E. B. White: Democracy is itself, a religious faith. For some it comes close to being the only formal religion they have.
George Orwell: In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Washington: As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.
Jesse Jackson: In politics, an organized minority is a political majority.
John Bright: Demand the ballot as the undeniable right of every man who is called to the poll, and take special care that the old constitutional rule and principle, by which majorities alone shall decide in Parliamentary elections, shall not be violated. Continue reading →
Our beloved blogmother has asked all of us Conflucians to “come out” and explain what we are doing on November 4th, and to choose a word that would summarize our NOBAMA position.
My word is “misogyny,” and I’m voting for the 30% Solution in order to begin improving the lives of women throughout this great country.
I wrote this post a couple of days ago about how John McCain is passing out Hillary-oriented flyers in Pennsylvania. Although many PUMA blogs have been focusing on the flyers’ explicit panders to PUMAcrats, very few people seem to have noticed this language from Senator McCain:
I share Senator Clinton’s goal of promoting women to more important roles in government. By the end of my first term, I promise you will see a dramatic increase in the presence of women in every part of the government. You have my word on it.
Just get your PUMA jaws around that and chew on it for a while.
Mmmmmmm. Tastes like feminism to me.
To further quote from the post:
When Barack Obama was asked by Hillary Clinton’s supporters if he would make a similar promise, he said no.
Senator Obama has shown nothing but contempt and scorn for Hillary Clinton and her voters. He thinks he can win without us, and to prove his obstinacy and lack of respect for her and what she represented, he refused to even vet her for the Vice Presidency and took every opportunity to spread the most disgusting lies about her and her husband.
John McCain, however, is committed to to advancing the 30% Solution, whether he calls it that or not. He had the courage to pick a female Vice President whom he knew would be subject to the same virulent misogyny that Hillary endured. He pays his female staff more than his male staff.
Between these two candidates, who has exemplified a more feminist attitude?
And it was yummy too! Like my my previous post when an SEIU Canvasser dropped by, I’ll write out the exchange in a MadamaB style playlet post except that it’s actually happened to me. It’s a phone rant, so please bear with me:
[The Scene: I am in my humble bungalow abode in Tampa, FL, coming back from picking up Abuela from a medical lab test appointment. While making a “greca de café“, the phone rings. On the Caller ID I see “Democratic Party” with a local number. Suddenly, I maliciously smiled as my inner PUMA growled and I answer the phone. A polite caller introduces himself en español. For the sake of this post, I will write out the exchange in English.]
ME: Hello?
DNC Phone Guy: Hi, my name is Mauricio and I am calling on behalf of the Democratic Party. We would like to remind you that you can early vote today at the West Tampa Library located on Howard and Union streets.
ME: Hello Mauricio, I plan to vote in my district, 205, at the West Tampa Convention Center on Election Day. I want to vote where I always vote.
DNC Phone Guy: Well, that’s good then, ok, well we’d also like to remind you to please vote for Barack Obama as well as other Democratic ticket runners…
ME: Hold up, stop right there. Mauricio, with due and proper respect that you deserve, I know that you are only doing your job. Whatever I have to say, please don’t take offense. Get this straight, write this down and tell anybody and everybody in the FL Democratic office there. There is no way I’m not voting for Barack Obama after he and the DNC stole my vote in the primaries and did not allow my vote to be cast the way I intended it at the convention. I will be voting for McCain because he co-wrote the bill for Comprehensive Immigration Reform together with Ted Kennedy and endorsed by Hillary Clinton. I marched in the LULAC protest and McCain stood by us Latinos – but what has Obama done? His own aunt in Boston is an illegal immigrant and he hasn’t even had the nerve to help her, not even to help her get an immigration attorney to help her out. If he ignored his own aunt, what makes you think he’s going to help pass this Reform we so desperately need, especially in the Latino community? I was going to vote for McKinney but with the race so close as it is in Florida and in other states, I want him and the Democratic Party to lose so they know not to steal votes like they did on May 31st at the RBC meeting in Washington.
