Posts with the tag Election

Democrats and GOP Wrestle for Youth Support

Democrat in Merrick, NY — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:49:55 EST

Here is the web address to my blog, which focuses on the vast disparity between the two parties in garnering support from young voters. (I interviewed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for this article)
http://www.bornsteinpoliticalplate.squarespace.com

Moving in Right Direction

Gabriel Felix — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:21:52 EST

Let's put aside political differences for one moment, and forget the historical significance of race in the election results. What we have collectively accomplished as a country is beyond comparison to any political move in the history of this country. Seems a little drastic right? Nevertheless, how else can you explain bring ing in youth and intelligence into the highest office in the nation for the first time since the 1960's? Even then we were still taking baby steps towards change and hoping that we would make ripples in the water, not tidal waves. That is precisely what we have accomplished with the election of Barack Obama. Positive change that will ripple through the social establishment and bring forth the dawning of a new era of political representation in this great nation. Power no longer rests in the hands of the "old guard" who has for too long ruled this nation with great disconnect and disregard for the common people. President Obama is just the beginning, the face of the revolution. The great changes are still yet to come, in development, and on its way. We are finally on our way to establishing rule OF the people. The right direction is not somewhere you turn, but the direction you follow a great leader in; that leader is Barack Obama.

Election Aftermath Address- "Yes We Did!"

Larkin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:09:09 EST

As some of you may know, Barack Obama's grandmother passed away the other day. Our thoughts and wishes go out to the Obama family, because Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham will not live to see her grandson elected.
I address you today during the aftermath of this election day.
And what a historic election this was!
Because yesterday the unprecedented has occurred- the first African American in our nation’s history will be elected into the White House.
Barack Obama will be able to focus his efforts on some of the main themes I would like to fix.
Because he has been elected, we have finally grasped what we need, to fulfill new change and hope in our great country.
*******************************************************************
Yesterday, my friends- was a day of change.
A day of hope.
A day of renewal.
Yesterday, we celebrated our democratic roots from the Greeks, and our Revolutionary belief in patriotism and activism in government.
Yesterday, we finally fulfilled our long-standing creed: “We hold these trughts to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
‘Yes we Can’ has transformed- into ‘Yes we Did.’
****************************************************************
Yesterday, all the voters, from California to Connecticut; Salem, Oregon, to Salem Massachusetts; from Montana to Mississippi decided.
We decided to make not only the right decision, but to vote.
This election, over 21 months, or even 232 years in the making, has absorbed unprecedented enthusiasm and action.
I guarantee you that this election has shattered boundaries, redrawn a map of people, restored faith and dignity to American government and politics, and encouraged action.
The real winners of this election were the people- who have chosen to reprent ourselves with Barack Obama.
With this movement- the first African american president has been elected.
With this movement- a Hispanic can become president.
With this movement- a women, a jew, a mormon, a gay person, a muslim, or anyone else can become president.
This movement has shook the foundations of american politics, has shattered almost every precedent imaginable, led only by three words- ‘Yes We Can.’
Yes we Did.

Miami, FL Voting Chaos

Democrat in Miami, FL — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:08:26 EST

Voting in Miami, FL....So much for paradise!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfICeC6CPS4

Report Voting Problems

John Dukovich — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:34:12 EST

There are several resources that you can use to report problems at polling places. Here are a few ways to do it:

To report a problem or for general elections/voting questions:

Call: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
Email: help@866ourvote.org
Twitter the problem: http://www.866ourvote.org/page?id=0057

ACLU Voting Rights Project: 877-523-2792

A few basics to help you out:

1. Bring ID. A driver's license or voting card are best. A passport or military ID are also good. Some places will also take a phone or utility bill with your name and address on it (you need to check your local laws). Some states (like Virginia) will allow you to vote without ID if you are not a first-time voter and if you sign an "Affirmation of Identity".

2. If you are not on the voting list, ask the poll worker to call the general registrar to double-check if you are on the official list.

3. If all else fails, state that you want to cast a provisional ballot.

Make My Grandparents Proud, Vote for the D's

Democrat in Dayton, OH — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:16:22 EST

I voted Friday in Ohio and although at times in my life I have cast an occasional vote for a local Republican candidate, this time I reverted to my roots and voted like an old fashioned straight ticket Democrat. My Grandfathers would both be proud. It felt good. No, it felt great as if I were striking a blow for freedom. After eight years of thoroughly corrupt and incompetent government, the unrelieved horror of several nightmarish wars, the near destruction of American constitutional liberties, the pillage and plunder of our public treasury by wealth bloated plutocrats and oiligarchs, and the almost total loss of our international reputation I just felt safer somehow checking off the "D's."

