West Virginia Blue
The Best Blogging Community in West Virginia Democratic politics, progressive policies, the good life and free living in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.
I can't say it often enough... a huge thank you to Sen. Rockefeller for his support for true health care reform. He's got some fabulous amendments lined up for consideration in the Senate Finance committee.
Update: We still need to keep up public pressure (on the House Progressive Block and other Senators) to let them know how much we support a Public Option. Signing this petition is one quick way you can take action right now.
Clem and I are in the front row watching a panel discussion with Howard Dean discussing health care. Dean does not mince words and makes it really clear what he believes will work and will not work.
He frames the health care debate better than anyone else. He really believes that the administration will win the battle, and that we will see a health care program this year. I hope he is right. He stated that he believes that the only part of the bill that matters is the public option. Be sure and catch this discussion on second life or on Cspan.
Now that Daschle is out of the picture, everyone is wondering who Obama will put up for Secretary of Health and Human Services. If it were my choice, I'd go straight to Howard Dean.
Dean is, first of all, a Physician and knows the health field from the inside. Has head of the Democratic Party his 50 State Stratey was a masterpiece of organization and one of the reasons Obama carried so many states that were previously in the Republican Column.
Dean is intelligent, articulate and a real presence when he appears on television or at rallies.
Now, as I understand it, there's friction between Dean and Rahm Emmanuel that ha to be overcome, but Rahm's personal crap should not be standing in the way of a real position in the Administration for Dean, who, after all his work, has been really, and insultingly, overlooked.
Under The LobsterScope
DNC chairman Gov. Howard Dean just held a conference call with bloggers. There were questions on Georgia, his future, Louisiana, but here's the info relevant to us. The 2nd caller asked about why Barack Obama underperformed in Appalachia and the inland South region, if it was due to a lack of his campaigning there or other reasons.
"The truth is we don't know why and until we dissect the exit polls we still won't know," Dean said. It took him 18 months to figure out the real problems in his own 2004 presidential campaign, he said.
"Clearly we'd love to do better in the Appalachia region," he said. "I don't know why we didn't do better in the Appalachia regions, but we'll figure it out."
The 50-state strategy will continue with the DNC. "The Obama campaign used a 50-state strategy to win this election. That will continue with the new chair."
He did not advise Obama who should be that person.
I asked if it was frustrating to have a state like West Virginia, where nearly every elected office is held by the Democrats, but we've lost the past three presidential elections.
"It's much better to be in a position like West Virginia," he said. "We've got a great Democratic governor and Democratic office holders [ there ]."
The Obama campaign made a strong comeback in the state and will have the momentum going forward in the future election cycles, Dean said.
"West Virginia is one of those states we can keep working at it and we can win it again," Dean said. "This is a generational shift going on in West Virginia. We just have to keep working at it. West Virginia is not the least bit frustrating for me. We didn't win, but we really closed the gap in the last couple of weeks."
The vision Dr. Howard Dean had four years ago when he spoke (and stirred controversy) about winning over the voters with the Confederate flag on their pickups may come true under Barack Obama.
If so, it'll be a powerful alliance:
Howard Dean wants to represent angry white Confederate flag-wavers. He even quotes Martin Luther King Jr. in doing so. And in a televised debate Tuesday he refused to say he was sorry for starting this tempest.
Well, Dr. Dean, you may have clumsily launched this issue, but keep at it and keep quoting, because you're right.
No, this is not a missive from a Southern rebel driving a Confederate flag-festooned F-150 half-ton to a Civil War reenactment. It's from the great-granddaughter of slaves - and slave owners. A civil rights lawyer, no less, who knows full well the toxic pain and pride tangled in all symbols of the slavocracy known as Dixie.
Dean is right for three reasons.
First, he's right politically. Without a vision big enough to embrace Southern white men - angry or not - this country cannot be diverted from its current path toward corporation-focused, downwardly mobile plutocracy and turned back toward people-focused, upwardly mobile democracy.