DNC Phone Guy: I, I, I understand and I’m happy to know that you are an informed voter and…
ME: And another thing – the Democratic Party I knew, the one defended Democracy, one person=one vote, Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Women’s rights, is DEAD thanks to Obama, Pelosi, Dean and Harry Reid. They trashed everything that I identified with as a Democrat. If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he’d be hanging his head in shame at the fact that the first African-American presidential candidate stole votes in order to win. This is a disgrace and a cancer to Democracy. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina’s votes counted, but not Florida and Michigan’s? The only thing that makes everyone equal in this country is the right to vote. And the Democratic Party did not count my vote because they felt like putting Obama as the leader and how are they going to do that when Hillary won the popular vote and she won the electoral map across the board? He only won little pockets of the population but the DNC assigned more delegates to that particular population and ignored the rest. Well guess what, my vote will count this November 4th and when Democracy comes back to the Democratic Party, so will, I. Until then, I am a PUMA – have you heard of PUMAs before?
DNC Phone guy: Well, I have heard yes, but I urge you to please at least vote downticket…
DNC Phone Guy: I hope that you have a good day and I understand that you feel this way, but I am happy to know that you are an informed voter and you’ll be voting this election.
ME: Without a doubt I’ll be voting and yes, I do look forward to Hillary Clinton running for 2012 – but this time, let the process play out. Tell them to send Obama back to Democracy School so he can learn what a Democracy is. You can’t steal votes in the primary and expect the same people you stole from to support you in the general election. There is no Party Unity worth enough to trade the only thing that makes me a free person in this country, which is MY VOTE. Remember that and have a good day.
DNC Phone Guy: Thank (click)
And that was it – I leave you with Eddie Palmieri’s “Revolt/La Libertad Logico” with the Fania All Stars sound that invokes the spirit of rebelión and demands freedom for all people.
A vote for Obama is a vote against the poor. A vote for Obama is a vote against workers. A vote for Obama is a vote against good government. A vote for Obama is a vote against the future of the Democratic Party.
SUNRISE, Florida (Reuters) – U.S. presidential candidateBarack Obama said on Wednesday he would include Republicans in his Cabinet if he wins the election.
Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, also said he had “some pretty good ideas” about people he might tap for senior government jobs, though he emphasized he is focused for now on the final days of the campaign and takes nothing for granted.
“There is a transition process — that I’m not paying attention to on a day-to-day basis — but that has been set up,” Obama told ABC News in an interview.
Obama said he “absolutely” considered it important to have Republicans in the Cabinet but he sidestepped a question on whether he would ask Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his job. There has been speculation that either Obama or his Republican rival, John McCain, might ask Gates to stay on.
“I’m not going to get into details,” Obama said, but he added that national security policy, in particular, should be nonpartisan.
Other people mentioned as possible defense secretary picks in an Obama administration include former Navy Secretary Richard Danzigand Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator from Nebraska.
Some analysts have speculated that during the transition period between November 4 and January 20, when a successor to President George W. Bush will take office, the new president-elect would move quickly to fill key jobs such as Treasury Secretary, Defense Secretary and Secretary of State.
Some public policy experts see a need for early announcements on such appointments in light of the global financial crisis and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“I am not going to jump the gun on this,” Obama said but he gave credit to the Bush administration for its offer to make government resources available to both candidates to begin the vetting process early.
I knew it!! This is the main reason why I never liked Obama. Since his proclamation of his Reagan worship, I knew that Obama was a Blue Dog Democrat. As RD explains here, Liberalism is DEAD in the Obamacrat party. They want to be Republicans sooooo bad, but they don’t like the “Republican” name brand and this is is why so many of our current 2008 DNC leadership love him so. They are all DINOs each and every one of them. No wonder Colin Powell and other Neo-Cons are salivating at an Obama presidency, they gets to war-monger and skim the books all they want! McCain/Palin won’t let them do that, look what happened to Ted Stevens in Alaska!
