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Opinion, Politics-US, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
Sen. John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention was meant to be his answer to the stadium-sized explosion of his rival’s historic address, his moment to demonstrate his own version of leadership. It is now being mocked by political commentators as a ham-fisted attempt at catching the wave. McCain performed rhetorical acrobatics to try to both be like Obama and be like Bush, while supposedly offering something of his own entirely distinct brand of politics. Botched stage-craft was an added drag on the speech’s resonance.
The McCain campaign has been brutally criticized for a speech the candidate delivered back in June, after Sen. Obama became his party’s “presumptive nominee”, in which the Arizona senator spoke in front of a drab green backdrop, seemed disinterested in his own words, and uncomfortably snickered while poorly executing what was meant to be a swipe at Obama’s change message. At the RNC, unbelievably, the same thing occurred, only the green was part of an even bigger gaffe.
It was the lawn of Walter Reed Junior High School, in North Hollywood, California. The shocking mix-up was that the intended image was to be Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where wounded war veterans are taken for intensive treatment. It was a severe embarrassment, obviously, but it also caused critics to react to the very idea of the image: that somehow the campaign had —in a careless way, to boot— chosen to use the reference to wounded soldiers as a visual effect, which many found tasteless.
John McCain himself cannot be blamed for such a mess, as he most likely has other responsibilities —and talents— besides set design, but the disorganization became a topic of repeated analysis. Some pundits, liberal and conservative, worried for what such incidents suggest about discipline within the ranks and the candidate’s leadership skills. (McCain’s campaign, after nominating Alaska governor Sarah Palin for VP, as attacked their opponents relentlessly on the question of “lacking executive experience”, but such slip-ups have not been a problem for the Democrats.)
September 8, 2008 :: j.robertson
Elections-US, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
John McCain accepted the Republican party’s nomination as candidate for president, in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday, 4 September 2008
Thank you all very much. Tonight, I have a privilege given few Americans — the privilege of accepting our party’s nomination for president of the United States. And I accept it with gratitude, humility and confidence.
In my life, no success has come without a good fight, and this nomination wasn’t any different. That’s a tribute to the candidates who opposed me and their supporters. They’re leaders of great ability, who love our country, and wished to lead it to better days. Their support is an honor I won’t forget.
I’m grateful to the president for leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on American soil in our history, and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable; and to the first lady, Laura Bush, a model of grace and kindness in public and in private. And I’m grateful to the 41st president and his bride of 63 years, and for their outstanding example of honorable service to our country.
September 5, 2008 :: staff
Opinion, Politics-US, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
Palin acceptance speech to RNC —St. Paul, Minnesota, 3 September 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska accepted the Republican party’s nomination for vice president in at their convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. She said she was looking forward to the “challenge of a tough fight against competent opponents”, but wasted no time getting to the red meat. She said she was joining a ticket that would “serve and defend America”, and that John McCain put the “security of the country that he loves” ahead of his own political fate, reminding the audience that McCain said he “would rather lose an election than lose a war”.
She also looked to set herself up as the reference for military families, calling herself the mom of one of those soldiers and saying that status motivates her to back John McCain. (Joe Biden, of course, already has a son serving in Iraq, and may disagree with Palin’s position on that issue.) And much of the evening was that way, Gov. Palin doing her best to claim for the Republican ticket specific points of interest that it would appear the Democrats also share. So references to John McCain’s service peppered the speech to make the distinction.
The thrust of Gov. Palin’s speech to an enthusiastic RNC audience could be summed up in her own words on serving in public office for the right reasons: “The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good and to leave this nation better than we found it”. The speech was clearly designed to frame the Republican ticket as populist and pro-reform, but the language also delivered the message that the McCain campaign wants to use some of the same language that informs rival Barack Obama’s policy rhetoric.
September 4, 2008 :: j.robertson
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Former Democratic VP candidate speaks to RNC, praises John McCain; Shays says Lieberman’s political future at risk
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Al Gore’s choice for VP in the 2000 election, and still a self-proclaimed Democrat —though he was voted out in his party’s primary, before winning back his Senate seat as an independent— addressed the Republican National Convention last night, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lieberman enthusiastically endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and said his goal is to work as hard as possible to make him the next president of the United States.
Republicans had said Lieberman would not attack fellow Democrat Barack Obama, senator from Illinois and his party’s nominee for president, but in the end he did question Obama’s policies, his approach to foreign affaris and his depth of experience. Many Democrats have expressed outrage at Lieberman’s enthusiastic support of Bush Iraq policy and of Sen. John McCain. There is a grassroots movement —which originally started after Lieberman backed the Iraq war, and led to his defeat in the 2006 Democratic primary— seeking to oust him from the Senate and elect another Democrat in his place.
