Jackson Williams: Republicans Identify Their Problem: It’s The Packaging!
Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota weighed in last Sunday on fellow Republican Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina:
"Any time you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that is sad and troubling and hypocritical...It certainly hurts the brand."
The brand? Interesting word choice, and Republicans have been using it quite a bit lately.
We all know that political parties are sold like shampoo or a new car. Yet politics is a somewhat different commodity. The coin of its realm is ideas and good government, not extra conditioning and leather seats.
That's why the ministers of the trade -- politicians -- do themselves a disservice when they speak in the language of advertisers and media consultants.
Talking inside baseball ("My latest internal poll has me up 5% and I've outraised my opponent by $400,000"), instead of, say, jobs and health care, is akin to Toto pulling back the curtain and revealing the mechanics. Such glibness turns public service into a mere game instead of the higher calling it should be, at least on a good day.
Let's be clear: people understand that running for high office is a business that requires professional merchandising. After 200 years, we know the drill. At the end of the day, however, we usually vote on the ideas and vision of the candidates. This is why Barack Obama is president.
Republicans need to focus on substance, if they can, rather than worry about re-branding. There is evidence this might be difficult.
In September 2002, six months before the Iraq invasion, Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card explained why the war blueprint wasn't rolled out for consumption until after Labor Day: "From a marketing point of view," he said matter-of-factly, "you don't introduce new products in August."
No wonder the GOP sees its current state of affairs as a perception problem, something that can be fixed with make-up and better lighting.
Good luck with that.
John Farr: For Independence Day, Ten Movies That Scream America
As we head into Independence Day weekend, for those who'd like to move beyond the evergreen "Yankee Doodle Dandy", I want to suggest some classic titles scattered over the decades that each in their way evoke our country's unique character- to paraphrase a favorite movie title, encompassing the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...
If you haven't seen any of these for a while, well now's the time.
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)- Simple country boy Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits an immense fortune from a distant relative he doesn't even know, and must then navigate a sea of handlers and hand-out requests to make sense of his new life as multi-millionaire. But those who think they can manipulate this tuba-playing rube are soon in for a rude awakening. This charming slice of Americana from director Frank Capra is one of Cooper's most appealing comic forays, as his plain-talking homespun reflection of rural America-foxes all those smug and greedy city-slickers. Thus the movie reinforces the recurring Capra theme of solid individual integrity over the mob of established, monied interests. The husky voiced Jean Arthur delivers a note-perfect turn as Babe Bennett, a hard-nosed lady journalist who first ridicules, then falls for Longfellow, much to her surprise. One of the screen's authentic classics, this is pixilated comedy at its very best.
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)- Charting the early life experiences of Abraham Lincoln (Henry Fonda) in Springfield, Illinois, this fictionalized biopic follows the future Civil War president from his first political speech in 1832 and the tragic death of girlfriend Ann Rutledge (Pauline Moore) to his first trial case as a lawyer. Throughout, we glimpse moments of anguish and triumph in the making of a moral leader, as well as his courtship of society belle Mary Todd (Marjorie Weaver). The film culminates with Lincoln summoning uncommon ingenuity in defending two young men accused of murder. Fonda, who originally declined the role because of his awed reverence for Lincoln's legacy, embodies Abe with plainspoken assurance and gutsy idealism. Weaver, as the future Mrs. Lincoln, and Alice Brady, as the mother of two sons presumed guilty of murder, round out a luminous studio cast. Don't miss this stunning, mythic portrait of American greatness personified, by the legendary director of "Stagecoach."
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)- The great Sam Goldwyn produced this first, most ambitious movie about the plight of returning servicemen at the end of the Second World War. The film follows the unique readjustments to civilian life faced by three veterans: Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), a young officer coming back to a dead-end job, Al Stephenson (Fredric March), an older soldier returning to a loving family and stable career, and Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), a sailor who has lost both his hands in combat. Each character is subtly drawn under William Wyler's expert direction, evoking the complex challenges that confront veterans of all ranks - making sense of their own war experiences while readjusting to a changed America. Even with the requisite dose of sentimentality and romance, the film never strays far from its central premise that no matter what you return to in a time of peace, war changes you forever. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Best Actor (March) and Best Supporting Actor (Russell, an amputee veteran, and non-actor!).
