Only in America could a man who has called the mainstream media his "base" run against that very same media.
Only in America could a man who has been in office for decades run as an "outsider" against the entrenched interests in Washington.
Only in America could a man who is a longtime Republican stalwart run against his own party, which has governed while controlling most of the institutional levers of power -- the presidency, the Supreme Court and the Congress -- for much of the past eight years.
And only in America could a man who has called the corporatized, in-the-tank, mainstream media his "base" -- the media that made him its darling and hailed him for his supposed "straight talk" -- run against that very same media, bashing it figuratively while "peace officers" were doing so quite literally to journalists in the streets of St. Paul, in a manner unseen since the '60s and the Chicago days of Richard Daley and the subsequent Nixonian "nattering nabobs of negativity" era.
Yes, welcome to America, land of opportunity, where every politician is a self-styled "change agent" -- yet little ever seems to change.
Running hard against the elite, effete (or as Bill O'Reilly concisely puts it, the "sniveling, left-wing, wine-drinking, brie-eating") media establishment -- while simultaneously chewing on pork rinds, downing shots of Crown Royal with beer chasers, and quadrennially cozying up to Soccer and Hockey Moms and Nascar Dads -- is of course a time-honored tradition among political practitioners within both the Republican and the Democratic wings of America's ruling Property Party. Yet few since the days of Tricky Dick and his attack dog Spiro Agnew have taken the obligatory attacks on the media to such heights -- or depths, really -- as the McCain-Palin campaign, now effectively run by the bullet-headed attack dog Steve Schmidt and other acolytes of Karl Rove and the band of merry miscreants most responsible for the debacle formerly known as the Bush administration.
One after another, speakers at the Republican National Convention unleashed a barrage of attacks on the news media, as the trade journal Broadcasting & Cable reported:
As the GOP convention hit its stride Tuesday, after its opening was overshadowed by Hurricane Gustav, the press became almost as big a target as Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), with speech after speech tarring the media as liberal and elitist.
Fred Thompson, the senator-turned-actor whose own campaign for the Republican nomination ended early, fired the first broadside in his speech Tuesday. On Wednesday, former Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani joined in before Palin herself took aim.
"I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment," Palin said in her speech accepting the nomination. "And I've learned quickly these past few days that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone."
This prompted sustained boos from the audience at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, beleaguered Big Media news executives struggled against the unmitigated assaults to defend their coverage. "It's a time-honored marketing ploy, and every time they bash the media, it means they're not talking about a vision or a plan," CNN President Jon Klein said, while also predictably trotting out his usual assault on the blogosphere as a sort of arms-length apologia: "This onslaught about the mainstream media seems woefully time-worn and out of step, considering how new media have become the source of the scurrilous rumor-mongering on both the Right and the Left. If they want to pick a target, let them pick irresponsible bloggers who are reporting rumors promiscuously."
From literally beating the press outside in the streets (and even threatening them inside their offices) to verbally bashing reporters and executives alike everywhere from the convention podium to select media outlets they favor, John McChange and his lipsticked pit bull Sarah Palin are counting on the fact we as a culture have developed such a severe case of ADD that we can no longer ADD one and one and get two!
Is there a problem in Washington? Forget the fact that the Republicans have been running everything there for years -- and elect a Republican "change agent!" Is there a problem with the ongoing war and occupation of Iraq? Forget the fact that the Republicans have been waging a war there for years -- and elect a Republican "change agent!" Is there a problem with our media being complicit with those in power and concealing the truth from the American people? Forget the fact that the Republican candidate for president has benefited from a cozy relationship with his media "base" for years -- and yes, elect a Republican "change agent," who will then, unchanged, crawl right back into bed with that same elite, effete crowd the minute he sets foot in the Oval Office!
Only in America, Land of Opportunity, is everyone free to start over -- and over and over -- endlessly reinventing themselves. Here, as the poet Allen Ginsberg once noted, "yesterday's newspaper is amnesia."
