The WRONG Way to Pass Legislation
October 2, 2008
The Senate broke my heart by passing the bailout Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (note the re-framing) overwhelmingly.
What’s really eating at me though is the way that it passed. In an attempt to make the bill more palatable to members of Republicans in the House, they packed the bill with pork. Sure, this is how business gets done in Washington, but in this case it’s really, really, really sick. See some examples of the garbage in this bill here.
With all of the quasi-economic-populist rhetoric going on as this election draws nearer, why not throw in substantive measures to make this bill more palatable to homeowners, consumers, and everyday citizens? Isn’t that what economic populism is all about?
We need a change in Washington. Yes, I agree that we need a new President, and I think that new President should be Barack Obama. But what we really need is a change in how Washington works. This bill passed the way most bills pass in Washington: too quickly, without enough scrutiny, packed with “sweeteners” for politicians instead of people.
I wish my candidate & his VP (and, frankly, their opponent) hadn’t supported this. When a Democratic Senator who’s name is not on this list tells you they put regular people first, do a double-take.
Democratic Senators that Voted ‘No’ on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
- Maria Cantwell (WA)
- Byron Dorgan (ND)
- Russ Feingold (WI)
- Tim Johnson (SD)
- Mary Landrieu (LA)
- Bill Nelson (FL)
- Bernie Sanders (VT)
- Debbie Stabenow (MI)
- John Tester (MT)
- Ron Wyden (OR)
One Love. One II.
P.S. When was the last time that opposing candidates voted the same way on a such controversial legislation this close to an election?
To Attack Community Organizers is to Attack Black Political Thought
September 8, 2008
This piece is part of Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice: “I Am a Community Organizer”.
Republicans don’t like Community Organizers. Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin ridiculed them specifically in their speeches last Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. This modern crop of Republicans has demonstrated how much they hate grassroots organizing in many ways with their hatred or unionization, their damnation of dissenters inside and outside of the government, and their willingness to ignore the rights, thoughts, and actions of the people of foreign nations that they decide to invade destroy occupy “help”.
While these positions on their own are outrageous and not in line with the ideals of the America that Republicans claim to love so much, it is consistent with another thread of modern-day Republican rhetoric and practice: racism.
For every generation leading up to [and including] the current one, the only foray for Black people to better their lives collectively has been through community organizing. When I say community organizing, I don’t just mean the highly visible ones like Malcolm & Martin, I mean the invisible ones that most of us will never hear or speak of that sacrifice their time, treasure, and talents so that people’s day-to-day lives are better and that their voices are heard. This is the path that nearly all Black politicians have taken to attain the capital needed to even run for office, let alone win. For one to minimize the work of organizers is to minimize the thoughts, actions, and efforts of all minorities and underrepresented groups who wish to uplift themselves individually and as a whole.
Palin talking to the press? Why would you think that?
September 5, 2008
Lest there be any doubt about Palin’s complete inadequacy to be Vice President of the United States, TIME’s correspondent found out that Palin won’t be dealing with the press. Check out this piece I pulled from Jay,
According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don’t care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace — in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough’s show — the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin’s scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.
Wallace’s bash-the-media exercise has its merits as a campaign tactic. It certainly rallies the base. But the base won’t lift McCain to 50% in November. More importantly, in her smug dismissal of the media’s role in asking questions of the candidates, Wallace was really showing contempt not for reporters, but for voters. I bet there are a lot of undecided voters out there who were intrigued by Sarah Palin last night, but who don’t yet know enough about her — what she believes, what she knows — to be comfortable with the idea of her as vice president of the United States. It’s important to them to know if Palin can handle herself in an environment that isn’t controlled and sanitized by campaign image makers and message mavens. Maybe she can, maybe she can’t. As far as Wallace is concerned, it’s none of their — or your — business.
God help us,
Stay up fam,
Brandon Q.
Palin…The Conservative Trojan Horse
September 4, 2008
Governor Sarah Palin. I am speechless really. I have been following the coverage since she she was announced as McSame’s VP candidate. Later on I will outline the outright lies she spewed in her speech last night. But first, let me say that I am scared with this Palin nomination because I fear that Democrats will underestimate her ability to sway people toward McCain. Someone once told me that people never remember what you say, they only remember how you make them feel. And if that logic holds true, Palin’s life story is very compelling and will go a long way towards her becoming the Trojan Horse that gets McSame in the White House. Now mind you I have said nothing about issues (of which I disagree with her on so many levels) but in the end issues really don’t matter. And if you don’t believe me, check out this excerpt from George Lakoff,
But the Palin nomination changes the game. The initial response has been to try to keep the focus on external realities, the “issues,” and differences on the issues. But the Palin nomination is not basically about external realities and what Democrats call “issues,” but about the symbolic mechanisms of the political mind — the worldviews, frames, metaphors, cultural narratives, and stereotypes. The Republicans can’t win on realities. Her job is to speak the language of conservatism, activate the conservative view of the world, and use the advantages that conservatives have in dominating political discourse.
