Thursday, August 28, 2008
John Kerry? Is that you? (1:22 pm)
Gotta say - I greatly enjoyed John Kerry’s speech last night. It was a complete transformation from ‘04. Here was an obviously intelligent man who was angry, sick of it all, and determined not to let Republicans win. He spoke with passion and conviction and rarely stuttered. Nor did he seem afraid of how his delivery would be “interpreted.”
So, that makes three formerly wooden politicians - Hillary, Kerry, and Gore - who, unfettered by the shackles of the Democratic campaign strategists around them, unfettered by the self-consciousness that so accursed their campaigns, found their convictions and voices and can now speak from their hearts. And they grabbed our attention with their freshness and honesty. Such a shame.
UPDATE: I’ve been reading that most networks cut away from Kerry’s speech to their vacuous analyst jabberjaws sitting around various tables discussing nothing. (This was not the case with my local PBS affiliate where the DNC’s been shown all week). Cutting away from a speech like this is downright irresponsible, risible, and a major shame. The total viewership should have been watching. He talks about ending torture, defending the constitution, and tears into John McCain for his battle cry - “Next stop - Baghdad!” - only a short time after 9/11. It rocks. Check it out.
UPDATE II: Perhaps the fact that Obama tapped John Kerry to speak at the convention - knowing he would say what he did - proves Obama does know how to fight, but that he is more adept, savvy, and artfulabout it than we know. Ever since the race speech he gave in Philadelphia I’ve contended that he is always 2 of 3 steps ahead of the analysts, pundits, and public. Perhaps what’s most important is that he surrounds himself with people who know how to fight and he lets them loose. I never would have thought of John Kerry as one of those people until last night…
posted by Jarrett | 1 comment
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Stop the compliments (6:26 pm)
Read Brian’s post below about appealing to the electorate’s anger. I agree. Why must every speech or valid criticism of McCain begin with “John McCain has served this country with honor and as a true patriot” or “John McCain is my friend and has served his country well…” It’s immediately defensive and weak. Could we please call for an Obama-campaign-wide moratorium on flattering remarks about McCain? Obama’s criticisms are tepid enough without these defusing preambles.
posted by Jarrett | 1 comment
Evening links - Alternet edition (6:17 pm)
Stories culled by Alternet:
-The Christian Right’s latest strategy for insinuating creationism into America’s classrooms.
-The case of the disappearing female film critic.
-10 mistakes Kerry made (among hundreds) that Obama should not repeat.
Remember to keep checking this blog and In These Times’ website for up-to-the-minute coverage of the DNC in Denver.
posted by Jarrett | start the discussion
Look Back In Anger (4:01 pm)
To piggyback on Jarrett’s post about fear, there’s another emotion that, while watching the DNC, I wish Democrats would play more to: Anger.
I happened to catch Biden’s speech in Springfield on Saturday and HRC’s (I thought, surprisingly good) speech on TV last night, and I noticed a commonality between them: Both made a point to mention that they consider John McCain a “friend,” before going on to list their policy disagreements with him. The mention of this “friendship” seems to connote that these disagreements stem “more in sorrow than in anger.” This rhetorical tactic strikes me as deeply, deeply stupid.
Let me state this as bluntly as I can: John McCain is a thieving SOB, a sort of Anti-Robin Hood who wants to continue using the tax code as a means to redistribute even more wealth ($190,000 each year) to the richest 0.1 percent of Americans. (Obama, by contrast, wants to raise taxes by about $800,000 for that 0.1 percent of Americans making more than $9.1 million a year, a more than fair amount that, as Leonhardt writes, “wouldn’t nearly reverse [this cohort’s] pretax income gains in recent years.”) McCain’s foreign policy is a mish-mash of neocon chest-thumping and imperial projection; basically, a recipe for endless war, even as he shortchanges U.S. veterans at home. He wants to treat women and gays as second-class citizens. His plan for healthcare reform would, somehow, be even worse than the status quo. If an industry (say, Big Oil) is willing to throw McCain a lavish-enough fundraiser, he is willing to change his policies toward that industry accordingly. He believes privatizing Social Security is a good idea. His plan for alleviating poverty? It’s nowhere to be found on his campaign’s website. That’s worth repeating: To John McCain, the day-to-day struggles of 37.3 million Americans simply do not exist.
Looking over these insane policies, what is the more proper response: Sorrow or anger? To me, the latter suggests a deeper commitment to those adversely affected by them. Sorrow conveys a wistful sense of regret, a “Oh-if-only-this-were-not-so!” response that deplores this reality, but at the same... read more
posted by Brian Cook | 1 comment
Pioneer of LGBT Rights Has Died (3:39 pm)
Del Martin died today.
