Website Follies

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 here and 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 state Alex 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.

What The Other Side Offers

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.

D.C. is like a giant high school

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!

Did These People Graduate High School?

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 really want to meet these idiots sometimes.