Picnic (1955)- Hal Carter (William Holden), a down-and-out former college football jock, hops a freight to Kansas to ask his wealthy former roommate Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson) for a job. Alan's thrilled to see him (at first), but others distrust the rugged stranger, including Flo Owens (Betty Field), the socially ambitious mother of the girl Alan's been dating, town beauty Madge (Kim Novak, in her film debut). She senses the potential chemistry between Hal and Madge, an attraction that might hurt Hal's job search, and ruin Flo's carefully laid plans for her daughter's future. Matters come to a head at the town picnic. Joshua Logan's adaptation of the hit William Inge play captures the feeling of mid-twentieth century small town America as few other pictures have. Location shooting (in Technicolor) helps, with the crowd shots of real Kansans enjoying themselves during the picnic sequence particularly evocative. The two romantic leads do indeed heat up the screen, particularly during their memorable dance to the fifties standard, "Moonglow". Robertson, Field, Rosalind Russell and Arthur O'Connell round out a first-rate cast. Attend this "Picnic".
Medium Cool (1969)- TV cameraman John Cassellis ( an unrecognizable, pre- "Jackie Brown" Robert Forster) meets and falls for struggling single mom, Eileen (Verna Bloom), against the least opportune of back-drops: the turbulent 1968 Democratic Convention, when brutal police reaction to student demonstrations put the city of Chicago in chaos. John and sound-man Gus (Peter Bonerz) must capture the unfolding crisis for posterity, and in this volatile situation, it appears nothing is safe, including any future for John and Eileen. Haskell Wexler's one-of-a-kind film seamlessly blends narrative and documentary forms, as the actors actually played their scenes as the Chicago riots were exploding all around them. The heightened sense of immediacy and danger is palpable. Extremely well-played by Forster and Bloom, this is a fascinating, irreplaceable American time-capsule for the ages. Look for Peter Boyle as an impassioned right-winger.
Breaking Away (1979)- This strikingly buoyant coming-of-age picture set in Indiana tells of four local boys (and recent high-school grads) who must face their futures, but not before enjoying one last carefree summer. Protagonist Dave (Dennis Christopher) is obsessed with cycling, and on learning how many cycling champions come from Italy, cultivates an appreciation for all things Italian, much to the consternation of his conventional parents (Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie). Dave's cycling skills will eventually be tested against the snobby college guys in Bloomington's annual bike race. Director Peter Yates's heartfelt, life-affirming movie will prove a winner for older kids and adults. Christopher is appealingly quirky in the central role and the film also showcases the budding talents of future stars Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern as two of Dave's buddies. Dooley is outstanding as Dave's bewildered father, a solid Middle American you might actually buy a used car from.
Tender Mercies (1983)- Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall), once a successful country music balladeer, has a severe drinking problem and has finally hit bottom. It's no surprise that when alcoholics reach this sad crossroads in life, they either wither away entirely or climb back up into the world. With the help of patient widow Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) and her young son, Mac gradually finds the strength to reclaim his life. This quiet, unadorned gem, beautifully realized by Australian director Bruce Beresford from a brilliant Horton Foote screenplay, is an actor's showcase, and Duvall makes the most of it, turning in a bravura performance that won him a well-deserved Oscar. (Trivia note: screenwriter Foote had also done the script for Duvall's first film twenty years earlier: "To Kill A Mockingbird", where the actor played the mysterious Boo Radley).
Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)- This riveting biopic of Vietnam protester Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) opens with his all-American upbringing in Massapequa, NY, and entry into the war as a deeply patriotic enlisted man. Later, Kovic returns home disillusioned and psychologically scarred from a bullet wound that's left him paralyzed from the waist down. Alienated and adrift in Mexico, the hard-drinking vet eventually begins to pull his life together, devoting his energies to anti-war activism. Helmed by Vietnam vet Oliver Stone, "Born" is a profoundly moving portrait of a macho athlete whose horrific battle experience causes him to reassess his politics and reorient his give-'em-hell attitude. Cruise, in an ambitious turn away from heartthrob roles, plays Kovic with precision and conviction, especially at his darkest moments, delivering the finest work of his career. Co-written by Stone and Kovic, "Born" reflects the pain and anger felt by an entire generation of returning US soldiers, and will leave a lasting impression.
American Beauty (1999)- Leading an empty suburban life with his uptight, real-estate-agent wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), and depressed teenage daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), sardonic forty-something Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) decides to overhaul his body--and his life--when he falls madly in lust with gorgeous nubile Angela (Mena Suvari), Jane's flirtatious best friend. This superlative drama by theater director Sam Mendes peers at the dark side of American middle-class life with ripe, risqué humor and aching poignancy. Both screenwriter Alan Ball and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall were honored along with Mendes at the 1999 Academy Awards for their evocation of suburban alienation, but Kevin Spacey, whose cool, cynical narration constitutes the film's central nervous system, deserved all the acclaim he received for bringing Lester to life (including a Best Actor Oscar). Working in a subplot involving Lester's new neighbors, an unhinged Marine (Chris Cooper) and his artsy, drug-dealing son (Wes Bentley), Mendes gives this "Beauty" a gut-wrenching finale that completes Lester's transformation.
Transamerica (2005)- Just a week before pre-operative transsexual Bree Osbourne (Felicity Huffman), formerly Stanley, is about go under the knife to complete her male-to-female transformation, she learns that she has a 17-year-old son named Toby (Kevin Zegers), who's in trouble with the law. Encouraged by her therapist, Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), to come to grips with her past, Bree bails Toby out of jail and takes him on a cross-country road trip to Los Angeles. Expertly handled by first-time director Duncan Tucker, this funny, touching film belongs to a tradition of beautifully observed movies about nontraditional American families. Huffman is riveting to watch, especially in the scenes with her disapproving mother, Elizabeth (Fionnula Flanagan). But it is her rapport with Zegers, perfect as the troubled Toby, that gives the film its heart and soul, especially as he believes Bree is a goody-goody church type-not his father. Their trip-so often the arc of growth in great road films-is mutually nourishing and eye-opening. Settle in with "Transamerica" for a frank, heartfelt outing.
For close to 2,000 more outstanding titles, visit www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com.
Also check out John's video blog profiling great films at www.reel13.org.
More on Tom Cruise
Andy Plesser: White House Signs Online Video Distribution Deal with California Start-up
The White House has signed an agreement with TubeMogul, an Emeryville, California-based start-up to distribute and analyze web videos, said David Burch, a TubeMogul executive, in this video interview.
I interviewed David this afternoon at the Personal Democracy Forum. (Please see the transcript below.)
TubeMogul allows video producers to syndicate content to as many as 24 different video sharing sites with one one upload to the TubeMogul site.
It offers two tiers of service, a free product and a paid service, which provides analytics on video usage. The White House has opted to use the paid service. It is using the service to upload to at least two sites, YouTube and Vimeo.
This agreement does not include any services or support for the White House's in-house video channel, which is managed internally.
David was on a panel about video and political campaigns with Steve Grove of YouTube, Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday, and Max Harper, a key video producer in the Obama presidential campaign.
Last week, TubeMogul added video publishing site Castfire to its network of site. Recently I spoke with TubeMogul's Mark Rotblat about how the company is being used by companies and organizations.
Video Transcript of Burch Interview
David Burch: So I'm here at Personal Democracy Forum representing TubeMogul. I direct our marketing. I'm just here...we're on an online video panel and we're talking about a lot of our research around video viewership and I am happy to announce that we recently signed the White House and they're going to be using us to distribute their videos to several sites to be able to reach voters and citizens, kind of, where they are online. So, go beyond just YouTube. They're also going to upload with Vimeo and I believe one other site, and we got in the fax machine came an Executive Order from the President, which I guess is what happens when you sign. So we're very excited about that and excited to be here and see how technology's changing politics.
