Obama Captures Essence of Tea Party in Bill O'Reilly interview

By now most of you know how President Obama took Bill O'Reilly to the woodshed, in his pre-Superbowl interview. O'Reilly, long accustomed to intimidating and dominating his guests, found it difficult to dent Obama's Teflon demeanor. I'm not an expert but O'Reilly looked intimidated and frightened by the President's poise. Aside from the aesthetics, Obama made a point I think ought to be repeated. When O'Reilly asked the President whether he was disturbed that "people hated him" he answered in this way:

OBAMA:The truth is, the people and--and I'm sure previous presidents would say the same thing--The people who dislike you don't know you...

O'REILLY: But they hate you.

OBAMA: The folks who hate you don't know you--

O'REILLY: That's true--

OBAMA:What they hate is whatever fun house mirror image of you that's out there. They don't hate you, and so you don't take it personally.

The "they" that O'Reilly was probably referring to, includes the Tea Party cohort and the Republican rank-and-file. Their personal disapproval animates much of the emotional and visceral reaction this faction of the country has towards Obama. Obama's answer accurately captures the Tea Party; though they claim they want to put an end to "big government," "tax and spend liberalism," and socialized medicine," much of this is just a rhetorical cover: government spending increased dramatically under Republican President George Bush, and no Tea Parties sprout up. Taxes are at there lowest point in 50 years, and the Obama Health care plan is roughly the same as the policy implemented by Mitt Romney (R-MA) in Massachusetts, and one endorsed by Bob Dole the 1996 Republican Presidential Nominee. None of these policies spawned the raucous opposition Obama faces today, although the people opposing him cite the very proposals Republicans supported in the past.

These facts have been thoroughly documented but I feel the need to repeat them because Democrats are operating under the idea that they should strive to find middle ground with the conservative base or politicians beholden to it. Recent moves to the "center" by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and articles like this one in the Washington Post, on the demise of the corporatist (though self styled centrist) Democratic Leadership Council are in part based on the idea that liberal overreach has caused Democrats to lose. And Per-Digby Democrats clearly believe that their losses in the midterms are cause because they were too liberal and hope governing from the "Center" will bring them victory.

Obviously from a progressive perspective politicians McCaskill are far superior to their right-wing alternatives. But Democrats who feel that taking up "centrist" positions on issues like the budget, or trying to find common ground on abortion will somehow generate goodwill from Republicans have miscalculated. To repeat Obama "What they hate is what ever fun house mirror image of you is out there." Obama, McCaskill, and other Democrats generate intense personal dislike from conservatives simply by virtue of being Democrats. And no matter how much Democrats "Move to the Center" the Republican base will still oppose them viciously.

Furthermore terms like Centrism and Moderate are constantly changing. Tea Party outrage made policies that Bush, Romney, and Dole endorsed in the past suddenly radical Marxist ideas. Rather than simply allowing the goalposts to shift, and meekly give in to the "fun house" personalization of their policies Democrats should articulate and seriously fight for the progressive policies they claim to believe in.

Democratic Party leaders have historically let themselves and their policies be caricatured as the epitome of evil, and unfortunately for them, desperately flailing toward the "Center" has not mitigated this caricature. President Clinton's famed "triangulation" didn't stop him from being impeached. And in 2010 most of the Democrats who voted against health care reform went down in defeat (including Ike Skelton D-Missouri). None of this is to say that the Democratic Party should attempt to shut out conservatives. But the party spent most of the last two years watering down legislation to appeal to Republicans and work out compromises, and for Republicans compromise is only possible if their positions are adopted whole sale (re:Bush Tax Cut extensions). I hope President Obama and Democrats reflect on the fact that the conservative bases' intense disapproval of them is premised on a "fun house mirror image" created in part by the Right wing media. Aborting, or not articulating progressive policies will not appease them.

Will Blunt Join McCaskill and Obama in Fight Against Earmarks?

