Red State Rebels

VP debate and emails

Couple of thoughts today - first of course is the VP debate tonight. I know I will be watching from my living room, and I am wondering will Palin be able to answer anything. I mean a real answer and not a talking in circles with a smile and a shrug and tangents. She does claim, that she can look us all in the eye, and say she has the experience to be one old heart beat away from leading the country.

I disagree.

Also something seems to have been coming up more and more, at least with the folks I know - those email forwards. You know the ones, some "facts" that tell you why to not vote for someone, why they are getting their cash from someone bad etc.

I am one of those people that takes a firm stand on not sending or allowing people to send me forwards. I find then time wasters, and often not even true - many not even a small sliver of truth. I am also confident that you will not be struck dead if you break the chain...

That said, an email does come now and again, and it seems often they also come with poor email etiquette. With the addresses of many people showing. In the last week I received two, I hit reply all, point out this is NOT TRUE, and here is a link you should keep handy (snopes.com) and here is a direct link to why your facts are not true. Then I add something like honesty is important, especially when it comes to elections, and the value of every vote.

Now a couple of things tend to happen. One the person stops adding my name to the list of group emails, but very often I will get a direct email back from one of the people on the Reply All - that says:

thank you! these things make me crazy, I appreciate what you did.

Wow thank you for taking the time, to let me know the facts.

or thanks, that was a great reply, mind if I borrow that idea next time I get one of these?

Notice the thank you in each? People want the facts, and very often they know the forwards are not fully true, but they are not sure if they are somewhat true. There are so many ways to make sure that people
have the facts before they vote, and not all of them are debates, or yard signs, or walk and talks.

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You know she'll drive you to drink, so you may as well join Drinking Liberally for the debate.

Greetings, all!

The Blogmother has asked me to update you, My Fellow Sympathetic Americans, about the fun that my little group has been having, and to invite you along.  I write, of course, about Drinking Liberally Boise.  The nation's third chapter of this legendary group (there are now almost 300 chapters!), we're Boise's best venue for kvetching safely to pals old and new about anything from anti-gravity legislation to canned salmon to the political wisdom of chaining oneself to a hunk of granite.  Plus, we like beers (and soda, water, wine and Manhattans over ice) and feature 30% better looks, 40% more brains, and 75% more snark than your average Idaho political get-together (especially since the average Idaho political get-together is filled with nutty conservatives).

Our regular meetups are every third Wednesday at Pengilly's.  Sign up for regular (but not abundant) email reminders in the upper left corner of this page: drinkingliberally.org.

The big news?  For the first time in our four year history, we're sponsoring Debate Parties! Join us for the VP debate this THURSDAY, October 2 at 6:30 PM in the bowels of the City Grill, 199 N. 8th St.

The response to our first ever Drink-N-Groan Debate Party was amazing! Dozens of optimistic liberals met last week at the City Grill to compare notes, exclaim "I can see Canada from my HOUSE!" and admire our really hot AND smart Presidential candidate.  Check out images of last week's shenanigans here.

You KNOW this Thursday's VP debate will be the debate of the season.  We're already wagering how long it will take after the debate for the cries of sexism to come out from the McSame camp.  Any takers?

Health beat: McCain's records, LaRocco blogs live

John McCain is 72 years old and has several serious health conditions. Particularly considering the national inexperience of his vice presidential running mate, Americans need to be able to take McCain's health history into account before making a decision on his fitness for the world's most difficult job. Watch this video and sign the open letter asking McCain to release his health records.

In other news, U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco plans a repeat visit to Daily Kos today to discuss his plans for health-care reform. The Idaho Democrat is calling for an American-based system that will provide more options, both public and private, with added portability. Join Larry online at dKos from 1 to 2 p.m. Mountain/noon to 1 Pacific.

Pro-, anti-Palin forces turn out in Alaska

Two rallies were held in Anchorage on Saturday: one featuring Sarah Palin and another protesting her nomination as vice president. The Anchorage Daily News reported about 1,500 people at each event, including about 100 pro-Palin people at the protest, many egged on by a hate radio  show host who called the organizers "socialist baby-killing maggots." Who knew that Zeb Bell has a twin in the far North?

Here's a photo of the Palin protest from Mudflats, the go-to source for progressive Alaskan coverage of the Sarah Palin saga. Read a report on both events and see more photos here. In addition, here's the Anchorage Daily News' coverage of the anti-Palin rally and the VP nominee's appearance.