99.98% chance that Sen. Barack Obama will win

Rena Silverman — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:37:14 EDT

According to the Political Wire, "Brian Adams, a mathematics and computer science professor at Franklin & Marshall College, reports that there's a 99.98% chance that Sen. Barack Obama will win the presidential election on Tuesday."

URGENT: Protect Your Right to Vote Now

Anita Perkins — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:01:08 EDT

Attorney General Mukasey and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are walking away from their sacred responsibility to guarantee smooth and fair elections.

While the government is engaged in a highly-publicized attempt to raise the specter of voter fraud against groups who have been working hard to register poor and minority voters, DOJ is doing little -- if anything -- to deal with the real problem -- hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of registered voters who may turn up on Election Day just to be turned away.

I just asked the DOJ to take decisive action before Election Day to protect the right to vote for everyone. You can do the same, by signing the ACLU petition today:

http://action.aclu.org/protectthevote

Election officials should concentrate their limited resources on expanding access to the ballot box and protecting voters.

Demand that the Department of Justice act to protect voting rights.

http://action.aclu.org/protectthevote

Let's work together to keep America a true democracy!

Election: Transforming the Health of America

Anita Perkins — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:16:03 EDT

This election is not helping my chronic anxiety. I'm sure I'm not the only one on pins and needles awaiting the results on November 4th. Although I decisively chose my candidate months ago, I spend far too much time glued to the online media:

Huffington Post
MSNBC
Air America
Rachel Maddow
Brave New World TV
The Daily Kos
Real Clear Politics

For comic relief, I enjoy:

Saturday Night Live
Dave Letterman
Jon Stewart

...but that of course does not divert my focus away from the election.

Greg Palast has me petrified about the GOP stealing the election, and Naomi Wolf has me frightened of impending fascism. Even Rolling Stone is sounding the alert about voter purging. Yikes! That "Help America Vote Act" needs to be repealed ASAP!I recently joined Common Cause to promote a fair and just electoral process. Thank Goddess for my anxiety-relieving remedies (see posted list).

Our individual health depends on our environment being conducive to health. That means we need a healthy economy, an adequate health care system, and leaders who care about all of our well-being, including the poor, the middle class, women, and minorities.

Health also depends on stress reduction, since 85% of all illness is caused by stress. Societal stress is sky-high in the U.S. right now, and many people I know are battling stress-related illnesses.

Let's all vote in a new government that will improve our quality of life, so we can all get well.

Barack Obama
Support Democratic Candidates

Somehow we’ll all make it through the next two weeks, and with Grace, hard work, and vigilance, we will have a positive electoral outcome. Together we can transform the health of the United States of America.

Please vote, volunteer, donate, whatever you can.
Peace!

McCain's "experience" helped get us 2 more "Vietnams"!

John Pedler — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:10:08 EDT

Senator McCain, with his Vietnam and senatorial experience, was perhaps the one US politician who might have stopped the Iraq adventure.

We Cassandras foresaw in 2002 (and went on public record) that just one of the major reasons why the US and UK must not invade Iraq was precisely because that would risk not one, but two more "Vietnams" ("Can't stay, can't leave" situations) - one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

If McCain, claiming to be the "experienced" presidential candidate, didn't see that obvious risk (although many of us life-long diplomatic and military experts were shouting about it) then his "experience" is so stymied by bad judgement that it counts for nothing.

As for Afghanistan, leaving it as G W Bush's unfinished business, to go into the Iraq maelstrom, alienated that wide 2002 international backing on whose money and support any hope of giving Afghanistan a chance to recover from the Soviet and Taliban years, was lost.

For what Afghanistan needed while the Taliban were quiescent licking their wounds was a realistic world-backed development plan to rebuild, continue the Taliban's no opium policy, and make Afghanistan a reasonably none- too-poor society - much as I saw it in 1970.

Yes - I'm afraid it's too late now. But then as Sweden's brilliant Count Oxenstierna told his would-be diplomat son in 1648 - "Do you not realise, my son, with what little wisdom the world is governed?" Especially with the Bush/Blair team in charge!

Obama, though, has the pragmatism, high intelligence, and common sense to work hard to mitigate the catastrophic folly of President G.W.Bush. He's the only one who could possibly handle this double "Vietnam" challenge.