The St. Louis Tea Party has been engaging in some political theater lately, pretending to be surprised that Roy Blunt still thinks of earmarks the same way he's always thought of earmarks. But it's worth noting that both President Obama and Senator Claire McCaskill have come out against earmarks. President Obama made them a focus of his weekly address:



And here's what Senator McCaskill had to say:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As one of Congress's leading proponents of earmark reform, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill made the following statement following President Barack Obama's weekly address in which he called on all members of Congress to help reform the earmark process.

"Earmark reform has been a lonely fight for a long time, so it's encouraging to have others taking this issue seriously, especially among Democrats since I will be the only senator from my party opposing earmarks after the new year," McCaskill said. "The bottom line is that tax dollars shouldn't be doled out based on politics or secret deals, and it's time both Democrats and Republicans join together to stop them."

McCaskill has been leading the battle against earmarks since she was elected in 2006. In addition to never requesting any earmarks, she has introduced legislation to ban the practice. She views earmark reform as one way to help return fiscal responsibility to Washington. Her other efforts to curb government spending include a proposed cap on discretionary spending, pay-as-you-go legislation, and cracking down on federal contracting waste and fraud.

What a great opportunity for Roy Blunt to cooperate with Democrats on meaningful reform!

Alan Colmes to Ed Martin: "With all due respect, you're not telling the truth!"

I was used to seeing Colmes getting pushed around back when he was co-host with Sean Hannity on Fox, so it's cool to see him smackdown Ed Martin's absurd arguments that President Obama and Russ Carnahan are trying to prevent people from "finding salvation."

The whole thing is worth watching, but I'm posting a few choice exchanges below the video:



(2:11) Colmes : Mr. Martin, you are not being stopped from worshipping and being a Christian, are you? Are you less of a Christian because Obama is in office? How is your freedom of religon being taken away from you?
Martin: Alan, you're not listening.
Colmes: No, I'm not hearing anything that makes sense!

(3:32) Martin: And one of the things they intrude on is my freedom of religion, my freedom of speech..
Colmes: Your freedom of speech? Is your freedom of speech being compromised?
Martin: Sure, fairness doctrine...
Colmes: There's no fairness doctrine. Now hold on. First of all, I'm against the fairness doctrine, sir. Number two, you are misrepresenting...there is no attempt, no effort to bring back the fairness doctrine and you know it. Please don't misrepresent that argument. I know that issue very well. Excuse me sir, the Democrats have been in office now for two years. They've been in charge of the House actually longer than that. There is no attempt, there has been no attempt, and they're on record as saying there will be no attempt to bring back the fairness doctrine. Do not misrepresent what they're doing. You're wrong on that.

(4:17) Martin: Well, listen Alan, what we have is a President that told us just a mere two or three months ago that he would not let taxpayer dollars go to abortion.
Colmes: You keep repeating that but in fact in the health care...
Martin : What about what Governor Rendell did yesterday???
Colmes: I don't know what Governor Rendell did yesterday, but you weren't talking about Governor Rendell. You were talking about Russ Carnahan, and you were talking about President Obama, and in the health care bill, they have bent over backwards to make sure that taxpayer dollars do not go to pay for women's abortions. Again sir, with all due respect sir, you're factually incorrect. (For background on Martin's false claims about Pennsylvania and taxpayer dollars going to abortion, read the post on FiredUp Missouri from last Friday. )

(5:26) Colmes: Is anybody forcing you to pay for an abortion or to have an abortion?
Martin : My tax dollars are going for abortions!!!
Colmes: Your tax dollars are not going to abortion. So, is there any other way in which your religion is being infringed upon?
Martin: Of course, as I've said over and over again, I'm glad to talk about it, is when you have a government that takes over health care, for example...
Colmes: They haven't taken over health care. I wish they would but they haven't done that.
Martin: Of course they have:
Colmes: They haven't taken over health care. There's not a public option. There's not single-payer. What are you talking about?
Martin: If this is the way you want to do an interview...
Colmes: But you're misrepresenting the facts!

(6:58) Colmes: Would you agree, sir, that taxpayer dollars even prior to Obama did go to pay for abortion?
Martin: President Obama said...
Colmes: Didn't that happen under George W. Bush as well? Wait a minute. Wait a minute! You're statement is that Obama in particular is taking freedoms away that you previously had.
Martin: Of course..
Colmes: When the same policies with taxpayer dollars existed under George W. Bush whom I bet you supported, so exactly what freedom was removed by Barack Obama?

