Corporate Socialism and Obama's Wit

When the repubs bail out the financial industry (which is probably necessary), borrow from China to:

• line the pockets of Halliburton and rebuild Iraq,
  
• funnel money into the military/industrial complex or
  
• subsidize the oil industry it's a good use of taxpayer money.
  

BUT when the Obama campaign talks about investing in infrastructure, alternative energy innovation, education, and providing healthcare to most of the citizens - the repubs claim that the taxpayer will face higher taxes to pay for this (a distortion of Obama's plan). I don't know about you, but I'd rather invest my tax dollars in this country and in sectors that will create jobs and wean us from oil rather than invest them in bailouts (also called corporate socialism).

ON a HAPPIER NOTE
Barack has a great sense of humor.

WATCH!

READ!

Women for Obama/Biden has been very active this week. Congressional endorsements, NOW endorsement, Joe and Hillary webcast. Makes me happy.

Get involved! Take action.

To Other Hillary Supporters...

I invite you to watch her in a discussion on women's issues with Joe Biden. See it here. (30 min)



I'm so glad Bush never privatized social security. So are Barack and Joe...New ad.

Duh..."fully informed..." Did you know about Troopergate? Did you know about her request for earmarks? What else did you not know about Palin, John?



Pretty good debunking of McCain campaign by CNN

Channeling Hillary

Hillary in Florida last week. Watch

psst...Do something... AND have a laugh

" straight talk express has derailed." View more

"Big oil fuels the 'straight talk express'". View here.

FOR LAUGHS
Senator Whitehouse challenging the relative importance of drilling now. Watch

Saturday Night Live skit

Let Me Get This Straight...
email chain letter:
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight...
If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,
different."
Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well
grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the
first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter
registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as
a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator
representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of
the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years
in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people
while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,
Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you
don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city
council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people,
20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then
you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking
executive.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the
proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no
other option in sex education in your state's school system while your
unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a
prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values
don't represent America 's.

If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until
age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of
Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now

Lipstick vs Pig and What Can We Do

Here's what I saw 9/13 at the Obama Rally in Manchester, NH VIEW

TODAY'S Repub Lie Watch:
The idea that McCain is for women because of his VP choice is a lie. NEW
Lies about stance on combat systems? NEW
Lies about VP candidate not requesting earmarks NEW
The BEST compilation of news about repub VP candidate NEW
Lies about repub candidates' crowd sizes?
Lies about repub VP candidate having traveled to Iraq!

Great article from April Mellody on the difference between lipstick on a pig and a pig. Here's an excerpt:

Lipstick: Choosing a female running mate to help tap into the "18 million cracks" left by women who voted for Hillary.

Pig: Voting against a measure aimed at helping women achieve pay equity. Voting repeatedly against funding to fight and prevent domestic violence. Voting against extending insurance coverage to pregnant women and infants. Voting against $214 million for breast cancer research.

And here's my response to April's headline Women, Where Are You?:

Masterful stroke - to turn the idiocy of the pig/lipstick coverage back to the issues. Sad that the mainstream media hasn't.

You asked where the women are. Here are a few places:
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
http://defeatmccainandpalin.blogspot.com/
http://www.womenagainstpalin.com
and in every conversation I've had for the past 2 weeks, I've encountered the very outrage you wonder about.

Where the women aren't:
1. We aren't in positions of power in the media behind the scenes deciding how to cover this campaign. The worldview is male; they are out of touch with our issues; they pander to the conflict stirred up by the raving-Rovians.

2. Many of us aren't in cyberspace. In this economy and in this country many of us are too busy working multiple jobs or long hours to feed our families, we're struggling to find the time to care for children and aging parents, we're helping children through schools that are failing them, we're scrimping to save money for college educations, we're sitting in emergency rooms because we have no healthcare. The last 8 years have done much to silence us.

NY Times article on repub VP candidate's scary actions as an "executive".

So, if we can't be all over cyberspace and if the mainstream media are ignoring us, what can we do: Be informed about the issues. Talk to every woman you know about this campaign. If she's a diehard republican, listen with compassion and highlight the negative impact of a repub win for women. If she's an independent or not sure, make your best case for Obama. If she's planning to vote for Obama, ask her to speak about the campaign, volunteer for the campaign and contribute whatever she can.

You Go Girls!!

Tougher questions for McCain on The View than for Palin on ABC News! Choice and the Supreme Court, separation of church and state, what actually Palin might reform...Great job!

What was the same was the % of actual answers to the questions posed. Hmmm I'd say <10%.

Way to go women!

Women, hope you're for Obama/Biden.

Victory in Sight?

Do you trust Slick Sarah and McSame who say that "victory is in sight" in Iraq?

OR

do you trust General Petreas who says in a BBC interview that he did not know that he would ever use the word "victory": "This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan."

It should be of note that two of Bush' recent moves are exactly what Obama has been saying needs to be done. Get troops out of Iraq and focus on Afghanistan.

Obama/Biden!

In Her Own Words...

Transcript of excerpts of Charlie Gibson's interview. At least the questions weren't total puffballs...though the answers are pretty lame (and scarily megalomaniacal - although there's no indication she would understand what that means). Read here.