AlterNet
Editor's note: Much of the best information on the 2008 election can't be found in newspapers or magazines, or TV and radio, or websites -- it's on email. The article below is an email response sent out by critics of McCain's RNC speech singling out inaccurate statements the GOP nominee made to the nation on critical issues of the day.
False McCain Claim: "My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance."
Facts: McCain's Health Care Plan Does Little to Reduce the Ranks of America's Uninsured and Would Erode the Employer-Based System
Under McCain's Plan, Health Insurance Benefits Would be Taxed For The First Time, Resulting In A $3.6 Trillion Tax Increase On Working Families. McCain's health care plan would eliminate the payroll deduction on health care benefits, which would have the effect of raising taxes on working families by $3.6 trillion. [New York Times, 5/1/08]
McCain's Plan Undermines The Employer-Based Health Care System And Will Lead To Workers Losing Coverage. McCain's health care plan would begin to dismantle the employer-based health care system, removing the incentives employers have to provide health care coverage, resulting in employees losing their health care. [New York Times, 4/30/08;Washington Post, 4/30/08]
The Health Care Tax Credit McCain Offers Would Cover Less Than Half The Cost Of An Average Health Care Plan. The McCain health plan would give families a $5,000 tax credit to purchase health insurance. However, in 2007, the average family health insurance plan cost $12,000 - more than double the value of McCain's health care tax credit. ["Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey," Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/11/07; "'Call To Action' On Health Care Reform," John McCain 2008 press release, 4/29/08; Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07]
McCain's Health Care Plan Does Little to Help America's Uninsured. McCain's plan does not focus on "reducing the ranks of the uninsured," of which there are about 47 million, or one in seven Americans. According to the New York Times, "The McCain campaign has no estimate of how many of America's 47 million uninsured would likely gain coverage under its plan." It "has been estimated to reduce the number of uninsured in the U.Sby three to nine million." [Wall Street Journal, 10/11/2007, 4/30/2008; New York Times, 3/2/2008]
McCain's Erosion Of Employer System Would Take Away Millions of Americans' Insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, "158 million people nationally" had "employer-sponsored health insurance" in 2007. McCain's elimination of the employer tax incentive to provide coverage would put these 158 million Americans' coverage in jeopardy. According to an analysis conducted by the Center For American Progress, "business owners would no longer need to cover their workers to get tax benefits for their own coverageThe entire employer health insurance system could unravel, ending this as an option for Americans who prefer it." In addition, the McCain plan "would not require insurers to provide health coverage to people with pre-existing conditions." [Kaiser Family Foundation, "Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey; Center For American Progress Action Fund, "Analysis of McCain's Health Care Announcement," 4/29/2008; New York Times Political Blog, "The Caucus," 4/29/2008,
Oil Companies:
False McCain Attack: "Both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies."
The Facts: Energy Bill Actually Raised Taxes on Oil and Gas Industry, McCain Supports Tax Breaks for Big Oil
AP Fact Check: Congressional Research Service Showed That The Energy Bill Actually Raised Taxes On The Oil And Gas Industry. The AP reported, "Clinton is on shakier ground when attacking Obama for supporting "Dick Cheney's energy bill," and not just because it's a stretch to assign the vice president name - red meat to Democrats - to the legislation. The 2005 act that she describes as packed with billions of dollars in oil industry breaks actually raised taxes on the oil and gas industry by about $300 million over 11 years, according to the Congressional Research Service. The nonpartisan analysis found $2.6 billion in tax cuts for the oil and gas industry and $2.9 billion in tax increases. The bulk of tax breaks went to other sources of energy, including alternative fuels favored by both Clinton and Obama." [AP, 2/15/08]
McCain's Tax Plan Will Cut Taxes For Oil Companies by Nearly $4 Billion - Including $1.2 Billion for Exxon. A study by the Center for American Progress Action Fund noted that the corporate tax rate cut included in the McCain tax plan "would deliver a $3.8 billion tax cut to the five largest American oil companies" - ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Valero Energy, and Marathon. According to their analysis ofExxon's financial statements, the company would receive a tax savings of $1.2 billion under the McCain plan. ["The McCain Plan to Cut Oil CompanyTaxes by Nearly $4 Billion," Center for American Progress Action Fund, 3/27/08]
McCain Spokesman: McCain Opposes A Bipartisan Compromise to Expand Domestic Oil Production Because of Provisions that Would End Tax Breaks for Oil Companies. "A spokesman for Sen. McCain said that while he 'applauds the bipartisan effort,' he wouldn't support the proposal because 'he cannot and will not support legislation that raises taxes.'" [Wall Street Journal,8/2/08] ###
Trade
False McCain Attack: "I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them."