A number of Democratic party luminaries have speculated that Lieberman’s devout support for Sen. McCain is almost entirely to do with his convictions about the Iraq war. There is also speculation that if the Democrats win a handful of additional seats in the Senate, Lieberman will lose the committee chairmanships that keep the Democrats in the majority and allow Lieberman to excercise greater influence. Rep. Shays, also of Connecticut, has said he believes Lieberman put his political future on the line with this speech.
September 3, 2008 :: j.robertson
Elections-US, The Vote, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (1)
Eight years after the debacle of the 2000 presidential election, the state of Florida still has not secured its balloting system against errors, missed votes, flawed counts and tampering. In the wake of the flawed electronic counts from the 2006 Buchanan-Jennings race, Sarasota opted for paper ballots, which are counted by optical scanners. The glitch encountered in a recent primary occurred when absentee ballots entering the system would not transfer to the main tally on a central server.
The machines in question were, big surprise, made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold), and represent yet another case in a decade-long saga involving allegations of glitches and security flaws, known and deliberately distributed to precincts around the country, either to avoid the cost of fixing flawed products or to allow for the possible manipulation of elections. Hillsborough County saw similar glitches arise in its most recent experiment with the machines.
Still more glitches occurred during the primary elections in at least two counties in Florida, earlier this year
Premier has acknowledged there are systemic flaws in machines it has distributed to at least 34 states, and as many as 1,750 jurisdictions around the country. It is, in many cases, too late to implement comprehensive voting system overhauls to ensure a secure and reliable count for the November election, raising the possibility of challenges to vote totals from every corner of the country, and the presidential vote itself being called into question, as literally tens of millions of votes could be at risk.
September 3, 2008 :: j.robertson
Elections-US, Politics-US, Press Freedom, Rights & Freedoms, Security & Surveillance, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
The Republican party kicked off its nominating convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, last night, with a heavy focus on the plight of those displaced by Hurricane Gustav. Fortunately, the storm did not turn out to be “the storm of the century”, but it did leave over 1 million homes and businesses without electricity along the Gulf coast, and flooding and winds have caused severe damage to homes and businesses. So in an effort to avoid anything resembling the perceived indifference with which the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was met, the GOP has devoted significant time to voicing its support for efforts to send aid to the Gulf coast.
The convention has been criticized by some Republican supporters for being “distracted” from the goal of making a case for electing John McCain, as several speeches were canceled due to the Gustav evacuations and Gulf-state governors opted not to attend, but also because there is now the issue of “introducing” Sarah Palin to the nation. In the process of her nomination as vice-presidential candidate, the party will seek to reassure voters that her experience from 20 months as governor of Alaska, backed by her time as mayor of Wasilla before that, are enough to allow her to perform honorably in the White House.
The Palin selection has been a major distraction throughout the weekend, as the press scramble to “find out more about her”, and some cable news reporters openly have said they spent much of Friday reading Wikipedia entries about her. The issue of her daughter’s unwed pregnancy has also emerged, but McCain’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Obama, has said the issue should not be covered in the mass media, is a private matter and that voters should make their choices based on issues and the quality of the candidates, but that families and especially children were “off limits”.
On Monday, some 286 people were arrested, including credentialed journalist Amy Goodman, who was arrested for “obstruction” and who was threatened with “felony riot charges” for having done nothing but ask police why two of her Democracy Now! producers had been detained while reporting on the demonstrations. Goodman left her post on the convention floor to go to the location where her producers had been arrested, after hearing that one had been bloodied in the detention process.
September 2, 2008 :: staff
In the Loop, Media, Opinion, Politics-US, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
Terry McAuliffe, former chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and Howard Dean’s predecessor as chairman of the DNC, has said 2008 will be “the most vicious campaign we have ever faced“. Already shadowy “527 groups” and PACs are running ads and sponsoring the publication of books full of disproven rumor and innuendo, with the openly stated aim of “defeating Barack Obama”. Author Jerome Corsi, who has written a best-selling anti-Obama tome, openly admitted, against the wishes of his publisher, that his book is not intended to be factual, but rather to further the anti-Obama agenda, with the aim of influencing the outcome of the November election.
Corsi’s book has already been widely discredited, as it contains a number of flagrant falsehoods and fabrications, which have been proven false by easily available evidence. Nevertheless, the Guardian newspaper notes that “Fox News’s conservative host Sean Hannity … allowed Corsi to claim Obama wanted to allow women to have ‘abortions’ even after their child was born. Instead of refuting the ridiculous claim, Hannity merely expressed shock.” The claim is an absurd and outright lie, and went unchallenged by the host of the show on which it was made.
