Being a former campaign staffer, I love to see what campaigns are coming in the next year. Examining campaign websites is always fun, and both democrats and republicans have equally bad websites. Here is a collection of some of the low-lights of some of the newer sites.
1. Give to Pat Toomey and the world will end I have no idea of Pat meant to make is sound like this, but Toomey started a money raising campaign, and he calls is "Toomsday." Click hereand see that from the name, apparently if Pat Toomey reaches his goal, the world will end. What an awful name for a fund raising campaign.
2. Free candy kids! Staying in Pennsylvania and the Senate race, Democratic Challenger Bill Kortz thought that using a scary mini-van to travel around would be more appealing than a tradition campaign bus. "Coming to a town near you!" I hope this comes with free candy for the kids! 3. Help Wanted If you cannot get Senior Staff on your campaign, that might tell you that no one believe is you as a candidate. Democratic candidate for Governor in Florida, Michael E. Arth, prominately displays that he is hiring campaign staff. Oh, and below it, there is an ask to donate. Yes, I really want to donate to a campaign, that can't even PAY people to work on it. I assuming that he has not hired a PR director yet.
4. Hey, let's take a picture in fron of some dead trees. Staying in the sunshine stateAlex Sink is running for governor, and has a nice looking website. But as the pictures rotate behind her image, there is a picture of the Everglades. Instead of looking full of life, they look like dead trees. I really get motivated seeing dead trees. Now I know, these trees are not dead, but the imagery is still there, and bad.
5. Glamor shot Missouri U.S. Senate Candidate, Chuck Purgason, has the best image oh himself on his website.
I don’t want to call the Republican response to President Obama’s health care speech a train wreck, but it was at least a derailment. As tradition states, the opposing party to the President gives an response, and Rep. Boustany’s attempt to rebut the President shows what the Republicans offer to this matter: nothing.
The Louisiana representative spoke about the Republican health care platform which includes eliminating pre-existing conditions, allowing individuals and business more options for health insurance (i.e. the exchange), providing assistance for people who cannot afford health care, and encouraging wellness and preventative care.
Sounds familiar right? Apparently Boustany and the GOP did not listen to a word President Obama said, because of the five solutions that Boustany presented, four of them were specifically included in Obama’s speech. But somehow there version is much better and bolder.
Does these similarities in the two platforms mean that the Republicans will work the President to get health care passed? He even said that, “Republicans have been ready for reform.” I would say hardly, especially after the actions that the GOP displayed during Obama’s speech.
For instance, many members could be seen texting during the address. Finding out what bar their colleagues were going to after the speech was more surely important than making sure insurance premiums are affordable to Americans. Some members were twittering during the address. Apparently finding out the latest news from Perez Hilton is more important than covering the uninsured. Finally, many Republicans looked like they were day dreaming. I guess pondering whether they were going to have steak or chicken when they returned home was more pressing than improving the quality of health care for Americans.
Furthermore, during the response, Rep. Boustany could not help but spread some of the lies we heard in August in his response Wednesday night. He tried to scare seniors into thinking that their Medicare benefits would be cut to pay for this plan. He said, “Replacing your family care with government care is not the answer.” Clearly not listening to the President’s speech about the public option, Boustany was attempting to, once again, put fear in the minds of the public.
Luckily, as with most responses to the President, this speech feel flat. It seemed as if Rep. Boustany did not even listen to the speech at all, and from the actions of his fellow colleagues, he probably didn’t.
Even though his speech was not a complete train wreck in itself, the performance of the Republican party was.
Oh, Glenn Beck. The more I hear about him, the more unbelievable he becomes. As reported, President Obama's "Green Jobs Czar" (Van Jones) has resigned because he called Republicans assholes, and over comments seemingly to be in favor of those 9/11 Conspiracy. No other station, except for Fox News, cared about this topic, but guess who started this story to get rid of the 'czar'? Glenn Beck.
No, Beck and Co. pushing for the removal of Van Jones is not that interesting. I am sure they will try to remove everyone in the Obama Administration. That is just a given and it seems that Beck and Co. have won. So why am I writing about this? Because of a little story written by Michael Calderone of The Politico .
