Author: Populista

Michelle Bachmann has turned into quite a hot topic here in the netroots after her disgraceful performance on Hardball that that you can watch for yourself here.

It’s hard to even begin on how horrifying that McCarthyesque, hateful interview was. But a lot of us Minnesotans have known about Michelle Bachmann and her hateful, extreme ways for years. Thankfully we’ve got a real shot at beating her this year, and you can help send her and her hateful brand of politics packing. Keep reading to find out how!
The Bachmann Record:
First a little more about Michelle Bachmann and why it is so critical that we win this race. You already know about her shameful performance on Hardball. But Michelle Bachmann has been embarrassing Minnesotans for a long time on a lot more then just that.

Blames Economic Woes on Minorities:
Just recently she blamed the financial crises on minorities,

Anti-Gay Zealot:
She was Minnesota’s leading anti-gay politician and now she’s a favorite of the anti-gay movement. When there was a march for GLBT rights on the day the Minnesota legislature voted down a hateful anti-gay constitutional amendment of hers she literally hid in the bushes and spied on them, I’M NOT KIDDING! During her rallies for her hateful amendment people carried signs calling for the murder of gay and lesbian people and she’s since said she’s proud of that rally.

Energy Dumb:
Bachmann is a global warming denier despite all the evidence out there. She also thinks if those horrible Democrats didn’t take over Congress gas would magically be 2 dollars a gallon. Yes she’s from the “Drill Baby Drill” school of thought.

Worst Person in the World:
Michelle has been appearing frequently on Keith Olbermann’s Worst Person in the World segment for over two years now. Here was her first time

and here is her latest

If you want to know more about why we need to Dump Bachmann head over to the good folks at Dump Bachmann who have been working hard to do just that since before she was even in Congress!

Send El to Congress!

Photo by Aaron Landry
Thankfully we’ve got someone great running to replace her. Elwyn Tinklenberg. El was a city councilman and mayor of Blaine (a big city in the district), Minnesota Transportation Commissioner and is currently president of the The Tinklenberg Group a transportation consulting firm. He’s a big advocate for public transit, strongly pro-union and for smart economic policies, supports universal healthcare, is for ending the war in Iraq and is a strong advocate for a transition alternative energy and a green economy.  

But he win?

Yes! A recent poll showed him only 4 points behind Bachmann or within the margin of error with 15 percent undecided. El’s got a perfect profile for the district but while Bachmann has raised 2 million as of the end of Q3 Tinklenberg has only managed to raise 1 million. In short, he needs our help to get his message out and win.

So donate!
Every little bit counts.

I set up a fundraising page with a goal of 10,000 so we can show Michelle Bachmann that we reject her politics of hate and so we can tell El Tinklenberg and his campaign that we embrace his politics of hope.

So donate to El Tinklenberg!

If Bachmann wins this race it will be a lot harder to beat her in the future and her politics of hate and fear could be in Congress for a generation. This is our best shot to prevent that. Michelle Bachmann is a disgrace to Minnesota and decent people everywhere in our nation.

So please, please. Donate to El Tinklenberg.

Originally posted at The Populista Report

Today is Ashwin Madia Blog Day and so as a supporter from pretty much the day the primary field settled. I thought I’d post a little bit about why I’ve been part of Madiamania for so long. It shouldn’t be two hard beacuse two blogs today, Ashin’s in The Hill and Howie Klein’s on DownWithTyranny, have spelled out my main reason pretty well. I’ve supported Ashwin Madia since the start beacuse he has courage.

Today in a blog for The Hill  Ashwin summed it up in one line

It’s time for a little more bravery in Washington.

Ashwin Madia has the courage to take on the war’s biggest cheerleader, Joe Lieberman

Today, the Republican Party announced that the loudest defender of status quo policies on Iraq, Senator Joe Lieberman, will be a prominent speaker at the Republican National Convention in my home state of Minnesota. Senator Lieberman and I do have one thing in common. We’ve both changed political parties. I left the Republican Party in 2002 after it replaced “balance our budget” with “borrow and spend” and after we started a war without a plan for success; a war we did not need.