For more on the current US electoral situation see our www.dipconsult.eu

John McCain: Portrait of a Demagogue

Eric Wattree — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:29:19 EDT

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

John McCain:
Portrait of a Demagogue

Demagogue: “A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.”
The American Heritage Dictionary

Demagogues are vampires who prey on the viability of society. They depend on hatred, hostility, and dissension for their very political survival. Wherever there is underlying tension and hostility, they exploit it, and in the absence of hostility, they create it. They have a vested interest in creating discontent, and they are most creatively prolific, when society is in turmoil.

And there’s a very good reason for that. A demagogue’s agenda is virtually always fundamentally at odds with what’s in the best interest of the people. So the only way that they can get the people’s support is to appeal to their hatred, fear, or anger��"that’s when individuals are most prone to act without taking the time to think about their actions. Demagogues specialize, therefore, in appealing to the emotions. That allows them to circumvent the mind, and thus, not have to deal with the nuisance of one’s common sense.

An example of that strategy at work is clearly demonstrated at a recent John McCain rally. While addressing his angry supporters--who were already frustrated over the economy, the financial bailout, pending foreclosures, and the loss of jobs--instead of reassuring them by sharing policy initiatives that he’d developed to address their concerns, he further inflamed the crowd by giving the floor to, and agreeing with, a supporter who stood up to called Barack and Nancy Pelosi hooligan socialists.

Consumers Rights League, ACORN, & Congress

Democrat in Swanton, OH — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:05:57 EDT

I've been investigating ACORN for the past 2 days. Nearly all of the voter fraud allegations against ACORN have come from the Consumers Rights League.

The Consumers Rights League just popped up out of nowhere. I called them. There is only one person running this "non-profit, non-partisan, educational organization", Jim Terry.

A week ago, Terry submitted written testimony against ACORN. You can see it on their website here: http://www.consumersrightsleague.org/uploadedfiles/JamesTerryACORN9-24.pdf

Practically the whole document substantiates its findings with news articles, no actual court cases. My research is showing that many of these articles don't exist or refer to cases that were shown to have a low-level employee filling out voter registrations to show paid-time work, but Prosecutors of these cases point out that there was obviously NO INTENT TO CAST A VOTE with these.

One of Terry's citations in his written testimony:
10 Ervin, Keith. â��Felony charges filed against 7 in stateâ��s biggest case of voter-registration fraud.â�� Seattle Times. July 26, 2007.

Statement from the Prosecuting Attorney on the case:
â��â�¦Indeed, a joint federal and state investigation has determined that this scheme was not intended to permit illegal voting." http://www.metrokc.gov/proatty/news/2007/Voter%20Registration%20Statement.htm

Jim Terry is the one credited for "exposing ACORN" and his "findings" are the primary source of quotes against ACORN. He's been quoted throughout the news & even interviewed on FOX News.

This is a Republican posing as a Consumer Advocate organization, setup to smear ACORN (and subsequently Obama).

The Best Dollar of the Campaign

Eric Wattree — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:47:12 EDT

I hope you don't mind, but I'm posting this one to the Democratic site. Somehow I think Obama will view this as the best $25 he's collected during the entire campaign:

"That one" (14+ / 0-)

My husband, blue collar white guy, truck mechanic,
flag outside on the front porch, not a political junkie at all (basically, someone Sarah Palin would condescendingly describe as "Joe Six-Pack"), called me a little while ago to tell me he sent $25 to Obama's campaign. (With no prompting at all from me, BTW.)

It was his first political contribution in the 20 years I've known him. You know why he did it? Because McCain called Obama "that one." He yelled at the screen when McCain said that, and couldn't stop venting about it all through the debate.

I can't exactly describe his reaction -- it wasn't just "how dare he insult the candidate I'm voting for." It was as if it was his patriotic duty to help stand up for Obama and stop McCain.

So yeah, I think he sees Obama as his President.

From Daily Kos

A Footnote to Posterity

Eric Wattree — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:43:22 EDT

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

A Footnote to Posterity

As I watched the second presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, my mind drifted off to when I once watched a Space Shuttle landing. All the drama of the mission was over, and the space walk had been completed successfully. Now all that was left to complete a perfect mission, was to bring the bird in for a landing.