Question for the Obots getting paid $7 as hour by Axelfraud to troll our site, I have a question for you and I challenge you to answer it in the comments section: When the Obama campaign hired you guys out on your “I hate Hillary” mission, your main excuse was that “Hillary is a triangulator.” Well, isn’t what Obama doing called “triangulating?” To help in your homework assignment, here’s a Wikipedia definition:
Triangulation is the name given to the act of a political
candidate presenting his or her ideology as being “above” and “between”
the “left” and “right” sides (or “wings”) of a traditional (e.g. UK or
US) democratic “political spectrum”. It involves adopting for oneself
some of the ideas of one’s political opponent (or apparent opponent).
The logic behind it is that it both takes credit for the opponent’s
ideas, and insulates the triangulator from attacks on that particular
issue. Opponents of triangulation[who?],
who believe in a fundamental “left” and “right”, consider the dynamic a
deviation from its “reality” and dismiss those that strive for it as
whimsical.
Obama started his career with people with far left leanings only because that was the way to get ahead in the Chicago Machine. Personally, I don’t buy that Obama is a socialist, otherwise this wouldn’t be happening in his neighborhood. Neo-Cons cook the books and make money off of war, while Obama’ and his cronies cook the books and make money off of low-income housing. Different means but same intent. Exploit the poor and bamboozle them into voting for you.
Voting for Obama is truly a vote for the Neo-Con Borg Collective. So don’t feel bad when you vote against the DINO-crat, my loud and hellacious liberal principled PUMAs. Remember this?
Didja know that PUMA will be five months old this Saturday? Hard to believe isn’t it? It seems like a lot longer than that, but this deathmarch campaign seems to have been going on forever and it’s only been about 18 months since the first debates were held in Iowa.
Yesterday I suggested that we all think about the future of PUMA. I majored in history in college because it was my favorite subject. I think understanding where we came from is very helpful in figuring out where we are going, as well as who we are. So let’s do a quick review.
Despite what our opponents claim, the original PUMAs were mostly long-time Democratic bloggers and blog denizens. Some, like Riverdaughter (aka Goldberry) and Alegre were prominent kossacks back when dkos was a progressive site, while others like myself frequented other sites in Left Blogistan.
Some PUMAs were supporters of Hillary Clinton from the beginning, while others supported John Edwards or other candidates. I kept hoping in vain that Al Gore would declare his candidacy, and I had Edwards tentatively as my second choice. I had Barack Obama near the bottom of my list, but it was my intention to support whatever Democrat won the nomination.
Around the time the actual voting began in primaries and caucuses, something very ugly happened in Left Blogistan. Obama cultists took over dkos, TPM and other sites and began trying to silence or drive out anyone who didn’t support Obama. I was a regular at Balloon Juice at that time, and the change took place virtually overnight.
I was not yet supporting Hillary but I noticed that many of the attacks on her were simply recycled right-wing memes from the nineties, long ago debunked. Having defended and supported the Big Dawg since 1992 I objected to these attacks and defended Hillary. Now I have been expressing my opinions about politics since before I could vote, but I never saw what happened next.
When I defended Hillary, the response I got was personal attacks and insults. I’m not talking about someone calling me stupid, I’m talking about really putrid stuff like “you’re a goat-fucking piece of shit” coming from total strangers. And it wasn’t just one or two people doing it, nor was I the only target. Eventually I was the only target, as everyone at that site either converted to Kool-aidism or left. Then I left too.
The leaving for me was a gradual process, as I spent less and less time at Balloon Juice and more time at sites that didn’t worship The Lightbringer. Eventually I wound up here, where Riverdaughter had created a Kool-aid free zone for Hillary supporters. Alegre and other refugees from Cheetoville formed their own new blogs as the best and brightest writers went on strike.
By Spring of this year Left Blogistan was divided into two camps, with a few sites trying to maintain a pretense of neutrality in between. The MSM was completely in the tank for Teleprompter Jesus, so those of us supporting Hillary were lonely voices crying in the wilderness. We watched as misogyny and false accusations of racism went unchecked while Obama went unexamined.
