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Grammy award winning Daily Kos diarist jnhobbs has the story:
We've heard about the McCain campaign using music at their rallies against the wishes of the songwriters. MsLibrarian wrote about the use of the song, " Barracuda", as a theme for Sarah Palin , and the subsequent angry reaction from the Wilson Sisters of the band Heart.
Nashville songwriter, Gretchen Peters , is unhappy about the use of her song , "Independence Day", as a rally play-on for Palin , and her reaction ...
But when the GOP used "Independence Day" to usher Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin to the stage after the debate in St. Louis, Peters realized the party was truly perverting the chorus of her composition to suit their agenda and it was high time for Peters to make her feelings known.
"Independence Day," written by Peters, was a hit for country singer Martina McBride in 1994. The lyrics tell the story of a woman's response to domestic abuse from the point of view of her daughter.
...
"The fact that the McCain/Palin campaign is using a song about an abused woman as a rallying cry for their Vice Presidential candidate, a woman who would ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest, is beyond irony," Peters says. "They are co-opting the song, completely overlooking the context and message, and using it to promote a candidate who would set women's rights back decades. I've decided to donate the royalties from 'Independence Day' during this election cycle to Planned Parenthood, in Sarah Palin's name. I hope with the additional income provided by the McCain/Palin campaign, Planned Parenthood will be able to help many more women in need."
Considering Sen. John McCain history when it comes to legislation involving violence against women, the irony of their campaign using this song - video here is astounding.
It's funny. If I hadn't seen the debate with my own eyes, the noise from the main stream media might make me think that Palin last night actually was better than mediocre.
I'm fortunate to have decent health insurance through work, but I still pay a lot out of pocket. My company pays about $20,000 annually for my health insurance. The average company pays about $12,000 for the health insurance of those fortunate enough to have employer provided health care - and the ranks of the uninsured grow daily.
Under John McCain's plan, we would be taxed as if that $20,000 or $12,000 was additional income to our wages so our taxes would go up.
But McCain says people without insurance would be given a $5,000 tax credit to obtain it. Now if our employers with their purchasing power for basically buying in bulk are only able to get the price down to $12,000 on average, what kind of health insurance do you think an individual could buy with just $5,000? Something to cover only the most catastrophic injuries and with incredibly high deductibles most likely. Now considering how much I have to pay out of pocket for a plan that costs my employer $20,000, I'm sure a $5,000 plan is basically going to be paying everything out of pocket until high deductibles in the thousands of dollars are met.
What else can we expect from a candidate like John McCain since his health care advisor wants to declare every has access to health care because everyone can go to the emergency room.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has turned Sarah Palin and Joe Biden's responses into an effective ad this morning.
Putting this at top so even our rightwing readers will see it.
CNN vote of debate watchers: Biden 51, Palin 36
CBS poll of undecideds: Biden 46, Palin 21
From an email:
West Virginia Obama for America State Director Declares:
"Biden's Performance Tonight - A Clear Victory"
Charleston, W.Va.... Obama for America West Virginia State Director Tom Vogel issued the following statement at the conclusion of the vice presidential debate between candidates Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin:
"Tonight leaves no doubt, that by choosing Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, Barack Obama understands what's at stake in these trying times and possesses the sound judgment needed to lead our country. Joe Biden is a true statesman with a deep understanding of economic and foreign policy issues, and knows how to change the direction of our nation.
"Raised in a working-class family with small town values that are akin to so many West Virginians, Senator Biden understands the mounting challenges facing working-class Americans today. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will work to rebuild our economy, develop a health care system that works for all Americans, and repair our nation's reputation around the globe.
"The momentum for the Obama-Biden ticket continues to grow in the Mountain State. Joe Biden's clear victory in tonight's debate provided West Virginians with one more reason to cast their vote for Obama-Biden on November 4."
Here's a photo from the debate watching party in Charleston at the Campaign for Change HQ.
I just got back from the VP debate watching party in Martinsburg.
I thought Sarah Palin memorized her lines well, but she came across as really mean. Now in the first debate I thought John McCain did too and it was roughly a draw, which, given the poll situation, equalled a win for Obama. But the polls showed regular people thought overwhelmingly Barack Obama won the debate.
The narrative that came from that first debate was that McCain was mean, temperamental, grouchy, and out of touch about the economic situation.
Obama won that debate with the viewers when it was on foreign policy, which McCain has claimed is his strong suit.
He looked even keeled, solid, presidential.
Tonight we saw the importance in the two candidates decisions to pick a vice presidential nominee.
Joe Biden was far from my first pick, but my minister thinks the world of him. Tonight's debate performance really won me over that Joe Biden was a solid pick as vice president, to fill in should, God forbid, the need occur.
