Red State Rebels

It's the economy, period

If the economy wasn't the top issue for voters before today, it certainly will be now. Which candidate is best prepared and most able to shepherd our shaky economy through its deepening crises? It's a no-brainer.

John McCain and his wife are unspeakably wealthy through his wife's involvement in a beer distributing empire. He doesn't know how many houses he owns.

He insists that the economy is fundamentally strong. (Watch him dodder through this statement today, even as Wall Street giants collapse and the stock market reels.) He said earlier this year that he really doesn't understand the economy. He supports Bush economic and tax policy that favors the wealthiest Americans while offering little to the middle class. His key economic adviser says Americans are "whiners" and that the recession is all in our heads.

Barack Obama is a product of the middle class who only recently became well-off due to book sales. He understands what middle-class families are going through. He and his wife Michelle own one home.

Obama's economic policy is based on tax cuts for the middle class and creation of top-notch new jobs for the 21st century. He would  end tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and he would bring more oversight to the financial and housing markets. Watch Barack Obama and Joe Biden talk about the economy and what working families really care about.

As Obama spokesman Bill Burton said this morning, "Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans. Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis."

Update 9/16/08: Obama released this ad today:

Update, Wednesday afternoon: Check out the fastest flip-flop in U.S. political history. The economy is strong. No, wait, it's not! Nice straight talk there, senator. And now McCain adviser Carly Fiorina is telling the media that neither McCain nor Sarah Palin nor Barack Obama nor Joe Biden could run a major corporation. But actually, after 19 months of watching Obama build a powerhouse organization, I'm dead  certain he could run HP, or anything else.

For a recap of how the economy is now dominating the presidential campaign, check out this AP story, which leads with this statement: "Economic fears are suddenly dominating the presidential campaign, shoving aside lipstick on pigs and every other issue." And not a moment too soon ...

Just because you wear a hard hat...

Hard at work, or hardly working while wearing a hard hat?

Larry LaRocco "Working for Senate" at the Jayhawk Dairy in Jerome

Jim Risch photo op at Bennett Lumber near Moscow

 Which candidate will work harder for you in the U.S. Senate?

Let's hear it for the working folks

Happy Labor Day, everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. I stopped by the Boise Central Trades and Labor Council's annual shindig at Municipal Park, where hundreds of people were enjoying burgers and dogs hot off the grill and plenty of fine speechifying by our Democratic candidates. Before the speeches, I introduced myself to some folks at my table and mentioned that I write for a Democratic blog. One woman asked, somewhat in a panic, if it was a "Democrat" picnic. I said no, but that most union people lean Democratic, and that Democrats work hard for working families. Come to think of it, when was the last time you saw Mike Simpson, Bill Sali, Mike Crapo, or Jim Risch at this event? So yeah, it is a Democratic picnic in spirit, if not in fact.

Larry LaRocco, who has been Working for Senate since last summer, led off the speeches. ("I can't thank you enough for what you've done for working families across Idaho," labor leader John Kierce said as he introduced Larry.) "This is not a time to conceptualize or theorize or visualize about winning," Larry said. "This is a time to put our shoulder to the wheel and win." He blasted the John McCain-Jim Risch health care plan, saying he could describe it in three words: "Don't get sick." He also reminded the crowd that, as a Congressman in the 1990s, he voted against Bill Clinton's wishes and voted against NAFTA. He pledged to continue working jobs alongside Idahoans - he's done 34 so far - even after he's elected as a means of staying grounded in what working families experience every day.

Walt Minnick was next, and the 1st District House candidate said that America is not great because of its Wall Street millionaires or celebrities or star athletes, but because of its working people, adding that "if this country has a future - and it does have a future," it's because working men and women will work to turn around the crises of foreclosed homes, outsourced jobs, and health care and education that's beyond the reach of most middle-class Americans. "Fortunately, we're not the only ones to recognize this mess, he added. "The consensus is that Washington, D.C., is broken and that it's time to fix it.

Debbie Holmes, the 2nd District House candidate, pledged to focus on clean energy jobs, conservation, and honoring our veterans "with real help, not just lip service." She mentioned that as a former Hillary Clinton supporter who became a Barack Obama last March, she was insulted by John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his running-mate, adding "Sarah Palin isn't ready to lead this country, and John McCain isn't either. He's proven it with his choice." She concluded her remarks by asking people to "show America that Idaho wants to be part of the change."

Kierce, the president of the Boise Central Trades & Labor Council, asked everyone present to consider giving "Eight in '08," or eight hours of volunteer work for a campaign of our choice. "You don't have to do it all at once," he said, and in fact, an hour a week from now through Election Day sounds about right. Click on the websites linked above, or consider volunteering for any of our great Idaho State Legislature candidates, many of whom were on hand for today's festivities, including Les Bock, Grant Burgoyne, Sue Chew, Brian Cronin, Greg Funk, Kate Kelly, Bill Killen, Phyllis King, Nicole LeFavour,  Michelle Waddell, and Elliot Werk. (I hope I didn't miss anyone. You can view a longer list of state candidates here. And remember Ada County commisioner candidates David Langhorst and Paul Woods, too. Let's turn the courthouse blue.)

Update: McJoan had a write-up and photos at Daily Kos, too. "Yes, Idaho still has Labor, though two decades of 'right to work' has lessened their ranks. Nonetheless, they're still active, vocal, and fighting for Idaho Dems." Read and see more here.