Hillary was inspiring to watch. Having been declared dead on several occasions, she kept coming back and winning primaries anyway. They told us over and over that she couldn’t catch Teh Precious, that she was mathmatically eliminated, but she relentlessly closed the gap. The biggest obstacle in her way was the DNC/RBC decision to strip Michigan and Florida of their delegates. We knew that if that undemocratic ruling was reversed, Hillary would take the lead because she handily won both primaries.
The Rules and Bylaws Committee met on May 31st, and our own garychapelhill and Mawm were in attendance. The outcome was summed up best by Mawm when he yelled “LIPSTICK ON A PIG!” The RBC violated their own rules to contrive a decision that guaranteed Hillary could not catch Obama.
On June 1, 2008 outraged Hillary supporters met at The Confluence to express their feelings about what had taken place. No one told us how we should think or feel about it, we already knew. The media and the sippy-kup kidz were proclaiming that we would now have to support Obama in the name of “party unity.” The general consensus was “I don’t care what they say, I ain’t voting for him cuz he cheated.”
At 9:00pm EST, Will Bower is scheduled to make an appearance on Larry King Live on CNN to tell the country that we’re not dead yet and there are a lot more of us than the media is reporting (PUMA Power has more than 100,000 hits since June 1,2008.) Also, Johnny Mac is scheduled to make an appearance on Hannity and Colmes tonight on Fox News.
That is all. I now return you to your regular snark.
In this charged election year, no matter who claims the White House in 2009, we will be electing at least one person with restrictive views on abortion to the White House.
John McCain proclaims that he is “proudly pro-life” (although in the 2000 election, he stated just the opposite). His running mate, Sarah Palin, is far more credible and consistent in her stance against abortion, and even belongs to a group called “Feminists for Life.” As for Barack Obama, he has veered away from the traditional Democratic framing of “safe, legal and rare,” and has been talking about how women shouldn’t get third-trimester abortions just because we’re feeling blue; indeed, we gals are such frivolous creatures that we, as a matter of course, must consult a committee before making such a momentous decision. At least Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate, is unwavering in his pro-choice stance, and drafted the Violence Against Women Act in 1994; however, many of us will never forget his role in casting doubt upon Anita Hill’s story, which helped confirm the arch-conservative Clarence Thomas – another anti-choice Justice – to the Supreme Court.
35 years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in America, why is that decision such a controversial and emotional one in our political and personal lives? I believe it is because the choice to terminate a pregnancy is perceived as a choice of one life over another. And how can one make such a choice without agony and conflict? How can a just and lawful nation allow the murder of a child by its mother?
Except that’s not really what happens, is it? What happens in an abortion is that a mother trades a potential life for an actual life. But that simple idea has become lost in a fog of pseudo-science, emotional manipulation by both parties, religious interference and deep-seated societal misogyny.
Remember this guy below? His name is Tito Muñóz, a small construction business owner who went ballistic at the press last week at a McCain/Palin rally for attacking Joe the Plumber from 1:21 to about 3:40 where he now famously said “I was born in Colombia but made in the USA” (the other guy after that is an anti-choice guy so skip to the end):
Now, Tito the Builder opened a rally for Sarah Palin in Virginia.
Not only is Tito another working class man looking to better his life, but…Latino vote? CHECK. Working Class vote? CHECK. Aren’t these the voters a part of the DEMOCRATIC base??? Oh, that’s right, we’re not part of the new 2008 Chicago Edition Democratic party anymore! You have to be on the VIP guest list to belong to the new DNC. Since there is no room for the working class voter in the Democratic Party – take a guess who they are going to vote for?
From Harriet Christian, a lifelong Democrat, diner waitress who famously denounced the Democrats for rigging the primaries at the RBC meeting on May 31st, 2008, to Joe the Plumber a guy who Obama came up to with a gazillion TV cameras while he was playing ball with his son, and now Tito the Builder are becoming the voices of Americans everywhere who dared ask the questions and confront the media about Barack Obama’s illegitimate selection as the Democratic Presidential Candidate.