The Facts: When Obama Negotiate Trade Deals, It Will Be With American Workers in Mind; McCain Supported Deals That Cost Americans Jobs
Obama Said That While "We're Not Going To Draw A Moat" Around The US, Trade Deals Had To Be Negotiated With American Workers In Mind.
"The AP reported, "Obama said he supports the foreign trade deal, which is especially important to labor and U.S. manufacturers. He said active trading is a key way to keep the United States competitive. 'We're not going to draw a moat around the United States' economy. If we do that, then China is still trading, India is still going to be trading,' said Obama, who voted against the recent Central American Free Trade Agreement and opposes the pending trade deal with South Korea. 'I think that NAFTA and CAFTA did not reflect the interests of American workers but reflected the interests of the stock owners on Wall Street, because they did not contain the sorts of labor provisions and environmental provisions that should have been embedded and should have been enforceable in those agreements,' he said." [AP, 10/10/07]
McCain Supported NAFTA, Which Contributed to Loss of a Million American Jobs, And CAFTA. John McCain supported both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The Economic Policy Institute has estimated that NAFTA contributed to the loss of 1 million American jobs since it took effect in 1994. [Vote 395, HR 3450, 61-38, 11/20/93; Vote 170, S.1307, 54-45, 6/30/05; "Revisiting NAFTA; Still not working for North America's workers," The Economic Policy Institute,9/28/06]
McCain: I Am The Biggest Free Marketer And Free Trader. "Well, obviously we should make sure that every nation respects human rights, and we should advocate that and try to enforce it. But I will open every market in the world to Iowa's agricultural products. I'm the biggest free marketer and free trader that you will ever see." [GOP Debate, 12/12/07]
McCain Praised NAFTA But Admitted That People Are "Gonna Lose Jobs." "I know NAFTA was a good idea. It's created millions of jobs and it has helped the economies of all three nations. All you have to do is go to Detroit and see the thousands of trucks lined up every day or go to our southern border. There have been winners and losers and that's the problem but free trade is something I think is vital to the future of America. As a free trader, I will open up every market in the world to Iowa agricultural products. Have people lost jobs? Yes, they have. And they're gonna lose jobs although the overall gain in jobs is gonna be pretty impressive." [Des Moines Register, 11/27/07]
McCain: I Don't Care How Many Jobs You Outsource. Responding to a question about the economy during an appearance on Hardball, McCain said, "If we start seeing what a lot of us expect, and that is a strong economy cannot go forever without picking up jobs. I don't care how many of them you outsource, then I think the president is going to be helped by that." [MSNBC, "Hardball," 2/25/04]
McCain Acknowledges Trade Agreements Have Cost America Jobs, Still Believes Agreements Have "Been Very Successful." "McCain has said the trade pacts have been a net positive. 'Overall, the free-trade agreements have been very successful, and I can prove that with economic data on job creation,' McCain said in an interview Monday with the Journal Sentinel. But he added, 'It has left people behind, and we must give those people and others opportunities.'" [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/16/08]
Taxes
McCain's False Attacks: "I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them.”
The Facts: Obama Will Cut Taxes, McCain Will Raise Them -- David Leonhardt of The New York Times Wrote That, "For Most People, Obama Is The Tax Cutter In This Campaign."
