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“Palin’s final speech was a thing of poetic beauty… And who does poetry better than Shatner?”
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After all, this was the guy who said, “To me, God’s in control”:
Actor Stephen Baldwin files for bankruptcy in NY Actor Stephen Baldwin, brother of Emmy winner and “30 Rock” star Alec Baldwin, filed for bankruptcy in New York on Tuesday, according to a court document that says he is millions in debt.
The 43-year-old actor filed for Chapter 11 protection claiming he owes more than $2.3 million and owns a New York property valued at only $1.1 million. His wife, Kennya Baldwin, also is named in the document. …
So, why do we care?
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…and we were…
Frank Rich has another kick-butt column in today’s NYT, this time dissecting the “essence of Palinism” (”emotional, not ideological”), and the meltdown of the flailing (and amnesiac) GOP that sees Sarah Palin as its last Great White Hope.
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FBI counters rumors,
says Palin isn’t under investigationThe FBI is taking the unusual step of declaring that Gov. Sarah Palin is not under investigation, as Palin herself left for Western Alaska and communicated to the world through her Twitter account.
“We are not investigating her,” FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said on Sunday. “Normally we don’t confirm or deny those kind of allegations out there, but by not doing so it just casts her in a very bad light. …”
Not half as bad a light as Palin has cast herself in. Speaking of which, Shannyn Moore, the blogger Palin has been threatening with a lawsuit (gee, funny how she isn’t threatening to sue The Village Voice or Keith Olbermann), had a few choice words for Cut-”n’-Run Palin (such as “coward” and “bully”) over the weekend — or so it’s rumored… LOL
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I finally got around to watching Sarah Palin’s entire resignation speech — described universally as “disjointed” and “rambling,” and rightly so — but what had my lovely wife and me in stitches was the background noise. First, there was the kid (”Why doesn’t somebody shut that squalling brat up?” I asked, adding: “And then maybe they could get the baby to quiet down, too”).
But it’s the sound of animals, both seen and unseen, punctuating the speech that nearly had me losing control of certain bodily functions.
Palin made the unfortunate choice of speaking on the shore of Lake Lucille, where the waterfowl flapping behind Caribou Barbie’s pointy head were enough to elicit a chuckle from this corner, but when what sounded like chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, and even cattle began chiming in, I lost it completely. (No, I didn’t lose control of any bodily functions, other than the Spray-Your-Screen Laughter Mechanism.)
So, if you haven’t watched Governor Train Wreck’s self-destruction, do, if only for the riotously hilarious (and strangely appropriate) Animal Farm soundtrack (mainly throughout Part 1, and at the beginning of Part 2):
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But that’s still a darned big “-gate” — you betcha! Per The Inquisitr:
Multiple sources have been digging around in the wake of Sarah Palin’s cryptic resignation speech Friday and they’ve found that when Palin was Mayor of her home town of Wasilla, AK in 2002, she was influental in the construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex and hockey arena. First of all, the $12mil+ project ended up in the hands of contractors who were friends of friends of Palin. Secondly, at around the same time the sports complex was being built, so was Palin’s new house. What’s interesting about that is the house is constructed from the exact same materials the sports complex was built with. The windows in both structures are the same, the wood is the same, pretty well everything.When the house was being built, Palin, being Mayor at the time, influenced the bylaw requiring building permits in the town so that now there is no official list of the contractors who worked on her house. …
It is plausable [sic] that the suddenness of Palin’s resignation, which even members of her family didn’t know was going to happen, could be the reason for her rather strange resignation speech - she simply didn’t have time to construct an elaborate speech because she already knew this mess was about to go public in a big way.
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Methinks the truth has nothing to do with politics; she’s too big an attention whore to leave the spotlight willingly. Methinks something big is coming down the pike — something much bigger than Housegate.
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You simply must read Sarah Palin’s resignation announcement. To think this scattered, feckless, illiterate dingleberry got so close to… *shudder*
I suggest you hit the link to see that this really is coming from the official site of the Governor of Alaska, or you’re going to think it’s a joke.
This is so not a joke, not The Onion, and not a Tina Fey routine, it’s terrifying. (The people of Alaska actually voted for this idiot? And there are people outside Alaska, who cannot fall back on the excuse of brain freeze or lack of exposure to sunlight, who want this maniac to run the country?)
But, horror aside, it’s hilarious.