With all respect to Senator Lieberman, talking tough about Iraq is not brave. Bravery is not demonstrated through words but instead through action.

Ashwin Madia has the courage to oppose the recent FISA bill.

I am troubled by the House passage of HR 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. There is much we can do to prevent terrorism, but such measures do not require the sacrifice of fundamental constitutional freedoms which our country was founded upon. This legislation demonstrates the need for leaders in Congress who have experience in the military and in Iraq, and who value the rule of law as we fight the War on Terror.

Ashwin Madia has the courage to stand for full equality for all Americans.

Ever since the start of my campaign, I have been reaching out to members of the LGBT community in Minnesota. That’s because I strongly believe in full equal rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

As a Marine Corps lawyer who served in Iraq, I was one of first attorneys to successfully defend a gay Marine from discrimination in the military. It wasn’t easy to stand in front of a jury made up of other U.S. Marines and argue against the military’s bigoted and shameful “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but I was more than willing to do so. I would I would be proud to serve alongside anyone brave enough to put on the uniform.

As someone with a brother who is gay, I would advocate passionately for passage of a federal hate crimes law that recognizes the disproportionate number of threats on a daily basis faced by members of the LGBT community. Existing law already extends legal protections for a number of vulnerable minority communities. Every day that we do not have this protection, LGBT individuals remain at risk.

I support same-sex marriage and full equality under the law. Civil unions fall short and seem to be a way for politicians to avoid recognizing all people as equal.

Lastly, it is unacceptable that our nation continues to allow a form of discrimination to exist in the workplace based on a characteristic that is just as inherent as sex, race, or disability. I support efforts to prohibit job discrimination.

I’m running for an open seat which had been held by a moderate Republican. But my opponent, State Representative Erik Paulsen, has been a vehement opponent of equal rights for LGBT Minnesotans for more than a decade. He led the fight in 2004, and again in 2006, to write discrimination into the Minnesota state constitution. He even voted to prevent equal benefits from being provided to domestic partners of state employees even though many of Minnesota’s largest employers already have policies that promote equality.

I have been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign and by Minnesota’s Stonewall DFL (Democrats). I hope you will consider supporting my campaign in the coming days and weeks. We need pragmatic problem solving not people who put their political ideology ahead of principles. It’s time for a few more patriots in Congress and a few less politicians.

::

Those are just three examples to give you a idea of what Ashwin is about. Ashwin is a fighter, if we send him to Washington he will not disappoint.

Here’s a great video of Ashwin

We won’t get a great progressive like that in Washington by wishing for it. We’ve got to work for it.

Want courage in Washington? Donate.

That’s right. Yesterday at a debate between Rep. Virgil Goode of Virgina’s 5th district and his Democratic challenger Tom Perriello Goode said this

“And they want me out of Congress, the liberal Democrats want me out. And they want me out because I’m a conservative voice, if we can silence that person that’s exactly what we want, we want more mushers up here  in Congress that won’t speak out and stand out. They want a Obamajority in this country, Tom is on the Obamajority list for the US House of Representatives, they want to get him in there because they know he is going to be voting with them. They want to control the White House, 60 votes in the US Senate and a strong majority in the US House of Representatives.”

Goode is famous for using bogeymen to scare people, he attacked Rep. Keith Ellison for being a Muslim and repeated tall tales about China that even Dick Cheney said where false.

Now he’s found a new bogeymen. He’s attacking the Obamajority, an ActBlue page started by a 14 year old blogger–me.
That’s right, back in March I started an ActBlue page, “The New Obamajority”. After asking for suggestions I added Tom Perriello to the page. Apparently the 587 dollars we raised from 12 donors over the internet terrified Goode so much that he decided to attack a internet fundraising page in his closing remarks at a key debate in his race.

That internet fundraising page is even more terrifying to Goode because it was started by me, a 14 year old blogger with close to no political experience before two years ago. I’m trembling in my boots!

Personally I don’t think 587 bucks is anything to be scared about. If I were Goode I would be more worried about the fact that he’s getting outraised by Perriello. But I say we give him something to really be scared about.