Leonhardt wrote that, " The Tax Policy Center, a research group run by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, has done the most detailed analysis of the Obama and McCain tax plans, and it has published a series of fascinating tables. For the bottom 80 percent of the population -- those households making $118,000 or less -- McCain's various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama's proposals would bring $900 a year in savings. So for most people, Obama is the tax cutter in this campaign." [The New York Times, 8/24/08]
Analysts Say That Obama's Tax Cut Plan "Offers Three Times The Break For Middle Class Families Than Proposals" Of McCain. "The tax cut plan of Democratic nominee to be Barack Obama offers three times the break for middle class families than proposals of likely Republican nominee John McCain, according to analysts working for a left-leaning think tank. Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain's tax cut for this group would be $319, the report states." [Nashua Telegraph, 6/12/08]
Under Obama's Plan The Middle Of The Middle Class Would See Taxes Cut By $1,042 A Year; McCain's Tax Plan Would Give Them Only A $319 Tax Cut. According to the non partisan Tax Policy Center's computations, "under Mr. Obama's plan, the middle of the middle class, or those earning $37,595 to $66,354, would see taxes cut by $1,042 a year. Under Mr. McCain's plan, taxes for people in that category would also fall, but by $319; the largest chunk of the benefits would go to those making $2.8 million a year or more." [New York Times, 6/13/08]
Washington Post: McCain's Approach To Taxes Is Far More Costly Than Obama's. "There is a serious debate to be had in this presidential campaign about the fundamentally different tax policies of Barack Obama and John McCain. Then there is the phony, misleading and at times outright dishonest debate that the McCain campaign has been waging -- most recently with a television ad. The two candidates have very different positions on taxes. Mr. Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and cut them substantially for low- and middle-income taxpayers. He would cut taxes for more households, and by a larger amount, than Mr. McCain, who would give the greatest benefits to wealthy households and corporations. The McCain campaign insists on completely misrepresenting Mr. Obama's plan. The country can't afford the tax cuts either man is promising, although Mr. McCain's approach is by far the more costly. We don't expect either side to admit that. But neither side should get to outright lie about its opponent's positions, either." [Editorial, Washington Post, 8/31/08]
ABC Headline: McCain Health Credit Could Morph Into Tax Hike. McCain's "health-care plan would replace the existing tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage with a refundable tax credit for all Americans. The tax change is intended to create a more equitable system that provides everyone -- including those who do not receive their health coverage from their employer -- with the same tax advantage. And since it is refundable, it would provide a cash benefit to those who earn too little to pay federal income taxes. But if the cost of health care continues to outpace inflation in the economy at large, McCain's health credit would morph into a tax hike for those who currently receive a tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage, according to a study released Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress." [ABC News, 7/2/08] McCain's Health Care Plan Would Raises Taxes On Families By $1,169 In 2013. According to a report by the Center for American Progress, the tax credit in McCain's health care plan would fall behind rising health premiums and would raise taxes for the average family by $1,169 in 2013. ["John McCain's Radical Prescription for Health Care," Center for American Progress Action Fund, 7/2//08]
McCain's Campaign "Acknowledged" That His Health Care Plan "Would Have The Effect Of Increasing Tax Payments For Some Workers." "Though Senator John McCain has promised to not raise taxes, his campaign acknowledged Wednesday that the health plan he outlined this week would have the effect of increasing tax payments for some workers, primarily those with high incomes and expensive health plans. The campaign cannot yet project how many taxpayers might see their taxes go up, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mr. McCain's top domestic policy adviser. But Mr. Holtz-Eakin said in an interview that for some, Mr. McCain's health care tax credits would not be large enough to compensate for his proposal to eliminate the tax breaks afforded to workers with employer-provided health benefits. To end the disadvantage to those who do not buy insurance through employers, Mr. McCain proposes to eliminate the exclusion of health benefits from taxable income. In exchange, he would provide refundable tax credits of $2,500 to single people and of $5,000 to families, with the goal of stoking competition in the individual insurance market. The elimination of the exclusion would generate $3.6 trillion over 10 years, according to the McCain campaign, and that money would pay for the tax credits." [New York Times, 5/1/08] ###
Worker Training
False McCain Attack: "For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we'll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage."