So, put down your drink, and make sure you’ve gone wee-wee first, or you will wet your pants. And not in a good way.
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Why? There are plenty of theories, all of them quite plausible (Time offers ten). My first thought was that, after getting busted on her AIP lie (to the McCain campaign, no less), she wants to avoid further destruction of her career, so she can gear up for her run at the 2012 GOP ticket.
Which makes no sense whatsoever in Logical World, but we are not in Logical World here; we are lost without a GPS in Palin Land.
Whatever the reason, which we’ll no doubt discern soon enough, the
And who knows? With Ted Stevens gone too, Alaska might become someplace I’d be interested in visiting someday. Well, once they stop the wolf killing, and figure out how to neuter the Murkowski dynasty.
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You just have to read it to believe it — and make sure to read the comments, most of which are priceless! (My contribution, not yet approved: “The real question is: Does Wasilla need more funding for mental health services? If so, where do I donate?”)
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When Sarah Palin Praises
Your “Sound Science,”
You Know You’ve
Lost All Sense of Reality
Unbelievable. Un-farking— Wait, what am I saying? Nothing The Smartest Guy in the Room does surprises me anymore. But this… this… this is so far beyond the pale, even I’m at a loss for words:
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You know that lie-filled video Maggie “Marriage Isn’t About Love, It’s About Playing Sick Mommy-Baby Games While Your Husband Treats You Like Garbage” Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage has on YouTube? If not, get the scoop and follow-up from my lovely wife, and then come back and watch this:
P.S. Yes, we have lots of things to talk about — I’m just way behind on Teh Big Project, due in part to our Innertubes connection going down (and not in a good way) for two whole days. (I almost didn’t survive!) So, forgive me if I don’t write anything substantial for a while — and keep checking Buffy’s blog for all the good stuff I can’t catch up with right now. (Ew, what horrible grammar, even for me!)
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Oh, waaaaaah! And ROFL! Video after the jump.
Palin: Couric, Fey profited by ‘exploiting’ me Conservative talk show host and documentary filmmaker John Ziegler is determined to prove that Barack Obama won the 2008 election because of media bias, and that “the media assassination of [Sarah Palin], her character and family, was one of the greatest public injustices of our time.”
Ziegler has released clips of a January 5 interview with the former vice-presidential candidate, conducted for his documentary in progress, Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected. In the interview, Palin repeatedly blamed “the mainstream media” for presenting a distorted impression of her and her family.
In response to a suggestion by Ziegler that “Tina Fey and Katie Couric have been treated almost as heroes among the media elite” because of their role in creating a negative image of her, Palin agreed, saying, “A lot of people are capitalizing on, I don’t know, I think, perhaps, exploiting that was done via me, my family, my administration.”
Palin said she hadn’t wanted to continue with the Couric interview after the first day because it had gone so badly, but “however it works in, you know, that upper echelon of power brokering … it was, told me that we were going to go back for more.” …
More idiocy at the link.
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The role of religion in the presidential campaign tops the 2008 “Top Ten” list of top church-state stories, according to the editors of Church & State.
The monthly magazine, published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is the nation’s only news periodical devoted exclusively to the intersection of religion and government.
Said Church & State publisher Barry W. Lynn, “It was a wild and crazy year. To tell you the truth, I’m glad it’s coming to a close. I’m hopeful 2009 will be a lot better.”
After studying the past 12 months of news, the editors selected the following 10 stories as the most important and most interesting church-state developments for the year.
1. The Role of Religion in the Presidential Campaign: Not since 1960 when John F. Kennedy the first Roman Catholic president was elected, has religion played such a large role in a presidential campaign. News media representatives grilled candidates on what sins they had committed and what their favorite Bible verses were. Barack Obama fought false rumors that he is secretly a Muslim, and Mitt Romney’s Mormonism became a controversial topic. Candidates were held accountable for the incendiary comments of their pastors and their clergy supporters, such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and TV preacher John Hagee. Many observers thought the whole thing was an unholy mess, especially in a nation that separates religion and government.
2. The Resurgence of the Religious Right: While pundits and progressives have proclaimed the demise of the Religious Right, the fundamentalist political movement remained extraordinarily powerful. Republican John McCain found it necessary to name evangelical Sarah Palin as his running mate to mollify the GOP’s restive religious base, and Religious Right forces rammed through bans on same-sex marriage in California, Florida and Arizona. Moderate evangelical Richard Cizik was forced out as government affairs representative at the National Association of Evangelicals after coming under fire from Religious Right forces.