As the shuttle grew larger over the horizon, I remember being overwhelmed with pride over this marvel of engineering, and for the thousands of ordinary people who had come together to accomplish its mission. Then as we continued to look out over the horizon, the sound of unabridged competence suddenly crackled forth as the commander of this magnificent vessel spoke to ground control: “Landing gear down, and all systems online. Glide path and descent, five by five.” Then after several seconds of awestruck silence, and as we watched the majestic bird descend, the commander’s voice chimed in once again, with that matter-of-fact tone, as though he was pulling his car into the driveway. “Thirty seconds to touchdown.”

As impressed as I was over the feat of engineering that went into the space shuttle and its mission, I found myself even more fascinated by what must have gone into building the kind of man with the competence, intelligence, and cool professionalism that could command such a vessel--and I had that very same feeling as I watched the cool professionalism of Barack Obama’s performance last night. I felt privileged to bear witness, to the very best this nation has to offer.

Why I think Obama will win - Youtube, t-shirts, posters, and numbers

Democrat in Oakland, CA — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:19:19 EDT

The deadlines have passed in many states for voters to register to vote, but I'm feeling pretty confident for Obama and Joe Biden. I have no solid evidence to back up any of my opinions just like noone else does, but I really believe that Obama will be our next president. I'm in a blue state so I might be a little biased, but I don't even think it's going to be a close race. Unless I'm understating the population that's racially biased against Obama, thinking he's a muslim, or is just not going to vote for a democrat ever, I think I've got fairly good reasons to believe he'll be the man. I realize there's a whole other view of this, but there's just so many things happening recently that make me believe this.

Here's why I think he's the man...

We can't forget about the rallies back in early 2008 when he was bringing 30,000 people compared to his opponents with only a couple thousand in attendance. I would assume this translates to bigger polling numbers for Obama... even if not so dramatic.

He has overcome many many media attacks starting starting back over a year ago when Fox News misquoted his name as a terrorist's name. There have been countless attacks since which he has only rebounded even stronger every time. I can't say this about the other side. Bouncing back is a great thing to have in a leader. Inspiring hope after failing is what our country deep down inside I believe is looking for after the financial mess and all the previous garbage we've went through.

Obama has created memes like "Obamaniac" which haven't been duplicated by any of the running opposition.

Interestingly, if you do a search on google for "Obama sucks" (with quotes), he has twice as many pages featuring that phrase compared to mccain. Palin has 3x as many as Joe biden does. I'm taking this as a pure measure of popularity. Obama wins this one.

If you look at crowd sourced websites that sell t-shirts and posters, they have been taken over by Obama merchandise. Palin and McCain are popular too, but if you look at the designs, they're almost all negative. Again, a larger number of designs for Obama. He's got 54,000 compared to McCain with 30,000.

Youtube has the same type of statistics going for it as well. Obama has 478,000 videos which completely trumps McCain's 278,000.

If these numbers stay this drastically different at the voting booths, it will be an easy win for Obama. Like I said... I don't think it will be that simple but there's something to be said about these large sweeping differences.

McCain frustrated at how things are going

Democrat in Oakland, CA — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:22:29 EDT

I saw a report on yahoo news recently that John McCain seems to be very irritated in recent interviews. After Sarah Palin becoming a political laughing stock due to the cast of Saturday Night Live, I wouldn't expect him to react any other way. I'm not voting for the man, but I think he's made a couple serious mistakes he should have seen the repurcusions ahead of time from.First of all, choosing a beautiful female VP is going to put much more attention on her every words than someone who has less attractive qualities. I haven't heard much at all about Joe Biden in the past couple weeks, but if Obama had picked a female just as equally as attractive as Palin, as unjust as it sounds, I believe she'd be taking the spotlight just as much. As a nation, and as sad as it is to mention, many of the people cannot look beyond Palin's looks and look at her seriously about politics. I believe McCain should have seen this coming, and would be ready for the news media's onslaught.

On another note, he decided to chum it up with Bush. Surely they are out there, but I haven't met many republicans that feel too confident voting for someone that's a buddy with the guy. In my opinion, I don't think this was such a smart move. When going against someone as articulate as Obama, you've got to be ready for everything.

Voter Registration deadlines! Coming up very soon!

Democrat in Oakland, CA — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:13:32 EDT

Besides actually getting out to vote next month, being REGISTERED to vote is the next most important thing we need to do.