The Facts: McCain Has Repeatedly Opposed Vital Training for Workers in Hard-Hit Industries
McCain Opposed $1 Million In Job Training Programs For Young People. In 2003, McCain sponsored an amendment to delete several provisions from the war supplemental spending bill, including $1 million for the Jobs for America's Graduates school-to-work program for at-risk young people for Training Employment Services. [2003 Senate Vote #118, 4/3/2003, McCain: Y]
McCain Voted Against a Pilot Program to Provide Low-Interest Loans to Workers in Job Training or Assistance Programs. In 2002, McCain voted to kill an amendment requiring the Labor Department to establish a pilot program providing low-interest loans to workers in job training or job assistance programs to enable workers to continue making their mortgage payments. (CQ) McCain: Y [2002 Senate Vote #119, 5/21/2002]
McCain Voted Against Providing Additional $4.1 Million For Job Training And Other Domestic Programs. In 1992, McCain voted against transferring $4.1 billion from defense to domestic programs, including Head Start, child immunization programs and the Job Corps program. (CQ) McCain: N [1992 Senate Vote #208, 9/16/1992, McCain: N]
McCain Voted Against Providing $1 Billion In Economic Assistance, Including Job Training. In 1992, McCain voted against providing $1 billion for various programs designed to help those struggling economically, including job training funding. [1992 Senate Vote #146, 7/2/1992, McCain: Y]
by Peter Dreier & John Atlas - The Nation/Common Dreams
For the first time in American history, a major political party devoted a substantial portion of its national convention to attacking grassroots organizing.
Speaking Wednesday at the Republican National Convention, former New York Governor George Pataki sneered, "[Barack Obama] was a community organizer. What in God's name is a community organizer? I don't even know if that's a job."
Then former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered his own snickering hit job. "He worked as a community organizer. What? Maybe this is the first problem on the résumé," mocked Giuliani." Then he said, "This is not a personal attack. It's a statement of fact. Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada."
A few minutes later, in her acceptance speech for the GOP vice presidential nomination, Sarah Palin declared, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."
The party of Ronald Reagan was touting government experience over civic engagement.
At a convention whose theme was "service," GOP leaders ridiculed organizing, a vital kind of public service that involves leadership, tough decisions, and taking responsibility for the well-being of people often ignored by government.
But the controversy surrounding these snide remarks may have backfired. Within hours, Obama sent an e-mail to his supporters, challenging the Republicans who "mocked, dismissed, and actually laughed out loud at Americans who engage in community service and organizing" and soliciting funds for his campaign. His campaign manager David Plouffe sent another fundraising e-mail, saying, "Let's clarify something for them right now. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies."
Palin, Giuliani and Pataki denigrated not only the tens of thousands of community organizers who help everyday citizens to participate in shaping their society and the millions of Americans who volunteer as community activists but also a long American tradition of collective self-help that goes back to the Boston Tea Party.
Visiting the United States in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in his Democracy in America, how impressed he was by the outpouring of local voluntary organizations that brought Americans together to solve problems, provide a sense of community and public purpose and tame the hyper-individualism that Tocqueville considered a threat to democracy. In the same speech in which Palin ridiculed Obama's organizing work, she touted her own experiences as a PTA volunteer and "hockey mom"--the very kinds of activities that Tocqueville praised and that community organizers support.
The Republicans' nasty attacks on grassroots organizing reflect another longstanding tradition in American politics--the conservative elite's fear of "the people." Some of the founding fathers worried that ordinary people--people without property, indentured servants, slaves, women and others--might challenge the economic and political status quo. In The Federalist Papers and other documents, they debated how to restrain the masses from gaining too much influence. To maintain their privilege, the elite denied them the vote, limited their ability to protest, censored their publications, threw them in jail and ridiculed their ideas to expand democracy.
