Posts Tagged ‘election 2008’

5 Nov

What an Amazing Moment!

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , .

AlterNet

By William Greider, TheNation.com. Posted November 5, 2008.

This election will transform American life in ways we cannot yet fully imagine. It’s amazing to be alive at such a promising period in history.

What an Amazing Moment!

We are inheritors of this momentous victory, but it was not ours. The laurels properly belong to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the other martyrs who died for civil rights. And to millions more before them who struggled across centuries and fell short of winning their freedom. And to those rare politicians like Lyndon B. Johnson, who stood up bravely in a decisive time, knowing how much it would cost his political party for years to come. We owe all of them for this moment.

Whatever happens next, Barack Obama has already changed this nation profoundly. Like King before him, the man is a great and brave teacher. Obama developed out of his life experiences a different understanding of the country, and he had the courage to run for president by offering this vision.

For many Americans, it seemed too much to believe, yet he turned out to be right about us. Against all odds, he persuaded a majority of Americans to believe in their own better natures and, by electing him, the people helped make it true. There is mysterious music in democracy when people decide to believe in themselves. Continue reading »

4 Nov

Election Day: Palin’s Panic and the Right-Wing’s Big Freak-out

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , , , .

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AlterNet. Posted November 4, 2008.

Palin’s political future … Conservatives spread myths about Americans’ political leanings … Mary Matalin gives Bush glowing review

Sarah Palin today reflected on her future in politics, stressing that she would like to be a ‘uniter’ (a political philosophy that has not really come across in her campaign style this election cycle). According to CNN Political Ticker’s Peter Hamby, Palin stated:
“You know, if there is a role in national politics it won’t be so much partisan,” she said. “My efforts have always been here in the state of Alaska to get everybody to unite and work together and progress this state.”

“It would certainly be a uniter type of role,” she added.

Palin, who was once unable to name a single publication that she reads, also offered some advice on how to improve the profession of journalism. According to Hamby:
Asked if she had any regrets about the campaign, Palin bemoaned “the state of journalism today.” Continue reading »

1 Nov

Michael Moore on the Election, the Bailout, Healthcare, and 10 Proposals for the Next President

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , , .

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. Posted November 1, 2008.

“At this point it’s just kind of sad to see John McCain and the others going to the dark side … a sad way to end his career.”

Amy Goodman: I [recently] had a chance to sit down with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and author Michael Moore yesterday. He was in his home state of Michigan, one of the hardest hit areas of the nation, Michigan’s [unemployment] now at 8.7 percent.

Michael Moore has recently published a new book called Mike’s Election Guide ’08 and a new online film called Slacker Uprising: A Look at the Youth Vote. Michael Moore is best known for his films Sicko, Fahrenheit 911, Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me. He has recently been campaigning for a group of Democratic candidates in Michigan and is a backer of Barack Obama. I spoke to him from Traverse City, Michigan. … Michigan is a very hard-hit state right now. In fact, John McCain pulled out of Michigan. Do you see a connection?

Moore: I’d like to believe it’s because I’m here that he left, but I don’t even know why he was here to begin with. People here have been bludgeoned during the last eight years. And, you know, the sad part about that is, is that next year or the year after, when they look back on this year, this is actually going to look like a really good year, because once General Motors merges with Chrysler, thousands and thousands of jobs, more jobs, are going to be eliminated, on top of the already thousands of more jobs that will be eliminated in the next few years because General Motors and Chrysler build twentieth century vehicles that either nobody wants or we shouldn’t be building, considering the climate crisis that’s in front of us. Continue reading »

26 Oct

Republican Fears of an Obama Landslide Victory Unleash Civil War within the Party

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , , , , .

Alternet.org

By Tim Shipman, The Telegraph (UK). Posted October 26, 2008.

Senior Republicans believe Barack Obama will have more political power than any president in a generation.

 

Aides to George W.Bush, former Reagan White House staff and friends of John McCain have all told The Sunday Telegraph that they not only expect to lose on November 4, but also believe that Mr Obama is poised to win a crushing mandate.

They believe he will be powerful enough to remake the American political landscape with even more ease than Ronald Reagan did in 1980.

The prospect of an electoral rout has unleashed a bitter bout of recriminations both within the McCain campaign and the wider conservative movement, over who is to blame and what should be done to salvage the party’s future. Continue reading »

19 Oct

Republicans Abuse Prosecutorial Powers to Intimidate Voters

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted October 17, 2008.

 

From the FBI to Ohio county prosecutors, GOP-connected lawmen are seeking to scare new voters.

(Editor’s note: This story was published late Thursday, before the Obama campaign counsel Bob Bauer addressed many of these same issues in a media conference call on Friday.)

As the presidential election comes to a close, the Republican Party — and its allies in law enforcement at the FBI and at county levels in Ohio — are announcing voting-related prosecutions that civil rights advocates say are intended to intimidate voters, despite prosecutorial rules that bar these disclosures before an election.