Democrats, if you want to win, realize that for as much as issues matter, you can’t do anything about the issues until you win so I beg that anyone supporting Obama imagine that you are the perpetual underdog until the polls close November 4th. Below is a clip from the Daily Show that debunks this whole gender card foolishness followed by an abbreviated breakdown of how Palin lied to America last night.
If that wasn’t enough, here is a more detailed fact-based analysis of how she lied in her unusually cynical speech, (Thanks Laurin!)
Fact Check of Governor Palin’s Speech Read more
Reactions to Sarah Palin
September 4, 2008
It’s taking me much longer than I anticipated to wrap my head around the DNC. Nevertheless, life, and politics, go on.
Now that the Republicans have a Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, a good friend of mine and of The SuperSpade’s has some reactions to her selection and her speech.
Below are links to Clarence Wardell III’s Giant Steps blog, which has two posts on Palin & much more great content.
On the Palin Pick
By picking Palin, McCain has made himself out to be a hypocrite and liar. The immediate instinct is to react as Obama’s communication’s director did, and talk about how much Palin is unqualified, but that is not the winning attack line, and Democrats would be wise to stay away from this as much as possible. Based on Obama’s response to the Palin nomination on Friday, he gets it, which isn’t surprising at all. One thing we’vecome to find out about Obama is that he’s much more politically savvy than people tend to give him credit for being. By attacking on the front of Palin’s inexperience the Obama campaign opens themselves up to the response that she’s qualified as Obama (which is not true). The central line of attack must be that it was not Obama who thought he lacked experience, but McCain who thought Obama lacked experience. With this pick McCain has shown that either:
- He’s a liar and Obama does have the appropriate experience, or that
- Palin is inexperienced too, and he just picked someone who is not the most qualified.
However, he can’t have it both ways.
Read more of the “On the Palin Pick” post.
Reactions to Palin’s Speech
Some have commented that this speech was on par with the Obama speech of 2004. I have to laugh at this, because for one the speech that Sarah Palin read was clearly written by someone for her, packed with about 30 minutes of lines pulled straight out of the McCain commercials we’ve seen for the past month. Obama’s speech was written by him, and then tweaked by others. Palin’s was a speech predicated on division, while Obama’s was a salvo for unity. For all the energy put into the conservative base by the Palin pick, I can only imagine that her speech tonight did the same for the liberal base.
Read more of the “Reactions to Palin’s Speech” post.
One Love. One II.
What Middle Ground?
June 20, 2008
There is a disturbing trend happening in politics & political discussion today. In the name of compromise or searching for the “middle ground,” people doing nothing more than diluting their positions to the point where they are actually not positions at all.
What I’m saying is this: for the larger issues we face, there is no middle ground. That’s right. Most issues in today’s political discourse are simple binary, yes or no, support or no support questions. Read more
Ron Paul’s philosophy: A libertarian can’t be a racist
January 14, 2008
Crossposted at the Michigan Messenger
[COMMENTARY] In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul responded to charges of being a racist because of his association with a racist newsletter. Since this incident and other allegations, including a Michigan Messenger report that Paul’s campaign was receiving support from neo-Nazis and white supremacists, his campaign has tried to distance itself from racist accusations.
Republicans like sick children (and so do actionless progressives)
October 18, 2007
Here are B’s thoughts on the S-CHIP. He is dead on as usual.
I am so mad that Bush and Republicans dug their heels in to block passage of the S-CHIP program. Seriously, if you don’t have the number of your Congressman/Senator on speed dial, don’t talk to me. We spend daytime minutes to talk about the most frivolous things so please take 2 minutes to contact your Representative, provided they voted against the program, and give them the business like your cell phone carrier just overcharged you $200.
This is not just about the S-CHIP program, it is about all the issues you care about but only talk about with people who already agree with you. Progressive bubbles and echo chambers are not helping so I have come up with a new rule. Don’t profess any progressive policy goal unless you do three things,
- Be on public record communicating this position amongst all of your relevant elected officials (local, county, state, federal)
- Challenge yourself to talk about this policy goal with someone you know would be against it.
- Tell other progressives about why we should support this policy goal.
The problem as I see it is that too many progressives never move past part 3.
Stay up fam,
Brandon Q.
Republican front-runners don’t want to meet with Tavis Smiley
September 12, 2007
Apparently, Republican front-runners Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani declined to participate in Tavis Smiley’s All-American Presidential Forums. Undeclared-but-likely-Republican-candidate Fred Thopson has not committed fully.
A question for all of my Black republican friends: why are your beloved republicans so against talking to Black folks face-to-face? Probably because they only do hand-picked audiences.
More from the release below.
One Love. One II
The Storm, The Sequel
July 19, 2007
Another reason why voting matters: putting incompetent people in office who appoint incompetent people to important positions literally makes people sick.
|