I’m setting a goal of getting to 50 donors for Perriello on the Obamajority page to send Goode packing.

Donate to Tom Perriello

Goode doesn’t seem to like “mushers” which is odd because it is the name of people who race dogs similar to dogsled racing, I guess Goode has a problem with mushing, maybe if we retire him he’ll have enough free time to try out mushing and maybe he’ll learn to love it.

Goode for Musher! Donate now.

It’s also a good excuse to donate to a terrific progressive candidate who will help build a Obamajority and will fight for our values. He helped develop the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, helped found the people powered group Avaaz.org and is a strong believer in conviction politics.  

Donate for People-Powered Conviction Politics

Also, Goode came close to breaking a secret I’ve been keeping. Tom will not be voting with “them” as Goode said, he will be personally calling me up before each vote and asking me how to vote. In fact, he got me a slick new phone for that purpose.

Let me assure you of this, Tom will march lock step with the powerful Teenage Blogger Caucus!  

Donate to Tom

We’ve got a goal, we’ve got a teenage blogger attacking congressmen, we’ve got a terrific candidate to replace him.

Now time for action! It’s time to make a difference and let’s do it. Let’s use the super-powerful Obamajority internet fundraising page to elect Tom Perriello and say “Goodbye” to Virgil Goode. We can use the series of tubes to make a difference!

Send a donation through the series of tubes!

Donate

Over the last few days the McCain camp has started to get desperate with all the good news for Obama. So what does a campaign run by the architect of negative campaigning do?

Do some good ‘ole negative campaigning of course. Here’s a recap.

Attack Ads:

First he attacks Obama on foreign policy releasing this ad

FactCheck.org quickly debunks it.

So he tries again. This time on gas prices

Whoops, FactCheck.org calls it a “A Full Tank of Nonsense”

McCain subsequently gets mocked for the ad

RNC/McCain Attacks Obama’s Patriotism:

Today the RNC released this smear ad

Obama’s campaign quickly shot back against this misleading attack.

“There are honest differences between Senator Obama’s position on Iraq and Senator McCain’s, but there’s no question that both support our troops. Under the RNC’s definition, John McCain would have also chosen politics over our military when he urged George Bush to veto funding for the troops, and we know that’s not the case.

This is the sort of distasteful and misleading attack from the Rove playbook that the American people are tired of, that does nothing to give our troops the equipment they need, and distracts from the honest debate we should be having about how we can keep the country secure.”

Calling names:

When your false attacks are not working, what do you do? Try to win a campaign on the issues? Nope.

Imply that your opponent is a socialist.

Politicizing the Holocaust:
Today Barack Obama stopped by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem to pay his respects.

What does the McCain camp do? Try to score cheap political points. Rep. Robert Wexler quickly responded.

“It’s shameful and unconscionable that the McCain campaign is using Senator Obama’s somber visit to Israel’s Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem as a backdrop to score cheap political points instead of focusing on the security needs of the nation.”

Obama “Choosing to lose Iraq War”
First on Sunday top McCain surrogate Joe Lieberman tried out this attack. Then today in Rochester, New Hampshire McCain said this:

This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

TIME’s Joe Klein had this to say

This is the ninth presidential campaign I’ve covered. I can’t remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad.

…

There is a reason why politicians who want to be President don’t say these sort of things: It isn’t presidential.

Klein also took his case to CNN

I think this cartoon pretty much sums it up

McCain’s campaign has discovered that the American people have a “bias towards Obama” so they are lashing out with misleading negative attacks straight out of the Rove playbook. And it’s only July!

So what can we do to help fight back?

We can fight back with the Obamathon!

The Obamathon is currently at $61,511. Can we get to $70,000 and give the campaign the resources t hey need to fight back against these Rovian attacks? I think we can. One thing is for sure. We can’t sit idly by while McCain lashes out with this outrageous attacks. It’s time to do something.

Donate, sign up for a event, volunteer, register voters, sign up to counter smears.

Whatever you do. Make sure you

GET ACTIVE!