Remember when I posted about Beck losing advertisers on his show? Well one of the main groups who was leading this charge to stop advertisers from support Beck's show was ColorofChange. Here is when it gets good. Who was the co-founder of ColorofChange? You guessed it, Van Jones!
I am not sure why I am shocked by the current states of things. I do not understand why my jaw drops when I read things like this. And I wish I would stop getting upset when I hear these stories.
I am talking about conservatives being upset about President Obama's planned speech to children in schools next year. They claim that the President is going to "indoctrinate" students with a political message. Of course, they through out the "socialism," "marxist," and Hitler claims.
Here is what the speech is supposed to be about according to Mediamatters.com:
In a recent interview with student reporter, Damon Weaver, President Obama announced that on September 8 -- the first day of school for many children across America -- he will deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of education. The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.
Doesn't seem too bad? Right? To be perfectly honest, that is not where the people are wigging out about. It was about and OPTIONAL set of activities that teachers could CHOOSE to do. One of the most controversial activities was "How can you help out the President?" Now, if the speech was about health care, taxes, or some sort of political issues, then that question would be inappropriate. But I have a sense that these people who are upset by this question did not do well in school, because they did not have the mindset to figure out what the answer to aquestion like "How you could help the President" in a speech about STAYING IN SCHOOL and WORKING HARD IN SCHOOL could be about.
Abortion? no, Health care? that does not make sense. Taxes? Unlikely. Maybe the answer has do with making sure you work hard in school, stay in school, and value your education.
I never thought I'd say that there might be someone worse than Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, and I wont. But current gubernatorial candidate from VA, Robert McDonnell is reaching the absurdity that Ricky currently holds.
Washington Post writer Staff Writer Amy Gardner writes an enlightening piece about McDonnell and his views written in a 1989 Master's Thesis. According to Gardner, McDonnell, "...criticized federal tax credits for child care expenditures because they encouraged women to enter the work force" (A6). Wow. Hello 1950s. With McDonnell stuck in a Leave it to Beaver time warp, I am sure he just loved the 60s and 70s. Oh wait, he didn't. Garnder writes that he called feminism "...the 'real enemies of the traditional family'" (A6). It seems that he believed the family values mantra, but to takes it to Santorum levels.
And in pure Ricky fashion, McDonnell went after the gays. The article states, "McDonnell was widely quoted at the time saying that homosexual activity raised questions about a persons qualifications about being a judge" (Gardner, A6).
To be fair, he and his campaign has retracted the statements, saying that he has changed his mind. I cannot make that judgment about his beliefs now, but as Sirius Black says in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, "No one, no one, stops being a Death Eater!"
The Politico published an article about Rudy Giuliani running for NY Governor. All I have to say is he better not hire the same strategist that he hired for his 2008 Presidential Campaign. Yeah, that big-state-Florida-primary solution worked out well.
I am not sure why I have not blogged about Glenn Beck before, but I saw an article by Politico.com that spoke about Beck's latest advertisement woes. According to Michael Calderone Beck has lost over 30 advertisers from his 5pm program. According to the AP, "A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck's show."
Remember when Glenn was on CNN a few years ago? I couldn't tell, at first, what his political leanings were. To be honest, he seemed just like a constant whiner that complained about everything. To see a humorous take of his CNN days, just search The Daily Show website for Stewart's take. Regardless, toward the ends of his CNN days he became more right-centered, and not surprisingly he switched to FOX.
Glenn Beck is more extreme and dangerous than Bill O'Reilly. He became more outrageous when he switched over to Fox from CNN like a closet high school drinker who finally can drink as much PBR as he wants when he finally goes to college. Furthermore, Glenn equals the delusion that Hannity exhibits on a nightly basis. O'Reilly might be loud, brash, and flips out whenever his tele-prompter breaks, but he wouldn't call Pres. Obama a racist or joke about poisoning Nancy Pelosi. Also, he behaves on other talk shows like The Daily Show when he called a teddy bear a panda or even The View. As for Glenn Beck, let's just say even Elisabeth Hassleback wasn't too pleased with Mr. Beck. Youtube that one!
Another interesting thing about this whole thing is that Wal-Mart has pulled its ads from his show. Since when did Wal-Mart become anti-right wing?! Wal-Mart!? This is the store that still censors Britney Spears cds.