But grassroots activists wouldn't give up. Every fight for social reform since colonial times--including battles to abolish slavery, promote workers' rights, fix up slum housing, strengthen civil rights, clean up the environment, expand women's rights and protect consumers--has reflected elements of that self-help tradition.
Modern community organizing, an important strand of grassroots activism, began with Jane Addams, who founded Hull House in Chicago in the late 1800s and inspired the settlement house movement. These activists--upper-class philanthropists, middle-class reformers and working-class radicals--organized immigrants to clean up sweatshops and tenement slums, improve sanitation and public health and battle against child labor and crime.
In the 1930s, another Chicagoan, Saul Alinsky, sought to organize residents the way unions organized workers. Drawing on existing groups--particularly churches, block clubs, sports leagues, and unions--he formed the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council to get the city to improve services to a working-class neighborhood adjacent to meatpacking factories.
A half-century later, in 1985, 23-year-old Barack Obama moved to Chicago to work for the Developing Communities Project, a coalition of churches on the city's South Side. His job was to help empower residents to win improved playgrounds, after-school programs, job training, housing, and other concerns affecting a neighborhood hurt by large-scale layoffs from the nearby steel mills and neglect by banks, retail stores and the local government. He knocked on doors and talked to people in their kitchens, living rooms and churches about the problems they faced and why they needed to get involved to improve their communities.
Obama often refers to the valuable lessons he learned working "in the streets" of Chicago. "I've won some good fights and I've also lost some fights," he said in a speech during the primary season, "because good intentions are not enough, when not fortified with political will and political power."
There are at least 20,000 paid organizers in the United States, according to Walter Davis, executive director of the National Organizers Alliance. They work for community groups, environmental organizations, unions, women's and civil rights groups, tenants organizations, churches and school reform efforts--touching the lives of millions of Americans every day. They work long hours, usually for low pay. Organizers identify people with leadership potential, recruit and train them and help them build grassroots organizations that can win victories that improve their communities and workplaces.
They force cities to put up stop signs at dangerous intersections, organize crime-watch groups and make sure their churches or synagogues shelter the homeless. They force slumlords to fix up their properties, challenge banks to end mortgage discrimination and predatory lending, improve conditions in local parks and playgrounds, increase funding for public schools, clean up toxic sites, stop police harassment and open community health clinics. They even help parents organize hockey and soccer leagues and get local governments to let them use municipal fields and rinks.
As mayor of New York, Giuliani had many confrontations with community organizations. One was East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation network of community groups. In the 1990s, EBC, comprised primarily of religious congregations and their working-class members, pressured Giuliani to provide city-owned land so the group could expand its nonprofit Nehemiah housing development of affordable single-family homes.
Giuliani agreed to provide a large swath of vacant public land in a neglected part of Brooklyn. At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Nehemiah homes (depicted in the documentary film The Democratic Promise) Giuliani, surrounded by hundreds of EBC activists, lavished praise on the group. "Most of the political establishment in this city opposed them [and] tried to undercut them," he said. Then he lauded EBC because "they do not pay homage to political figures.... They require you to answer their questions. They remind you that you are a public servant."
Giuliani has since forgotten those words of praise, but he was correct. Community organizers make democracy work by mobilizing people to inject long-ignored issues onto the public agenda and hold politicians accountable. They help give people the confidence they need to use the tools of democracy. In a society where wealth and income is concentrated in a few hands, grassroots organizations make it possible for ordinary Americans to find their civic voice and exercise influence in politics.
Our democracy works best when people come together to solve problems, not simply by voting every few years but also by participating in a wide array of voluntary organizations--the "civil society" that serves as a mediator between the power of business and money and the authority of government. Politicians need to listen to people's problems, help them forge solutions, and give voice to their hopes, rather than stoke people's fears and prejudices.
At critical moments, Presidents have embraced activist movements and helped propel them forward.
To win the right to vote, the suffragists combined decades of dramatic protest marches and hunger strikes with lobbying and appeals to the consciences of legislators--some of them the husbands and fathers of the protestors. Woodrow Wilson, no friend of feminism, reluctantly changed his position and supported women's suffrage.