3. The Battle Over Gay Marriage: Bans on same-sex marriage were approved in California, Florida and Arizona with conservative religious forces leading the drive. California’s approval of Proposition 8, with massive funding from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was particularly contentious. The Mormons, joined by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and evangelical Protestant congregations, were successful in passing a constitutional amendment that takes away the right of same-sex couples to marry and reflects church doctrine in civil law. The issue now moves back to the state Supreme Court.
4. The Ascendancy of Rick Warren: Once known primarily as a mega-church pastor and best-selling author (The Purpose Driven Life), the Rev. Rick Warren has rapidly moved into position as the nation’s most prominent preacher, despite right-wing views on reproductive freedom, gay rights and church-state separation. Warren, a Southern Baptist who heads Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., is viewed by progressives as Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt with an ace PR team. After hosting a presidential debate stacked toward John McCain and being asked to give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration, many think Warren seems destined to be the new Billy Graham.
5. Religious Right Influence at Justice Department: Religious Right influence at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was exposed this year. According to an internal DOJ investigation reported in the media in July, senior aides in the department used religious and political criteria to hire staff members for non-political positions. Monica Goodling, a top adviser to the attorney general, checked to see if job applicants were “pro-God in public life” and held right-wing views on abortion, homosexuality and other issues. (Goodling is a graduate of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Regent University.) DOJ also posted a legally dubious memorandum this year insisting that the federal government may give grants to “faith-based” social service agencies that discriminate in hiring, even if Congress has explicitly banned such bias.
6. Battles Over Creationism in Public Schools: New battles have erupted over the teaching of evolution in public schools. Blocked by the courts from teaching fundamentalist religious concepts directly in biology classes, Religious Right forces are trying a backdoor strategy. They are demanding that schools teach the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution, a euphemism for creationist ideas. Over the heated objections of educators, scientists and civil liberties activists, the Louisiana legislature approved an “academic freedom” law encouraging such instruction in the state’s schools. Now the Texas State Board of Education is debating a similar proposal as part of its 10-year review of science standards.
7. Church Politicking Plot: The Religious Right’s dream of building a fundamentalist church-based political machine took a big step forward in 2008 when more than 30 pastors used their pulpits to endorse Republican political candidates. They acted at the behest of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a wealthy Religious Right legal outfit that wants to challenge the federal tax law ban on partisan politicking by tax-exempt groups. The ADF, which was founded by TV preachers and other religious broadcasters, hopes the Internal Revenue Service will revoke participating churches’ tax exemptions leading to a court showdown.
8. Defeat of Jeb Bush Referenda: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush saw his school voucher subsidies for religious and other private schools overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2006. Undeterred, the now former governor’s allies on an obscure tax commission engineered two measures onto the November 2008 ballot that would have repealed the state constitution’s ban on public funding of religion as well as diluted its provision for a strong system of public schools. To Bush’s dismay, the state Supreme Court on Sept. 3 struck the referenda from the ballot, derailing the scheme.
9. Blocking of ‘Christian’ License Plate: The South Carolina legislature unanimously approved a special “Christian” license plate featuring a bright yellow cross, a stained-glass church window and the words “I Believe.” Backed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, four local clergy and two minority faith groups challenged the government favoritism toward one faith. On Dec. 11, a federal district court blocked issuance of the plates. The judge’s action may forestall similar sectarian plates under consideration in other states.
10. The Christmas Wars: It has become an annual holiday tradition Religious Right groups and their allies in the right-wing media launch a yearly crusade to stop the alleged secularization of Christmas and to pressure government to include Christian symbols in the holiday mix. They rail against stores’ use of the term “Happy Holidays” and insist that advertisements say “Merry Christmas” instead. This year, much of the attention focused on a Washington State battle where an atheist Winter Solstice sign was positioned near a Christian Nativity scene in the state capital. Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly and an array of Religious Right scolds lambasted Gov. Christine Gregoire for allowing the anti-religious sentiment. Ironically, credit for the atheist display actually should go to the Alliance Defense Fund, a Religious Right legal group that sued Gregoire last year, insisting that the Capitol is an open forum where a Nativity scene (and all other forms of speech) must be allowed.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. Americans Unitied for Separation of Church and State Links: Homepage; Americans United (Press Center); Americans United (Action Center)
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As usual, the world is quiet at 2:39 in the morning, which is why it’s my best time to work (that, and I’m an incurable night owl). As is my norm, I’ve got the tube playing in the background to get me through some really tedious grunt work that comes with the territory of what I do, and tonight there’s a rerun of a movie Buffy and I saw a while back — The Reaping. (Yes, I know: It does sound like The Re-Deadening.)