(7:50) Martin: Pelosi, Carnahan, and Obama promised no tax dollars to abortion three months ago and yesterday Rendell said...
Colmes: You're playing a game of three card monte. Ed Rendell is not Obama or Carnahan and the tax dollars going to pay for abortion existed prior to Obama. You are playing a slippery game, sir, and you are misrepresenting the facts! With all due respect, you're not telling the truth!

That last quote pretty much sums up the appropriate response to Ed Martin's congressional campaign.

A Conversation with Dan Choi, Part 2: Agitation

If you’ve been following the news this week, you’ve heard that the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is now on the path to repeal. But yesterday, GetEQUAL cofounder Kip Williams was arrested for disturbing the peace after interrupting President Obama's speech at a political fundraiser event. Williams had interrupted the President to ask him to move faster on repealing DADT. The President seemed irked by the activist, as if he didn’t understand what else this malcontent expected him to do: “[M]aybe he didn't read the newspapers, because we are working with Congress as we speak to roll back Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” Obama said.

Why are DADT repeal activists still unhappy with President Obama if he is, in fact, moving forward to repeal DADT?

Because the proposed plan is a "compromise" that allows the military to continue discharging out gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers while the Pentagon conducts an expensive study to determine how to implement the repeal.

In fact, the repeal bill up for a vote in Congress—an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill—establishes no date for the end of the discriminatory policy, and the repeal is contingent upon a number of conditions being satisfied after the study is completed. GetEQUAL is currently circulating a video of Lt. Choi asking the important question, "When?" attached to a petition to the White House “to enact repeal this year and to issue an Executive Order to end military discharges immediately.” Choi writes in an open letter published today in Newsweek:

My question for the president that I ask in this video is simple: under your compromise, when will the discharges end? How long can we ask gay service members to live a lie? How long can we deny existence to their families? How long do we need to study the injustice in order to understand that discrimination is un-American?

In Part 1 of our interview on March 28, Lt. Choi spoke extensively about sacrifice. In Part 2 of the interview, he continues along that theme, and explains the necessity of agitation in social justice movements, as well as the importance of repealing DADT even if one opposes war and the military in general.

More from Lt. Choi after the jump.

A Triumphant Day for America

Speech delivered at Rally for the Future of Health Care under the Arch, 11-7-2009

All I can say is “Wow”. What a historic day for our country. Just 13 months ago, a future President stood here before a cheering crowd of 100,000 Missourians, black, white, and brown, all come together to lift up the promise of change we can believe in. REAL change. Not just empty words.

Now, just over a year after the biggest citizens’ rally in the history of Missouri, we have shown our elected officials in Washington that we will NOT go back . We are moving FORWARD, together, to deliver the change we need for We the People of Missouri, and all Americans. The first step on the road to change was passage of the economic recovery act, which created & saved a million jobs for teachers, policemen, firemen, state service workers, and health care workers (in addition to $10 Billion in funding for medical research by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute to find the cures which have eluded us for so long). This landmark legislation has laid the groundwork for the recovery that has just shown its first dividends – a 3.5% growth rate last quarter (the first in two years), and stabilization of our economy to enable real investments in a solid future.

After that monumental victory for America, we didn’t stop. We launched full speed ahead to take on the Big Insurance Monopoly and liberate American families from the slavery of skyrocketing insurance premiums and cancelled coverage, which leaves millions of us in a state of perpetual fear and insecurity and strangles our economy and small businesses. With the President’s firm leadership, our Congress – at least half of them – has finally stood up to proclaim our basic human right to health care for all Americans. Now we stand on the cusp of a great triumph for America, and for humanity, the likes of which we have not seen since the bold leadership of Franklin Roosevelt and his vision for a Second Bill of Rights, which would include the right to health care and economic security for EVERY American.