During the Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized that his ability to push New Deal legislation through Congress depended on pressure generated by organizers. He once told a group of activists who sought his support for legislation, "You've convinced me. Now go out and make me do it."
Lyndon B. Johnson, initially unsympathetic to the civil rights movement, later recognized that the nation's mood was changing because of the willingness of activists to put their bodies on the line against fists and fire hoses, along with their efforts to register voters against overwhelming opposition. That activism transformed Johnson from a reluctant advocate to a powerful ally.
To win significant reforms, organizers and politicians need each other. Voter drives, boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and mass marches help inject new issues on the agenda, dramatize grievances, generate media attention and get people thinking about things they hadn't thought about before.
Today, we need grassroots organizing more than ever.
"The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we're trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed," said John Raskin, a community organizer in New York. "Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn't need community organizers. But I work with people who are getting evicted from their only home. If John McCain and the Republicans understood that, maybe they wouldn't be so quick to make fun of community organizers like me."
Now comes Obama, a one-time community organizer, who consistently reminds Americans of the importance of community activism. If he's elected President, he will have to find a balance between working inside the Beltway and encouraging Americans to organize and mobilize. He understands that his ability to reform healthcare, tackle global warming and restore job security and decent wages will depend, in large measure, on whether he can use his bully pulpit to mobilize public opinion and encourage Americans to battle powerful corporate interests and members of Congress who resist change.
Republicans thought they were being smart mocking community organizing. But what they didn't understand is that their smug comments weren't simply an attack on Barack Obama but on the entire grassroots chain of change that has, for over 200 years, made America a more democratic and humane country.
© 2008 The Nation
The Raw Story
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran dismissed on Saturday a warning by France's president that the Islamic Republic was taking a dangerous gamble over its nuclear program because one day its arch-foe Israel could strike.
Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham accused Israel of threatening global peace but reiterated Tehran's publicly stated view that it was not in a position to attack Iran.
Separately, a senior commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying that new long-range missiles had strengthened Iran's defensive capabilities.
"Today, the enemy does not dare to attack Iran, as it knows that it will receive fatal blows from Iran if it ventures into such a stupid act," Nour Ali Shoushtari said in the city of Qazvin, Iran's Press TV station reported.
Western powers accuse Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, of seeking the atom bomb under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran denies the charge, saying it only wants to master atomic technology in order to generate electricity.
The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if the dispute cannot be settled through diplomacy.
During a visit to Damascus on Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran was "taking a major risk in continuing the process to obtain a military nuclear capacity." He added: "One day ... we could find one morning that Israel has struck."
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB quoted Elham, the government spokesman, as saying in response to Sarkozy's statement:
"These threats are because of weakness ... and it reflects the reality and the war-seeking nature of the Zionist regime."
Elham added: "This regime is not big enough and does not have the capacity to want to think about a war with Iran."
He said Israel "uses every chance to threaten global security and peace."
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran over its failure to heed calls to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for power plants, or for nuclear weapons if refined further.
Israel, long assumed to have its own atomic arsenal, has sworn to prevent Iran from emerging as a nuclear-armed power.
Speculation about a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has risen since Israel staged an air force exercise in June which was reported to be a simulation of a strike against Iran. Iran says it would hit back if attacked.
Tension rose further in July when Iran said it test-fired nine missiles, including a "new" Shahab 3 missile, which officials have said could reach targets 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away. Iran has said Israel and U.S. bases are in its range.
Shoushtari, deputy commander of the Guards' ground force, said progress in developing military equipment including long-range missiles "has added to our ability to prevent an enemy attack," Press TV reported.
(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Tim Pearce)
When John McCain trotted out Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, his campaign and much of the U.S. news media depicted the Alaska governor as an ethics “reformer” whose meteoric political rise came from her confronting corruption within her own state Republican Party.
But a closer look at Palin’s short political career reveals that she committed some of the same ethical lapses that she has attacked, especially during her unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2002. She also has shown herself to be a thin-skinned politician quick to see herself as the target of conspiracies.