And those who aim to drag the political discourse of the United States down to the level of smears, lies and character assassination, who display no fear whatsoever of libel, election fraud, wire fraud or even tax fraud (in cases where actions are clearly designed to benefit a specific candidate), rely on the media to remain so afraid of appearing non-neutral that they never question any of these charges. The result is that political campaigns are under tremendous pressure to “go negative”, even to rely on a strictly negative campaign, aimed at smearing and destroying the character of an opponent with nothing other than lies and manipulations.
September 2, 2008 :: j.robertson
Elections-US, The Vote, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
The company now known as Premier Election Solutions —formerly Diebold, long criticized by election integrity activists for unverifiable, unreliable touchscreen machines (achieving maximum notoriety when its chief executive said he would “do anything” in his power to win Ohio for Bush in 2004)—, has acknowledged that its machines have been “losing votes”, malfunctioning, and providing erroneous counts for more than a decade, affecting elections in 34 states.
Premier notified officials in 1,750 jurisdictions across the United States that its machines might have serious recording, tabulation and/or security flaws that could undermine the integrity of elections. The specific glitch Premier warned about in this recent acknowledgement causes “larger precincts” to lose votes when multiple memory devices feed their information into one broader count. Public information on how and why this occurs is sketchy, and observers are pressing for information about a number of other serious software flaws uncovered by test teams.
One report, by Miller-McCune research solutions, notes that:
An analysis has yet to be done, but anecdotal evidence suggests that larger precincts disproportionately exist in urban centers, where minorities and those more likely to vote Democratic are concentrated.
August 31, 2008 :: j.robertson
Environment-US, Extreme Weather Events, Hurricane Katrina :: Comments (0)
Three years to the day after the catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Hurricane Gustav appeared to be heading for the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico, approaching category 4 status. The city of New Orleans is, as a result, actively bracing for a direct hit and possible storm surge. Mandatory evacuations officially began at 8am Saturday, with the city providing assistance to those leaving their homes.
Mayor Ray Nagin, who was on the job during the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, has told citizens of New Orleans, “You need to be scared”, in announcing the mandatory evacuation order. He also said the goal is to evacuate “one hundred percent” of the city’s population, shutting down all of its services and businesses, so that no one is left stranded. He called Gustav “the storm of the century” and told residents that anyone who stays behind, “You are on your own… there will be no services”.
The west bank areas were ordered to begin evacuation at 8am, and for everyone to be out by 12 noon. The east bank areas were ordered to evacuate starting at 12 noon. Gustav slammed into Cuba with sustained winds of over 150 mph, and is expected to intensify to category 5 status before it reaches the Gulf coast, somewhere between Alabama and the Texas coast.
Computer storm-tracking simulators project Gustav will make landfall along the Louisiana coast, likely blanketing the entire coast, with the strongest winds making a direct hit on the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas. Some projections show the storm moving to the west. Pres. Bush has declared federal states of emergency for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, to facilitate the deployment of higher numbers of National Guard and other military and emergency management personnel to oversee the evacuation and relief efforts.
August 31, 2008 :: j.robertson
Environment-US, Extreme Weather Events, History-US, Hurricane Katrina :: Comments (0)
by Robert Zazzali
As I watched the horrible effects of Hurricane Katrina unfold in early September, 2005, I tried to get involved somehow. I think I was one of the lucky ones to squeeze through the general turning away of unqualified and uncredentialed volunteers. At first I was a bit reticent to tell everyone my story. I don’t want to appear self-adulatory and I dread coming off as seeking a pat on the back, but after speaking to a few people I realized that not sharing would be selfish.
It was September 6th, 2005, just days after the Hurricane struck the Gulf Coast and flooding overtook New Orleans. At the time, I was on a job in Joplin, Missouri and had grown restless from watching helplessly as the images of the hurricane’s aftermath repeated themselves on my motel television. I went online and found a link to an organization called Katrina Caravan Rescue. I called the number and left a message. A young woman named Annie Downing called me back and explained Katrina Caravan was merely a grassroots organization thrown together by a few people using Craig’s List and other websites. Their purpose was to find volunteers who could provide transportation to evacuees currently in Houston who secured future shelter but had no way of getting there. Annie was a young mother living in Texas, trying to balance her relief efforts while tending to her infant. In my cell phone I entered her name as “Annie Dispatcher” for in the coming days she was my only link to the family and pertinent information like destinations, routes, etc.
In our first call, she told me she had a family that needed a ride from Baton Rouge to Kansas. The mother was 7 months pregnant and needed desperately to get to her new home. Feeling suddenly unprepared for the responsibility, I was relieved when Annie called back hours later to tell me that the family managed to get a flight. Annie continued to search for a family or group that she could pair with me.