Second, one of Martin Luther King's most profound insights came in his warning that to avoid elimination as the irrelevant unskilled, poor whites and poor blacks had to band together in a "grand alliance" and demand from politicians jobs, justice and opportunity for everyone.
King realized that the grand old bargain this country had always offered to poor whites - namely, accept your poverty and we will ensure your racial caste superiority over blacks - must be destroyed before universal opportunity could be realized.
King clearly knew that the very whites he was appealing to clung to both the Confederate flag and empty white supremacy. Yet he still proposed this alliance for the greater prosperity of all: "Together [poor whites and poor blacks] could form a grand alliance. Together, they could merge all people for the good of all."
Go read all of it at the link above for the third.
Here in West Virginia Obama won white voters making between $15,000 to $30,000 with 62 percent Obama to 37 percent McCain. Under voters making under $50k, Obama won 52-46 percent. What this tells me is we need to make sure we enfranchise more of our low income whites that we miss in our canvasses and voter registration drives.
This is why the media circus around John Edwards is so disappointing to me, a former supporter. Few in the political limelight speak for the poor in this country; they don't make political contributions. The elite traditional media that mocked his Poverty Tour before will feel good about themselves.
Anyone who has read my diaries or comments may have gathered that I hold the social justice issue of my faith on the outside of my sleeve. We have had decades of failed "trickle down" economic policies that have resulted in the upward distribution of wealth. Shelley McCapito recent concern for affordable housing does not disabuse me of the notion the she supports the outrageous tax cuts for the upper 1% that John Pimp-My-Wife proposes. By their logic a 0% tax rate will produce infinite revenue.
On Friday I got a forwarded email from my father sent to him by a former Navy base coworker who now lives in Tennessee. It lamented the destruction of this country as a Christian Nation because the union at a Tyson plant in Tennessee negotiated comp time for Moslem employees, allowing them to trade Labor Day for Eid al-Fitr. (A re-vote restored Labor Day and added an extra "personal" paid holiday. We have that for Good Friday where I work.) My response was to cut and past the Treaty of Tripoli and some Thomas Merton.
The kids went to the fair on Tuesday and Thursday, so that was not on my agenda Friday night. When I got home, I refilled my Anne Barth for Congress water bottle, propped up my feet and prepared to be outraged by another Expose on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. I was not disappointed.
The Attorney Generals in the Appalachian states of West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky were mentioned in the reporting, along with health debt collection practices in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Whether your credit file is thin or thick, follow me over the fold at a look at how one of Shelley McCapito's biggest contributors squeeze blood from all of us non-millionaire turnips.
The DemocracyFest schedule includes many exciting trainings, speakers and entertainers again this year!
Democracy For America (DFA) will conduct trainings for activists on subjects including Canvassing & Phone Banking, Working with the Media, Event Planning, Mobilizing Young Voters and Fundraising. Whether you've worked in politics for years, are running for office yourself, or are a newcomer to volunteering, you'll find these trainings informative and useful!
Speakers this year will include Gov. Howard Dean (speech free and open to the public), Jeffrey Feldman, Jim Dean, Charlie Grapski, Nathan Gonzales, and more! As always, DemocracyFest is as much about "celebration" as "education" and this year will be no different! Entertainers will include Subway Serenade, Bobby Kendes, and more! Plus, there will be parties late into the night on both Friday and Saturday nights!
I arrived at Austin yesterday just in time to hear Howard Dean speak outside the convention center.
It was one of those moments in life where timing is perfect.
In many ways Howard Dean's work as a presidential candidate and then as DNC chairman got me there.
I landed in Austin very tired. I had slept the night before at a rest area off the interstate to save money from driving home to West Virginia and then driving to BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport.
I had about three hours of sleep and slept on my flight to Atlanta and then slept on my flight to Austin.
I took the bus (50 cents) from the airport to downtown Austin about three blocks from the convention center.
There was a crowd outside and I stopped. A man asked to put a sticker on me for Texas for Equality LGBT community. I said sure and got another sticker on my other shoulder with "Doing my part to piss off the religious right."