Democrats had a candidate that won the majority of the votes, connected and resonated with working class voters which understood her talk about raising taxes without scaring the heck out of people, has a sparkling clean record and background, the gravitas, love and grasp of solving problems for our country. She’s still working her heart out for Downticket Democrats since the “That One” is too busy to help the DSCC and DCCC as he is supposed to do as the Democratic Party “Leader.”
Speaking of working class voters and the economy, this guy thought the same thing we all did (h/t/ Hillbuzz):
The incomparable Bob Somerby makes a very astute observation:
Why had Klein reinvented things so? We don’t have the slightest idea. But here’s a possible hint: In 2006, the presumptive Democratic nominee was a certain Hillary Rodham Clinton. And make no mistake: If Clinton had run against McCain this year, this campaign would have been covered quite differently by more than a few major “journalists.”
Oh you betcha! Not that long ago John McCain not-so-jokingly referred to the media as his “base” and they universally portrayed him as a straight-talking maverick. So when did they suddenly decide that McCain was old and evil? It wasn’t until after they declared that Barack Uh-bama was the “presumptive” (presumptuous) nominee and Hillary was forced to suspend her campaign. Then they turned on McCain like a bad dog.
But what if somehow Hillary had managed to win the nomination? After-all, she was the popular vote winner, and won all the big states except Illinois, as well as the critical swing-states. The goofy DNC rules gave Obama a narrow lead in pledged delegates, primarily (pun intended) due to the way his campaign gamed (cheated) in the red state caucuses and the overwhelming (85-90%) support he received from African-American voters in southern (red state) primaries. Neither Hillary nor Teh Precious won the nomination outright based on pledged delegates, it was decided by the superdelegates. So what if the SD’s had voted for her instead of him?
One thing is for sure, the media would still be loving them some straight-talking St. Maverick. He wouldn’t be old, evil, or racist. Assuming he had still chosen Sarah Palin she would be considered a smart, reform-minded candidate who was uncorrupted by Washington D.C. She would also be getting praised as something new and exciting, a conservative, christian feminist.
We would still be hearing a lot about racism though, because the media would be constantly talking about how African American voters would be staying home on election day to protest how Hillary had stolen the nomination with the help of racist superdelegates. Even if Obama was her running mate, voting for McCain (or not voting) would be considered the only principled choice for progressive Democrats (not just AA voters) because the racism and corruption of the DNC could not be tolerated.
If Obama was not her running mate, he would not be out campaigning on Hillary’s behalf. He would be praised for showing party loyalty by not launching a third-party campaign or (publically) criticizing Hillary, and would already be considered the Democratic front-runner for 2012. Meanwhile he would continue to demonstrate his awesome post-partisan leadership skills in the Senate.
One other thing – the recent financial crisis would have been laid squarely at the feet of Bill Clinton, and it would be lamented that no one heeded the warnings given by both McCain and Senator Obama.
As Sheri Tag, host of “No We Won’t” on PUMA UNITED RADIO said on BettyJean Kling’s inaugural BlogTalkRadio show, “Free US Now“:
It’s not easy being PUMA.
So right you are, Sheri, and congratulations to BettyJean on her new show.
Just like Kermit, we may not be as flashy-sparkly as the others. For us, our opponents appear to have so much going, with their money and their trappings. (Huh, didn’t that used to be the Repubs?) But we are heartfelt, true, and committed to our cause.
Paula Abeles, tireless co-founder of Real Democrats, aptly states the case about the crux of our protest: the right to free speech and the right to vote. In this video from their latest canvassing in Ohio, Abeles proffers our beef about ACORN, Obama’s nosing Hillary and us out of her nomination, and his attempted Iraqi October surprise (oh, no, Mr. Bill!)