The Reaping is not a great movie — it’s got more plot holes than Jocelyn Wildenstein has surgical scars — but it’s an acceptable time-passer (especially when you’re working, and can’t give the attention you’d like to the subtitled horror film on FLIX right now), and, anyway, I like religious-type movies. No, really, I do — from Ben Hur to junk food like The Reaping, which has Hillary Swank investigating some End-O’-Times plagues going on in some backwater town. You know, frogs falling from the sky and rivers of blood and all that cool stuff that keeps you from slipping into a permanent coma while reading the Bible.
So, it’s not a great movie, but it’s kind of fun. What I like most about it — and was lucky enough to tune in on right in time for it — is Swank’s perfectly logical explanation for all the plagues in the Old Testament. When I first heard it, I decided to put it on my list of Things to Memorize (right after re-memorizing the parts of Jabberwocky and Annabel Lee I’ve forgotten; I think I’m still good on the whole of Sonnets from the Portuguese and I know I’ll never forget a word of Disobedience, even if I forget my own name first), just for that day I run into Tim LaHaye, or Ben Stein, or that whackadoodle in Alaska who thinks Jesus rode to school on Dino Flintstone, and end the entire debate (or spark an entirely new debate) with it.
Here it is — but you’ve got to do it like Hillary Swank does it in the movie, with complete conviction, at lightning speed and without taking a breath:
In 1400 B.C., a group of nervous Egyptians saw the Nile turn red. But what they thought was blood was actually an algae bloom which killed the fish, which prior to that had been living off the eggs of frogs. Those uneaten eggs turned into record numbers of baby frogs who subsequently fled to the land and died. Their little rotting frog bodies attracted lice and flies. The lice carried the bluetongue virus, which killed 70% of Egypt’s livestock. The flies carried glanders, a bacterial infection which in humans causes boils. Soon afterwards, the Nile River Valley was hit with a three-day sandstorm otherwise known as the plague of darkness. During the sandstorm, intense heat can combine with an approaching cold front to create not only hail, but also electrical storms which would have looked to the ancient Egyptians like fire from the sky. The subsequent wind would have blown the Ethiopian locust population off course and right into downtown Cairo. Hail is wet, locusts leave droppings spread both on grain, and you have got mycotoxins. Dinnertime in ancient Egypt meant the first-born child got the biggest portion which in this case meant he ate the most toxins, so he died. Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.
Granted, I have to research each and every one of these claims before I bother to memorize this, much less launch it on a sputtering fundy. But, as one of those people who knows a little bit about everything (no, that’s not arrogance talking; that also means I also don’t know everything about anything), it sounds pretty plausible to me.
Have fun with it! And let me know if you ever use it to end (or begin) a discussion.
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Blue Texan from Firedoglake asks: “Does this mean that Sarah Palin believes that without God’s intervention the McCain-Palin ticket will lose? Awesome!”
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By Todd Beeton, Courage Campaign
Did you know that Proposition 4 — the ballot measure mandating that teens seek parental consent for abortion — is leading in the polls, 49 percent to 41 percent, according to the most recent Field Poll of likely California voters?
Californians have defeated these “parental notification” ballot measures twice before, recognizing the danger they posed to teen safety, especially in abusive family situations. There are only two weeks left before Election Day, but we can defeat it again if we spread the word to vote “NO ON 4″ as soon as possible.
Driven by pro-life extremists, the “Yes on 4″ side is doing everything they can to spread the word about Prop 4 — or what they are calling “Sarah’s Law”. It’s not about Sarah Palin, but it might as well be.
That’s why, with your financial support, we rented an airplane to fly a banner reading “Sarah Palin — Thanks, But No Thanks! No on Prop 4″ over a Palin rally in the Los Angeles area on October 4. Palin and her supporters couldn’t miss our plane. And neither could millions of Los Angeles voters that day.