It's certainly interesting that in Alaska, where Palin is supposedly wildly popular, a rally protesting her position on the VP ticket drew at least as many people as a rally featuring Palin herself. But then, as one Alaskan told the Anchorage newspaper, "This election is too important be left to the smears, trivial issues and lies McCain and Palin are trying to make it into. The myth (that) either McCain or Palin are mavericks, bringing reform and fresh air into Washington, it's nonsense."

Eight weeks to go: It's the issues, America

Silly us. We were thinking that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had such compelling personal stories, leadership skills, and proven policy chops that they'd sail to victory, especially over a lackluster opponent who long ago sold his maverick soul to the Bush-Cheney-Rove wing of the GOP. But now, faced with the Dynamic Celebrity Duo of SuperMom and the POW, it appears our wonkish, workmanlike team is slipping in the polls.

This week-old piece by NYU journalism prof Jay Rosen (hat tip to 43rd State Blues and Fort Boise) laid out exactly what the GOP hoped to accomplish with the Sarah Palin pick by reigniting the culture wars, giving the mainstream media a new personality to exalt, and fomenting angst among activist Democrats. And guess what? It seems to be working ... for now. But the magic pixie dust will swiftly turn to rust as voters return our focus to the issues facing our nation. As I wrote in the comments at 43rd State Blues:

There's a reason McCain knew he had to try this sleight-of-hand: He can't win on his record of supporting Bush-Cheney policies 90% of the time. So ... let's NOT be angry. After 10 days of incredulity about the Palin pick, let's unite as Democrats and spend the rest of the campaign focused not on personalities but on **issues**, that is, "the damaged GOP brand" and why Democratic policies and proposals are far more helpful to working families.

Addendum: I wrote most of this post Tuesday afternoon. And now, Tuesday evening, I'm here to say that - if I wasn't quite there earlier today - I am now officially done worrying about Sarah Palin. About 60 people turned up for an Obama meeting here in Boise tonight, and most of them were brand new to the campaign. With the election just eight weeks away, people are tuned in and they're ready to help. You can join in by visiting the Idaho for Obama grassroots site and the campaign's official Idaho page. No matter where you live in Idaho, whether you have an hour or 20 hours a week, you can help be the change we need in America right now.

Update Wednesday morning: Check out this great response from Obama over the latest "phony outrage "from the McPalin campaign.

Weekend edition: organizers fight back!

Yo! Props to Jay Smooth from the hip-hop video blog Ill Doctrine for this chill clip. In fact, community organizers have been - well, organizing - since the Republican National Committee dumped on us Wednesday night with not one, not two, but three slams against Barack Obama's early career choice. Here are some of the best reactions, other than the one above:

Community Organizers Fight Back - the website

We Are All Community Organizers - one of several Facebook groups taking it to Palin

Obama's reaction yesterday

This excellent diary at dKos, in which the author asks whether the GOP's coordinated attacks were coded, racist propaganda.

So, are you thinking you might like to do some organizing of your own this weekend? Here are some ideas:

The LaRocco for Senate campaign is opening its seventh statewide office in Coeur d'Alene from 6 to 8 Pacific tonight. Stop by 408 Sherman Avenue if you're in CdA or nearby. Larry also did a short interview with HBO this afternoon.

A big canvass is planned Saturday morning for Ada County Commissioner candidates Dave Langhorst and Paul Woods. It starts at 9:30 a.m., with a meeting at 12451 W. Abram Dr., Boise, off Cloverdale Road. Contact T.J. Thomson you're interested in helping, contact District 20 chair T.J. Thomson at 559-6010 if you can help.

District 19 door-knocking happens every Sunday (4:15 p.m.), Monday (5:15 p.m.), and Wednesday (5:15 p.m.) Meet at Parilla Grill on 13th Street in Hyde Park.

Idaho for Obama will be registering voters at Art in the Park on Saturday. Click the link for info. Also, Women for Obama are phone banking every Tuesday at state HQ (9th and Jefferson, downtown Boise). Contact chryssa_marie at yahoo dot com if you'd like to help.

More money than time? Congratulations! You can help by donating via ActBlue to a host of Idaho Democratic candidates and causes, including the Idaho Democratic Party and the county parties in Ada, Bonneville, Canyon, Latah, and Twin Falls (all accessible on this page). You can give once or make a monthly pledge. Watch Red State Rebels for a one-stop shopping ActBlue page coming soon to a blog near you.

