Florida (you know who you are) - if you aren’t going to take the Great Schlep as Sarah Silverman suggests, at least show this video to Nana and Buby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2VFRt5W4FM (Israelis for Obama – it’s well made and inspiring – and a strong reminder that the world is watching, and most of the world is hoping for Obama to win: http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/ )
This is SO perfect!! Thanks to my friend Jenny for sending this to me! I Googled it, and it started here: http://adennak.com/blog/wordpress/?p=92 And has exploded – you can even get CafePress stuff with the flowchart on it: http://www.cafepress.com/adennak You may have seen the flowchart on any number of other web pages or blogs, but this is the original – stroke of genius!
Sign up at http://www.barackobama.com/ to find out about ways you can volunteer locally – you can be on phone banks (we even have two phone bank parties the next two weekends here in Bishop!) to call undecided voters in battleground states, help register voters, etc.
The VP debate – wow. So, on Twitter, lots of people had drinking games going on during the debate – like lehrershot, which was every time Jim Lehrer had to say “Senator, Senator, time...” or just different buzzwords. It sure made the debate more interesting watching it with the peanut gallery of Twitter comments floating in in real time in the background! I think a good drinking game (if you wanted to get really drunk, and seriously, who wouldn’t while watching Palin, right?) would be to take a drink any time a candidate ends a gerund (-ing word) with an “n” instead of a “g.” As in, “America needs fixin’!”
Palindrones (n.pl.) A politician's run-on pronouncements, making almost as little sense forward as they would if repeated backward.
Palintology (n.) the study of dinosaur and human co-existence on the 6,000 year old planet earth.
Are we too cruel? Nah...
After watching all these painful “high cringe factor” videos of her clearly being out of her league, it’s easy to start to feel sorry for her, but don’t. She is a savvy politician, a governor of a state, and she knew what she was getting into – or at least she should have known that she didn’t know enough (as evidenced by her saying she didn’t really know what the VP did all day): Stop the Palin Pity Party! http://thanksbutnothanks.com/informed/the-sarah-palin-pity-party.shtml
It was nice to see Clinton out actually campaigning for Obama, and telling it like it is about the VP – this time, it’s more important than ever, since the president will be busy at home dealing with the economic crisis, for the VP to have a good solid understanding and experience with foreign policy, and Joe Biden is that person. http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/bill_clinton_lays_out_strong_c.php
I leave you with an image of Putin rearing his head over Alaska – then we might value Palin’s foreign policy experience as the Pitbull (with lipstick) watchdog of America’s northern borders! http://www.michaelberube.com/images/uploads/zzzputin.jpg
And... Okay, I was just kidding about “leaving you” - here’s a whole lot more besides the VP debate:
Maggie’s random thoughts and opinions on the economy: (Full disclosure: I have no idea what I’m talking about. But I’m not alone in that.)
This whole thing is very unsettling – I’m mostly pure liberal, but have enough of a Libertarian sympathizer side (yeah, I read Ayn Rand – so what? Ha) to hate the idea of too much government intervention, but I’m also enough of a realist to believe that we do need regulation and can’t “let the fox watch the henhouse” as the saying goes. I think a completely free market is way too idealistic, and the idea that we have a “free market economy” is as much a myth as the agrarian ideal or suburban utopia – we have a capitalist economy, which is different.
Here’s an interesting perspective I found in a forum from September 10th after the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac thing (the author is British history professor and author, John Simkin):
“Karl Marx argued that the inherent contradictions in free-market capitalism would eventually result in a collapse in the economic system and would be replaced with a more rational system of socialism.
In the late 1920s the economist John Maynard Keynes pointed out that Marx’s predictions would not come true as the inherent contradictions in capitalism could be dealt with by sensible government intervention in the economy.
In the 1930s two very different politicians dealt with the economic depression by the use of Keynes’ economic ideas: Adolf Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hitler was rightly described as a fascist whose main intention was to save the capitalist system. Roosevelt was incorrectly called a socialist. In fact, he did more than anyone to save capitalism from socialism.”
So maybe now, we have to figure out what is “sensible” in order to "save capitalism from socialism" (and our economy from the crapper, I might add).
“The current crisis in the US does not mean the end of capitalism. However, it is the end of one type of capitalism, the financial laissez-faire system developed by right-wing forces in the western world. What we are seeing at the moment in the US is an attempt to move towards a government interventionist capitalism. This is a difficult process when you have to rely on ideologically driven politicians who do not have a basic understanding of how the economic system works.
The new super-power will be China. It has developed a state capitalist model that overcomes the economic contradictions highlighted by Karl Marx. This state capitalist model will survive for many years. In time, the western world will try to adopt this model. However, it is unlikely to be successful because of the resistance of its people. It will be the resistance of the masses in China and those in its empire that will finally bring down the state capitalist model. Then, hopefully, we will progress to a fully democratic socialist economic system.”
This is all very thought-provoking stuff! With systems so large and complex, it is very difficult to operate from ideology, as we are seeing with the sudden surge of Republicans now for regulation instead of against it on principle.
Personally, I think I like the idea of social democracy (oops, my “libertarian side” just died, I think - ha)... [NOTE: that is ME, not Obama, talking - Obama's plan is basic, traditional, progressive taxation, NOT socialism in any way, shape or form, so shut up any right wing nut-jobs that might read something into this on my personal opinion blog!]
So, what do YOU think? (Does anyone who isn’t paid to do so actually have the time to think about something this complex? I mean, even the people who ARE getting paid to think about it seem to resort to sound bites like “Wall Street Fat Cats” to talk about it.)
Have fun watchin’ the debates about fixin’ America!