Oddly enough I have relocate back to D.C. on the Red Line. Being back in Washington just brings back tons of reasons to post again, so here we go.
I want to revisit a long time foe of mine, The American Family Association. Their website was down for months, but now its back, and more ridiculous than ever. It is clear that they have joined the 'anti-obama' line of attack, just like all the others. The page shows blasts the President as a socialist and that his care will hurt senior citizens. The lies all to prevalent, but in classic AFA style, they have to blame it on the gays.
On the subject of what government health care they say:"To force Americans, against their conscience, to fund abortion on demand and to facilitate gender confusion by subsidizing the elective practice of genital ‘sex-change’ mutilation is unconscionable." Typical AFA scare tactics.
Furthermore, why does the Right still have such a hardon for Ronald Reagan. I mean during the election, Reagan's name was everywhere, and it continues to this day. The afa has a section on its front page where Mr. Reagan spoke against socialized medicine. How sad is it that the far right still can't find a legit leader, and they have to rely on a past president. Kinda embarrassing at this point.
Wow, that was quick! Pres. Obama gets to make a his first Supreme Court nomination, but I am actually not excited. Justice Souter was one of the most liberal members of the Court, therefore this replacement CANNOT move the court more to the left than it already is. Not too comforting.
This pick is dangerous, because there is little to gain and a lot to loose. To prove this, lets look at the Souter appointment during the first Bush Admin. Souter was known as a "stealth" justice, because he had little paper trail. Bush I, a known conservative, obviously wanted to move the Court farther to right, and Souter was his choice. As we learned, he was obviously was wrong. Bush thought he was getting a conservation and didn't.
This could happen with Pres. Obama. And with little chance to move the Court more left, the odds are that the Court could move more right with an incorrect appointment. Scary.
Do you hear that nagging noise that the Rep. Party is trying to avoid. It's their wake-up call to the demise of their party. And today, it went up 10 decibels and moderate Senator, Arlen Specter (PA) moved to the Democratic Party. First, let me saw that Specter is not my favorite Senator, and just because he now has a 'D' in front of his name, will not mean he will be the biggest cheerleader of Democrats. But this can ONLY help the Democrats, and this ONLY hurts the Republicans.
As I heard this news, I wondered how the GOP would react. Here is what Michael Steele said according to CNN.com:
"Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not," Steele said in a written statement. "Let's be honest -- Sen. Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record." Steele said Republicans "look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first."
What a shock! The GOP misses everything significant about this action by Specter. Steele is right, Specter left because he cannot win. And the leader of the RNC should be concerned why a moderate Republican could not win in a blue state, but instead he attacks him. The GOP should be concerned that moderates Republicans are a dying breed, and there party will continue to be insignificant if it remains on its uber-conservative course. Specter would not win the GOP nomination as a moderate Rep but will win PA as a conservative Dem, and that is a HUGE problem for the GOP. The Republicans insistence on staying super-conservative is hurting them, and the Specter spectacles is glaring example.
Look for more to leave, and until the GOP wakes up and realizes they need to change, they are going to loose more and more people.
I was not even going to write about Miss California's gay marriage response during the Miss USA pageant, but it surprisingly has gotten a lot of press. First, I, of course, do not agree with her response, but that does not really matter. She gave her a well formulated answer to a controversial question. So what? Well, the right is no hailing her as a hero. Next thing you are going to here Palin/Miss California 2012. Since when does Miss USA contestants political heroes. I guess the right needs anyone they can get at this point.
But let me say, to give that response in front of Perez Hilton is ballsy. I like her. I don't agree with her, but she has some courage to give that answer in that atmosphere. Good for her.
But why are people shocked that she might've lost because of it. This is a competition that is judged on people's looks, and how they look in a bikini. I mean, come on, this is not the most fair competition to begin with. If Miss USA wants a girl who looks flawless in a 2 piece, that is there prerogative. If Miss USA wants a pro-gay marriage winner, well that is there prerogative.
I find it interesting people are so up in arms with this, on both sides.
True conservatives thought that President Obama would be their worst nightmare during the election. Wow, I do not know if Pres. Obama is doing it on purpose, but lately it seems that he has been doing things to intentionally piss them off.