Passage of the Affordable Health Care for Americans Act will mark a milestone in the long march toward full equality and true democracy for America, of a magnitude equal to passage of Social Security, worker’s rights and civil rights. We are on the verge of taking a giant step toward the culmination of the vision of our founding fathers for a nation where “ALL men are created equal” – not just the privileged few. We are closer now than EVER before, and now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country. Keep up those phone calls, e-mails, talks with neighbors and friends, so that we can deliver the best Christmas present ever to the hard-working people of Missouri. Then we will ring in the New Year with new hope for our future, and move forward once again on passing a clean energy/climate bill that will free us from the tyranny of oil, revive our economy, create millions of green jobs for America, and save the planet for our children and grandchildren in the bargain.

But it’s not time to celebrate yet – dangerous obstacles still remain in our treacherous journey toward progress for America. These obstacles are called Congressional Republicans. These pre-historic creatures are known for acting only on short-sighted self-interest and greed in the service of powerful interests which refuse to relinquish the impunity they have enjoyed over the last six decades, ever since Franklin Roosevelt was brave enough to take them on. FDR gave his life battling right-wing forces in defense of ordinary Americans and the values we treasure.

But the same Republican Party which devoted its obsessive energies in the 1930’s and 40’s to the destruction of the New Deal and wild vilification of the greatest President of the 20th century (dragging him through the mud at every opportunity & calling him “That Man” and “socialist” just for starters) has now turned its fangs onto our new People’s President and the best Democratic Congress we have had in the history of this country. These GOP elites will stop at nothing to derail, delay and defeat EVERY piece of legislation that promises to lift up the working people of America and bring us the dignity that we deserve.

Just this week alone, Republicans in Congress have blocked unemployment benefits for struggling American families, boycotted work on the critical clean energy jobs bill, and launched a loud shrieking frenzy against the health insurance reform act with crazed accusations that reek of their attacks on Social Security in the 30s and Medicare in the 60s. Well, I have a message for the Republican elites in Washington: NOT THIS TIME. We will NOT be distracted, divided and bamboozled by their snake oil again. We have something now that we haven’t had since 1945: a President with true vision, integrity , and purpose, and an organized people’s movement that is FIRED UP AND READY TO GO!

It’s up to us to move forward this broad vision for progress for America. We the People have shown over and over again in our history that when our minds are made up and we stick together, NOTHING can stop us. Not even powerful Republican elites and their corrupt corporate media that enforces cynicism and despair on a daily basis to try to strip us of our purpose and our power. We have come too far, and there is no turning back now. We WILL bring change to America, to build the country that our founders and their descendants Lincoln, Roosevelt, and King knew that we were capable of. There is no obstacle strong enough to withstand the united power of We the People.

When you leave here, I want you to make a pledge to yourself and your neighbors here that you will continue to step up to the plate to defend the gains we have achieved, and to support the bold new initiatives that are essential to get our country on a firm track toward progress. To quote our community-organizer President, “Change does not come from the top down; it comes from the bottom up.” Let’s get ready to start a new chapter in the history of this great country, and become the next greatest generation in the advancement of humanity. Our future is in our hands; it’s time to make it happen.

- Melanie Shouse
ms4change@gmail.com

"Gang of Six": The privileged few holding up health reform

Just dug up some interesting info on the "Gang of Six" Senators on the Finance Committee who are holding up passage of health reform with a public option; all data is from U.S. Census Bureau 2008 numbers:

These six states(Iowa, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Maine) total less than 3% of the U.S. Population (2.75% to be exact), and 5 of the 6 states are over 90% white* (with the sole exception of New Mexico with its sizable Native American population - 84% white). Each state has a black population of LESS THAN 3%, which comes in at under one-fourth of the 12% black population of the country as a whole.

* Max Baucus' Montana is 0.7% black (less than 1%), while Kent Conrad's North Dakota shows a black population of just 1.1%.

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY - these red-state czars cant be allowed to block progress for America! Call your Senators, and these six Senators, at 202-224-3121 or toll-free at 1-877-264-HCAN (4226). Then pick up a shiny new union-made yard sign to show your support for "Health Insurance Reform NOW" at http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org

"They can't stop us. Let's get this done!"

- President Obama to 10,000 cheering supporters at Minneapolis health care rally, 9/12/09.