Sarah Palin convinced me she can memorize her lines, but as she herself stated, she wasn't going to answer the questions when it didn't suit her. I think she had to do that because she could not think on her feet.
Her winking and overly folksy manner didn't seem presidential to me. She didn't give me confidence that she could do the job should, God forbid indeed, she had to fill the job of the 72-year-old John McCain, who refuses to release all of his medical records.
As the poll numbers show, Palin did better than people expected, but that was because the bar was set so low because of her rambling, often incoherent responses in interviews with Sean Hannity, Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.
Here's the difference between unscripted moments and scripted in a debate.
Someone in Martinsburg described her as an automaton. If the response wasn't pre-programmed into her, she didn't have an answer. It shows here.
You'll hear howls of approval from the blood thirsty Republican base that wants endless war and tax cuts for the rich with no regard to what happens to the rest of us and our nation's failing infrastructure.
But my guess is her responses is going to further drive the undecideds and independents away from McCain to Obama.
Update 1:
Read Al's diary for an excellent breakout of the focus group responses.
Biden's response about the Iraq war scored the highest of the night. That zinger! that Palin did about the "white flag" (the type of response Shelley Moore Capito's thrown out herself) really turned off the voters.
CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE HOSTS STATEWIDE
VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE WATCHING PARTIES
Charleston, W.Va.... The West Virginia Campaign for Change today announced that statewide office locations will host vice presidential debate watching parties on Thursday, October 2, 2008. Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin will meet for the first and only time at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
"Joe Biden is an experienced debater and legislator with a vast knowledge of economic and foreign policy issues. We are confident that he will shine during tonight's vice presidential debate," said Tom Vogel, West Virginia State Director, Obama for America.
A Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released on October 1, 2008, found that Senator Barack Obama is leading Senator John McCain with over 50 percent of the vote in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The poll also shows that the economic downturn is helping to put Democrats on top.
The following Campaign for Change locations will host debate watching parties:
Charleston - 247 Capitol Street, 5:00p.m. volunteer phone bank, debate watch party to follow.
Huntington - 1201 7th Avenue, 7:00 p.m.
Martinsburg - 124 South Queen Street, 5:00 p.m. volunteer phone bank, debate watch party to follow.
Morgantown - 3109 University Avenue, 7:00 p.m.
Please visit www.wv.barackobama.com for more information on other vice presidential debate watching parties across West Virginia.
Also from a Berkeley County email:
Can you see Russia from your house? Then you probably won't be able to see the Vice Presidential Debate either - so join us at Democratic HQ in Martinsburg tonight to watch the debate with your friendly fellow Democrats! You've seen Sarah Palin with Charlie Gibson, you've seen her with Katie Couric also, now you can see her with our next Vice President, Joe Biden. Will she provide an economic aid package to Waziristan, or will she invade it? She might have to get back to you on that one!
The debate starts at 9:00 p.m., but we'll be start phone banking for change at 5:00 p.m.on our NEW PHONE SYSTEM! That's right, we have four new phones and phone lines dedicated only to phone banking - no more cell phones! We've got the technology, we've got the phone lists (of Hillary Democrats and Independents -- a relatively friendly audience), we just need you!
BC Dems hitting on ALL cylinders
... I missed canvassing today due to being the BCDA vendor party at the Martinsburg Air Show which coincided with your canvassing. We had a great day doing the air show in which we registered about fifty new voters, ninety plus percent democrat and we met many folks who said they were republicans yet were voting for Obama and Barth. The republican booth was set up across from us and they had a cardboard cut-out caricature of John McSame, much less dangerous than the real version but it was staring at our tent non the less. I noticed that it was not such a good photo of McSame and then I saw that it was situated not too far from the Martinsburg Fire and Rescue truck where the lettering lined up exactly with McCane's head it read, "Advanced Life Support System" and I thought...How Appropriate! I wish I knew how to copy the photo to this blog...oh well I'm sure it will surface shortly.
We know that long-time Sen. John McCain spent little time vetting Sarah Palin, governor for 18 months of Alaska, a state with fewer people than many counties on the East Coast, and former mayor of Wasilla, population of 6,700 people and crystal meth capital of the state.
After claiming she would testify into why she fired Alaska's Public Safety Director for not firing her ex-brother-in-law as a state trooper, she's now refusing sub poenas. One of the things Republicans like to claim about the government spying on us is that if we didn't do anything wrong, we shouldn't have nothing to hide. So what is she hiding?
But she's avoiding her troubles back home by the adoration of the crowds at the campaign rallies, who begin walking out as John McCain speaks because they came to see her.
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