YES. WE. CAN.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. – Barack Obama

Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it’s not a white issue, it’s not a black issue, it’s not a South or a North or an East or a West issue. It’s an issue that all of us have a stake in – Barack Obama

Contrary to reports of my untimely demise I am still here I just have been having problems coming up with stuff to write about. I’ve written a lot of diaries on Obama’s platform but there is one issue that I have not written about much. And it’s a very, very important issue. A little something called our environment. Barack Obama has been a champion of the environment for a long time. In this diary I will take a look at his background on this issue and plans for moving our country and environment forward.
Obama’s green past:

Early life and State Senate
Barack Obama isn’t new to working on the environment. During his undergrad days at Colombia Obama did a three-month stint with a Ralph Nader offshoot group trying to get minority students at City College in Harlem to recycle. As a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago Obama fought for lead abatement in the Altgeld Gardens project. Obama’s fought for the environment long before he got into politics.

When he did enter politics as a state senator Obama dove right into the tough environmental issues of the day. Here is a quote that Jack Darin, leader of the Sierra Club in Illinois gave to Grist Magazine

He’s an incredibly quick study. He’s not a scientist, but remarkably adept at analyzing the details of complex environmental issues, asking the right questions, and ultimately making the right policy decision for public interest.

That showed in his voting record. Illinois Environmental Council gave Obama a 100 Percent Environmental Voting Record Award in 2003, he was one of only six state senators to receive that award. When he ran for Senate the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters endorsed him over half a dozen other candidates who all seemed more likely to win the Democratic primary. In 2004 the LCV named him a 2004 Environmental Champion, one of 18 sitting and prospective members of Congress to receive the award. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

U.S. Senate
Once Obama got to the US Senate he didn’t waste any time getting to work fighting for the environment. He fought against lead paint, he introduced the Fuel Economy Reform Act which lead to the increase in CAFE standards that was passed into law last summer, he introduced the Oil SENSE Act to strip subsides from the oil companies which was later passed by the House and worked with clean energy hero Rep. Jay Inslee to introduce the inovative Health Care for Hybrids Act just to name a few things.

In the 109th Congress Obama earned a 96% score from the League of Conservation Voters

Obama’s plan for a green future:

Obama laid out his platform on the environment in a speech last October. Here are a few key points.

–100% Auction Cap and Trade Plan to Reduce Emissions 80 Percent by 2050:

Obama’s plan would implement a cap and trade program that would reduce emissions to where the science says they need to be, 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. He would do this by auctioning off all of the credits from the cap and trade program instead of giving them right back to the Big Oil and Coal companies which is the problem with other cap and trade programs. This will make polluters pay. The revenue (30-50 billion a year) will go towards helping consumers with the economic transition, helping the development and deployment of clean energy and investing in energy efficiency.

Businesses don’t own the sky, the public does, and if we want them to stop polluting it, we have to put a price on all pollution. It’s time to make the cleaner way of doing business the more profitable way of doing business. – Barack Obama

–25 by 25 Renewable Portfolio Standard:

Obama would implement a requirement that 25 percent of the electricity in the United States would come from renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal by the year 2025. This would spur huge investment in green energy sources and create tons of new jobs as well as reduce emissions.

–Energy Efficiency

Improving energy efficiency is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce emissions. Obama would set a  national goal of reducing the energy intensity of our economy 50% by 2030. That’s very ambitious but it is needed. To do this he’d phase out the inefficient incandescent light bulb technology, invest in a digital smart grid, require all buildings be carbon neutral by 2030 and make the largest consumer of energy in America (the federal government) become a leader in energy efficiency among other things.

–Becoming Energy Independent

Obama’s plan would reduce oil consumption by at least 35%, or 10 million barrels per day, by 2030. That would more than offset the equivalent of oil we are expected to import from OPEC nations in 2030 and would significantly reduce emissions. To do that he would raise fuel-economy standards for automobiles to 40 miles per gallon and light trucks to 32 mpg by 2020, increase funding for mass transit and bikes and help bring advanced vehicles such as plug-in hybrids and electric cars to the market.