You can find this post up on Beet.TV
Neil Zevnik: Perilous Journey 2: The Urge to Cheat
So here I am, only one week into this rigorous adventure, and already I'm hearing voices -- the container of Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche was seductively whispering to me from the freezer last night, and now it's the vodka bottle beside it preaching sedition and urging insurrection at the cocktail hour.
Let's face it, we're humans. We're a species that you have only to forbid us one thing, and it becomes the one thing we crave most above all others -- Adam and Eve, the apple? I rest my case. So when faced with a diet plan that denies me any number of customary delights, my brain short-circuits, my taste buds howl, and my will (which was not all that strong to begin with) begins to crumble. What to do? And on top of that, there's the little matter of dragging my aging butt off to the gym and the park for seemingly endless workouts and boot camps day after day after day. Just the laundry alone from all those sweat-soaked t-shirts and grass-stained pants is enough to discourage anyone...
I'm sure this is a daily dilemma faced by every person who attempts to transform themselves through altering food habits and committing to serious exercise. How do you encourage -- nay, force -- yourself to stick with it? How do you balance the competing claims of improved health and allowable vanity against innate laziness and oral gratification? And how do you do it all without driving your friends and family batty with your incessant whining?
Okay, I'm ready to share my strategy, such as it is (understanding, of course, that this is all an ongoing process and unfolding discovery, and as such is subject to alteration at any time). I seem to be developing two reasonably reliable maxims:
First and foremost, There Is No Negotiating. The alarm goes off, the room is murky gray at best, it is not a fit hour for man nor beast to be up and stirring (and my pound pup Jane attests to that with a sleepy, puzzled stare); surely boot camp can be skipped for just one day, if I promise faithfully to do an extra half-hour on the treadmill at a more civilized hour. There Is No Negotiating. Get up, get moving, get coffee. It's almost dinner-time, if I have one more 8-ounce portion of fish I will grow fins and gills, and a cheese-oozing pepperoni, sausage & mushroom pizza on my doorstep is just a brief phone-call away; really, I'll cut out half my carbs tomorrow I promise. There Is No Negotiating. Turn on the grill, turn out the fish, and turn off the mental images. Ohmigod, I've had the most wack day at work, I've put up with more nonsense than any one human should have to bear and did it all with a smile, I deserve a nice restorative cocktail, I've earned it; and hey I can swap it for the sweet potato, after all vodka is distilled from potatoes, right? There Is No Negotiating. Pour away the vodka and pour out the green tea.
And Number Two (in direct contradiction to First and Foremost):
Give Yourself a Break. Okay right, it does seem to negate the First rule -- but not really. This is the safety valve, if you will. Every once in a while, you need to indulge yourself, in order to keep your motivation (and sanity) intact. It is this rule that allows me to stick with the program when I might otherwise fling it out the proverbial window and surrender totally to my baser instincts; and it keeps me from blowing it big-time (like having a couple of beers with the pizza and following it with a vat of ice cream). So when you reach critical mass, you treat yourself to one slice of pizza (no sausage or pepperoni, please); or you have one cocktail before dinner, not too large, and savor every sip; or you skip your cardio on Thursday, just to give your bod a little breathing space. And suddenly that salmon for dinner seems once again appealing, and boot camp appears to be a sweaty satisfaction instead of an unbearable chore.
Anyway, that's what's working for me so far. The demands of my new stepped-up regimen are testing these maxims more than ever, so we'll see what transpires over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, there's Alaskan Copper River salmon robustly calling my name from the kitchen, and my pj's are briskly suggesting an early bedtime to prepare for boot camp tomorrow... Stay tuned!