Here's one excerpt. I highlight it because it's about identical to what McCain said about her experience in national security. Guess they're singing from the same hymnbook.

Palin on national security:

GIBSON: But this is not just reforming a government. This is also running a government on the huge international stage in a very dangerous world. When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?

PALIN: But it is about reform of government and it's about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that's with the energy independence that I've been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States.

GIBSON: I know. I'm just saying that national security is a whole lot more than energy.

From the CBS site - McCain on Palin's experience in national security:

AmericaBlog posted a clip of an interview McCain did, via satellite, with Rob Caldwell at WCSH in Portland, Maine. Caldwell noted, for example, that McCain insisted that national security and counter-terrorism is the number one issue facing the United States. McCain denied ever having said that. Caldwell moved on, asking about Sarah Palin's experience in national security. McCain responded by attacking Barack Obama.

"Well, you say you're sure she has the experience, but again, I'm just asking for an example," Caldwell said. "What experience does she have in the field of national security?" McCain responded:

"Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. She's a governor of a state where 20% of America's energy supply comes from there. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue. We've got to stop sending $700 billion of American money to countries that don't like us very much. She's very well versed on that issue."And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that's right next to Russia. She understands Russia."

More on that interview here.

I'm still Obama/Biden. Hope you are, too.

No Lipstick, Try Silk Purse

Since the "lipstick on a pig" metaphor is now out of fashion, I'll say put it this way. "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. In other words, you can't make an anti-earmark (see the connection) VP candidate out of an earmark-seeking governor." Read more here.

Rovian lies and distortions are flying. YOUTUBE had to take down a McCain ad ostensibly showing Katie Couric attacking the media for its treatment of Palin because it was actually an old clip of her talking about media bias and Hillary.

FACTCHECK.ORG called out the campaign for misrepresenting their work.

AND here's a commentary on the media with the same perspective that I have. They are doing this country a disservice by keeping us focused away from real issues.

Vote for Obama/Biden. I am.

Woman Cartoonist on Palin

There are not very many women political cartoonists, but one I love is Ann Telnaes.

See what she thinks of Palin here.
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/context/commentoon

More Questions for Palin - These from AK

Very interesting reality check on Palin's image here in Time magazine. She's no fiscal conservative. No wonder she wants to "drill, baby, drill".

Anchorage newspaper offers Charlie Gibson some questions that could make it a real interview instead of a puff piece. Here are a few:

• You present yourself as a Republican maverick who took on your own party's corrupt political establishment. In November's election, your party is running an indicted U.S. Senator, Ted Stevens, who is awaiting trial on charges he accepted more than $250,000 of unreported gifts from the state's most powerful lobbyist. Will you vote for his opponent? Will you urge Alaskans to help you change Washington and vote him out of office? If not, why not?

• Why have you reneged on your earlier pledge to cooperate with the Alaska Legislature's investigation into Troopergate?

• McCain spokesman Rick Davis told Fox News the media didn't show you enough "deference." How much deference do you expect to get from Vladimir Putin or Hugo Chavez?

Finally...Thank You Hillary!

Clinton said the nation should be proud that the Republicans have a woman on the ticket, but argued that returning Republicans to the White House "is like asking the iceberg to save the Titanic."

Watch here.

Charlie Gibson's Interview of Sarah Palin

I submitted these questions to ABC and I hope Charlie will ask them of Sarah Palin:

1. At the end of his term, President Bush has made it possible for pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control pills if they disapprove of them. He tried to get certain forms of contraception banned. What forms of contraception do you approve of and how will your personal views influence the policies you will push for?

2. In the last presidential election the Republicans painted John Kerry as a "flip-flopper" over changes in his views. Given that you were for the bridge to nowhere before you were against it and John McCain has been for many issues before he is now against them, why should you and he not be painted with the same "flip-flop" brush?

3. Exactly what kind of training are you getting to prepare you to be a Vice Presidential candidate?

4. How do you as a woman feel about John McCain's repeated references to you as his "partner" and "soul mate" instead of "running mate".

Hoping the interview won't be a celebrity fluff-fest!

In the meantime, Biden has been speaking about the issues. I'm for Obama/Biden. Hope you are, too.

Working Mom ≠ Feminist, Governor ≠ Qualified VP

Gloria Steinem on Palin and the anti-feminist right wing of the Republican party.

"Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president...Read more.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,1290251.story

************************

Excellent documentation on Palin's actions and positions (http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/) on the pressing issues of our time. For example on the...:

ECONOMY (reminds me of the Bush legacy - cut taxes, increase debt)
Palin Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin cut taxes while simultaneously expanding the town’s operating budget by almost $2 million. She ended her term in 2002 with Wasilla $20 million in debt. [Anchorage Daily News 10/23/06; the Politico, 8/29]

http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/

More reasons to support Obama/Biden.

Compassion? Bull$#!†

Imagine this scenario - brought to you by the Republican party:

Your husband has lost his job (courtesy of the 2nd round of the Republican's failed "trickle-down" economic policy).
Your house is about to be foreclosed (courtesy of "free market" dynamics).
In misery, he turns to drink.
In a drunken stupor he beats and rapes your 12 year old daughter.