If you're a Democratic candidate and have upcoming activities or volunteer needs, put 'em in the comments ... and add RSR to your email list to have future events included in these weekend digests.

A fellow P.O.W. on John McCain

Watch this before the big speech tonight. It's only one voice, but this man's testimony ought to lend credibility to the case against John McCain and his inexperienced running-mate. In U.S. history, one in three vice presidents has wound up becoming president.

We'll have an open thread up later this evening for McCain's acceptance speech. Meanwhile, here are some excerpts.

Obama campaign slams GOP cynicism

Folks, I work for a nonpartisan, national organization that helps communities organize large-scale, action-oriented dialogues on pressing issues, so nothing ticked me off last night like Sarah Palin's nasty dismissal of Barack Obama's work as a community organizer. (Apparently, Rudy Guiliani mocked that line on Obama's resume, too.) Fortunately, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has blasted back with this response:

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

Meanwhile, we still haven't gotten a single idea during the entire Republican convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the Bush-McCain policies.

It's now clear that John McCain's campaign has decided that desperate lies and personal attacks -- on Barack Obama and on you -- are the only way they can earn a third term for the Bush policies that McCain has supported more than 90 percent of the time.

Also, this morning, I got an email from a normally apolitical cousin of mine in Illinois who told me two weeks ago that she believes all politicians are pond scum. But she was unnerved enough by last night's display of GOP arrogance and lies that she forwarded a fact-check round-up of the Republican speakers. I'll post that in the comments, since it's pretty long. You might want to send it to your friends and family, too. Then choose one point and write a letter to the editor.

Update: It turns out the fact-check memo I got from my cousin was this story from the Associated Press.

Live blogging Sarah Palin

We'll be live blogging Sarah Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention, which is set around 8:20 Mountain tonight. Mitt Romney is on now, followed by Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee before Palin. Feel free to start posting comments anytime, while I put up a few links of interest about Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

As mayor of Wasilla, she apparently tried to ban a bunch of books.

Sarah Pallin, corruption fighter? Then what was she doing running Ted Stevens' PAC?

But these are the two most disturbing stories of all:

Remember when we thought the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a loose cannon? Get a load of this Huffington Post story by Nico Pitney and Sam Stein, detailing how Palin's worldview was shaped at the Wasilla Assembly of God. Ed Kalnins, the minister there, told parishioners in 2004 they might be damned to hell if they voted for John Kerry, and this past June he said (with Palin as a co-speaker), "I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them."

Sarah and Todd Palin have longtime ties to and sympathy for the Alaska Independence Party. Todd, now "undeclared," was a member until 2002. In 1994, its founder's remains were found wrapped in a blue tarp and duct tape after a plastics-explosives sale went bad. As Kagro X wrote at Daily Kos today, "Nobody has more questions about this? About the Palins' having been fellow travelers with separatist party types who get killed in plastic explosives deals right in the militia movement/Waco/Ruby Ridge/Oklahoma City historical sweet spot? It's not like Republican militia-phile ciphers haven't made it as far as DC before, you know. Steve Stockman, anyone? Helen Chenoweth?"

Of course, Sarah Palin won't mention any of this tonight. She'll hit a home run with the GOP faithful in the convention hall, and she'll endear herself to the "security moms" who helped re-elect George W. Bush. We must let everyone know: The Sarah Palin we see tonight is not the full story. The Sarah Palin we see tonight does not represent mainstream America. Not even close. And John McCain didn't know it.

Update: Here's a speech postmortem from Bill Burton of the Obama campaign ... "The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush's speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years.  If Governor Palin and John McCain want to define 'change' as voting with George Bush 90% of the time, that's their choice, but we don't think the American people are ready to take a 10% chance on change."

Also, here's an even more exhaustive list detailing McCain's Palin Problem.

Coup de Grace?

By rights this should be a good week for Republicans, or so one would think.

As the MSM begins openly speculating that John McCain may be compelled to replace Sarah Palin a la Thomas Eagleton, no less than longtime GOP operative Peggy Noonan was quoted in one of those ever-popular open mic episodes as saying, "It's over."

Meanwhile, Obama widens his lead in Iowa and Minnesota. New Mexico, which I consider to be one of three crucial Western states (Nevada and Colorado are the others), is now squarely in the "leans Obama" column.

In all seriousness, when was the last time Republicans lost ground like this during the week of their own convention? No one should be under the delusion that Obama has this sewn up by any means, but clearly this is becoming more and more his race to lose.