Todd Purdum Discusses His Vanity Fair Article On Palin: “Desperate” Decision That Revealed McCain’s “Appalling Egotism” To His Staffers
Todd Purdum was a guest on 'Hardball" tonight to discuss his mammoth 10,000-word Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin and her involvement in the McCain presidential campaign. The piece is filled with former McCain staffers making damaging statements (albeit anonymously) about Palin on a wide range of issues, from her lackluster efforts to prepare for debates to her diva-like behavior and strained relationships with the campaign staffers assigned to her.
Essentially, Purdum describes a "desperate" campaign which "took one of the great leaps of faith in American political history." However, the lack of deliberation and vetting behind the decision backfired on the campaign:
They needed something to shake up that race and she did shake up that race... In the short term, in the first 10 days it seemed to be working. What happened though was what the McCain campaign has not really taken the time to find out was there was a whole sort of counter-story about her in Alaska that was a lot less rosy than the one they sold of a governor... record-high approval ratings, 80 percent support in her state, who'd taken on big oil and so forth and so there were always a lot more problems with her than they knew.
Purdum explains the anonymity of the negative quotes about Palin to the staffers finding it painful, even privately, to reflect on the selection of Palin because:
There is ultimately no way to read [it] as reflecting anything but an appalling egotism, heedlessness and lack of judgment... They all know that if their candidate - a 72-year-old cancer survivor - had won the presidency, the vice presidency would be in the hands of a woman who lacked the knowledge, the preparation, the aptitude, and the temperament for the job.
Chuck Todd, filling in for Chris Matthews, pressed Purdum on these extremely harsh words, asking if Purdum actually had McCain staffers telling him this or if it was more of a read-between-the-lines of the staffers' statements. Purdum demurred, saying he didn't want to get into a discussion about sources, but he stated it's safe to say that he had people from the McCain campaign saying words extremely close to those words that he wrote.
Purdum also discusses her current, very popular, presence within the national Republican party base, and her future political prospects . The whole interview is worth watching.
[WATCH]
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Christina Bellantoni: Dems to air sad health care stories to push Obama plan
First published at WashingtonTimes.com
Organizing for America, President Obama's campaign arm housed at the DNC, is raising money to start television ads starring some of the hundreds of thousands of people who submitted their own personal health care stories.
"These personal messages will make a powerful case for why we need comprehensive health care reform, and need it now," OFA writes to Web donors who contribute to the effort.
"With help from OFA supporters like you, we should be able to get the first of these messages produced and in front of voters in key areas within a matter days," OFA says.
The effort doesn't specify which voters are defined as from "key areas" -- perhaps those living in states with senators who don't support Obama's call for a public option to be included in the health care reform bill working its way through Congress.
Last week, MoveOn.org announced it would be targeting Sen. Kay Hagan, a freshman red-state Democrat who said she wouldn't support a public option.
MoveOn said the ads would run in her home state of North Carolina and also in D.C., noting that many of her volunteers and donors from the 2008 campaign want a public option included in the plan.
The OFA solicitation was sent to the 13-million strong Obama campaign list as well as to Democrats on the DNC email list.
"The stories have been read millions of times, and the reaction is an overwhelming, 'Wow -- we've got to get to work,'" Mitch Stewart, executive director of OFA, tells supporters in the email, which directs donors to a spiffy new logo.
"Here's our latest idea: Putting our supporters in coast-to-coast television and online ads, telling their own stories, in their own voice. It could be a breakthrough moment in this debate, when millions of Americans realize how urgent reform really is," Stewart wrote, adding the air time "won't be cheap" and asking for donations.
Stewart also points out the Clinton effort failed in part thanks to the fake "real people" named Harry and Louise who ran ads during the debate over the health care bill.
"Phony stories helped defeat health care reform in the past. But this time, real stories could be the reason we win," he wrote.
Earlier this month I looked at this strategy, noting in a story in our Plugged in Politics section that personal stories didn't help the Clinton effort.
Their stories of health care heartbreak were so gut-wrenching and compelling, so the theory went, surely policy would change.