August 30, 2008 :: staff
Politics-US, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (1)
Last night, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) told the Democratic National Convention that “at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.” John McCain has chosen a vice-presidential running mate from as far away from Washington as you can get: first-term Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a strong backer of new drilling and a young female conservative with a reputation for reform. The pick appears in many ways designed to inoculate the McCain campaign against a number of the advantages the Obama-Biden ticket has accumulated.
The first obvious analysis to emerge from the choice is the perception that the Republican campaign has conceded the question of Washington experience being paramount, and has opted to compete for part of the Democratic campaign’s “change” platform. The second interpretation that naturally emerges from the choice of Sarah Palin is that the McCain campaign is going to compete hard for women who had hoped to be able to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton, to put a woman in the White House.
John McCain has changed the dynamic of the fall election campaign with this pick: this is true. Gov. Palin is a fresh face, she is charismatic, she is convincing about her intention to enact reform and fight “the old boys’ network”. She speaks eloquently about opposing “wasteful spending”, and she seems to have adopted a strongly populist tone, something that should play well in the climate of economic and political disenchantment of the 2008 campaign.
August 29, 2008 :: j.robertson
Opinion, Politics-US, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (0)
Over the 4 days of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, media analysts have repeatedly asked where the real ‘red meat’ was? Who would throw the red meat to the delegates hungry for an affirmation of the party’s cause and will to fight? Who will blitz John McCain with attacks and insults. There was, apparently, a resistance to believing that Barack Obama’s message might be real, that he could defend his ideas and take the fight to his opponent without demeaning or smearing him. The speech Obama delivered last night demonstrated with astonishing clarity that the red meat he’s throwing to his audience is not insults or attacks, but a vision of possibility and a call to action in common values.
Obama sought to illustrate his message to the American people and took the fight to his opponent precisely that way, directly and on the issues, without resorting to personal smears or character assassination. He had told reporters his acceptance speech would be more “workmanlike”, a hint he would talk specifics and touch on the plight of ordinary people, both of which he did. But the speech was in no way lacking in the rousing crescendoes blending philosophy and fact for which the Illinois senator is so well known.
By one count, Sen. Obama listed 29 separate specific policy pledges, took 4 swipes at Pres. Bush, 4 more at the Republican party and/or its political philosophy, and landed 19 blows against Sen. John McCain. Sen. Obama did hit Sen. McCain hard on the issues and on points where he has “vote with George W. Bush” —Obama noted that this was “90% of the time”—, but the blows were thematic, issue-based and not about demeaning or mudslinging. It raised the challenge the Republican party faces to another level, as Obama showed his willingness to fight hard without smearing.
For Sen. Obama, the issue of passion for the nation, for the flag, for the founding ideals, goes without saying, and so his opponents routinely chastize him for wanting to “change America”, as if this were a sign of not believing in or not loving his country. He laid out a long history of heroic American stories, often quietly heroic, and contrasted them with the politics that accuses people of a lack of patriotism for disagreeing with specific ideologies. He took a chance on unity, calling the entire nation to action in service of common values.
August 29, 2008 :: j.robertson
Building the Green Economy, Carbon Emissions, China, Energy Supply, Quipu Economic Forum, Renewable Resources, Zero-combustion Paradigm :: Comments (0)
TheHotSpring.com :: China is choking under a thick covering of contaminants produced from burning carbon-based fuels for industrial production, power-generation, and transport. Environmental degradation is so rampant that much of the northwest of the country is being lost to rapidly expanding deserts. And desertification threatens the already shaky balance between China’s available arable land and its skyrocketing demand for cheap food. Policy makers and market theorists in China and abroad should be thinking about whether that desert can produce something to help China escape the mounting environmental and public health cataclysm.
If the windswept desert plains and sweltering sun-drenched sands can be used for power generation, then industrial land elsewhere in the country can be converted to other uses, and the air across China could be cleaned up, at least in part. At present, China relies mainly on coal for its power generation needs, and coal is the dirtiest fuel source that is widely used. Economic “imperatives” drive Chinese policy toward coal, because it can be harvested domestically, but it may not be necessary to keep burning it in order to keep China’s boomtime economy growing.
August 29, 2008 :: j.robertson
Elections-US, Politics-US, Video, Vote 2008 :: Comments (1)
Democratic National Convention, 28 August 2008 — Denver, Colorado
To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation, with profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.
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Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest - a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.
To the love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia - I love you so much, and I’m so proud of all of you.
Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story - of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.
It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.
That’s why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.
August 29, 2008 :: staff
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