Archive for November 3, 2008

Pennsylvania Ground Game

Per DailyKos, Pennsylvania is currently blanketed in Obama volunteers, calling to preempt dishonest McCain robocalls targeting Hillary supporters.

As for me, by the time this post goes up I’ll be halfway to Pennsylvania with one of these placards (right) in my hand. Facing concerns of Republican lies about the forms of identification required, along with the traditional stunt of telling lower-income voters that there’s either a property or “no-parking-ticket” requirement for voting, we’ll be dispensing non-partisan advice about how to make sure your vote is counted to anyone who asks. While I’m not so sure about putting partisan indicators on the tags – after all, we’re there to help anyone vote – it’s a solid indicator of Democratic awareness of, and preemptive action against, the regular Republican scare tactics.

And it’s a far cry from McCain’s nonexistent ground game, funding for which, in one of the more disastrous spending decisions in modern politics, McCain just cut.

I Owe Someone a Tag…

PalMD of Denialism blog tagged us and, obviously, we have to tag back… but after this election.  Sorry Pal!

Palin Breaks the Mold on Divisive Strawmen

To listen to the GOP these days, you’d think the election was the day after tomorrow, and that the Democrats support terrorists. Yes, that’s right: showing the class we’ve come to expect from her, Palin seems willing to imply from the Democrats’ plans to cut defense funding that “they think that terrorists have all of a sudden become the good guys.” Decorum fail. And, Democrats should vote the day after the election. Har har har, disenfranchisement is funny. I can’t wait for these people to disappear.

Fear & Lying in “Real” Virginia: Republican Flyers Misstate Obama’s Record

While John McCain continues his focus on Pennsylvania, Virginia is still squarely in the sights, too.

Per Jonathan Martin of Politico, the Virginia GOP targeted white churchgoers (a demographic that Obama is still losing, despite inroads among the “religious left”) with a new laminated piece of windshield litter ominously titled “Who Shares Your Values? YOU DECIDE.” Notwithstanding the fact that the GOP is, literally, “preaching to the choir,” the flier misstates either the candidates’ positions, the issues, or both, and offers a chance to revisit the candidates’ conception of key culture war issues.

Here’s the damage:

Judges: Characterizing Chief Justice Roberts, and Justice Alito, as individuals who “follow the Constitution” is a gross mischaracterization, and assumes an understanding of the Constitution that most Americans – and pre-2008 McCain – would actually disagree with. Despite typical conservative ramblings about the “activist judiciary,” the Supreme Court is (1) meant, to a certain extent, to be socially “activist” and; (2) has been significantly more “activist” during the tenure of Chief Justice Roberts, overruling not only “liberal” precedents but in fact striving to reinvent the federal bench as a firewall to protect, rather than scrutinize, executive overreaches.

Partial Birth Abortion: Obama is opposed to partial birth abortion, but thinks that the health of the mother should matter. That’s an important exception, one supported by nearly all doctors and scientists who objectively assess the issue.  Only the most radical elements of the anti-choice lobby oppose the existence of a “health” exception and, in any event, the issue is much more complex than this flier would lead one to believe. NPR describes it extensively here; if you’re curious, listen, and don’t reflexively vote in a “team of mavericks” that would, in fact, end all abortion ever. As opposed to the radical Sarah Palin, Obama’s position on abortion is quite moderate.

“Born Alive” Protection: all fact-checkers agree that Obama did not, in fact, “oppose” born-alive infant protection laws. Per federal law, “born alive” protection has already existed since 1975, and requires that doctors “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as would be required of a physician.”

Defense of Marriage Act: contrary to the information on this little flier, the Defense of Marriage Act does not “protect marriage as a union between one man and one woman.” Rather, it gratuitously and unconstitutionally allowed states to refuse to recognize marriages perforemd by other states. The effect is that a gay couple traveling from California through, say, Nevada, become “unmarried” at the border and lose all rights that their marriage created, like hospital visitation. Even if you disagree with gay marriage on principle, the cruel effects on this law are overbroad and unnecessarily nasty. In supporting the Act, McCain has already broken his promise to “leave marriage to the states.”

Sex Education for Kindergarteners (?!): a few months ago, in what was roundly regarded as the most dishonest ad of the campaign season, John McCain misstated the purpose of the “sex education” bill that Barack Obama actually voted on. Obama merely voted to fund already-existing, age-appropriate sex education programs with parental opt-out provisions. Where “sex ed” programs existed for younger children, they only went as far as to teach kids to talk to an adult about abuse. This is not controversial, and the GOP should be ashamed of itself for parroting McCain’s most egregious lie yet.

America can no longer trust John McCain. If you see one of these fliers, please don’t believe his lies. Senator McCain -

McCain Winds Down

While John McCain draws four-digit crowds in Florida – ten times fewer than were anticipated – Sarah Palin prepares to jump ship, and registers Palin2012.com. This despite the fact that only 4 in 10 voters say they would ever vote for her. By rolling her out arguably before her time, McCain has irreparably damaged a woman who could have been a GOP rising star. Fine by me.

You Might Feel a Pinch and Some Pressure: McCain’s Health Care Plan

November is open-enrollment month at my husband’s workplace. That its timing coincides with deer-hunting season in New York is quite appropriate, for nothing can make a family feel more like quarry than having to select an employer-sponsored health plan.

My husband’s employee contribution is increasing 10% in 2009. This is the second consecutive year we have seen a 10% increase, and I can assure you the cost increase is not matched by a similar adjustment in quality or quantity of benefits received.

So for fun, why not take a look at each candidate’s health-care proposals? The two plans essentially cost the same, but the results in terms of expanded coverage are dramatically different. Obama’s plan targets low-income and uninsured Americans and is anticipated, over 10 years, to insure 34 million people (18 million, alone, in 2009). The cumulative cost of Obama’s health-care plan through 2018: $1.6 trillion.

McCain’s plan has an anticipated 10-year cost of $1.3 trillion. It will provide coverage to 1 million Americans in 2009 and is anticipated to insure a maximum of 4.6 million people through 2013. Coverage will decline to 2 million by 2018 because the rapid rise in medical costs will far outpace adjustments in McCain’s health-care tax credits. (See Tax Policy Center’s analysis, p. 53.)

McCain’s plan gets better, and by “better” I mean suckier … after the jump

Continue reading »

McCain’s “Spiritual Guide”: Rod Parsley, Crusader

A while back, Jeremiah Wright said some things that, decontextualized, sound crazy and bad for Obama. McCain promised not to run on it; he lied. Well, how about this? McCain hailed as his “spiritual guide,” earlier this year, a man who said that America’s #1 goal in the world should be to destroy Islam. Not Islamic fundamentalism. Islam, period. Yesterday, Parsley endorsed McCain. The man is crazy. Why won’t Obama talk about him? Ah. Maybe he has class.