Click here to watch a short YouTube video of the Palin rally that I narrated, including reactions from rally participants to our plane flying overhead and one particular man who had something very specific to say about “liberals.” We hope you watch this video and then prove him wrong by spreading the word to your friends to vote NO ON 4:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/NoOnProp4
As you can see, the right-wing is alive and well in California and they are passionate about Sarah Palin. While Palin may not be able to persuade most Californians about social issues, her fervent followers may be able to pass two far-right ballot measures on November 4 in California:
• Proposition 4: the third attempt by right-wing extremists to pass a “parental notification” law that would endanger at-risk California teens.
• Proposition 8: a Mormon-led attempt to eliminate the equal rights of Californians to marry the person they love.
As I spoke to person after person at the Palin rally, it became crystal clear to me just what we’re up against.
You can see what we’re up against for yourself in this YouTube video we put together from the Palin rally. Please pay close attention to the man at the end of the video. It’s up to you to prove him wrong on Prop 4 by spreading the word to your friends, family and neightbors:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/NoOnProp4
If I took one thing away from the Palin rally, it was the determination not to become complacent about the initiatives on the ballot this year. Supporters of Prop 4 aren’t sitting on their hands — and at-risk California teenagers can’t afford for us to sit on our hands either.
Please vote NO on Props 4 and 8 and spread the word by forwarding this message to your friends. And, if you need extra motivation, all you need to do is listen to what this one Republican says about “liberals” at the end of our video.
Let’s prove him wrong.
Thank you for helping us change California and our country.
Todd Beeton
Online Organizer
P.S. Of course, Props 4 and 8 aren’t the only initiatives on the November ballot. To find out more about the other 10 propositions, check out the Courage Campaign’s “2008 Progressive Voter Guide” we distributed to our members last week:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/2008VoterGuide
The Courage Campaign Issues Committee is part of the Courage Campaign online organizing network empowering nearly 100,000 grassroots and netroots activists to make 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California.
Please consider making a contribution to the Courage Campaign Issues Committee on ActBlue.
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WASHINGTON — October 23 — Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and several other political operatives associated with the RNC, for improperly spending $150,000 on clothing for Palin and her family, in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA).
According to news reports, the clothing and accessories purchases for Palin and her family included a whopping $49,425 spent at Saks Fifth Avenue, and a $75,062 spending spree at Neiman Marcus.
These shopping excursions violate campaign finance law.
FECA specifically prohibits a candidate for federal office from converting campaign funds to personal use. FEC regulations make clear that the prohibition applies to clothing purchases, such as those made for the Palin family.
The RNC implicitly admitted that the clothing was purchased with campaign funds by stating that it will be donated to charity after the campaign. The RNC also relies on this prospective contribution to explain why the personal use prohibition is not applicable as FEC regulations provide that donations by candidates to charitable organizations are not for personal use. It does not appear, however, that this exception would apply to the clothing worn by Palin’s family, even if it does apply to her own.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, “It is ridiculous that RNC would spend $150,000 to outfit a vice presidential nominee and her family at any time, but it is more outrageous given the dire financial straights of so many Americans and the state of our economy. As if that isn’t bad enough, the expenditures violate campaign finance law. The FEC should investigate immediately.”
Sloan continued, “If the RNC had an extra $150,000 to throw around, there were better alternatives than pricey designer clothes. For example, $150,000 could fund three Alaska teachers’ yearly salaries; library books for the Juneau, Alaska School district for nearly two years; health care premiums for 31 working Americans or 12 families; flu vaccinations for just over 6000 people, or pay the heating bills for 131 low-income households this winter.”
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Why gay Alaskans are “dismayed by Governor’s rebuff,” and what they could have ever possibly mistaken for “positive comments about gays and lesbians in the vice presidential debate,” we’ll never know. But our brothers and sisters in the frozen north are pretty upset about it:
Palin Declines to Acknowledge National Coming Out Day Gay Alaskans Dismayed by Governor’s Rebuff
JUNEAU, AK — October 9 — Gov. Palin has declined to issue a formal proclamation recognizing National Coming Out Day in Alaska. Heartened by the Gov. Palin’s positive comments about gays and lesbians in the Vice Presidential Debate, Alaskans Together submitted a formal request to acknowledge the day, which is observed on Oct. 11 internationally by members of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) communities and supporters.
“But I also want to clarify, if there’s any kind of suggestion at all from my answer that I would be anything but tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners, choosing relationships that they deem best for themselves, you know…,” said Gov. Palin during the debate.