–Making the U.S. a Global Leader on Climate Change
And finally and possibly most importantly Barack Obama would reengage the USA with the rest of the word on climate change and work to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Treaty that tackles the challenge of the climate crises head on and brings the whole world together as part of the solution.

……….

Barack Obama understands the pressing challenges to our environment and he has strong plans to deal with them. It’s personal to Obama, his daughter Malia has chronic asthma. Obama will be a leader on this pressing issue. Just take a look at what Mark Longabaugh, senior vice president for political affairs at LCV had to say about Obama to Grist.

Obama is by far one of the most compelling and knowledgeable politicians on the environment I’ve ever sat in a room with, I’ve been playing national politics for more than 20 years and I quite literally can’t remember one person I’ve met — even on a national level — who was more in command of facts, more eloquent, and more passionate on these issues than Sen. Obama.

I don’t know about you but that’s the kind of person I want in the White House.

Let’s make it a reality.

Get involved.

Donate

Respect. Empower. Include.

Yes. We. Can.

Last night I posted a call to action after one of the most unfair and uninformative debates ever. It got a overwhelming response and tons of donations poured in. But we can’t just do that for one night. We have primaries to win still and we need to keep the focus on action up. We still need to be taking action. Calling voters in PA. Traveling to PA for GOTV. Donating to the campaign so they have the resources to win. Doing whatever you can. And so I bring you the third day of Obama Action Week.
To get you all fired up and ready to go here is a fantastic video I have just stumbled upon.

It isn’t emending very well so if you want to see it then go here.

I think that video captures very well the spirit of this grassroots campaign. It is well worth 10 minutes of your time.  

Another one of my favorite and inspiring videos from this campaign is the amazing story of Joshua Stroman.

I think those videos are really representative of the amazing enthusiasm and grassroots energy we have seen in this campaign. It is Obama’s Army, or as I like to call it, his Machinery of Hope, that has gotten us this far. That’s us. We have gotten him from here:

To were we are today. Millions strong. No one would have guessed we would come this far but we’ve proved them wrong. And that’s why the talking heads are on the attack. But we will see worse then this. This is just the Democratic primary. After that comes the general election were we will face John McSame and the same kind of Karl Rove style-swift boating that they always give us. But worse. We will have to fight back again and again. But we are going to do that by taking action. Knocking on doors. Calling people. Donating. Organizing. Traveling. We will fight back and we will take this country back for the people. That is the long term goal. But we need to take it day by day and the next short term focus that we have is Pennsylvania. It would take a miracle to win but we have done it before, the least we can do is keep it close.  

Let’s make it happen. Hit the phones. Hit the road. Hit the donate button.

If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress. – Barack Obama

Yes. We. Can.

MAKE CALLS – TRAVEL – DONATAE

Tonight we saw one of the biggest “gotcha politics” debates yet. The moderators seemed set on destroying Obama by using trivial matters to play “gotcha!” Tonight we also saw why Barack Obama is the right canidate for president. Tonight he showed why he is the right canidate to take on John McCain and the right canidate to turn around our country. Because he fought back by talking about what Americans care about. The issues.

Time and time again the moderators tried to use trivial matters to divide us and time and time again Barack Obama responded by talking about the serious problems facing our country. Health care, Iraq, the economy, the environment. And then they would attack again using the same old right-wing frames.

I think Barack got it right. The American people and the people of Pennsylvania are better then that. They can see through the petty attacks  and they will vote on the real issues. They will see Obama’s record and his plan. And that record and that plan is clear.

Barack Obama will pass a comprehensive 100% Cap and Auction Carbon emissions plan.

Barack Obama will make massive investments in energy independence.

Barack Obama will invest in energy efficiency and promote fuel efficiency and alternatives to driving.

Barack Obama voted to eliminate Cluster Bombs.

Barack Obama is opposed to the militarization of space.

Barack Obama has set a goal of the elimination of nuclear weapons, but will not do so unilaterally.

Barack Obama will target and attack those who attack our nation and build alliances with everyone else.

Barack Obama will meet with leaders of foreign countries and rebuild our nation’s relationships around the world.

Barack Obama will make sensible reforms to United States policy towards Cuba, allowing more visits and more economic exchange with Cuba for Cuban-American families.