The year was 1993, and instead of leading to a sweeping overhaul of the health care system that the young new Democratic president had promised, those stories are now artifacts in an ex-president's library, a testament to a monumental, failed effort.
As another Democratic president tackles the issue, President Obama's team is going after those same stories of tears, loss and a health care system gone wrong that President Bill Clinton and his aides once employed.
Read the full story here.
There's no way of knowing yet if these real stories will make the difference this time around, or if having a 60th Democratic senator could make the Obama health care plan a reality.
But the White House thinks it's a winning strategy since it is, after all, one Obama used successfully during the election.
Obama holds a health care town hall tomorrow in Northern Virginia, and I'll bet the president will be telling more of those personal stories.
— Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent,
The Washington Times
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Obama recognizes CNN Hero from N.J.
A woman saluted as a CNN Hero was among a group of creative philanthropists honored Tuesday by President Obama.Laurence Leamer: You Can Change History With a Two Minute Telephone Call
I am going to ask you to do something in the next forty-eight hours that can change history. Before you say no and assert that this is just another piece of propaganda, read to the end. That is all I am asking. And then decide.
Tentatively scheduled for next Thursday, July 9, the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee will be marking up the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. A tiny part of that $49 billion bill is money for the Peace Corps. If the subcommittee votes a robust $450 million for the agency, there will be money for reform and for growth and for sending hundreds of volunteers out to new countries like Indonesia, Sierra Leone and Vietnam. If the subcommittee votes only for the $373 million in the administration budget bill, there will be no growth, no reform and the Peace Corps will slowly die.
Some of you reading this will be former volunteers, and you will react with emotion and sympathy. A few may have just applied to the Peace Corps and been told that because of the current budget there's no room and you have to wait many months. Many others will express concern for Kennedy's greatest child that in two years will reach its fiftieth anniversary. Others will be surprised to learn that the organization, half of its size in the Sixties, still even exists. And a few will be irritated at the idea of spending money outside the country on a bunch of do-gooders while the economy stinks and millions are out of work.
Let me tell you what is at stake. The world does not understand Americans. We are known for our power and our wealth. We are not known for our goodness and our generosity. The Peace Corps is America's greatest tool of understanding, and our truest ambassadors. Since 9/11 the Peace Corps has turned inward, obsessed with security and squeezing the volunteers with excessive control and frequently with disregard. A crucial moment has arrived. Either the organization is dramatically enlarged and reformed, or it will continue its slow death.
While tripling the number of domestic volunteers, President Obama has reneged on his off-expressed campaign pledge to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers by 2011 The easiest, most politically expedient thing would have been for Congress to have gone along with the administration's anemic $373 million appropriation. But in one of the most encouraging and inspiring political acts in some time, many members of Congress of both parties have embraced this idea of a bold new Peace Corps and they have supported the full $450 million appropriation. In the crucial House subcommittee, everyone including all Republicans voted in support of full funding. It was one of the most vivid examples of bipartisan politics in months in Washington.
The game has moved to the Senate, and next Tuesday, July 7 when the Senate marks up the bill, millions will be watching. This is the ball game. Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont is a major progressive figure in American politics, and one would expect him to lead the fight for the $450 million. Instead, he is the leading impediment. In the past decade by arrogantly ignoring his important questions, the Peace Corps bureaucracy has managed to alienate one of the most powerful Senators. Leahy rightfully asks for proof that the Peace Corps will change into the lean, powerful, responsible organization it must be if it is to play an unprecedented role in the world.
Last week Leahy's close friend Senator Chris Dodd introduced a bill to expand and reform the Peace Corps. That should answer many of Leahy's doubts. The question is whether Leahy will grasp what is at stake here and lead his colleagues in an historic vote to give this bold, new Peace Corps a chance to live. His staff rings their hands in despair saying that they would have to take the money away from AIDS relief or malaria programs. There are all kinds of places to cut without touch other worthwhile humanitarian efforts. This $49 billion bill has plenty of fat and a neat slice off the buttocks of some boondoggle would hurt no one or nothing. Leahy will serve no one if he opts for a self-styled "compromise" giving the Peace Corps a modest increase that will only increase the pain.
