Blogosphere 1.0 in Full Panic Mode

Ever since McCain announced Sarah Palin as his pick for Vice President, the Obama bloggers have been screeching, tearing their hair, and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Harry Reid called Palin “shrill.” If thinks her speech was shrill, what would he make of the goings on at The Daily Cheeto, TPM, and MyDD?

Suddenly, the Obamacans are waking up to the stark reality that they have nominated an unelectable candidate. He might have had a chance, but he was either too stupid or too arrogant to nominate Hillary Clinton as his Vice President. With her on the ticket, he probably would have won the election handily; but instead he chose gaffe-o-matic blabbermouth Joe Biden. Biden, who couldn’t even win the primary in his tiny home state of Delaware.

Protesting the Election of 2008

As we worked very hard for a different outcome to the end of the 2008 Democratic Primary season, we have come to realize that our power as PUMA’s should not be judged on that one lone outcome.  We have effected change within the process which would have never taken place had it not been for people like us who demanded that the principles of democracy are upheld.  Even though they spit in our face every step of the way, the mere act of them doing so has shined a light so bright on the corruption and power hungry that it will never be forgotten.

PUMA’s are now known as a voting block.  Who would have ever thought such a thing could happen?  We have been called republicans, we have been called bitter, we have been called (gasp) feminists who only want a vagina in charge in the White House and things much worse I don’t want to put down on paper, but you get the gist.  Now though, we are seen as a group who has some leverage, some power at a time when we felt most powerless.  It is through the hard work of every single person who has read a blog and felt moved to take an action.  It is through the donations of hard working people to keep things running.  It is through us in our commitment to that one common goal that we regain our rightful, full power within the system.  We have just begun to realize that the power that is held from us, is moving ever so slowly back into the hands of the people it belongs too.

Our work is not complete.  We must continue to protest the Primary Election of 2008.  Election Day, November 4, 2008 is less than two months away.  How do we continue to exert the power, keep the movement going, make sure that the injustices that brought us to this dance are not forgotten.  There are quite a few different ways that can be done.  We have all known that the defeat of Barack Obama in the year of 2008 is one of our goals.  I want to reiterate that yes, the defeat of Barack Obama is most important to our movement in this very short time frame.  The power we so want to see placed back in its rightful place is heavily dependent upon it.

But what happens to PUMA’s after November 4^th 2008.  What do we stand for?  Do we stand only for the defeat of Barack Obama?  Or do we stand for more? Do we stand ready to fight the injustices, corruption and downright criminality of people in power who have perpetrated this fraud upon us?  I hope so.  How do we stay united once Barack loses?  I would like to suggest one simple answer.

We stay united by continuing to fight the fight we have fought thus far.  We make it known we are making a protest vote so real “change” can have a chance.  If we go off on tangents forgetting what has brought us all together in the first place we lose what will keep us together in the end.

A vote is a persons most valuable asset.  A protest vote, whether it be voting republican, write in, third party or no vote at all is all that should be asked of you along with your strong commitment to fixing the corruption and fraud and biases.  This is about much more than defeating Obama alone and I ask that everyone who has given an ounce of energy to this important cause to remember that.

In that same vein, I have seen many posts by people who have decided that they will vote for John McCain.  That is fine and good.  Just please remember that not every single person you encounter in this movement can cast that vote.  A vote is a personal decision, one of conscience.  If PUMA’s begin to start demanding how others should vote, we will split wide open.  We have to remember that there are two common threads that hold us all together.

The first is that we will not vote for Obama.  No matter how you get there is fine. Whether it is not voting at the top of the ticket, voting third party, or writing in Hillary or voting for John McCain in protest.  It is imperative that we force change and delivering a defeat to Barack Obama on November 4^th is a critical goal.

Secondly, to force change, we must remain united in the common issues that brought us here.  We are not republicans, we are democrats, we must always remember what brought us together.

• Michigan and Florida being stripped of all delegates
• Sexism in the Media
• Sexism in the Democratic Party
• Good people being called racists
• Good democrats being called republicans
• The calls for Hillary to drop out even though the delegate count was close
• The party forcing an unvetted, inexperienced candidate down our throats
• A top down selection versus a bottom up selection of a democratic presidential nominee
• Caucus Fraud
• May 31st
• The roll call vote

I am sure there are more.  We all have our own special pet projects, it’s a loose coalition.  Just like the democratic party use to be.  Be respectful to one another, stick together in our common goals and we will achieve victory on November 4^th and position ourselves as a powerhouse in American politics to demand the changes we know are so desperately needed.

xpost from www.nowewont.org

Making Government Smaller Through Proper Regulation: A Liberal Point of View

I Screwed Up, So You Pay Up!