“Governor Palin called for ‘tolerance’, and we hoped she’d show that type of leadership as Governor with this proclamation,” said Alaskans Together President Marsha Buck. “Coming out is a difficult and deserves recognition.”
Oh, Marsha, honey, that’s what you consider a “positive comment”? “Tolerance” is what you have when you’re a karma-mindful Hindu with a mosquito buzzing in your ear, and you grit your teeth to stop yourself from grinding the persistent little bastard into a teeny, tiny, pulpy mess between your fingers.
That’s exactly how Sarah Palin “tolerates” you, me, and every other homo who ever existed.
This will sound harsh, Marsha, but you guys are really Uncle-Tomming it up there. Get some brass ones, and stop falling all over yourself to soft-soap your governor’s consistently revolting homophobia. (How’s that for a bunch of mixed metaphors?) You don’t have to be grateful for what you perceive as a crumb tossed from the mistress’s table.
So far in October 2008 Governor Palin has issued proclamations for: “Careers in Construction Week,” “10th Annual Christian Heritage Week,” “Biomedical Technician Week,” “Alaska Taiwan Friendship Week,” “World Farm Animals Day,” “Breastfeeding Awareness Month,” and “Grand Opening of Rilke Schule Day.”
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha… what do you expect? Farm animals are much higher on your crackpot governor’s value-of-life scale than we’ll ever be. (I’d say “evolutionary scale,” but as you know, she doesn’t believe in evolution — and, frankly, the more I hear from that troglodyte, the more I’m starting to doubt evolution myself, at least among the species Palinus Moronicus.)
“We were asking for the Governor to acknowledge and recognize the dignity of openly-gay Alaskans. We weren’t asking for a policy position, beyond simple acknowledgement.” Buck said.
You don’t have any “dignity” as far as she’s concerned. Hell, you’re not even human as far as she’s concerned — just a demon-possessed Other that needs to be eradicated.
But don’t worry, Marsha — she’s going to pray your gay away.
Now, come on, gay Alaskans, get real — and don’t get too irritated with me. I’m telling you to grow a thicker skin, stop apologizing, and start demanding what you want. You’re not going to win anything by “asking” for approval from anybody, especially that delusional gay-basher running your state.
Recognize your own dignity, ’cause that’s something that can’t be given you — or taken away from you.
Now, get back in the game, and get tough. Instead of issuing a statement expressing hurt and dismay, rewrite it and take Palin to task. You are in the right, and she is in the wrong — and if you don’t take a stronger stand against her extremist positions, you’re just giving her permission to continue promoting homophobia and religious extremism in the public square, and relieving her of any accountability.
Call her on it. Make her answer to her bigotry. Make it public.
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Never let it be said we don’t listen, even if we don’t always agree.
Three takes on third parties. All worth the click and full read — none of which we agree, nor disagree, with 100%:
Kevin Alexander Gray, “The McKinney Choice“:
Mention to someone that you’re thinking about voting for former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney or Ralph Nader and they’ll respond, “So, you’re voting for McCain!” Or they’ll say, “You’re wasting your vote.” And if you’re black and not planning on voting for Obama, you may be labeled a “hater” or an “Uncle Tom.” I know. I’ve been called those names. Poet Amiri Baraka, never one to be shy, has labeled all those not supporting Obama as “rascals.”It doesn’t matter that McKinney is herself African American or that Rosa Clemente, her running mate on the Green Party ticket, is a hip-hop activist and an Afro-Puerto Rican. What matters, for most, is that Obama represents the first realistic chance for a black American to win the White House, and that he is better than McCain.
But should those be the overriding considerations?
While Obama is cosmetically attractive, he is still a status quo politician. What’s more, he has gone out of his way to disparage members of the African American community as a way to ingratiate himself with white voters. And he sometimes defends the same rightwing positions as his Republican counterpart, as when Obama supported Bush on the FISA bill and agreed with Scalia on the D.C. gun ban. …
McKinney, who served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives for twelve years, left the Democratic Party last year to join the Greens. In Congress, she had one of the most progressive records. And as a Presidential candidate, she offers up a coherent agenda. …
Whether the subject was the Iraq War, or Afghanistan, or Katrina, or veterans’ rights, or Blackwater, or civil liberties, or the environment, or universal health care, or equal pay for equal work, or free college education, or the repeal of the Bush tax cuts, McKinney hit the progressive high notes. (But she was a little off key when she indulged the “9/11 truth” people.) …
McKinney’s platform resembles that of Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio Representative who ran as the most progressive candidate in the Democratic primaries. …
But having a shiny progressive platform does not guarantee progressive votes. I recall a rule of organizing in the 1988 Jesse Jackson campaign: “Define your own win.” Reason being: If it’s about who has the most money, resources, access, etc., those going against the flow or those who are resource poor will always be sold short. Especially when the powerful set the rules and call the game.