In 2002, Palin -- still mayor of Wasilla with a population of about 6,700 -- ran much of her campaign for lieutenant governor out of Wasilla City Hall on city time, according to documents first obtained in July 2006 by an editor for Voice of the Times newspaper in Anchorage. (I obtained some of those documents from former Wasilla city officials this week.)
The documents show that Palin used city computers to manage her campaign and billed taxpayers for mailings, phone calls and literature. Palin also had her city secretary, Mary Bixby, print 75 thank you notes to campaign donors and book a campaign related trip to Ketchikan in May 2002 while on city time.
Former city officials said Palin and her campaign staff worked upwards of 10 hours a day using Wasilla City Hall as her campaign headquarters where campaign faxes were sent and received, and campaign staffers used city phones to solicit donations.
On Palin’s lieutenant governor candidate registration form with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, she used the e-mail account the city gave her -- sarah@ci.wasilla.ak.us -- for “campaign chairperson” contact information and the Wasilla City Hall fax telephone number for “candidate information.”
Palin’s mayoral schedule for June 12, 2002 showed that she met with Herold Advertising Products in her office at City Hall. Soon after, the company faxed the city’s deputy administrator, John Cramer, “Sarah Palin Lieutenant Governor” artwork and an invoice for the work.
Former city officials said they were unaware whether Palin reimbursed the city for funds she used to promote her campaign. Neither spokesmen at the governor’s office in Alaska nor McCain-Palin campaign representatives returned telephone calls and e-mails for comment.
Building the myth
Working at her city computer, Palin also sent three e-mails to Randy Ruedrich, the state’s Republican Party chairman, complaining about several endorsements she did not receive.
Ironically, as chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Palin reported Ruedrich, a fellow commissioner, to Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration, accusing him of an ethics breach for conducting work for the state GOP on government time.
To obtain evidence of Ruedrich’s alleged malfeasance, Palin hacked into his computer, an ethical lapse in its own right. In January 2004, she resigned from the commission in protest over what she billed as corrupt practices.
Palin’s ethics complaint against Ruedrich gave her a reputation as an anti-establishment reformer at a time when the Alaskan Republican hierarchy was coming under scrutiny for corruption. Reudrich paid a $12,000 fine after an investigation revealed he had violated state ethics rules.
But in July 2006, Paul Jenkins, an editor for the conservative Voice of the Times, confronted Palin about her own apparent ethical breaches four years earlier. Her response was to insist, without explanation, that her situation was different than Reudrich’s.
“I asked how her using a city computer for her campaign business was any different than Ruedrich’s use of a state computer at the AOGCC to do Republican Party business,” Jenkins wrote in a column on July 7, 2006. “Not the same, she said, simply not the same.
“Then, she shifted gears and asked, ‘Is this what they’ve got to destroy my campaign? E-mails from 4½ years ago?’ We had barely hung up -- and I was wondering if there was any story in all this -- when her campaign fired off a ‘news’ release headlined: ‘Palin Campaign Sees First Signs of Rumored Smear Campaign.’ Good grief. Frankly . . . I’ve never seen a politician come unhinged so quickly as Palin when asked a few straightforward questions.”
Jenkins excoriated his Alaska media colleagues for lapping up Palin’s “reformer” talking points. He said her “campaign [was] rooted in one thing: the perception that Palin somehow wears a halo and is not your average, run-of-the-mill politician.”
This editor for Voice of the Times, which bills itself as “A Conservative Voice for Alaska,” concluded with a reality check that could very well apply to the GOP talking points being used today to sell Palin to the American electorate.
“When her goody-two-shoes act starts to crumble -- and going nuts because of a few obvious questions seems a first crack -- folks may see her for the rank politician she is, and not necessarily a good one at that,” Jenkins wrote.
Jason Leopold is the author of “News Junkie,” a memoir. Visit www.newsjunkiebook.com for a preview. His new website is The Public Record.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
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