Remember when Grover Norquist said he wanted to shrink government so small that it could be drowned in a bathtub? And conservatives cheered, sneering at big-government liberals who want to steal money out of the pockets of the honest American businessman and give it to welfare queens so they can drive their Cadillacs and feed their 900 children?

After eight years of Norquist’s Party running Washington, how’s that working out for us?

The Bush administration seized control of the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies on Sunday, seeking to shrink drastically their outsize influence on Wall Street and on Capitol Hill while at the same time counting on them to pull the nation out of its worst housing crisis in decades.

The bailout plan for the companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a seismic event in a year of repeated financial crises followed by aggressive federal intervention, places the companies in a government conservatorship, much like a bankruptcy reorganization. The plan also replaces the management of the companies.

Whhhhhaaaaaaattttt? Isn’t this the mighty hand of Uncle Sam, reaching out to, gasp, REGULATE these corporations? But-but-but, I thought we had a free market here! I mean, since those companies were managed poorly and cannot meet their obligations, obviously they should fail. You snooze, you lose, greed is good, shit happens, right, Ronnie Raygun/Bush Part Deux?

[Treasury Secretary] Paulson said Sunday that it was important to rescue the mortgage giants because a failure of either company would cause turmoil in financial markets in the United States and around the world.

“This turmoil would directly and negatively impact household wealth: from family budgets, to home values, to savings for college and retirement,” he said. “A failure would affect the ability of Americans to get home loans, auto loans and other consumer credit and business finance. And a failure would be harmful to economic growth and job creation.”

Uh-HUH. In other words, the institutions were allowed to get too big to fail, and the American people will have to pay the price of corporate mismanagement once again. Call me crazy, but I don’t think that’s shrinking government at all.

Monday: Stormy Monday

And, no, we’re not talking about Hurricane Ike, although we are sending good thoughts to our Floridian and Gulf Coast Conflucians today.

What we’re talking about is it the newest USA Today/Gallup poll that puts McCain ahead by 10 points over Barack Obama.  This latest poll was conducted from September 5-7, 2008, sufficient time to gauge the Palin Effect and John McCain’s speech.  Darragh Murphy said that the Republicans would finish Obama off by the end of September.  Who knew that the minions working for Obama would be so efficient in speeding things up?  The DNC must be in full panic mode, hoping and praying that Hillary can pull it out for them.  Bastards.

By the way, I finally got a chance to view McCain’s speech in its entirety on my DVR and I have to say that it took me by surprise.  McCain put his own party on notice.  There were many points in that speech when the applause in my house was louder than the tepid response he got in Minnesota.  I sometimes wonder which torture was more painful and humiliating for him.  The Hanoi Hilton or being broken by the Bushies while they trashed the tattered remnants of his own party?

It remains to be seen whether John McCain can deliver on the reform he promises.  But one thing is for certain: there is no doubt who he identifies with as his role models.  He admires Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower.  These are men of integrity, progressivism and moderation.  John McCain’s voting record in the past eight years has not reflected much of any of those three things.  But he *does* have a respectable record on election reform and objection to the earmark system.  It is regrettable that he broke to vote with the Bushies on so many other horrific bills.  Did he compromise his principles in order to survive and fight another day?

In the meantime, the PUMAs may be flexing their muscles. We are real and there are millions of us.  Millions disaffected enough to bump McCain up, whether or not we intend to vote for him.  We got the word out that the Democrats were NOT unified.  We showed up at the MSNBC kiosk in Denver and “marched and shouted slogans” (generic NPR speak for any sufficiently significant band of protestors).  I didn’t mind shouting “Rise, Hillary! Rise!” but felt uncomfortable about calling Matthews a sexist pig.  He did come out at one point and stood on the corner of the stage, a little like a contrite sinner in the stocks, as the goody townspeople hurled nasty epithets at him.  I suppose we should feel happy that Olbermann and Matthews have now been sidelined.

But *why* are they being sidelined?  What possible harm could they do now?  Exactly.  Their job is done.  They took out Hillary Clinton.  Now’s the time to bring in the less overtly vitriolic team to shore up NBC’s reputation and return to the status quo of treating Republicans with kid gloves while covering the Democrats less gently.  The whole mechanism is reconstructed as it is every four years.  The electoral map hasn’t changed significantly, except that now the Democrats are in danger of losing Pennsylvania.  Plus ça change…

We did what we could.  We got the word out as best we could.  We fought off attack after attack.  We tried to warn our own side not to fall into the trap.  But fall it did.

Lord, have mercy on me.