A case in point. What’s interesting, and very sad for me, is that after I published my first version of this post on Lady Boomer NYC, about it not being that easy to be a PUMA, one of my dearest friends wrote a response to the comments on my blog. She felt like I was separating myself from her and my friends, even inciting hate. Whereas, I feel it’s the other way around, because the Democratic Party has marginalized, alienated, excluded, and demonized us—and our candidate of choice, Hillary Clinton. In these final ten days, you can betcha, the juice is up. People are getting even more inflamed and coming from a place of fear.
Because of the volatile atmosphere we face, I, like many in our movement, have chosen to go underground and separate my political from my personal identity. I have been extremely careful to not speak my views in “mixed company.” For that reason, in addition to being friends for over thirty years, her words stung me deeply.
Is friendship based on shared beliefs? Sometimes. but hopefully it’s bigger than that. How do individuals have differing beliefs and still stay friends? —especially, once the election is over. It is my hope that even when we have hurt feelings, we can move beyond them and work toward the common good. That’s why I have thrown my lot in with PUMA, The Confluence, For Democratic Reform, and others.
Our charge is to continue to support each other and keep the faith in the face of personal and public attack. How do we support each other, given that we’re not supporting McCain, but are working to change the process? Given our protest, and regardless of the winner and the loser, the democratic process needs to be changed. It is my commitment to see that fight through to the end, to realize the reforms that we need in the Democratic Party and the election process.
No matter who wins the Presidency, it’s obvious that we have our big work cut out for us. Buckle up, kids! So we say, it’s not that easy being PUMA, but we like it. Given the situation, we would not and could not be anything else.
Paraphrasing the late, great Joe Raposo’s “(It’s Not Easy) Being Green” —
It’s Not Easy Being PUMA . . .
And PUMA could be big like an ocean
Or important like a mountain
Or tall like a tree
When PUMA is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why
But, why wonder “why”?
Wonder
I’m PUMA
And it’ll do fine
And it’s beautiful
And I think it’s what I want to be
Note: To the late-nighters. This makes absolutely no sense, I know. I just wrote it. Feel free to ignore it.
I had the funny experience tonight of being locked out of a post. It wasn’t intentional and I have no reason to believe anything other than crappy Vista is at fault but for the 45 minutes it took for me to get the attention of the usual suspects and bring the Party to the only room I could get to, I felt a little bit panicked and very alone. Here’s why:
These last 11 months I’ve dedicated myself pretty solely to one goal and that goal was to see Hillary Rodham Clinton become President of the United States. I don’t need to give you the long narrative. You’ve read it from me once or four times; you could probably ghost-write my story under power of hypnosis. I won’t bore you with that. I will say what it’s done to me though.
Because of the sheer anxiety of this election, I lost 15 lbs. Don’t misunderstand me, I was glad to see them go. I’ve been trying to lose weight since I was 5 and this was the first step in a positive direction I’ve ever taken but I don’t think the doctor wanted me to lose them like this. Any day of the week, these many months you could find me screaming at my television; pacing the length of my hallway; or tapping away at my keyboard for one partisan, single-minded cause. It was sunrise to sunset to sunrise again. I’ve never had much use for sleep and I learned how to function on even less during the Democratic Primary.
I also learned how to function on high-blood pressure and a racing heart. Not a day went buy that I wouldn’t sit in my class in abject terror that the election was going to come up. It was all over the radio waves and the television broadcasts. It was all over the internet. There was no escaping it; and who was I to want to escape it? I lived for this election. And yet, at the same time, I dreaded having to face my friends and call them wrong, to face my teachers–some of whom have choice words for me now that they know where I stand–and call them ill-informed, though they were. I used to shake in my seat like a leaf, or maybe that was just my heart. I knew I was in the minority of my senior class to prefer Hillary and I wasn’t so bothered by that. It was the stories that bothered me, the stories I’d read nationwide over how people had been treated for voicing their decision to support the competent woman over the lackluster man. Maybe I feared that one of those events would befall me. Sometimes, like now, I still do. Continue reading →
The Confluence 