Running was Shirley Chisholm’s win in 1972.
Jackson’s win was successfully advancing a progressive, multiracial, multi-issue agenda.
So what’s McKinney’s win?
She says the Greens want to pick up “5 percent of the national vote” in the coming election with the hope it “confers major party status” on them.
“Then we will have an official third party in this country,” McKinney said in Chicago, “and public policy that truly reflects our values.” …
This election season the Greens have abandoned the discredited “safe state strategy,” says Brent McMillan, political director of the party. Mc-Kinney and Clemente are on the ballot in thirty states, according to the Green Party. …
Given these difficulties, the question once again arises: “Why bother?” To which Clemente replies, “People have to make some clear choices about which side are they on.” The goal, she says, is “building the new imperative.” …
But let me put a word in for being contrary, for refusing to go with flow, and for rejecting the choices we are given when we have that opportunity. Sometimes it is necessary to stand up and say, “I’m not with that.” Defying the corrupt two-party corporate system may be one of those times.
The choice is yours. And mine. And for me, it’s not an easy one.
Sapph’s take: It wasn’t an easy choice for me, by any means. But whereas some ask, “What would Jesus do?” I ask: “What would Thomas Paine do?”
That Paine wasn’t hanged for bucking the status quo gives me hope that I won’t be, either. I’ll stick with putting my “faith” in Paine — and in McKinney-Clemente.
Tom Hayden, “An Appeal to Third Party Voters“:
Progressive voters leaning towards Ralph Nader or other third party candidates could make the difference between Barack Obama winning or losing the presidency.Being marginal myself, I am very aware of how decisive third-party voters can be. I won the Democratic nomination to the California senate by less than one-percent in 1992. In the final two weeks, I mailed out an appeal to Green Party voters in my district, urging them to switch parties in order to vote for me. The mailer included cards to re-register from Green to Democrat for the primary, and another card to register again as a Green once the primary was over. Those hundreds of votes made the difference.
Late in 2000, I found myself enmeshed in torrid conversations between the Gore and Nader campaigns. The process wasn’t good. The Democrats were trying to push Nader off the ballot anywhere they could, thus refusing to recognize his core interest in establishing a new party. The Nader people refused to acknowledge that there was any difference between Gore and Bush, and denied that their votes could affect the outcome. My “Gore-Nader” proposal – that Nader endorse Gore in Florida and other close states, and become our most important progressive advocate in Washington after a Gore victory – went nowhere because Nader would have none of it.
So much was at stake in 2000 that, to this day, the wounds then inflicted have not healed. One side [in the tens of millions] believes that Iraq and the Alito Court would have been avoided and the first environmental presidency would have been launched. The other side [a few thousand] denies that the Nader vote caused Gore to lose Florida.
Rather than scrape those scabs one more time, my proposal is that progressives thinking of voting third party this time consider the historic chance to elect Barack Obama president. Such an open gesture would be enormously important to the people who most fervently favor Obama – young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and labor for example – and go a long way to heal and unify the progressive movement this time around.
Many of those Obama supporters share the criticisms of Obama made by the third party advocates – that he needs more pressure on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, domestic spying, trade. But there is no sympathy, no comprehension, only something between irritation and rage, towards the third-party view that it doesn’t matter if John McCain wins and Barack Obama loses.
It is hard for many to grasp that an infintesimal fraction of voters could deny progressive hope and revive the failing fortunes of the neo-conservatives and the right-wing evangelicals. It is possible that Obama, fueled by the Wall Street economic scandal, will pull away, in which case everyone can vote their first preference. …
In the end, the only question in November is the basic question of which side you are on, a question that goes back decades and centuries and which this generation has the historic opportunity to answer.
Sapph’s take: I love ya, Tom, but you’re talking to the wrong audience. There’s no safer blue state for Obama than California, and my vote does not make a difference on anything but my state’s ballot measures. As I’ve said several times already, if there were any chance my vote would mean the difference between not-so-sucky Obama-Biden and hell-on-earth-whackjob-combo McCain-Palin, Obama would have my vote. But my vote will not affect the outcome of the 2008 presidential race, and so I am free — finally, gloriously free — to vote my head, my conscience, my clarity.