The foremost example was Thursday’s leak to the media by top FBI officials of a new investigation of ACORN, a low-income advocacy group which registered 1.3 million new voters in swing states in 2008. The Associated Press reported “senior officials” confirmed the FBI investigation, saying they “spoke on condition of anonymity because Justice Department regulations forbid discussing ongoing investigations particularly so close to an election.”

“The reports by unnamed sources within the FBI that they have begun an investigation of ACORN is patently inconsistent with the DOJ prosecution manual,” said Gerry Hebert, a former Justice Department Voting Section Chief who now runs the Campaign Legal Center in Washington.

“Whether they are prosecuting or not, it is clearly intimidation,” said Jeff Gamso, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio. “That is what press reports do. You intimidate people into not going to the polls and not voting.”

The FBI leak has counterparts at the county level in Ohio, raising the same voter intimidation concerns. Continue reading »

18 Oct

Republicans Abuse Prosecutorial Powers to Intimidate Voters

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted October 17, 2008.

From the FBI to Ohio county prosecutors, GOP-connected lawmen are seeking to scare new voters.

(Editor’s note: This story was published late Thursday, before the Obama campaign counsel Bob Bauer addressed many of these same issues in a media conference call on Friday.)

As the presidential election comes to a close, the Republican Party — and its allies in law enforcement at the FBI and at county levels in Ohio — are announcing voting-related prosecutions that civil rights advocates say are intended to intimidate voters, despite prosecutorial rules that bar these disclosures before an election.

The foremost example was Thursday’s leak to the media by top FBI officials of a new investigation of ACORN, a low-income advocacy group which registered 1.3 million new voters in swing states in 2008. The Associated Press reported “senior officials” confirmed the FBI investigation, saying they “spoke on condition of anonymity because Justice Department regulations forbid discussing ongoing investigations particularly so close to an election.”

“The reports by unnamed sources within the FBI that they have begun an investigation of ACORN is patently inconsistent with the DOJ prosecution manual,” said Gerry Hebert, a former Justice Department Voting Section Chief who now runs the Campaign Legal Center in Washington.

“Whether they are prosecuting or not, it is clearly intimidation,” said Jeff Gamso, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio. “That is what press reports do. You intimidate people into not going to the polls and not voting.”

The FBI leak has counterparts at the county level in Ohio, raising the same voter intimidation concerns. Continue reading »

15 Oct

Todd Palin: If You Thought Cheney Was Bad, Watch out for the “First Dude”

Posted by James O'Rourke in Opinions and Other Issues. Tagged: , , .

 

By Bill Boyarsky, Truthdig. Posted October 15, 2008.

Todd Palin interfered regularly in his wife’s affairs as governor, and there’s every reason to assume he’d do the same in the White House.

 

Todd Palin seated behind a White House desk and shaping national policy could be one of the most dangerous aspects of a potential Sarah Palin presidency.

An overlooked part of the Alaska state trooper investigation is its finding on the influence of Gov. Palin’s husband, Todd — the “First Dude” or, as he is known around the Alaska statehouse, the “First Gentleman.”

This is crucial in view of the age of the Republican nominee, John McCain, 72, and the fact that he has suffered from melanoma skin cancer. His doctors have pronounced him in excellent health, but his age and the serious nature of this type of cancer should focus attention on his running mate and her operating methods.

A fascinating picture of Todd Palin’s influence in Alaska’s capital is provided in the report of a legislative investigation that concluded that Gov. Palin unlawfully abused her power in seeking the firing of a state trooper once married to her sister. The report, released Friday, also criticized Palin for allowing Todd Palin to push hard for the dismissal of Trooper Mike Wooten. Continue reading »

14 Oct

Too Much Presidential Power — We’ve Got to Address the ‘Unitary Executive’ Question

Posted by James O'Rourke in Politics As Usual. Tagged: , , .

By Dana Nelson, LA Times. Posted October 14, 2008.

What do McCain and Obama think of the concept?

In answering Gwen Ifill’s question about vice presidential powers at last week’s debate, Joe Biden redirected attention to the still not very well known concept of the “unitary executive.”

Biden charged that Dick Cheney had become “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history” because of his attempts to create a super-powerful unitary executive. Biden didn’t take time to explain exactly what he meant, but it’s an extremely important, poorly understood subject, and it’s time to question the presidential candidates — closely — about it.

Plenty of presidents have worked to increase presidential power over the years, but the theory of the unitary executive, first proposed under President Reagan, has been expanded since then by every president, Democrat and Republican alike. Reagan’s notion was that only a strong president would be able to dramatically limit big government. Perhaps drawing on a model for unitary corporate leadership in which the CEO also serves as chairman of the board, the so-called unitary executive promised undivided presidential control of the executive branch and its agencies, expanded unilateral powers and avowedly adversarial relations with Congress.

In the years that followed, Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society conservatives worked to provide a constitutional cover for this theory, producing thousands of pages in the 1990s claiming — often erroneously and misleadingly — that the framers themselves had intended this model for the office of the presidency. Continue reading »

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