One of Leahy's colleagues on the committee has already spoken in what truly is a bold, new way about a bold new Peace Corps. Last night Newsmax, the conservative website, published a piece on the Peace Corps by Senator Kit Bond of Missouri. (http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/kit_bond_peace_corps/2009/06/29/230235.html). Bond is often stereotyped as a hardnosed, narrow conservative. He is a thinker and like anyone who truly thinks, he is unpredictable. An expert on Asia, he understands like few of his colleagues the crucial role for the Peace Corps. "At no other time in our nation's history have the efforts of the Peace Corps been more necessary and relevant, which is why I am one of this agency of peace's strongest supporters and have called for the increase of volunteers around the globe, particularly in the Muslim nations of Southeast Asia," the Senator wrote. "Through initiatives like the Peace Corps, we can put sneakers and sandals on the ground, instead of military boots.
We need Senator Bond's vote next Thursday but we need far more than that. We need his ideas, and we need strong conservative support and intellectual contributions to this bold, new Peace Corps. This is no longer the paternalistic Sixties, and there are all kinds of innovative ideas such as social entrepreneurship that help people help themselves. That's the kind of Peace Corps we need, a Peace Corps that Senator Bond and Senator Leahy will both celebrate.
And so it's your turn now. I don't care who you are. Returned volunteer. Applicant. Junior high school student. Grandmother. Republican. Democrat. It's your Peace Corps too. It's too late for letters. Get over to your computer and change the world. Email one or more of the fourteen Senators or call their offices and state your opinion. Implore them to have the political guts to stand up for a bold appropriation for a bold Peace Corps. And next Tuesday night, celebrate with us what we have won, all of us, our movement, America, the world---a bold new Peace Corps for a bold new world.
Democrats
Senator Patrick Leahy
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
202-224-4242
Senator Daniel Inouye
http://inouye.senate.gov/Contact/Email-Form.cfm
202-224-3934
Senator Tom Harkin
https://harkin.senate.gov/c/index.cfm
202-224-3254
Senator Barbara Mikulski
http://mikulski.senate.gov/Contact/contact.
202-224-4654
Senator Dick Durbin
http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm
202-224-2152
Senator Tim Johnson
http://johnson.senate.gov/contact/
202-224-5842
Senator Mary Landrieu
http://landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfmr
202-224-5824
Senator Frank Lautenberg
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/contact/index1.cfm">
202-224-3224
Senator Arlen Specter
http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
202-224-4254
Republicans
Senator Judd Gregg
http://gregg.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
202-224-3324
Senator Mitch McConnell
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact.cfm(
202) 224-2541
Senator Bob Bennett
http://bennett.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=EMail(
202) 224-5444
Senator Kit Bond
http://bond.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm
(202) 224-5721
Senator Sam Brownback
http://brownback.senate.gov/public/contact/contactoffices.cfm
(202) 224-6521
Mike Papantonio: Right Wing Hate Getting Out of Control
About an hour's drive from where I live, a miserable 60-year old man by the name of Donnie Baker murdered two Chilean college students and wounded five others. Baker has one of those simpleton minds that is easily influenced by media fear mongers. He murdered those kids because he visualized himself as a hero protecting America from the evil immigrant hordes crossing our border. Those are the same evil hordes vilified every day by right wing "conservative" media.
Baker's story was similar to Joshua Cartwright's who murdered two sheriff's deputies because, according to his wife, Cartwright was distraught that Barack Obama had been elected president. Cartwright lived in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, down the highway from Mr. Baker.
It's a place where right wing media flourishes.