I would, however, urge swing-state third-party voters to heed your call. Where every vote counts, you are dead-on correct.
Stephen Dohnberg, “Cindy Sheehan Reveals Plan for New National Party, Reflects on Race Against Pelosi“:
Anti War activist and challenger for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional Seat (CD 8, California), Cindy Sheehan has indicated her intention to launch a National political party after the U.S. Election of Nov. 4 …While discussing a potential third party unity movement, Sheehan indicated that her own candidacy against House Speaker Pelosi has seen a broad coalition of support from Greens, independents, disillusioned Democrats such as herself (Sheehan left the Democratic Party in May of 2007 in response to the Democratic Party led House support for a funding bill to continue Iraq War funding), and Republicans, many of whom made up the traditional base of the GOP represented by Ron Paul.
Sheehan revealed that name of the new party would be The First Party. She reasoned “We don’t want to do third-party politics which has a stigma in the United States” The First Party, with a populist-progressive agenda, will be the first party that “cares about the people, will work for the people, and will actually be a viable party.”
“I have spoken to Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney and the Nader Campaign” and as disillusionment with the two party system increases,”this is the time to build on that energy.” …
…some public opinions of her ability to lead have changed, and could indicate a tipping point for the Sheehan Campaign. She notes that responses have been favourable pointing to an email she recently received,”Two weeks ago I thought you should be shot, but now I’m awake, I’m not going to be a slave anymore, and I support what you do.” …
Sapph’s take: I want to hear more. Somebody ask Cindy if we can talk on the phone for an hour. I want to see where this is going.
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With a gazillion and a half designs on the market, it’s not easy to create a T-shirt (or bumper sticker) that catches the eye of folks who know a thing or two about marketing such gear — so I was very pleased this evening to find my Sarah Palin Halloween T-shirt featured on the front page of CafePress.com:
Here’s The Scariest Costume I Could Find:
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Yes, the rest of the world agrees that Sarah Palin is an embarrassment of immeasurably colossal proportions.
Here’s just one example: a terrific op/ed from Martin Samuel in the Times Online:
Shallow, fake… Sarah Palin is beyond parody The kid-glove treatment of the Republican vice-presidential candidate is an insult to women
There is a time when it is necessary to take the gloves off and that time is right now, said Sarah Palin in Colorado. Interesting that she did not want the gloves off before her vice-presidential debate with Joe Biden. …
Meanwhile, the Republican lobby put pressure on the debate moderator not to go heavy on foreign policy, perhaps fearing that Palin would repeat her view that experience in this area was linked to proximity to a coastline, and expectations were lowered so that just avoiding intellectual humiliation would be seen as victory. And it worked. She got the name of the Nato commander in Afghanistan wrong and Biden smiled politely. … She failed to answer direct questions, while advancing a carefully moulded image as a straight-talking maverick, and it went unquestioned. Now, from a safe distance, Palin wants the gloves off. Of course she does, with no chance of instant scrutiny.
Palin is the queen of misinformation, delivered with faux folksiness as authentic as a three-dollar bill. She is not the pitbull in lipstick of popular myth; she is Deputy Dawg with a forked tongue, engaged in a war against intelligence. Those falling for this act are her collateral damage. Barack Obama did not pal around with terrorists. He did not vote to increase the tax burden on families making $42,000 a year, or vote 94 times to increase taxes. Palin’s statements on these subjects are not a reality bulletin from Main Street, Wasilla. Palin’s statements are lies. Madeline Albright did not speak of a place in Hell reserved for women who do not support other women. Palin misquoted her. Albright said help, not support. And there is no such place as Hell.
Even so, for those American women who worry that they risk damnation if they don’t vote the Republican ticket, it should be explained that eternity with a pitchfork impaled in your rear is still preferable to a vote for a politician who aided her political career by using her Down’s syndrome child to cover her daughter’s pregnancy bump. And it is at this point that we need to talk to the Democrat women considering joining Palin’s ranks and ask: what the hell is wrong with you? People were imprisoned and trampled to death by horses for this? They marched, they demonstrated, and for what? A vote cast on the basis of a Y chromosome? …
More of an excellent read at the link.
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