As founder of West Virginia Blue, I've wanted to create a Netroots community where ordinary West Virginians who feel like their voices are not being heard could have an outlet so they could be heard.
Just as the Dean campaign showed many of his supporters that they have the power to create the America they want, I've tried to provide an instrument for West Virginians to feel empowered politically, a place where they can organize.
As I stood there in the Texas heat, I saw Booman of Booman Tribune on my left. I shook hands with Boo. Then kos of Daily Kos walked up and was on my right. I shook hands with him too.
Dean's speech was what I needed to hear as he talked about how the Democrats are challenging Republicans for Congressional seats and are going to challenge for the White House in states that have been going for Republicans.
Here's his speech.
He's calling on all of us to do more. "The most powerful people in America with the power to get people to vote is you."
Throughout our nation's history, ordinary Americans have been called upon to do extraordinary things from taking a stand in Massachusetts as the Redcoats formed ranks to holding the line on a ridge at Gettysburg as a gray wave advanced to figuring out how to get a man to the Moon and back to forming a picket line in the face of corporate gunmen.
What we're being asked to do is to talk to our neighbors, such a small price to pay to work for the form of government we want.
Too many of our elected Democrats have made that hard to do at times. The answer is to not give up because some of them have let us down. The answer is to recognize that it's a long struggle to achieve the change we want - the change we need to make for ourselves and other Americans. And it's not just our own lives and futures riding on this. Due to our unique position in the world, our efforts are not just for Americans. They can make a difference in the lives of people dying in civil wars in Africa, or in cars that made a turn down a street in Iraq at the wrong time.
The differences that separate us from the Republicans are not percentages in tax rates. They're differences that involve the future of the planet. If we want to try to save Mother Earth from the effects of global warming, we've got to be willing to talk to our neighbors about it.
As Dr. Dean said, voting just gets you a D in his class. True participation as a citizen requires more.
Because Barack Obama's not going to solve our problems. Howard Dean isn't going to solve our problems. The issues facing us are too big. It's going to take all of us to solve our problems.
Which leads me back to Dean. His 50-state strategy is more than just a political gimmick. It means that every state matters just as every voter mamtters. We're not the blue states of America. And we're certainly not the red states of America no matter how much the right crowed we were in 2004. We are the UNITED States of America.
...
I also would not be here without a Democracy for America scholarship provided by all those who generously donated, as well as Land of Enchantment, Kid Oakland, trashablanca, SallyCat, Clem, a kind doctor in Alabama, and all those who nominated me.
THe action starts at Netroots Nation the minute you walk into the Hotel. I met Troutfishing last night... one of Carnacki's fellow scholarship winners and who undoubtedly is one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met on the subject of the religious right and politics. More on that later. What really surprised me is that he is Carnacki's roomate here at the convention and their room is right down the hall from me. Of course we are on the 13th floor which for some odd reason fits Carnacki to a tee.
The Howard Dean speech should be available on video later tonight. As soon as it comes up I will post a link. The Governor was in Crawford this morning as part of the Register for Change project that he has started. The bus is really cool and they had a crowd of qt least 100 in Crawford that are ready for change too.Of course the biggest change will occur when George and Laura move home and vacate the White House for Barack Obama and his wife.
As usual the Governor gave an inspirational speech and brought us all up to speed about the Register for Change campaign. You can learn all about that at the Register for Change website. In the meantime here is a slideshow with some of my pictures from the event. I will discuss the caucuses I attended today later tonight.
I apologize for any typos or other errors in advance.
I believe that most people who view Modern America, or know me personally, would assume that I am a supporter of John Edwards. While I admire Senator Edwards, I am a fan of Hillary Clinton. I am confident in the experience that Hillary has, and I firmly believe that Hillary Clinton would surround herself with competent and intelligent appointees if given the opportunity to be president of the United States; given these conditions I'm confident in her leadership. Needless to say, after watching the Iowa caucuses unfold and keeping up with recent polling trends leading into the New Hampshire primary, I have some advice for Senator Clinton.