This site has a very detailed look at each state's requirements, but here's a quick look at the deadlines for registering:

Alabama    Fri, Oct. 24
Alaska    Sun, Oct. 5 (postmark by Sat, Oct. 4)
Arizona    Mon, Oct. 6
Arkansas    Mon, Oct. 6
California    Mon, Oct. 20
Colorado    Mon, Oct. 6
Connecticut    Tues, Oct. 21
Delaware    Sat, Oct. 11
District of Columbia    Mon, Oct. 6
Florida    Mon, Oct. 6

John McCain: Honor in the Effort

Democrat in San Ramon, CA — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:04:51 EDT

On September 11, John McCain spoke in Shanksville, Pennsylvania about the heroes of Flight 93. On this historic flight, a few very brave people charged the cockpit to try to wrest control of the airplane from 9/11 terrorists. Their selfless act quite possibly stopped a second attack of Washington D.C. which is widely believed would have targeted the White House or Capitol building. McCain states “They and, very possibly I, owe our lives to the passengers who summoned the courage and love necessary to deny our depraved and hateful enemies their terrible triumph.”

In his speech, John McCain points out one hero in particular, Mark Bingham â€" Mark was a great man, respected and loved by his colleagues and friends. In his speech, John McCain continues “I spoke at the memorial service for one of them, Mark Bingham. I acknowledged that few of us could say we loved our country as well as he and all the heroes of September 11 had. The only means we possess to thank them is to try to be as good an American as they were. We might fall well short of their standard, but there is honor in the effort.”

As a speaker at that memorial service, John McCain would also know that Mark was gay. Perhaps, Mr. McCain, if you feel the need to tout your involvement in his memorial service, you could honor his sacrifice by providing him some of the basic rights allowed to others in our great country.

By rights, I am not even talking about the issue of gay marriage. Notably, John McCain voted against prohibiting job discrimination based upon sexual orientation. He does not believe openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the military. McCain also voted against extending the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation.

Even with such heroism, McCain would have supported someone’s right to fire Mark because he was gay or even target him for violence because of his sexual preference. And while John McCain is thankful for Mark Bingham possibly saving his life, he would not support him as an openly gay person in the military.

I guess that is just John McCain’s way of saying thank you.

Obama's knockout blow: McCain & "experience"

John Pedler — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:19:24 EDT

The vast majority of us Europeans are apalled at the possibility that American voters will choose McCain/Palin as our leaders (we have have no united voice in the world).

It's not a question of left or right, Rep. of Dem. - for us Europeans it's plain (Palin?) fear: American voters elected the obviously unqualified G W Bush and the well known neo-conservative Cheney in 2000. AND did the same again in 2004 when the full worldwide disaster of Iraq was already becoming apparent.

America's voters, now once again about even in the polls, are quite likely to show their dangerous ignorance a third time and give us 72 yr old past sell-by-date McCain and even more dangerous and utterly unqualified Palin with her good actuarial chance of "running the world".

KEY POINT - McCain's whole campaign depends on bragging that his 'experience' automatically qualifies him to be Commander-in-Chief. But of course experience does not in itself qualify!

Cheney and Rumsfeld had far more experience (executive not just Senatorial) but they manufactured the Iraq war that has proved far more disastrous financially as well as militarily, than ever did the Vietnam war.

And McCain, despite all that boasted "experience" in Vietnam and the Senate, backed and enthusiastically supported Cheney/Rumsfeld - thereby risking a second "Vietnam" in Iraq (Gen. Petraeus himself insists the temporary improvement is extremely fragile and could disappear as the US draws down: i.e the same "can't stay,can't leave" situation as in Vietnam).

Indeed, as a direct result of "Iraq", there's maybe even another "Vietnam" looming in Afghanistan!

Yet he - McCain - was the one US politician who might have made Bush think twice about the invasion had he - with his "experience" - come out against it!

Obama really must deliver this knockout blow: "experience" is NOT qualification - bad judgement nullifies it! And McCain voted for the worldwide catastrophe for the U.S. of "Iraq"
On all this please see my: www.dipconsult.eu

Most of You Are About 7 Days Behind the Power Curve.

Rob-33704 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:15:21 EDT

I'm glad most of you have finally realized that this bailout legislation is a major issue.

Unfortunately, you're running a about a week behind the power curve.
That is about the time I wrote my first post on this mess - to almost universal condemnation here.

I think the problem is that you aren't thinking enough like those people who have rifles and shot guns hanging in the back of their trucks.

They spend a lot more money on beer and cigarettes than they do at Starbucks - or for gasoline for that matter.

But they will decide this election.