He first goes to Europe and does the opposite that President Bush did and admits that the U.S. might've made some mistakes in the past. To our friends on the right who believe the U.S. can do no wrong, they were obviously pissed. I even heard someone call his European trip the "Dixie Chicks Apology Tour." Wow, could the far right be even more out-of-touch of what most Americans feel. The Bush doctrine has tarnished our image abroad, and heaven forbid we admit, maybe, Iraq was wrong.
Next, the infamous photo of Obama "bowing" to Saudi royalty. To me, it looked like he was showing respect, but apparently that is not right to do according to some. Soon after North Korea tested a missile. Obama correctly reprimanded the North Koreans, and also tried to get other U.N Nations on his side. Not good enough, apparently the right wanted him to invade the country after a missile launch as successful as a my model rockets in cub scouts (I was only in cub scouts for 2 years).
Finally, Obama tried to make nice with the one of the most hated person, according to the right. CHAVEZ! Shaking his hand was the kiss of death apparently.
Obama is really bringing in some change and is giving some fits. I love it!
I wanted to take a few days before I talked about these conservative tea parties, mostly because the Penguins started the playoffs. I have many random thoughts about these events and here we go.
First, these were clearly anti-Obama protests. Many admitted this, including my best friend Sean Hannity. Most of the picket signs were anti-Obama, and most of the participants had harsh messages toward our President. I, personally, do not have a problem with people protesting Obama. I do not agree with their views, but I am glad to see conservatives actually doing something other than bitch on talk show radio.
Second, this WAS organized. To say the 250,000 people got together all around the country was not organized is bullshit. I do not understand why no one is not taking a ton of credit for this because it is something I would take credit for doing. But lets just say this wasn't ogranized all that well, and people just showed up to hold up anti-Obama signs. If this is supposed to be a grassroots movement, the conservatives lost a golden opportunity to move forward. Did they get all 250,000 people to give there phone numbers, e-mails, and addresses? If not, what a waste. I doubt even conservatives would be that stupid, so YES, this was organized.
If you are a conservative, you should be pleased with these tea parties. They got national attention and 250,000 showed up (double the amount of people who go see Penn St. football games in Happy Valley). But that does not mean it was good for the GOP. The GOP is knee deep in the spending, the deficit, and taxes. The American public is not stupid. They realize that the GOP is to blame as well, and are just hiding behind and blaming a Democratic President. And with Obama's popularity still high, it is a dumb tactic.
We will see if anything comes from these tea parties. It was a good start for conservatives, but if they continue to focus on anti-Obama things only, they will likely fizzle out in importance.
Moving on, Rick Perry, governor of Texas, thought it would be a good idea to bring of succession from the Union. What a douche. Obviously, the fall out has been huge and he has gone back on these remarks. The thing that irks me the most is not his idiotic comments, but the way conservative commentators are backing him up. Last night Sean Hannity defended Perry and these dumb remarks. Now, could you imagine if a blue state's governor, like NY, even joked about succession during the Bush Admin. Holy shit, Sean Hannity would've been sent into a coma in anger. Hypocrisy at its best!
I cannot believe that I am sitting here watching Hannity on Fox News. But CNN just sucks until Anderson Cooper comes on, and it is more fun to watch people who I disagree with, so Hannity it is.
Today, President Obama gave a major economic speech, and the economy is the major issue for all Americans. What does Hannity focus on? Culture stuff! He talked to Dr. James Dobson for 25 minutes about whether the U.S. is a Christian nation, gay marriage and abortion. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ NO ONE CARES Sean Hannity!
Sean Hannity will constantly bring up Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers to try to make the claim that Pres. Obama is anti-American. I am not going to spend anytime debunking Hannity, because only crazy people believe this. Why I am bringing this up is because his actions are bad for the Republican Pary and conservatives. When will conservatives realize that culture topics will not get them votes anymore? Calling Democrats baby killers might have been effective 10 years ago, but not now. Whether fair or not, we had that kind of dialogue for the last 8 years and look at the mess we are in. The GOP needs to take a note for Barack Obama and CHANGE!