For those of you who don’t recognize the name, you may remember the iconic photo of Del and her partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, on the front page of the New York Times after they became the first same-sex couple to marry in California on June 16.
Del was 87.
I had the privilege of hearing Del and Phyllis speak at a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force meeting in St. Louis a few years back. What stood out to me was how reluctant she and Phyllis were to being seen as heroes. They were just every-day folks, she had said.
But they were more than that. Del and Phyllis were pioneers, co-founding the nation’s first outspoken advocacy group for lesbians, the Daughters of Bilitis.
Phyllis issued this statement:
“I am so lucky to have known her, loved her and been her partner in all things. I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed.”
In honor of Del and the many other pioneers for equal rights, let’s hope California’s anti-gay Proposition 8 does not pass this November.
posted by Sanhita Sinharoy | start the discussion
Obama must play the fear card (1:20 pm)
Talking Points Memo posts Andrew Sullivan’s reaction today to the Lieberman/Graham op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and Sullivan’s comments cut right to the heart of what Obama must do in order to win:
John McCain is making it quite clear what his foreign policy will be like: tilting sharply away from the greater realism of Bush’s second term toward the abstract moralism, fear-mongering and aggression of the first. Not just four more years - but four more years like Bush’s first term. If the Democrats cannot adequately warn Americans of the dangers of a hotheaded temperament and uber-neo-con mindset in the White House for another four years, they deserve to lose. If Americans decide they want a president who will be more aggressive and less diplomatic than the current one, then they should at least brace for the consequences - for their economy and their security.
In my view, the fear card has only one truly compelling target in this election: McCain.
For my money, that last comment is where it’s at. Obama seems almost pathologically resistant to using hard-hitting tactics against McCain, including fear, due to his self-proclaimed commitment to the “new politics” he believes he’s engendering. But, this seems to me a short-sighted and self-destructive policy, particularly if the objective is to win. Obama’s revulsion towards the gruesome, fear-based campaigning of Bush, Cheney, and Rove is understandable, and the growth-stunting, mania-inducing prevalence of fear-mongering in our media is certainly something to be combated. But, as the Nirvana lyrics have it that ‘just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean I’m not after you,’ well, just because fear is a cruelly effective campaign tool doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to fear. I fear a John McCain presidency, particularly, as Sullivan notes, because it will be a rapid regression to the illogical, criminal, and reckless war-waging of Bush’s first term. I am afraid of that. More than fear itself.
I always contended during Kerry’s ‘04 campaign that he ought to use the very same tactics that Bush was using - fear of terrorism, fear of violence on American soil - but that,... read more
posted by Jarrett | start the discussion
Convention Dispatch: Schweitzer Hits the National Stage (12:23 pm)
When I first went out to Montana in 2000, most people I knew in politics had no idea who Brian Schweitzer was, much less that he had a shot to win a statewide office in the then-red Rocky Mountain West. When I told my book publisher I was going to devote a whole chapter in my new book to my time working with Schweitzer, they were intruiged. Now, thanks to Schweitzer’s Democratic convention speech last night, a lot of folks understand why I’ve always thought he was one of the most impressive progressive political leaders around.
You can watch Schweitzer’s speech on energy here:
The Los Angeles Times said Schweitzer “was the surprise hit of the party’s national convention” garnering “rave reviews for [the] rousing speech.” Newsweek called him the “highlight” of the night. And the Denver Post reported that CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin declared “Schweitzer the night’s real winner, the Barack Obama of ‘08, for his impassioned speech.”
With Barack Obama in Billings today for a campaign stop in Montana’s now-competitive presidential contest, the Illinois senator would do well to take some populist tips from Big Sky country’s governor. He might consider picking up this Washington Monthly piece I wrote about working on Schweitzer’s 2004 political campaign, or checking out The Uprising, which includes a whole chapter on the governor. The kind of rural populism and left-right coalition building that Schweitzer is pioneering may have gotten some national attention last night, but it’s been a powerful political force for a few years now.
posted by David Sirota | start the discussion
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Liveblogging—HRC (9:33 pm)
“No way. No how. No McCain.”
Hey, whatddya know? An actual stump speech! Decked in radioactive orange, HRC dropped the hammer, and the crowd ate it up. The string of McCain hits was great — as was the line on the Twin cities.
But the real question remains — how will Obama pull in the PUMAS??!?!?!
And with that, I’m out to find a free beer. Thanks for indulging me.
posted by Adam Doster | 1 comment
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