Barack Obama will double United States humanitarian foreign aid.

Barack Obama will pass comprehensive immigration reform in his first year in office.

Barack Obama will stand with Caucus for Priorities for sensible reductions in our military expenditures and reinvestment in our infratructure and our people. Watch this video.

Barack Obama is for portable, opt-out pensions for working families.

Barack Obama is for ready return income tax returns that benefit all Americans who have straightforward taxes.

Barack Obama will eliminate income taxes entirely for fixed income seniors making under $50,000 a year.

Barack Obama is for a Universal Health Care plan that has shared responsibility between Government, Business and Individuals.

Barack Obama is for true net neutrality.

Barack Obama is for transparency in our government and public access to the work done in Washington D.C.

Barack Obama voted for accountability on FISA.

Barack Obama contributed to the effort to reverse the South Dakota abortion ban.

Barack Obama will pay our teachers more.

Barack Obama will create a national service program for college students.

Barack Obama will routinely ask parents to help in the education of their children.

Barack Obama will pass a law banning replacement workers.

Barack Obama has spoken out against homophobia and Anti-Semitism at African American churches.

Barack Obama has spoken in favor of condom use to combat AIDS at evangelical mega churches.

Barack Obama and his wife Michelle took a public HIV test in Kenya to promote testing as a means of preventing the spread of AIDS/HIV.

Barack Obama has made the central internal credo of his campaign be the three words, Respect, Empower, Include.

Barack Obama graduated from Columbia University and went to work as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side.

Barack Obama is a Constitutional Scholar who will promote respect for the rule of law and a return to respect for the Constitution within our Exectutive Branch.

Finally, Barack Obama understands the meaning of the fundamental moral imperatives that underly the politics of our party. (Watch that clip.)

—————

But while that record and his strong debate performance might have sealed the deal for some people they also might not come out to vote.

We can’t afford that.

If you agree with me that Barack Obama should be president then we can’t just watch debates and see how well Barack performed. We need to turn that performance into votes by taking action. Calling voters in PA. Traveling to PA for GOTV. Donating to the campaign so they have the resources to win. Writing a letter to the editor saying how well you thought Barack did.

Barack is doing everything he can and he just did very well in the debate. I think we owe it to him to do our share of the work.

He just endured two hours of relentless right-wing attacks from a media that wants desperately to tear him down. The least we can do is fight back and take action!

If you have had enough of gotcha politics. Take action.

If you want real change in America. Take action.

If you want to see Barack Obama as President on January 20th, 2009. Take action.

We can do this but it won’t happen if we stay on the sidelines.

Democracy begins with you. Tag. Your it.

GET ACTIVE!

Yes. We. Can.

MAKE CALLS – TRAVEL – DONATAE

It’s the economy, stupid. That was the famous banner in Bill Clinton’s Little Rock War Room.

Once again the economy is a major issue. So is Iraq. So is health care. So are a whole host of other issues.

But issues only matter if they can be communicated to the American people. And you can’t get any kind of message across unless you have campaign funds, unless you have dedicated volunteers that pick up the phone and call voters, that go door to door and do all the other work that needs to be done.

Polls have zero effect on the election. Daily up and downs have almost no effect on the election.

Frankly if you want Barack Obama to win the only thing that matters is action. In other words. It’s the action, stupid.
So far 1,327,935 people have taken action by donating.

Many of those have gotten involved and signed up to volunteer or attended a event.

14,265,507 people have taken action by going to the polls and voting for Barack Obama.

Many more will, and the only way to get more people to do that is by action.

Today kath25 kicked off Obama Action Week in a effort to get us here to start focusing a bit more on action. casperr followed that up by writing a fantastic diary “How Badly do you want Barack to be our next President?.” However neither got much exposure. So I thought I would add my voice.

More than 10,000 Pennsylvanians signed a letter that speaks out against the recent attacks in support of Barack Obama. Pennsylvania is a hard state for Barack to win but the only way we can change that is by taking action. Can you imagine how great it would be to win Pennsylvania? The race would be over. Don’t you want the race over? Then take action.