These days, hate crime stories are so similar and so many in number that we begin to tune them out the same way we might tune out the car sales commercials that scream over our radio and TV airways everyday. But the Donnie Bakers and Joshua Cartwrights of the world are intently listening to the screaming airways. Not the screaming that sells automobiles, but the screaming that encourages dull-witted, troubled personalities to commit murder.
There is a new book on the market titled, The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right. It is a book that helps us understand the connections between conservative media messaging and hate crime. Xenophobe, homophobe, demophobe, Obama-phobe, tax-phobe, choice-phobe; Name the fear and you can match it to some right wing TV or radio "talent" pandering to the most terrified, simpleton and impressionable minds in his audience. The author of The Eliminationists, David Neiwert, says that there is a formula that promotes the terminally unsophisticated and disturbed parts of America's right wing talk audience to do more than just listen to hate messaging. The basic principle behind the formula is to appeal to the most fearful and intellectually challenged portions of a listening audience. Once you get that crowd's attention, the next step is to demonize, dehumanize, and in a sense objectify the hate talker targets. That then allows the hate talker to more easily characterize the Latino, the liberal, the Muslim, the abortion doctor, and even the President of the United States as a traitor, a criminal and an opponent to everything that is righteous and decent. The process is called eliminationism. It is a process that encourages the contempt talkers audience to ridicule, suppress, and ignore opinions that are different from those of the audience. I interviewed Neiwert last week. He had an interesting way of describing eliminationism. He told me that it is the equivalent of allowing a village lunatic to wander through the town square poking everyone he dislikes in the eye with a sharp stick. His book points out that some villagers have enough courage and intellect to stop the lunatic, but others don't have sense enough to realize that the lunatic has recruited them and has actually handed them their own sharp stick.
So, in the end, a pathetic, impressionable right wing media convert murders an abortion doctor, and we see that the process of eliminationism was successful once again.
Bickering N.Y. Senators Still Stuck In Neutral
ALBANY (AP) -- Democrats claimed control of the split New York Senate on Tuesday, declaring a quorum after a Republican took a short cut through the chamber because an exterior parlor had been blocked by Democrats for a press conference they never held.
The Democrats began voting on a host of bills stalled by a three-week power struggle and declaring them passed.
It wasn't clear if the Democrats engineered getting GOP Sen. Frank Padavan on the floor, or simply exploited his presence. In any case, the gambit was immediately rejected by Democratic Gov. David Paterson, who said he wouldn't sign any of the legislation.
Paterson ordered the Senate back into a special session at 7 p.m. to take up important, time-senstive bills. They include extensions of several measures set to expire at midnight Tuesday, including mayoral control of New York City schools and a freeze on medical malpractice insurance rates.
"They can have this political fight later," Paterson said. "We don't care who the president of the Senate is, but we are affected when the laws expire and people suffer."
Padavan, a Queens Republican, acknowledged he walked through the chamber, but insists that was before the session started and only because the Senate parlor was blocked. "It's fraud," he said of the Democrats' claim to a quorum.
Sen. Diane Savino, a Staten Island Democrat, said it doesn't matter if Padavan was just walking through. "As soon as you enter the chamber you're recorded as present for the day. These are the rules of the chamber," she said, adding she thought Padavan did it intentionally because there are many important issues at stake.
The Republican senator is an author of the legislation to continue mayoral control of New York City schools. Democratic Sen. John Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, is backing a measure that would dilute mayoral control.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said summer school will be open Wednesday morning at the appointed time regardless of what the Senate does. "The chaos, the legal challenges, all the uncertainty, we'll face that as it comes up," he said Tuesday.
Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group described Tuesday's move by the Democrats as "a lawyer's dream. It would be a crazy way for the gridlock to be unhinged," he said. But unless someone has a picture of Padavan in the chamber during the session, there's probably no way to prove it, he said.
"We've got to put this trickery behind us," said Sen. Pedro Espada, the dissident Bronx Democrat whose alliance with Republicans has divided the chamber 31-31. "We have got to respect the institution."
The other Democrats continued voting through the afternoon, with Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins presiding and declaring a string of voice votes passed 32-0.