OR
Your 16 year old daughter is abducted (as happened in my home town today)
Her abductor rapes her.

OR
Your 17 year old daughter is the victim of date rape.

OR
Your Down's Syndrome child is raped by a staff person in her group home.

OR
You're a responsible woman who practices family planning
Your husband's condom tears

To prevent a pregnancy, you ask your doctor to prescribe a morning after pill. He won't because of his personal beliefs. CHOICE GONE today courtesy of Bush.

You frantically try to find a doctor who will write a scrip, only at the last possible moment to go to the nearest pharmacy and find out that the pharmacist won't fill it because of personal beliefs. CHOICE GONE today courtesy of Bush.

Today, you have two choices abortion or pregnancy. With the Republicans you won't. CHOICE GONE courtesy of the McCain/Palin promise to overturn Roe v Wade.

Bush touted compassion. Palin is lauded as passionate. Even McCain used the word last night. Where's the compassion when a 12 year old has to bear the child of rape. Where's the compassion when a family must have an unwanted/unplanned child. Where's compassion when a collection of un-implanted cells take precedence over the emotional and physical health of a living breathing woman or girl. Compassion? Bull$#!†

A knowledgeable, educated friend of mine said after Palin's speech, "I was impressed." We had the choice discussion and she asserted, "with a Democratic congress Roe v Wade can't be overturned." She doesn't understand the power of the Supreme Court (which has already eroded choice). I'm afraid there are many like her.

I'm supporting Obama/Biden. Most of these thoughtful women are and I hope you are, too.

We Will Not be Duped

Happily I see that Hillary supporters are looking at McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as evidence of his poor judgment. They are looking at Sarah Palin and are angry for all the women who earned through their accomplishments and qualifications the right to be a “first”. No matter the heartbreak over Hillary’s loss, they are seeing this choice as further evidence that Barak Obama is by far the better candidate for president.

My personal take on this is stems from over 30 years experience studying executives and leadership, teaching leadership and working with leaders of organizations ranging from F500 to small not-for-profits – and especially on women’s issues.

John McCain and Barak Obama have been chosen by the people. Their choices of Vice Presidential candidates, however, are reflections of their capacity for leadership. Here’s what John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin to be -as he put it - his “partner” communicates about his leadership ability.
1. His choice is akin to a Fortune 3 CEO selecting a first line supervisor with 2 years experience to be a COO. Republican spin-masters call his move “bold” – if he were a CEO, an impartial director would call it reckless. It shows a monumental lack of judgment.
2. McCain’s flawed choice also demonstrates a lack of judgment in choosing advisors. No board of directors of a major corporation would ever approve the addition of such an unqualified person into the candidate pool for an executive position.
3. This flawed choice is the worst example of tokenism – there is no dimension on which Palin could be considered the “best qualified” person for the job. Compassion and principles (two commendable qualities highlighted when he introduced Palin) do not a vice president make.
4. To accept and make the argument that 2 years experience as governor of a meagerly populated state equates to executive experience, demonstrates a lack of understanding of what is required to be executive-in-chief of the most powerful nation on earth.
5. The most successful executives intentionally surround themselves with people brighter and with proven skills in their areas of weakness. His choice, again, shows a lack of executive intelligence.
6. That McCain would choose such a poorly qualified person to stand one heartbeat from the presidency shows a stunning disrespect for the United States of America.

As one who has watched women succeed and fail in corporate America, here’s what the choice tells me about Sarah Palin. She is right to have been, as she said, “honored and privileged to make the list”. But, she’s not ready to be vice president, she’s not qualified and she should have had the judgment to decline. Instead, like many women set up to fail, she let flattery at being chosen outweigh her judgment. It shows either incredible lack of intelligence or hubris – neither commendable leadership qualities.

As a lifelong advocate for women’s rights, here’s what McCain’s choice says about his views on women:
1. This flawed choice, like his voting record on women’s issues, demonstrates a contempt for women. In essence he’s saying that women are interchangeable and that women are stupid enough to see Palin and her stand on women’s issues as a stand-in for Hillary.
2. This flawed choice, like McCain’s voting record on women’s issues, demonstrates his lack of understanding of women. That he thinks this will sway any but single-issue anti-choice women (who already had his vote anyway) is incomprehensible.
3. This flawed choice and his use of the world “partner” rather than “running mate” reflects a Republican world-view that woman should be fertile, pretty, pageant-entering and grateful. It makes me think of “trophy candidate”.

As a former Hillary supporter here is the final reason why we will not be duped into voting for McCain. We will look at Sarah Palin and see she’s no Hillary Clinton.
1. We supported Hillary because of her experience and accomplishments.
2. We supported Hillary because of the issues she cares about and her position on the issues.
3. We supported Hillary because of her brilliance.
4. And, we considered Hillary’s gender an added plus, not a defining qualification.

I’m not duped – I’m following Hillary’s lead…I’m supporting Obama. Are you?