Call people. I know it doesn’t sound fun but it makes a difference.

Another thing that helps. And when I say helps I mean helps is person to person contact. Unless you are in PA or have invented some kind of magical technology you have to hit the road and travel to PA if you want to talk to people and convince them to vote for Barack face to face. I understand many of you cant. But if you possibly can, PLEASE do.

Or if you can’t do either of those you can always donate.  Join 1,328,325 others and your donation will be matched by someone else. Running political campaigns is not easy or cheap. So donate.

Do whatever you can do. But please, please do something. Meet or exceed Gov. Jim Hodges challenge to spend 20 minutes a day helping elect Barack.

We can’t afford to wait for change any longer. One of my favorite radio talk show hosts, Thom Hartmann, ends each show with a challenge:

Democracy begins with you, activism begins with you. Tag, your it.

Tag. Your it. What will you do to help elect Barack Obama?

Yes. We. Can.

As of 10:09 CT that is how many people have donated to Obama for America.

14,265,507 American citizens have voted Barack Obama for president and many more will.

Back on that cold day, February 10th. Who would have thought that?

Not a whole lot of people. But a army of millions of people worked there tail off and focused on the goal. And that is how we have come so far.
The only way a movement like that can be stopped is by distraction.

By taking remarks out of context and claiming someone who was paying collage loans off a few years ago is a elitist.

A elitist? A elitist?

1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
2. a. The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class.

   b. Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.

You mean Barack Obama, the guy who was a community organizer? Elitist?

But that is the game that has to be played. It makes us all distracted so we spend time worrying and not doing anything.

We can’t fall into that trap.  

I don’t have a whole lot to say. But if you are worried about this then stop it and do something about it. That is the only thing that will help.

Hit the phones, hit the road, write a letter to the editor, go to a event, volunteer, donate. Do SOMETHING.

As Paul Wellstone said, the future will not belong to those who stand on the sidelines. We don’t have time for distraction. It’s time for action.

And since it is probably too late to do many of those things (except for donating) I will leave you with two videos to reflect on.

and

Yes. We. Can.

Recently fellow blogger Eddie in ME alerted me to a situation in Maine in which Rita Moran, the Kennebec County Democratic Committee chair, got kicked out of her elected position as DNC Women by establishment trickery.

Here in the netroots we pride our selfs in being part of the people-powered politics movement but this is the time when we need to step it up and take action on behalf of people-powered politics! In this essay I’ll try to give a brief of what happened and how we can take action!
What happened:

In November, Jennifer DeChant who was a DNC Women (kind of like the board of directors for the DNC), missed her third consecutive meeting of the Democratic State Committee. According to state party rules, the position was vacated and she had to run for reelection. So progressive activists drafted Rita to run as a people-powered canidate. She accepted and won the position. One of those activists and a fellow blogger Eddie in ME wrote a great blog about that story.

However the establishment didn’t like that a grassroots reformer had won. So as soon as she had won they started trying to oust her. They did this based on saying inadequate notice was given (it was stated at the November meeting, and in the agenda). The real reason that they didn’t want Rita as DNC Women is that she is a grassroots reformer. But there is no rule against that so the establishment had to find other ways to kick Rita out. Here is a basic overview of what they did.

• Stan Gerzofsky, State Rep. from Brunswick sent a letter to John Knutson, State Party Chair, complaining that the notice of the DNC election was not adequate. Stan requested a repeal of the election. (He did so on legislative letterhead- a big no-no.)
• John did not report the results of Rita’s election to the DNC. Had he, a repeal would not have been permitted under Robert’s Rules of Order. The DNC had listed Rita as the DNC Woman, then reversed course upon request from Arden Manning, the Executive Director of the MDP and resisted Jennifer DeChant (the former DNC women who lost the election). No matter what, this was incorrect-either Rita was the DNC Woman, or if not her, the position was vacant as of January.

-The State Rules Committee stated that a repeal was permitted under the rules since Rita was not seated as DNC Woman. However, the election would have had to have been illegal or illegitimate (they determined it was not), or irreparable personal damage would have been done to Jennifer DeChant. In addition, it was stated that the injured party would be expected to define “adequate notice” (they did not).