Given the impossible scenario of Brandon Brewster advising Senator Clinton , he would recommend three tactics to help advance her in the Democratic primary.
One: Barack Obama has did an excellent to near perfect job of getting the mainstream media to adopt his message. David Axelrod, Obama's media consultant, must have assembled one hell of a media spin department, and a quick of study of both Carville and Begala's tactics will tell you that framing the debate is everything. (Change vs. More of the Same?) Obama has successfully framed the debate in such a way that nearly every candidate from Republican to Democrat have adopted the 'change' philosophy in their message. Now, granted Edwards has been preaching the class-warfare, change the corporate greed in Washington theme for quite sometime, he in no way made the practice of using it popular during this campaign, Obama did this when he dramatically increased in the Iowa polls. Huckabee jumped on this 'change' bandwagon early and this led to both Obama and Huckabee gaining an 'originality' boost in support, esp. from those young liberals and hungry-youthful Republicans whom have been burnt by the current Republican establishment. This 'change' tactic forced many caucus goers against these well-financed, entrenched machines that both Romney and Hillary Clinton had. (Conservative Christians played a role in the Romney revolt as well) You won't see this often, but I have to give it to Dick Morris, he called it pretty early: Democrats should not run on static platforms, and they should never run on experience; Democrats and in particular the liberal wing of the party, love CHANGE. Hillary by simply running on experience alienated herself from the liberal wing of the Democrat Party whom traditionally wants to change the status quo, she also failed to calculate the fact that during times of very unpopular wars the independent voters tend to reach out and embrace fringe elements of either political party. What can she do to correct her message mistake and slow Obama down? She needs to be more specific on how her experience has been linked to change in Washington. It's not enough to state that experience is a vehicle for change, she needs to be the candidate that can honestly state a proven record of change, unlike her rival. I would drive it through the heads of voters that change has already occurred during Clinton leadership. So many years of experience is no good unless you can highlight what you've did during that time. Not to take anything away from President Bill Clinton, but I would advise Hillary to reach back to those eight prosperous years and take credit for those positive ( The economy, foreign policy accomplishments, welfare reform, smaller government, the containment of anti-Americanism, etc) things that came out of Washington during that time, and leave the negative (NAFTA, Free Trade with China, Waco, etc.) for Bill to clean up. President Bill Clinton is at a point where Hillary can use his record in both negative and positive ways without affecting public opinion in relation to their feelings toward him; to sum up that point, people have made up their minds about Bill. Hillary needs to merge both experience and change; my message new message for Hillary would be: Proven Experience. Proven Change.
Two: Now that Hillary has as a 'proven record of change ' she needs to attack Obama on his message of hope and change. Obama has consistently said that when he gets to Washington things are going to change for the better, and that his policies will right the wrongs of the Bush administration and correct the problems that had existed even before Mr. Bush came to Washington. This is where Hillary needs to attack; she needs to make pointed attacks in her stump speeches, and direct her communications department to drive through this message " Barack Obama has consistently referred to changing Washington, yet he has failed to provide the public with any comprehensive details of these proposed changes." Regardless of whether or not these details exist, she needs to bait Obama into a discussion of proposed policies, once this has been accomplished she needs to go in for the kill. I believe that Hillary has far superior policy advisors and she has spent more time networking with individuals whom could really pick apart any proposed policy that Obama would provide details on, this would allow for Hillary to run attack ads (Now that we're out of Iowa) on the policies that Obama would propose. This would give her the ability to claim the political high ground; she made no open personal attacks, she did not attack his previous voting record, and she is simply comparing and contrasting opposing policies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe Obama nor Hillary have engaged in these types of advertisements at this point, and it would provide an opening for Hillary to seize the 'change' philosophy. Her theme: lack of experience equals inadequate policies.