But unfortunately they are continually going in the wrong direction. On Tax Day they having Tax Tea parties, which are really just conservatives that are still pissed they got clobbered in last 2 elections. Fox News is promoting this events like the station is hosting the events. They are having them to protest big government, massive government spending, and higher taxes. Where were these Tea Parties when President Bush was office? Where were these TP's when Bush turned a surplus into a deficit? Where were these TP's when Bush signed No Child Left Behind and government assisted Prescription Drug program for seniors?; two large government programs? Where were these TP's when Bush proposed TARP?
These occasions are nothing but anti-Obama gatherings and are bad for Conservatives. America is sick of this type of behavior and does not want to hear this rhetoric anymore. Who is a main headliner at the Atlanta TP? Joe the Plumber ARE YOU JOKING!? You really want to start a movement with Joe the Plumber?! What a joke.
And that is what the GOP is right now, a joke.
So, what is wrong with conservatives? For starters, they don't have a message. Some are trying to use lower taxes and smaller government, but with their behavior in the last 8 years, it has become unbelievable. Some are still using Culture issues (Fox News commmentors), and that is not working. Some are just anti-Obama and that is not going to work when Pres. Obama still has high approval ratings. This problem is one of the main reason why the McCain Campaign failed because no one knew what it stood for. What does the GOP stand for? Not many Americans know and they won't vote for you if they don't know what you stand for.
The GOP needs a leader! Who leads the party now? Limbaugh? O'Reilly? Beck? Coulter? Hannity? Steele? Palin? There is not a leader and until the GOP gets one, they can watch states go blue. What's next, Montana?
Gay marriage is back in the spotlight. Well probably for only a short time, it has made headlines around the nation with the decisions of the Iowa Supreme Court and Vermont State legislation. With two huge defeats, anti-gay marriage activists are pulling out the stops in their latest attempt to stop the recently created same-sex marriage (SSM) momentum.
By saying “pulling out the stops,” I mean using going back-in-time and reviving the old mantra that “gays are scary” and the GLBT community will invade your town and causing horrific damage to your lives.You just need to look at the newest anti –SSM ad produced by the National Organization for Marriage.The NOM has launched a $1.5 million campaign to, as they claim, “…protect marriage and religious liberty throughout the nation.” That is unless you’re gay of course.There ad, shamelessly titled “A Gathering Storm” shows a wide diverse of people scared of the gay marriage movement. It features citizens horribly photo-shopped in front of storm clouds with the first line of the ad claiming “There’s a storm coming” and “I am afraid.” Translation is “gays scare me” My favorite portions is when a woman claims that same-sex couples have not been “content” with living together how they want. Another translation is “well, we aren’t allowed to arrest them anymore for being gay, what else do they want?” I guess they can thank Lawrence v. Texas for that set-back.
This advertisement is desperate and laughable. It tries, once again, to link gay marriage to ruining the lives of straight people, which makes no sense. Someone Jake marrying Mike is going to ruin the rights and liberty of Mary and John. Honestly, you could EASILY switch a few words and phrases and make this a pro-SSM marriage ad.
After watching this ad, I decided to poke around that the NOM for marriage sight, and their old-fashion way of ‘fighting’ SSM, which are starting not work, are still being in use. I decided to click on the “Talking Points” of the site, because this is where you will get a good sense of what the message of the campaign really is. It starts off with a bang:
“..the single most effective message is:
"Gays and Lesbians have a right to live as they choose, they don’t have the right to redefine marriage for all of us."
Very similar to the NOM ad, in-which NOM points out that we aren’t allowed to arrest two men for having sex together anymore, so why are they complaining? Apparently that should be enough for the GLBT community. What a joke.
Another interesting talking point:
Language to avoid at all costs: "Ban same-sex marriage." Our base loves this wording. So do supporters of SSM. They know it causes us to lose about ten percentage points in polls. Don’t use it. Say we’re against “redefining marriage” or in favor or “marriage as the union of husband and wife” NEVER “banning same-sex marriage.”
This is a smart move on NOM’s part because what it does is it shifts the victim from the GLBT community (you know the ones who are being discriminated against) to NOM followers. NOM does not want to sound like they hate gays or our trying to discriminate them, they want to blame gays for trying to change marriage or probably ruining society. BUT what this wording shows is that anti-SSM is on the defensive, and not winning the battle anymore. A good sign for the GLTB community.
NOM is on the defensive, and their latest tactic are proof of that.