-At the March meeting of the State Central Committee, a vote was held to repeal the January DNC Election. The repeal passed by about five or six votes. A new election was held immediately, and Jennifer DeChant was reelected to her post on the DNC.

At this point there is nothing that can be done about that. The election was immediately reported to the DNC (funny how that happens only when a insider favored canidate wins). However there are two ways that we can still help. Rita is running for a four year term as DNC Women at the State Convention and needs our help to win. That will not make her a delegate to the national convention this year but there is a add-on delegate slot open.

Step it up: How to take action for people-power politics:

We need to step it up for people-powered politics now. We need to stand with Rita. But how? How can we help Rita get the add-on delegate slot and send a grassroots delegate to Denver? Easy.

Add-on Delegate:
There is a open slot for add-on delegate to the national convention in Denver. John Knutson, the state party chair, can right this wrong by appointing Rita to the slot. There are two ways to urge him to take this step. One is calling the Maine Democratic Party office at (207) 622-6233 and the other is e-mailing him at chair (AT) mainedems (DOT) org. John isn’t a bad guy so be polite. Say that you think the procedure that ousted Rita was unfair and you believe she would be a excellent canidate for the add-on delegate position. Don’t be nasty, just state positive reasons why you think Rita should be chosen. Here are a few suggestions of things to talk about if you call or e-mail.

-Who you are, where your from.
-That they’ve been following the
story.
-That Rita’s a great volunteer, and a great activist, who has
done great things for her county, and that hard work deserves rewards.
-That it’s important that we heal the rift in the party around the
country, and this would be a step toward doing it in Maine.
-That we
need more outsiders and Progressives at the convention.
-Anything else you can think of!

Rita for DNC:

Also, Rita is running for a new four-year term as DNC Woman at the state convention. This will NOT make her a superdelegate for 2008, but 2012. She is one of the leaders in the grassroots of the Maine Democratic Party but she needs our help. She has lots of energy behind her campaign but she needs some resources to run a campaign. She will need between $3k-5k, to run a campaign. This covers everything- signs, buttons, stickers, phone calls, the list of delegates and alternates, mailing to each of them, everything.

Two candidates are running against Rita thus far. One is Maggie Allen, the former Executive Director of the MDP. She was in charge when Pat Colwell, the state party chair who resigned in disgrace following a major scandal, was running the show. The other is Betty Johnson, the party treasurer in the same era. It’s old guard scandal versus new blood.

But can Rita win? YES. This is a state that Obama won 60-40, and she advocates for his brand of politics- grassroots driven, bottom up. She wants to represent the people, not the money. If the Obama and grassroots delegates coalesce around her as their choice, she will win handily.

The real question that we should ask before we support her though is why. Why is Rita running for DNC? I’ll let her speak for herself.

I am running for the Democratic National Committee because I think  that you, ordinary Maine Democrats like me, deserve a national voice.

I believe that, after this election is over and we have a Democrat in the White House, this party needs to take a long, hard look at itself. We need to decide what works, and what does not.

Just as presidential candidates are calling for change, and rightly so, we Democrats need to decide what needs to change in our own party as well. We were founded by people like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison because they believed that a party which represented ordinary people was needed if our American democracy were to survive and prosper.

Friends, I believe that we need a course correction, we need to get back to our ideals, stop this superdelegate nonsense, and make every Democrat count, and count equally. I will try to make that happen. Remember, the political insiders got to where they are because of people like us, making phone calls, donating to campaigns, and getting out the vote.

If I’m elected to the DNC, and it will not possible without your help, I hope to be your voice, your clear strong voice, on the national stage.

Thanks for listening.

Rita Moran

That sounds like the kind of person we need on the DNC. But she needs our help. Time to Step it Up for People-Powerd Politics and Donate to Rita for DNC!

I’ve talked to Eddie and he will be in the comments answering any questions about the situation. If we want a change in the nation and in our party we have to take it back. We must step it up for people-powered politics.

Donate to Rita for DNC!