Three: I certainly believe that there is a media bias at work; I've given credit to Obama's communications team, they're good, but not that good. From mainstream networks to individuals blogs, everyone seems to be on board with the Hillary bashing. The most liberal bloggers of our party seem to regard her as an intolerable evil, comparable to Roger Ailes and Lee 'Darth Vader' Atwater. The mainstream media seem to love the fact that the presumed invincibility of the Clinton machine is now meeting its demise by political new-comers whom have just stepped up to the plate. Whatever the case I've been trying to realistically analyze why these overwhelming and misguided views exist. For example, a common phrase that you might here is that "Hillary Clinton is the establishment candidate." Honestly, that statement isn't entirely true; the Democratic Party is a very diverse party in which many constituents struggle for control, it just so happens that the constituency that Hillary Clinton represents is a minority in the Democratic Party, the corporate Democrats. Bill confounded and headed the organization known as the Democratic Leadership Council (they also drafted the 'Super Tuesday' to balance the liberal sway over the Democratic Presidential primary system during the 80's) which advocated the abandonment of populism, in favor of a more corporate, pro-business philosophy for the Democratic Party. Democrats whom adopt this banner go by the title 'New Democrat' (Governor Manchin is a New Democrat), and they are a minority in our party, don't believe me? The DLC has had a very difficult time winning and recruiting influence within the Democratic Party, for example, the DLC hand picked (with the Clinton machine) Wesley Clark (who I think would be an excellent running mate for Hillary if nominated) as their candidate in 2004 to defeat George W Bush, but there was one problem, he couldn't get through the Democratic primary. By all means Wesley Clark is an appealing Democrat, whom I think could have beaten Bush in 2004 despite what some say. Retired four-star military general, former Nixon Republican (a nice time to deploy "I didn't leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me." Could still be used by Senator Webb of Virginia?), proven leadership abilities, a Clinton machine directed by the DLC, and well versed in policy issues by the Progressive Policy Institute (The sister organization to the DLC, founded by Clinton White House staffer John Podesta), yet he could not defeat Senator Kerry. Want another example? Here's one, Harold Ickes (now a political strategist for Hillary's campaign) whom served in the White House as a deputy chief of staff for President Bill Clinton was the DLC's hand picked candidate for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, however we all know he was defeated by newcomer Howard Dean, of whom was backed by liberal interests within the party who despise the DLC and hate triangulation.
So, is Hillary Clinton the establishment candidate? No. She may have been the mainstream candidate who was predicted to win big in 2008, but clearly she is not the 'Democratic Party's' hand picked candidate. So why is the media, who clearly knows the truth continuing to drive falsehoods? I do not know; perhaps the mainstream media is being sold this anti-Clintonism by liberal bloggers and well financed political action committees whom hate the New Democrats? Is it the underdog effect on a whole new level? (We all know why Fox News has Dick Morris and other pundits attacking Hillary day in and day out) For sometime now Ann Coulter and other Conservative spinsters have stated that the mainstream media has a liberal bias, perhaps this liberal bias that is supposed to inherently exist in the media is turning against Hillary for the injustices that her husband committed while in office?
I do not know, but what I do know is that Hillary needs to go on the offensive. She needs to move massive amounts of political capital through back-channel type connections to drive forward the fact that the media is sheltering Barack Obama. It would be politically unhealthy for her to appear as a victim, she needs to make it appear that the media is clearly neglecting their responsibility to ask the tough questions of Obama, and are deliberately sheltering him from critical points that question the durability of his leadership, and most clearly, his electability during a general election. She could win this fight, but she needs to do it strategically and quickly, behind the scenes and most likely over the internet where she can unleash this spawn without a connection to her campaign. Publicly she can point out that the media, will only begin to ask these much needed questions of electability after the nomination process is over, which is wrong. These questions need to be raised and asked now as a mechanism to determine whom the best candidate is going into the general election to face whomever the Republican nominee is. The only thing left to determine is whether or not there is enough time for implementation? Although the hour is late, I believe that she could implement my three point plan and hope for the best; a loss in both Iowa and New Hampshire is not the end, nor is a loss in South Carolina, but beyond that she needs to draw a very thick line in the sand.
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